Tropical Storm Hermine

[Megabyte]

Well... I had 15 years in Annapolis with numerous hurricanes, tropical storms, and nor`easters and fared well with no damage.
Now, I'm living on the coast with Tropical Storm Hermine kicking up her heels with my boat living less than a mile from the ocean.
Did some storm prep yesterday, both at home and at the boat.

Now that the wind and rain has arrived, I checked todays high tide (which was supposed to be about 1045) and decided to visit the boat.
Dug the fowlies out of the closet and shoved off to visit the marina.

When I arrived, the water was already over the docks, and this is early in the storm.
Forecasters are saying the next few tides should get increasingly higher. :|

 

[Megabyte]

My stern lines are more or less fixed, as I have them clipped to the rear eyes in a crossing pattern to keep the boat off of the piling to port and the aluminum ladder to starboard.

I grabbed a pair of dock lines and extended the stern lines to the aft cleats so they would be adjustable.
The bow and spring lines ride on stainless rails with a ring system, so those lines should be OK.

 

[Megabyte]

Once I was happy with the tension and the position at high tide, I locked the lines down and placed towels under the stainless carabiners so they wouldn't damage the washboards.

Need to go back at low time (about 1640 hrs) and see how everything looks.
So far, everything is looking good.

 

[Megabyte]

As you may notice from the photos, the water had receded from the docks by the time I left the boat.
A good sign (for now). 8)

 

[shawnee83]

Wow Kevin, that water is pretty high already. On the next couple of high tides, you are going to look like Jesus walking on water on those docks. Lol. Good luck!

 

[shawnee83]

This one made CNN. I suspect it was left on that lift and the high tide surge got it?

 

[Megabyte]

Low tide was about 1640 hrs and I checked then.
This is about 3' higher than our 'normal' low tide.

The next couple of highs could be interesting.

 

[Megabyte]

Wow Kevin, that water is pretty high already. On the next couple of high tides, you are going to look like Jesus walking on water on those docks. Lol. Good luck!

:lol:

 

[Megabyte]

This one made CNN. I suspect it was left on that lift and the high tide surge got it?

Surge and/or wind together.
Painful to see that.

 

[Megabyte]

I purposefully left my stern lines a little slack to compensate for a higher high tide tonight at 2300.
Sat there with a ponder beer to watch and see if she was going to stay off the pilings and she rode it well.
Should be good to go. 8)

 

[johnkn]

Here on the Potomac River 50 miles from the Chesapeake Bay high tide was at 18:20. The boat ramp pier was underwater. The pier my boat is on was still a foot above water but my finger pier was an inch out of the water. The boat was sitting ok in the water. Good luck everyone.

 

[Marty D]

It's 2:30 here at eastern Long Island and out dock is about 5 in under water. We have no wind or rain yet. I was shocked to see the tide this high as the storm is not here yet. Time to pull her this morn.

 

[sydngoose]

Wow, great pictures. We didn't get much here on the NE corner of Florida, but our sister coast: steinhatchee area got hammered with a 12 foot storm surge. No pics to show, but many boats ended up in the street: floated right off the lower tier of the dry stack. Glad you and yours made it through safely, sir.

 

[Megabyte]

After action report...

Rain was not as much as we had anticipated.
Wind today is still blowing ~30 knots on the coast and the surf is extreme.

DE has closed the beaches for drive-on (surf fishing), and the ocean is closed to swimmers due to rip currents.
Tides continue to be very high, but the sun is out and the wind is blowing.
Forecast for tomorrow is lots of wind and more very high tides.

The boat survived this event without a scratch. :wink:

 

[shawnee83]

Good new Kevin. Hope your good luck continues.

 

[Megabyte]

Hermine is gone, but the effects continue.
These are the images at high tide today.
At least the water is not over the dock boards!

 

[Megabyte]

.

 

[gw204]

Those rails/rings would worry me. Have you asked the dockmaster how long the lag bolts are that secure them to the pilings?

I think in a severe weather situation I would run some additional lines to the pilings themselves. You never know how good the lag bolts are or whether or not the welds on the rails are 100%.

Glad you made it through unscathed. It was pretty much a non-event down here. Pretty nice day to be outside.

 

[dave-j]

Marblehead didn't get a direct whack, but as you can see from the first picture, taken Monday afternoon, we had a pretty good breeze out of the NE, creating tough conditions in the harbor. if you look carefully at the second picture, taken Tuesday morning, you can see the bow of the Grady White, Ripple, poking up. she scooped water and turtled over night.

My boat is just out of the shots.