The northeast gale continued to rage, especially in the morning, and the tide was exceptionally high, coming almost to the top of the ramp and nearly to the tops of the fixed docks. Jofian rocked back and forth during the thirty-knot gusts. I was afraid she might blow over, but Roy assured me she wouldn't. However, he did go down and tighten the stands.
A small trimaran blew off its stands but didn't seem to be damaged. It hadn't been very high off the ground and fell onto soft sand.
An even smaller motorboat that was tied to a fixed dock got trapped under the dock by the tide and tipped over. The boatyard workers fished it out with a crane and a metal frame. This is not a good day for boatyards.
Roy spent most of the day installing the new diesel heater, but in the afternoon, he rode his bike around, looking for some parts he needed. He finally found them, but had a real struggle pedaling back against the wind and rain. When he arrived, he looked the way I did yesterday.
Kent Glover, the man who surveyed the boat last spring, dropped by in the late afternoon and chatted for a while. He had been working on another boat here at Cobb's and saw the Jofian. He returned $5 that he said he owed us! What a surprise that was! He's very nice.
On the evening news, we watched rather terrifying scenes of hurricane Gordon advancing up the East Coast. We had always thought the hurricane season ended November 1st. The summer had had almost no hurricane activity at all, and now we get one in the late fall! Maybe we should have stayed behind the hurricane barrier in New Bedford. If Gordon threatens Norfolk, as it well might, we'll put the Royaks and the life raft on the ground, remove the sails, and take in everything else that we can.
A 64-foot ketch left here about the time we arrived and was clobbered 300 miles off the coast. The Coast Guard airlifted everyone on board to safety, but the boat is lost.
No comments:
Post a Comment