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Date: 26 Aug 2011 20:52:31
Title: Hurricane preparations
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York Harbor, Maine.  1500 EDT Friday Aug 26
 
Hurricane Irene is now a category III storm expected off Cape Hatteras in 22 hours time.
 
The last time I went through one of these I was much younger, on the shore and with three friends. The sum total of our preparation was to get
York Harbor
two cases of beer and occupy a shipping container. The storm, Cyclone Trixie, hit us hard and we hit the beer. Problems developed when someone needed to go to the bathroom and, without thinking, we opened the door to the container. The wind caught the big steel door as if it was a piece of cardboard and ripped it out of our hands. Let me just sum up the rest of the night by saying that an open container on a desert shore is no place to ride out a tropical storm. (http://www.bom.gov.au/cyclone/history/pdf/trixie.pdf)
 
Now we have taken all the preparations we can think of. We are moored in a harbour at the entrance to a river. The river makes a ninety degree turn before finding the Atlantic and hopefully this will slow down hurricane-driven swell and storm surge. We have stripped the PASSEPARTOUT of all sails, spray dodger, shade bimini, lines and various other items to leave bare poles and clear decks. Worried that Sunday night might be dangerous, we have taken a room at a small hotel near enough for us to be able to keep an eye on the yacht. We knocked on doors in York village and soon found someone who will let us store our dinghy and outboard while we're at the hotel. Martha and Jay - our dinghy custodians - also presented us with fresh lettuce, tomatoes and basil from their garden. So far, so good.
 
 
 
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