Hurricane Irene

[AllezCat]

New York mostly and regularly experiences remnants of hurricanes - such as Irene. Usually dumping much water.
I remember one in the early '90s flooded downtown - homeless were rescued from under the FDR. Scary winds on my 22nd floor terrace - but no hurricane force winds.
1938 was a "real" hurricane hitting eastern long island. Changed the landscape.
I am anchored near Cedar point lighthouse, and previously owned a house nearby. Apparently the lighthouse was on an island and is now on a peninsular - good shelter for the entire northwest harbor. Shinecock inlet opened to the Atlantic etc...
Northeaster storms are regularly stronger - tree damage etc. But, as the media pointed out a summer storm is hitting trees with full foliage.
I was very surprised at the damage to trees and universal clean-up efforts in the area - as there was none in the hole I was in...

[AllezCat]

I was planning to stay on if forecast was below 80. After that I would have anchored my dinghy in an unsafe place and driven to a house that probably would have flooded and blown away...

[sdowney717]

no damage on my boat near LAFB. I did notice when untieing the extra lines that they had tightened up on cleats. the marina every boat I saw was fine both in and out.
some liveaboards said water was less than Isabel, about 1 foot in the parking lot.
just got power yesterday at the house.

My nephew's house in Mahwah NJ, completely flooded on first floor with water and oil, they were rescued by a boat that pulled up to the front door. They have no flood insurance and dont live in a flood plain. The oil he thought came from a fuel station. An older house with plaster walls.
House will have to be cleaned up by environmental hazmat crew? NJ, go figure, the water came from a small creek which overflowed into a raging torant .

house down our street, huge tree fell and knocked out power. Tree was a white oak and so large it fell across the road into the front lawn of the neighbor



lots of fallen trees like this in our area


Neighbor right across street, a huge tree fell thru the house and had to be lifted off with a crane

[rolandgilbert99]

Here are some pictures of Lake CHamplain (NY).

ImageShack(TM) slideshow

[jacob30]

You are correct in your approach and observation. I, like you, went to a hurricane hole/anchoring out. Most felt the safety of the marina. Others like us saw the potential of such a decision and chose to leave.

I was alone in a dark isolated hurricane hole. I was not comfortable but felt safe. I was in fact surprised that no one else showed up. It was good and bad that there was no one else.

In the end the marina was safe and we were safe. It's a role of the dice for most and for others it is a game of chess with strategy involved.

It was a lot of work moving to, setting up and leaving the hurricane hole. I was up for about 60 hours straight for my decision (work commitments as well).

Next time I will haul out me thinks if it is an option.

Originally Posted by tanksalot

Irene was my first serious hurricane as a sailboat owner. Everything I read suggested anchoring in a "hurricane hole" as the second-best approach to successful survival (taking out the boat was #1). I bought a 33 lb. claw anchor and chain (27 ft. Ericson) and, using two anchors, successfully weathered the storm in a local river.

What I don't understand is the lack of company following this approach. Many people left their sailboats at the dock, many people docked at sheltered, river-based marinas, but I didn't see or hear of many people anchoring upriver for the storm. Why?

The anchoring-out in a river approach makes a lot of sense.....no hard pilings or boats to run into, lots of room (and scope) to ride out storm surge, and, if the anchors let go, soft riverbank to run into.

The only reason I can see for staying at the dock or the upriver dock approach is having the company of others nearby during the storm. Am I missing something?

Tanksalot

[zeehag]

anyone know how fishkill, NY fared? have cousins there no one has heard from as yet-- lived in or on a lil stream.......in a log house. remote.

[callmecrazy]

I stayed on the boat in a marina. It was safe... This was barely a Cat1 where we were though, so (after the experience) I'm questioning the safety of anchoring out in anything more than a Cat1. I mean, there's a HUGE difference between 80mph winds and 140mph winds. I can't imagine the type of ground tackle needed to cope with that. I can't imagine the docklines holding up... What is very apparent, is that in a marina, the surge/tide is the most important factor. We had about 3 feet to go before the marina broke free... I heard that Isabel left this marina with about a foot to spare... Anything over a Cat3 and everything would have gone much worse. Even with the Cat1, we were cutting things pretty close...

I took a very close note of the sea-state outside the marina. We're a few miles up a river, 40 miles from the coast... We had a steady flow of 4+ foot breaking rollers comign down the RIVER once the wind clocked north/west. I'm talking about good surfing waves coming down a river as fast as you can blink... I seriously doubt the ability of even the sturdiest of anchors to withstand a Real Cat3... I can see holing out in this one, but anyting more than this... You better have your ditch bag ready and don't count an epirb to save you...

The thing is finding that perfect hurricane hole.. I don't see one anywhere near me. The closest spot I could have is right in the middle of the river a few miles up where it's not too deep/shallow. But that still leaves the backside of the storm to barrel down the river... If you can find a perfect hole, then yeah, why not but I'd much rather lose my boat (which is all I own and my life's investment) then play around with 150kts winds and anything less than 3, triple oversized anchors and all chain.

[Gracies]

Originally Posted by tanksalot

The only reason I can see for staying at the dock or the upriver dock approach is having the company of others nearby during the storm. Am I missing something?

Tanksalot

yeah, the company

[mbianka]

Originally Posted by rolandgilbert99

Here are some pictures of Lake CHamplain (NY).

ImageShack(TM) slideshow

Wow! Noticed the boats on shore still had there sails and dodgers on. Some lessons hopefully were learned that day by the owners.

[mbianka]

Originally Posted by sdowney717

Tree was a white oak and so large it fell across the road into the front lawn of the neighbor

Might want to call Mystic Seaport and see if they want it. They might be able to use the White Oak for some ship restoration projects. Good wood for wooden boats! Just a thought.

[Therapy]

Originally Posted by mbianka

Wow! Noticed the boats on shore still had there sails and dodgers on. Some lessons hopefully were learned that day by the owners.

All the mains and most of the jibs and dodgers looked OK to me.

But then it wasn't really a bad storm (as they go) was it?

[zeehag]

we weathered all our storms in kali with furled jibs and dodgers intact--to over 95kt winds, measured, without problems--we found chafe was our biggest enemy. chafe and fetch.

[callmecrazy]

I was surprised to see most of the sails and biminis still up in our marina. There were a few biminis that got shredded, and atleast two mainsails (one lost the cover first then the sail, the other never had a cover), but I didn't see any damaged roller furling jibs. Final reports said we got a little over 80mph gusts and sustained 70s... I'm still glad I took mine down and plan on doing it everytime, it's not that difficult

[rolandgilbert99]

Originally Posted by mbianka

Wow! Noticed the boats on shore still had there sails and dodgers on. Some lessons hopefully were learned that day by the owners.

Yes! People were told to remove sails and canvas but didn't realize what a Tropical Storm means. It is too usnusual around here.

[Sailagain]

Originally Posted by rolandgilbert99

Yes! People were told to remove sails and canvas but didn't realize what a Tropical Storm means. It is too usnusual around here.

Don't assume they weren't diligent (okay maybe SOME of them werent. Hahahaha)

Some of those people might have been out of town.

I was out of the state. I asked the marina to remove them for me - charge whatever they needed to!

They said no can do, they were way too busy hauling out boats

Luckily everything turned out okay for my boat