Hurricanes and Hidey-Holes

Manhasset, NY

Many parts of our country and the Caribbean have been hit hard recently with a whole series of hurricanes. Harvey, Irma, Jose, Maria… My heart goes out to all those who have lost loved ones, property, livelihoods. I’m horrified by what’s currently happening in Puerto Rico, and the indefensible neglect by our government in its pitiful relief effort there.

As frightening as all of these awful storms have been, life is actually pretty boring here on Valkyrie. Hurricanes have been known to come as far north as Maine, but very rarely; once hitting the cooler northern waters most storms weaken or die out altogether. The season for these colossal storms goes from June first to the end of November, and we were well aware of this when planning the itinerary for our year away. As much as I have not enjoyed the cold climate of New England in September, I am thankful that we have managed to stay relatively safe.

Even so, some of these storms can still wreak havoc long after having been downgraded from hurricane status. The remnants of Jose passed through our neck of the woods last week, and Maria’s distant spinoff will likely impact us a bit tomorrow. What does a live-aboard sailor do during one of these events? We search out unusually tight, safe harbors – “hurricane holes” in sailor speak – and hunker down, preferably on a mooring or in a slip.

Rick and I had spent a lovely few days on Block Island where we enjoyed the eerily deserted off-season anchorage and beach, but with the threat of Jose looming, we up-anchored and headed for Greenport, NY, inside the Long Island Sound. Walter, the man who sold us our boat, is the yard manager at Brewer’s Boatyard, and he secured us a slip to keep us safe from any strong storm effects. The marina was all aflutter with pre-hurricane activity, the yard crew adding extra fenders to various yachts, securing lines and dinghies, moving boats around.

Once in the slip, we had to figure out what to do with our dinghy. This is one of those times when an inflatable would have been much more convenient. You could get away with leaving one of those in the water as along as it was securely tethered inside the slip. But a hard dink could do serious damage to itself by knocking up against the dock, even with fenders. You’re really supposed to lash your dinghy to the deck of your boat, inflatable or not, but Yalma weighs about 160 pounds - almost twice as much as an inflatable would. How do you get her up there?

 

Yalma was really dirty!

Lucky thing about sailboats, there are a myriad of lines and pulleys (they’re called blocks) and things that you can repurpose to do all kinds of jobs. We used the main halyard and winch to pull the dinghy out of the water and onto our cabin top. Jeff, the manager (boss) of the marina, suggested that we remove the two headsails from their rollers as well. He actually gave us a copy of the marina’s home produced list for “Hurricane Preparedness” that included taking down all of your sails and removing your outboard motor from the stern rails. Rick thought all of this was overkill, since Jose was no longer a hurricane after all. All of the northern boaters’ hysteria surrounding this storm reminded me a lot of Baltimoreans when the weather forecast includes one or two snowflakes and the whole town goes nuts emptying out the grocery store shelves. Mysteriously, toilet paper is always the first item to sell out. I've seen people coming out of the store toting twenty-four roll mega packs of TP, barely fitting them into their SUVs. God forbid, you might have a power outage lasting a whole day and then run out of toilet paper!!!

On the other hand, a few years ago Rick and I witnessed what can happen if one of your sails gets loose from its furler. Baltimore had a derecho blow through – a short but intense storm, 70 knot hurricane force winds, very rare – and a neighboring boat had their headsail shredded when it came loose. I knew we’d probably feel stupid if we took extraordinary precautions and then Jose didn’t really amount to much around here, but I also knew that we’d feel really stupid if we did nothing and then suffered damages. I mean, if you’re going to feel stupid either way, I’d rather feel stupid with my equipment intact. We ended up leaving up our mainsail, but putting on extra ties. We completely removed our two headsails from their rollers.We took down our bimini, but left the dodger.

In the end, Jose ended up being a giant dud. We didn’t even get more than a light rain, and the winds, while strong, were just not that bad. But hey, we were in a marina so we got to use the showers and laundry facilities – a complete luxury! We also got to see our wonderful boating friends Rick and Lynne who entertained us with two night’s worth of dinners and companionship in their home near Greenport. No one’s complaining here!

After three days at a slip, we were ready to be off on our own. The winds were still pretty strong though, too strong to sail, so we motored over to anchor near Shelter Island – a great storm hole, hence the name. We stayed there for a few days, waiting out the weather. It was mighty crowded inside the cabin because those sails were still down below, folded up but heavy and very bulky, along with the dinghy inserts and cockpit cushions. Rick and I each had one little place to sit. The internet and phone connections were terrible there too, so boredom and cabin fever quickly set in. No, we didn't run out of toilet paper. 

The View - with Yalma lashed down

Thankfully, after three days, the winds had died down enough to motor down to Manhasset where we grabbed a mooring ball and were finally able to put up our sails and re-launch the dinghy. Now we’re just waiting out Maria.

Trying to get out of the sun and away from the sound of the engine

Mannhasset/Port Washington is a great place to hang out though – access to a great grocery and liquor store, movies and restaurants. There’s been no wind at all, and we’ve been enjoying the Indian summer with temps in the 80’s. Our plan is to leave tomorrow for Sandy Hook, and then do an all nighter for a Cape May arrival on Saturday. No. More. Hurricanes. 

Please.