Last night we had continual rain, mostly heavy, and winds to 50mph. We are certainly fortunate in our positioning here at the Marina. A mega-yacht docked to the north of us and across the pier has helped shield us from wind coming from that direction.
The winds were about 37mph from the north when I got up at 5:30am. Now the direction is NNW at a sustained 30mph with gusts to 40mph. We are feeling more motion with the change in direction as we are less protected from the west. Across the channel we have seen the 5 huge tower cranes swaying in the shipyards, making me very glad we are not on the Portsmouth side! There are steep rolling whitecaps in the ICW, making for very heavy going for a lone sailboat we see anchored in the harbor (featured picture for this post).
With the driving winds and rain we have only had two small areas of minor water intrusion, for which we are grateful.
We have great concerns for Lisa and Al who are getting hammered in Nags Head with 70mph wind and are inundated with water throughout their yard and covering the tires and exhaust pipes of their car and truck!
Update from later today:
Looks like we will be “going no place fast” for a while, as the North Landing Bridge at mile 20 is closed for repairs till Friday at 4pm. So we will be here until then.
It remains to be seen whether we will leave here on Friday to travel to the Atlantic Yacht Basin overnight to be poised to go through the bridge early a.m. (Opens at 6am on the hour and half hour) or leave Norfolk on Saturday. No one answers the phone today at Atlantic Yacht Basin. The other possible “staging” marina, Centerville, does not take boats longer than 34 feet.
Ironically, the weather forecast beginning Tuesday is fine.
We are not too terribly frustrated (yet). This afternoon we walked through heavy gusts and threatening skies to the movies, and emerged into not-quite-as-heavy gusts and beautiful sunny skies. We socialized on one of our new friend’s boats, and just returned and had a quick dinner. Presidential debate in 40 minutes!
9 Responses
If you guys don’t get the heck out of there I’m gonna have to start reading some one else’s sailing blog…
We are drying out. Paddle boarded and kayaked around the neighborhood today-that’s a first. We are still in a moat but hope to be able to get out and about tomorrow.
We hope the forecast for tomorrow is ICW friendly. Hang in there!
The problem is that everyone else heading south has the same exact problem we do. How far did you have to paddle the kayak for the dogs to find dry land?
Wow! I was thinking about you guys and hoping you all were doing well. I wasn’t sure if you had left yet or not, and hoping you guys had hunkered down someplace safe. Which it seems you did. Glad you all are safe! We can discuss the debate later! btw, I am including my personal email so feel free to use all the bad words you want.
Hi Barb – bad word infused email will arrive tonight…
So good to hear you’re doing well. Paul’s parents and his sister had to evacuate and fortunately no damage to either house. Neighbors have reported lots of downed trees, no water and electricity, but otherwise everyone is safe and okay.
You guys missing the boat show in Annapolis? 🙂
Not really missing the boat show that much. I heard it was wet and nasty there. And we’re spending far less money here than if we were at the boat show. Miss you guys!
You two have made excellent decisions and planned well. How are the floating docks working out? You may want to search on ICW information to be sure all is clear on your next part of you journey Good job.
Willis says hello. Woof. Woof.
Thanks Dean. The floating docks are working out great. Very easy. We had thought we may be able to get underway again tomorrow or Tuesday but found out today that one of the opening bridges just 20 miles south of here will be closed until Friday afternoon for repairs resulting from Matthew. We need to confirm this tomorrow, but we may be here even longer.
Glad to hear that you weathered the storm with few problems. Jim and I were thinking of you last night as we watched the weather channel.