Earl?

PalmettoSailor · #1 (**permalink**) 08-31-2010

Are folks planning extra precautions for Earl?

Being that I've moved 80 miles further up the Bay, and Earls is expected to stay offshore, I'm not sure its worth putting out extra lines and fenders and taking down the canvas as I would have if we were still further south.

I plan to keep and eye on things as the week progresses but wondered what precautions others might be taking. At this point I don't expect anything worse than a summer time squall front passage which is what I have in mind every time I secure my boat, but that could change if Earl doesn't watch the weather reports.

kd3pc · #2 (**permalink**) 08-31-2010

I hope you are right, as that is similar to my plan...

way too much hype for what is forecast to be a Miss on Chesapeake Bay...

now if it changes directions, I will head down and strip and secure things. I just got the email from my insurance company (boatUS) that they will help with prep and haul....as if we could actually get around to a place that can haul and has any better protected area than our slip...??

All the best, hoping for no land fall for earl

Tempest · #3 (**permalink**) 08-31-2010

I don't think anyone on the east coast is out of the woods with this storm until we see what develops.

I talked to boat US this morning too. If it's a named storm, and forecast to hit,
They pay half the cost of a haulout...up to $1m

If I don't haul and ride it out in my slip, my deductible jumps up to $3,000.

Right now, I'm planning on staying in the slip. stripping the sails..spider-webbing myself in...lots of fenders....should it come close...

Even if it gusts up to 70 mph +..that's alot of breeze...

SVAuspicious · #4 (**permalink**) 08-31-2010

Filled up water and fuel, changed oil in everything. Standing by before doing anything else.

T37SOLARE · #5 (**permalink**) 08-31-2010

Standing by here as well.

Each run of the models brings it further and further west, the one thing they seem to be having a real issue with is the forward speed, changes every time.

The next 24 hours should tell us central Bay folks whats likely to happen.

As for insurance hauling, I believe you must be in a TS or hurricane Warning location for them to cover the costs. Unfortunately that doesn't give you much of a window...

eryka · #6 (**permalink**) 08-31-2010

We're a 33-ft boat in a newly-rebuilt 50-ft slip with 8' pilings, so if we just center ourselves up in the slip we'll have a rather large buffer on all sides, and not much fetch. We'll take down all the floppy canvas, like the awning and shade screen. Right now the predictions show only about a 10% chance of greater than 34 kt winds @ our location. If that percentage increases tomorrow, we'll take down the roller-furling and add more chafe gear and add extra dock lines ... but not yet.

Bene505 · #7 (**permalink**) 08-31-2010

Quote:

Originally Posted by SVAuspicious

Filled up water and fuel, changed oil in everything. Standing by before doing anything else.

Something here I don't know about. Why chnge the oil now? (Or was it time to change the oil anyway?)

Regards,
Brad

mccary · #8 (**permalink**) 08-31-2010

I feel pretty good, BUT, I also know that hurricanes have a mind of their own. The closest pass puts TS winds in the Hampton Roads area. All it will take is a slight wobble of course and we could have a full blown hurricane come up the Bay. I have been watching Storm Pulse (Stormpulse / Hurricanes, severe weather, tracking, mapping) pretty closely and it could go either way. I think I will head down tomorrow (Wednesday afternoon and do some precautions just to be sure.

This is a zoomed in look at the 8/31/10 17:00 prediction for the closest approach (prediction for Friday 9/3 14:00) to our home waters. If the storm takes the Navy's (light blue line) track the TS storm winds will be at the mouth of the Potomac with the eye of the storm possibly just a couple hundred miles away, way too close for comfort.

Better safe than sorry. The prudent sailor would be wise to reef before the bad wind gets here, so I will go make things ship-shape.

T37Chef · #9 (**permalink**) 08-31-2010

I'm so glad the boat is in a protected marina, I feel for those that are sitting ducks.

These days I worry more about our house than the boat, Isabel dropped 5 huge oak tree on our property, two on the house...which also toke out both our vehicles when the chimney landed on them. Ouch! 3 months later we had cars and house back in order.

So, hopefully we'll be sailing Friday through Monday, and even better would be if the Earl scared away all those pesky stink-potters

eryka · #10 (**permalink**) 08-31-2010

Joe- nice website, thanx for the link! I've bookmarked it to add to my 'collection' of sites to check in bad weather!