Marina in New Bern destroyed, which one?

[Sailorman Ed]

pics from North West Creek ( about 2 miles to the SE) . They recently added these floating piling covers, many of which floated right off the top. We are downwind of all these boats, no word about the group of boats to the left of these pics. We did strip all we could off and had 11 lines to 8 points but would not have been enough if a couple big boats came driven onto us.

[antilles]

I have been in touch with the Wilmington Marine Center and understand that the docks and boats are fine. Buildings, boatyard, paint booth, etc all fine. Rowing Club fabric roof and curtains gone. The Electricity still off so no fuel and only limited ice. Two government boats are already launched. By Monday things should be up and running IF there is power.
Its a full service Marina and run by fine, knowledgeable people. If you need help in the Wilmington, NC area they are that's a good place to head for.

[LoudMusic]

Originally Posted by Sailorman Ed

pics from North West Creek ( about 2 miles to the SE) . They recently added these floating piling covers, many of which floated right off the top. We are downwind of all these boats, no word about the group of boats to the left of these pics. We did strip all we could off and had 11 lines to 8 points but would not have been enough if a couple big boats came driven onto us.

Those pictures are difficult to look at. Thank you for taking time to properly prepare your vessel. Each person's efforts affect more than their own lives. People who did not take the time to care for their boat put other people's boats at danger. Neglect has long poisonous fingers.

We have our boat at New Bern Grand Marina. We are the catamaran that is on G dock right behind where the two ketches broke free. I hope to get out there tomorrow and assess my situation. From the pictures and videos I've been able to scrape together from the internet, we are in good shape. But many of the boats around us have not been so lucky, largely in part to their neighbors. The marina and dock did surprisingly well considering the conditions they were forced to endure.

As to comments about marinas being the last place you want to be, that is certainly a concern. If I had it to do again, and had ALL THE INFORMATION, I would have absolutely gone north. But we didn't, and it can all change in an instant. Several of the boats that anchored in the river were blown onto the banks, literally in someone's front yard.

I feel for the Bridgepoint Marina, and all the boat owners who used their facility. Unfortunately, I'm told this isn't the first time they've had catastrophic failure. Hopefully these occurrences will be learning lessons for all marinas and boat owners.

[gaucho]

One thing many armchair sailors don't consider when recommending NOT to be in a marina is insurance. Most insurance companies will NOT accept "I'll find a good anchorage upriver and throw every anchor I have as a hurricane plan". I really like how you will find these armchair sailors claiming do this or do that, but clearly they have never dealt a) with the actual situation, b) dealt with insurance companies. Either your insurance company will require you put forth a hurricane plan (and those require you to explain what measures you have in place for your vessel to survive a hurricane, and it needs to be approved beforehand, and you won't get a new hurricane plan approved in the 3-4 days you might have once you know more or less a cane is headed your way), or you need to follow THEIR rules. Many require you to be in a proper mooring, proper marina, without any canvas, or without this and that.

Again ... there is much more to all of this than just "owner negligence". Most people do what they can with what is available.

[onewadd]

Originally Posted by Nicholson58

All that one needed to do was move about a day sail south several days ago when ithe storm track was known. There is no need to sacrifice your boat to the dice roll.

I stayed on board my Hunter 420 at Whitaker Creek Yacht Harbor in Oriental throughout the storm and am still aboard. Our marina is not floating docks​ but most pilings are quite tall. We had a measured 9'6" surge and winds gusting to 80+mph. We had only one small boat sunk and a few with minor damage out of about 60 boats. All (save a very few) were well prepared and that made a big difference. The rest is just luck.

In my opinion if the marina is well protected by land and trees then floating docks are good. As you see in the video, if exposed, then not so much.
In our case, all the pilings and docks are well maintained and replaced as needed and we are quite protected. That's a big reason I'm here.

I made a few line adjustments during the storm and because of that Anticipation Too is damage free. I knew there were risks but my actions were planned and well thought out.
I planned to stay on board based on the forecast and would do so again.

