Hurricane Irene
Almost hurricane ready!
September 5, 2011
Our journey has provided an opportunity for new experiences and new friends. Over and over again we have written about the boating community. The hurricane has been a catalyst for even closer friendships. Many of our neighbors not only gave us advice based on their experiences, but also helped us arrange our lines to prevent chaffing and better secure the boat for surge and wind.
We stayed in the Holiday Inn and checked on the boat every few hours. At one point, we went outside the hotel to film the storm. Mike held the door as Francie slipped under a canopy. It seemed like 10 minutes passed before she returned. When we looked at the footage we were surprised that the clip was so short!
Late in the evening, we received a phone call from one of our friends who stayed on their boat. Three pilings broke and the boats tied to them could possibly careen into each other and break more pilings. A group of us set anchors on the boats and added additional lines. This all happened at the height of the storm. The only thing we could do was to hope for the best and go to bed.
As Francie is fond of saying, “All’s well that ends.” We checked on the boat in the morning and it was floating, dry and not a scratch on it from the hurricane. We learned later that the wind blew steadily in the low 40s with gusts up to 60mph. Believe me we counted our blessings; it could have been much worse.
The next few days were spent making Anam Cara look like a sailboat again. The highlight of the whole experience was our Survivors’ Party on Monday evening. As you can see from the video, the rewritten version of Good Night Irene was rewritten again and performed by fellow boaters. It was a night to remember. The evening was definitely “type 1” fun.
Our journey has provided an opportunity for new experiences and new friends. Over and over again we have written about the boating community. The hurricane has been a catalyst for even closer friendships. Many of our neighbors not only gave us advice based on their experiences, but also helped us arrange our lines to prevent chaffing and better secure the boat for surge and wind.
We stayed in the Holiday Inn and checked on the boat every few hours. At one point, we went outside the hotel to film the storm. Mike held the door as Francie slipped under a canopy. It seemed like 10 minutes passed before she returned. When we looked at the footage we were surprised that the clip was so short!
Late in the evening, we received a phone call from one of our friends who stayed on their boat. Three pilings broke and the boats tied to them could possibly careen into each other and break more pilings. A group of us set anchors on the boats and added additional lines. This all happened at the height of the storm. The only thing we could do was to hope for the best and go to bed.
As Francie is fond of saying, “All’s well that ends.” We checked on the boat in the morning and it was floating, dry and not a scratch on it from the hurricane. We learned later that the wind blew steadily in the low 40s with gusts up to 60mph. Believe me we counted our blessings; it could have been much worse.
The next few days were spent making Anam Cara look like a sailboat again. The highlight of the whole experience was our Survivors’ Party on Monday evening. As you can see from the video, the rewritten version of Good Night Irene was rewritten again and performed by fellow boaters. It was a night to remember. The evening was definitely “type 1” fun.