[TAG] Ben's Boat...

[Benjamin A. Okopnik]

On Tue, Aug 17, 2004 at 01:32:43PM -0500, John Karns wrote:
> On Sat, 14 Aug 2004, Ben Okopnik so eloquently said:
> 
> > On Fri, Aug 13, 2004 at 08:16:29PM -0400, Brian Bilbrey wrote:
> > > 
> > > Ben,
> > > 
> > > I didn't catch from your earlier email where your anchorage was, did the
> > > ~ Charley course change spare your boat?
> > 
> > It made it worse, actually - Charlie's eye passed right through St.
> > Augustine, from what I'm told - but my anchors held (I had a friend put
> > out a third one; I normally ride to two anchors, but have _eight_ on
> > board.)
> > 
> > The winds were supposedly in the 70+ knot range (Category 1 hurricane)
> > with 6' seas in the Matanzas river, where I'm actually anchored.  The
> > docks at the nearby city marina took a real pasting, but everything and
> > everybody seems to be OK.
> > 
> > *WHEW*, big-time. When Charlie got up to 145mph, and shifted course to
> > pass dead over St. Augustine, I was _not_ a happy camper.
> 
> We're glad to hear that the boat is still in one piece.  Our thoughts are 
> with those who weren't quite so fortunate.  At least it sounds like it 
> went a little better than Andrew in 1992.

Yeah. Nineteen dead so far (no final count yet), lots of people hurt, at
least $11B worth of property damage (again, not final figure); 300,000
people still without electricity; it was a rough one. 

Quote from CNN:

   Despite the damage, Florida Lt. Gov. Toni Jennings said that her state
   was better prepared for Charley's onslaught than it had been in 1992,
   when Hurricane Andrew, a Category 5 storm with winds topping 155 mph,
   crushed the southern tip of the state from east to west.
   
   "Where we are today is about where we were two weeks after Andrew,"
   Jennings said.

My boat took some damage... from do-gooders without a clue - none from
the hurricane. Nothing major; I spent last night on a tilt (50 degrees
or so at 4 a.m. - low tide) and had to get her off the shoal this
morning, then spent most of today grappling for my anchors (one line
chafed through, and the idiots^Whelpful folks who moved her managed to
lose a 45-lb. anchor and 300' of chain over the side.) Haven't found
them yet - but hooked onto a big Fisherman-type anchor that somebody
else lost here during the last few years, so that's what I'll be using
temporarily.

All in all, normal life in the hurricane zone. :)


* Ben Okopnik * okopnik.freeshell.org * Editor-in-Chief, Linux Gazette *
-*- See the Linux Gazette in its new home: <http://linuxgazette.net> -*-