Hurricane preparations
PASSEPARTOUT
Christopher & Nirit Slaney
Fri 26 Aug 2011 19:52
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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
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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