Preservation

[gareth harris]

Preservation - Hurricane Ivan

The viking God of the sea is named Njord. Tonight I suggest we honour him. We could also plead to Poseidon (Greek), and Neptune (Roman). If any of you know about any other religions, please post their appropriate Gods here, and I will honour them too.

Gareth

Freyja E35 #241 1972 (Pensacola Bay)

 

[Sean Engle]

Hurricane Ivan

Yeah, good luck to all you guys down there today/tonight/tomorrow - Ivan looks like a real hummer! We're up here thinking about you!

//sse

 

[Ray Rhode]

Gareth,

Hope you found a good place to hide.

I anchored Joureny out on Monday with a Fortress FX-37 and a Delta 35 on 70 feet of 3/8 inch chain and 250 feet of 7/8 inch nylon 3-strand. Got a good a good "hook" and backed down at full throttle for a minute and a half with no motion. My biggest fear is "the other guy" who shows up with a 15 pound Danforth, eight feet of chain, and parks right on top of me.

If you have internet access you can check out the bayou at www.nicevilleyc.org. We have a web cam until the power or cable out.

Good luck,

Ray Rhode
S/Y Journey
E35-III, #189

 

[Sean Engle]

Gareth,

Hope you found a good place to hide.

I anchored Joureny out on Monday with a Fortress FX-37 and a Delta 35 on 70 feet of 3/8 inch chain and 250 feet of 7/8 inch nylon 3-strand. Got a good a good "hook" and backed down at full throttle for a minute and a half with no motion. My biggest fear is "the other guy" who shows up with a 15 pound Danforth, eight feet of chain, and parks right on top of me.

If you have internet access you can check out the bayou at www.nicevilleyc.org. We have a web cam until the power or cable out.

Good luck,

Ray Rhode
S/Y Journey
E35-III, #189

Hey Ray -

I sent you an email...

Also - are you telling me that Journey is one of those boats you can see on the webcam? Which one is it?

//sse

 

[Ray Rhode]

Sean,

Got your mail this morning.

If you point the web cam to position "1" Journey is off in the distance. She is pretty much straight out from the left hand row of pilings near the west shore of the bayou. Hope she is still there tomorrow and dosen't have any company. There are probably 100+ boats out there and only about 20% have adequate ground tackle. I'm getting real good at deploying and retieving all that ground tackle, but I sure wish I had a windlass.

Ray

 

[Sean Engle]

Sean,

Got your mail this morning.

If you point the web cam to position "1" Journey is off in the distance. She is pretty much straight out from the left hand row of pilings near the west shore of the bayou. Hope she is still there tomorrow and dosen't have any company. There are probably 100+ boats out there and only about 20% have adequate ground tackle. I'm getting real good at deploying and retieving all that ground tackle, but I sure wish I had a windlass.

Ray

That's ok, Ray - just think about the great excercise you're getting!

//sse

 

[Ray Rhode]

Gareth,

Hope you made out OK. Just got back from the bayou and Journey has survived. There are a couple of extra anchors hanging from her bow ;but she's right where I left her.

Sadly all but one of our sailing friends have lost everything.

Ray Rhode

 

[gareth harris]

Ray - Glad to know you survived, I ran away to Jacksonville, heading back tomorrow to see how she has fared without me. Apparently 130 mph gusts recorded at the airfield, which is two miles from the marina.
At least the Commodore (or someone above him) got his act together and the aircraft were removed safely - good news for all taxpayers.

Gareth
Freyja E35 #241 `1972

 

[Loren Beach]

Glad to hear from you again!

Do you folks still have houses with roofs? We are seeing a lot of aerial video of cities with mostly foundations and debris left. And then there are the reports of people killed by tornados within in the hurricane. It sounds awful. This morning the paper has an article about how this season is "normal" for a long-term weather trend of 10 to 40 (!) years.
I realize that you live in paradise the rest of the year, but.....


When you get time to sum up your preparations and comment on what worked best, please do so.

Thanks,
Loren in Portland, OR

 

[Ray Rhode]

Loren,

We still have a roof, just replaced it in the spring. The old one was 20 years old and I figured that I was pushing my luck if I tried to stretch it any further. Right now we are still without power, but there are power company trucks in the neighborhood. Tomorrow may be a brighter day. For now we run a generator every couple of hours to keep the fridge cold, and hope the power comes back before we have to get more gas because the lines are pretty long. People actually keep their place in line waiting for the next tanker truck to arrive.

