EARL Be Comming!!!!!!!

SHIP'S LOG:

Well, so much for the Hurricane season that wasn't! EARL be coming, or so it appears. And with his impending arrival comes "the pondering." Hurricanes are nasty things and require pondering.

The first things to ponder is whether or not it will actually hit where you are. It's real and is currently just north of the Caribbean and churning its way NNW. It is predicted to be off the Carolinas sometime Thursday/Friday but where it goes from there is anybody's guess. Disquietingly, one of the predictions/forecasts/wild-ass-guesses has it hitting southern New England. Can you guess where?

Second ponder, if you think it is going to hit, do you stay or go? To stay mean that I am going to strip the exterior of the boat of anything that increases windage - sails, dinghy, cushions, etc - and trust that the mooring set up I have will do the trick. To go means to pick up and run either to a marina/shipyard and get hauled, or to a "hurricane hole" - an anchorage where you can secure your boat from the ravages of the hurricane. Most marinas will haul you, for a fee - and put you back in for a fee, but you have to get in line and boats at the marina have priority and can bump you from line. And the rush to get hauled will increase as the danger of the storm grows and is realized by the boating public of the area. All the hurricane holes are known and all will be crowded and those that aren't should be considered suspect.

And the pondering takes a certain amount of time. One does not wish to do anything rash and deciding which way to jump, or if a jump is necessary, takes a lot of pondering.

Getting hauled at a marina/shipyard might seem the safest thing, but it costs, lots of buck, especially when one doesn't have any. Add to the the fact that the boatyard where you might want to get hauled for the winter might not be able to haul you out before the onset of EARL. One might end up wintering where one does not wish to winter, or where one can't afford to winter. And then there is the illusion of yards being "safer." Lots of boats lined up close together like dominoes . . .well, all it takes is one and a whole bunches could end up on their sides damage, something the yards are not responsible for, by the way. It is an emergency haul out! Then her was a friend who hauled his boat on a trailer to his very own driveway during the last hurricane only to have a tree fall on it!!!

I was successful during the last hurricane leaving the boat exactly where it was which is exactly where it is. True, someone broke loose and hit me, but the damage was slight and he got more of it than I did. In that my two grounding have rendered my boat "uninsurable," at least to any degree that I can afford, I will strip her for action and watch her ride it out from the deck of TYC with a bottle of rum and undoubtedly a good deal of company from other members. AH, the fun of boat ownership!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

MASTER'S PERSONAL LOG:

Well so much for the hurricane season passing without notice. I am not pleased with the prospect of dealing with another hurricane, but there ain't squat I can do about it. While I still hope and pray it won't hit, I will have to plan that it will. And best of all, there is another one right behind EARL, so if one doesn't get us, the other surely will. I guess last week was the warm up, the rehearsal for what be comin'.