As to second guessing or trying to outrun a hurricane in a boat making around 7kts, a bad idea in my book. By the time we know within 30NM of the strike area, tropical winds and blowing rain are already here.

[hpeer]

Just curious, elsewhere l was told some boats floated off at Bridgeton Marine, the haul out facility across the river. Anyone know if this is true?

[barnakiel]

Too bad. Looks very bad.


Odd the people who designed the marina did not check historical data for max hurricane tidal wave.


Is this the first time a hurricane hit this part of the US? No previous experience?



b.

[Suijin]

Originally Posted by barnakiel

Too bad. Looks very bad.


Odd the people who designed the marina did not check historical data for max hurricane tidal wave.


Is this the first time a hurricane hit this part of the US? No previous experience?



b.

This was pretty much New Bern’s “perfect storm” with Florence’s path causing maximum surge up the Neuse.

While NC does not get many direct hit hurricanes, they get “sideswiped” a lot and get numerous tropical storms.

[hpeer]

Barnikel,

There is almost no lunar tide here. They can get a few feet if change but based on wind. It can be suprisingly quick also, damn near lost my dunk one day.

Anyone know what the surge was in Matthew? We were there some weeks later and the area was still pretty flooded above the cross swamp roads. I’m pretty sure Bridgeton Boatwors/Marine yard did not flood. That’s maybe 5’ above.

We stayed at the hotel at that marina and I was thinking “not a place I want to be in a storm.” Just didn’t look right.

[LoudMusic]

Originally Posted by hpeer

Just curious, elsewhere l was told some boats floated off at Bridgeton Marine, the haul out facility across the river. Anyone know if this is true?

I've seen pictures of boats that are no longer on their jack stands, and also some boats that are.

[hpeer]

Originally Posted by LoudMusic

I've seen pictures of boats that are no longer on their jack stands, and also some boats that are.

Thanks for the info.

Related, I was looking at a video of Bridgewater Point marina last night and I thought it was pretty clear that the docks had not floated off the pilings. Some docks were broke up but not all or even most. It seemed to make the point the damage there was mostly because the docks had no breakwater they interacted badly with the boats.

[Captain Bill]

One major difference between the Bridge Point Marina and the Grand is that the predominant wind direction for most of the night was NE switching to SE in the morning. From the NE the Grand is in the lee of Union Point but the Bridge Point is exposed from the NE. The fetch from the SE isn't quite as long as from the NE. I have a friend at the grand who says the G dock took most of the beating at the Grand, but his boat has severe structural damage from either contact with a piling or a loose boat. He doesn't know which. He sent a picture and his transom seems to be broken free from the hull on the starboard side almost to the waterline. He says he's lucky the thing is still floating.

[derfy]

Originally Posted by Nicholson58

All that one needed to do was move about a day sail south several days ago when ithe storm track was known. There is no need to sacrifice your boat to the dice roll.

It probably just never occurred to any of us yocals to go south in the face of this storm. Just gas her up and go ... is your plan?



Maybe you could suggest the route we could have taken? ... ICW to Wilmington, or maybe out the Beaufort Cut into the Atlantic?



A brilliant strategy, and no one thought of ... duh.



BTW the storm track veered south after the initial forecast track. I guess that would have made your plan work all the much better.

[LoudMusic]

Originally Posted by hpeer

Thanks for the info.

Related, I was looking at a video of Bridgewater Point marina last night and I thought it was pretty clear that the docks had not floated off the pilings. Some docks were broke up but not all or even most. It seemed to make the point the damage there was mostly because the docks had no breakwater they interacted badly with the boats.

That's the impression I got. Though their inner pilings are shorter than the T-dock pilings. They might have floated off but stayed mostly in place due to shore anchors or such.

[duckpond49]

Bridgeton seemed to have most problems with power boats getting floated off their stands because of their shallower drafts and lack of ballast.

Historical tide data are useless in this global warming onset. As the NC Governor stated "we've had two 500 year floods seven years apart."

BridgePointe is much more exposed, with low elevation off a small peninsula and under built. Grand Marina is up against a taller bank w some protection from the 6 story Hilton with other multi-story buildings acting as windbreaks.