Journey survived, but she looks like she went to a knife fight with armed with a toothpick. I am still better off than many of my friends who lost the individual fights.

I have a separate ground tackle set up for hurricanes. I use an FX-37 on 30 feet of 3/8 inch chain connected to a 35 pound Delta with 40 feet of 3/8 inch chain connected to 220 feet of 7/8 inch 3 strand nylon, shackled to two bridles of 7/8 inch 3 strand which are secured to the two bow cleats then lead aft to the primary winches and cleated. The two anchors are set in tandem with large shackles and 1/2 inch chain. The bridle sets about 10 feet below the water line and helps keep the line from wrapping around the keel.

Others at the dock made jokes about the size of the nylon rode but my theory was that when another boat tangled with me I wanted them to chafe through before I did. As it turned out one of the bridles was chafed through completely and the other was down to a single strand. There are anchor marks on both sides of the bow where at least two boats rode for quite a long time. At least one of them was tall enough to damage my roller furler foil at the mast head.

There is other damage but I am convinced that Journey would have stood up to even more storm if left alone. I attached a float to the Delta and marked it with my GPS and then checked it with the GPS when I got back. There was only a .006 of a minute difference in latitude. Essentially it didn’t move. It was reported that we had four hours of winds over 80 MPH with gusts to 100.


Ray Rhode
S/Y Journey
E35-III, #189

 

[gareth harris]

One of the Gods we held the ceremony to must have answered, as the two boats that had the ceremony were two of about six that are still floating - or it might have been the anchors we dropped. There is a picture of the marina at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/3682784.stm. That said, the damage is severe. Freyja can be repaired, but whether the insurance will pay for it or just write her off remains to be seen. I may have more pictures to send when I am fully reconnected to the 21st century, if any of you know anything about deck rip up and repair, any idea how much a total job goes for?
Gareth
Freyja E35 #241 1972

 

[Loren Beach]

Ouch!

Is Freyja one of the boats in that pile in the photo? How grim!


As to insurance settlements, I know of boaters in our area that have bought back their "totaled" boat for a few dollars from the insurers, and repaired it themselves, over time. I guess it depends on how much you like that particular boat and how much your time is worth. After all, if it is repairable, *someone* will buy the remains and restore it... might as well be you.... !

All Sailors, for better or worse, are dreamers and romantics!

Best of luck, whatever your decision.

Loren in PDX

 

[gareth harris]

Freyja is one of the masts in the background. I went aboard some time ago for a quick inspection, but have been able to do no more, as the base XO is still denying us access to our boats(the time I went aboard was by canoe at night). My biggest concern is that the hull seems to have been crushed across the beam, whether the main bulkheads need to be replaced I was unable to determine. You will see some posts in maintenance and mechanical when I get a closer look; not sure when that will be, it seems that being in the navy for ten years does not qualify me to do anything with boats.

Gareth
Freyja E35 #241 1972

 

[Ray Rhode]

Gareth,

Gald to hear Freyja survived the storm but it sounds like she may not survive the insurance adjuster. I meet with mine today but don't expect to have the concern you have since your damage sounds much more extreme. I think the big issue for those with damaged boats is the time it will take to get repairs made. I am not planning on sailing Journey until some time after March of next year and I have mostly cosmetic damage. That wipes out our two fall cruises, but there aren't too many places to crusie to in Pensacola anymore as I'm sure Seville Harbor is trashed. I saw NASA satelite photos of Palafox Pier and there is nothing left except a pile of formerly expensive boats at the north end. I also saw photos of the marina at NAS Pensacola and it was really depressing.

Good luck and let us know how it goes,

Ray
S/Y Journey

 

[gareth harris]

There is no point coming to Pensacola for a while, Seville Harbour is pretty much gone along with every other except some of those further up the Bayou Chico, and that is not a very nice place to cruise to. The fuel dock at the mouth of the Bayou Chico went down, and the water was colourful for a long time. The general smell is still pretty colourful.
I was planning to sail around to the Atlantic this winter via Key West etc., so I am not sure how I will proceed from here.
G