Post Irma- Here's my Story

[catman]

Captain Scott, I am glad you made through the hurricane.
It really is a coin toss when waiting for the erratic nature of the paths of those hurricanes to determine your future.
Also glad to hear a fellow boater was able and willing to help out.
Catman

[PPLepew]

Nice to share. Just get there early next time around though, or you'll find your paradise hole packed with boats.
Thanks.

[Bleemus]

Well done Scott!

[SV Bacchus]

I commend you for your actions! You were in Cali, flew to your boat and then ran like heck to get out of the path.

Many others sitting stateside, as one YouTube vlogger said he did, thinking "I've done the best I could when I left 3 months ago so I'll just see what happens".

Shows you who cares and who doesn't! Hats off to you!

[Deltasailor]

Originally Posted by meatservo

Great story and great job! Thanks for sharing.



meatservo

Good one, glad your OK. Buy Humphry a beer!

[masonc]

Irma passed right over us in Anguilla with 200mph winds. Our house is sturdy and suffered no damage, and our warehouse is in a hollow and was fine also. But, if the North eye wall of Irma had passed over you in your boat, you'd be dead. The power of this storm flipped vehicles and containers like toys, flattened almost all the wooden houses th at had survived for dozens of years, and brought down almost all the cell towers on Anguilla. The path and wind speed of these monster storms have been unpredictable. We're likely in a new normal of extreme storm activity. The Northern Caribbean is a bad place to keep a boat in the water right now.

[brantleychuck]

Originally Posted by masonc

Irma passed right over us in Anguilla with 200mph winds. Our house is sturdy and suffered no damage, and our warehouse is in a hollow and was fine also. But, if the North eye wall of Irma had passed over you in your boat, you'd be dead. The power of this storm flipped vehicles and containers like toys, flattened almost all the wooden houses th at had survived for dozens of years, and brought down almost all the cell towers on Anguilla. The path and wind speed of these monster storms have been unpredictable. We're likely in a new normal of extreme storm activity. The Northern Caribbean is a bad place to keep a boat in the water right now.

I also rode out Irma on my boat in the mangroves. I was in the fort Myers area. The eye wall passed over me. Mangroves offer the same type of protection as " the hollow" your building was in. The mangroves do a great job of breaking up the wind. With enough lines tied off it is a very safe place to be in a storm.

[brantleychuck]

Originally Posted by brantleychuck

I also rode out Irma on my boat in the mangroves. I was in the fort Myers area. The eye wall passed over me. Mangroves offer the same type of protection as " the hollow" your building was in. The mangroves do a great job of breaking up the wind. With enough lines tied off it is a very safe place to be in a storm.
Attachment 156646

At the moment this photo was shot, 300 yards away in the open water the wind was blowing 30 knots or more

[SecondBase]

Originally Posted by brantleychuck

I also rode out Irma on my boat in the mangroves. I was in the fort Myers area. The eye wall passed over me. Mangroves offer the same type of protection as " the hollow" your building was in. The mangroves do a great job of breaking up the wind. With enough lines tied off it is a very safe place to be in a storm.
Attachment 156646

Concur. I had basically the same experience in the eye.

I would add that the point that "fully exposed" is a different story is valid as well.

[River Cruiser]

Great effort saving your boat. On a Facebook page for live aboard people was more than one post about lost boats. I made a comment that if it was my boat I would of moved out of any of the projected paths to protect my boat. I got slammed for saying this because I'am a inland river boater and know nothing about hurricanes. I'am very happy to see that I'am not the only boater to think getting to a safer area is the best plan.

[brantleychuck]

Originally Posted by River Cruiser

Great effort saving your boat. On a Facebook page for live aboard people was more than one post about lost boats. I made a comment that if it was my boat I would of moved out of any of the projected paths to protect my boat. I got slammed for saying this because I'am a inland river boater and know nothing about hurricanes. I'am very happy to see that I'am not the only boater to think getting to a safer area is the best plan.

For sure the topic of what to do when a hurricane approaches is complicated. There is not one right way to take these on.
This was my first encounter with a hurricane. I was pretty confidant that I could take care of myself and not hurt anybody else. If I had my wife or dog with me that would have changed things.
I would be much more confidant about what to do if his happens again. If I was in the same area I would go 1 day earlier to my spot, even if it was closer to the eye. The mangroves are very safe in a storm. Read about a couple in Australia that rode out a cat 5 that lingered over them for some time. And on a cat no less, they would do it again

[Paul L]

Originally Posted by brantleychuck

For sure the topic of what to do when a hurricane approaches is complicated. There is not one right way to take these on.
This was my first encounter with a hurricane. I was pretty confidant that I could take care of myself and not hurt anybody else. If I had my wife or dog with me that would have changed things.
I would be much more confidant about what to do if his happens again. If I was in the same area I would go 1 day earlier to my spot, even if it was closer to the eye. The mangroves are very safe in a storm. Read about a couple in Australia that rode out a cat 5 that lingered over them for some time. And on a cat no less, they would do it again

Just an FYI Australia uses a different scale for storms than the one used in the Carib. A cat 5 in Australia/Fiji area would be a cat 3 in the Carib.

[barnakiel]

Great story. Thanks for sharing. You elected a great hiding hole imho.

The Westerly drift of Irma and of the consecutive forecasts must have given a pure headache to many sailing people in the area. I think some of them made decisions that were very good 3 days before the system but turned out very bad when the system actually hit.

I had to 'evacuate' my clients from the Bahamas all the way to La Habana. And even there they got bashed. Just think that when they got moving, the system was forecast to pass E of the Bahamas or maybe, less likely, thru the Bahamas. Only outlier ensemble tracks showed any possibility of it going thru the Channel, and only at some updates.

Irma's actual track fell hundreds of miles W and SW from early forecasts (or at least from our GFS based assumptions).

Cheers,
b.