Chapter 36: Whew!

Well, we made it. Hurricane Idalia has come and gone, leaving us with no damage. THANK YOU JESUS!

Several of you felt we should have evacuated and that people who choose to “ride out” hurricanes are crazy. We agree-they are. We stayed for a few reasons:

1. The hurricane was forecasted to weaken to tropical storm strength by the time it reached us
2. Brunswick, Georgia is a famous “hurricane hole” offering excellent shelter from storm surge
3. Several long-time cruisers in our marina shared advice, stayed and felt this was an okay decision
4. It was a way for us to experience severe weather in a fairly controlled setting where we had a lot of help available should we need it. It’s an experience we need to have.

So, we stayed. Overall, we’re glad we did. We got very little rain here (all the rain was to the west), which was good because the rain we did get showed us a few leaks we have yet to fix-including one over our bunk! We did get a LOT of wind, with gusts reaching 90 knots on one occasion. However, our winds were generally consistent in the 40-50 knots range. The whole thing lasted about 8 hours and that was during daylight, which really helped. Our preparations were adequate on the whole. One of the stainless steel fittings on the dodger came loose because of a faulty set screw-it’s new so this was its first real test. That was pretty minor. But we did have an issue with our forestay.

If you recall, we are in the process of replacing our chainplates. Those are the connections between the wire holding up the mast and the hull of the boat-pretty important. We are missing the chainplates for our forestay (runs to the front of the boat) and the two cap shrouds (run to the sides). At the last minute, I got a brainstorm! I bolted our old backstay to the forestay location to use as a temporary forestay plate. It actually fit! Then I lashed the forestay to the temporary chainplate with Dyneema and a shackle. This is where our lack of experience showed. First, although I have read a lot about line chafe leading to failures, I hadn’t experienced it. Dyneema is VERY strong. Still, it chafed through and let go in less than two hours. That left our forestay flailing around in the wind and banging on the deck-not cool. Up we went up to wrestle it back into place using a carabiner instead -problem solved. I thought. Until it let go again. Why? Because Bob forgot to secure the pin on the shackle with seizing wire. The pin came out and off went the forestay into the wind again. Back up on deck we went, new shackle and seizing wire in hand – Kim trying to hold the forestay in place while I attached the shackle and seizing wire. This arrangement outlasted Idalia-Hooray! Lessons learned.

Throughout the storm, we checked our dock lines and fenders hourly and they all held well so, after all was said and done, we came through without damage and with some valuable experience. Whew! Oh, and with another hatch replacement to add to the list (leaking on the bed-not cool!).

P.S. from Kim

What a week! As Bob shared we did indeed learn a lot and it was a valuable experience. We are grateful to all of you who checked on us before, during and after the storm. Your concern and prayers were very much appreciated! I also wanted to say how grateful I am that we were in this marina and have such good boat neighbors. In both instances when the forestay let loose, both neighbors as well as other boat owners who we have never met, came immediately to offer assistance. The marina staff were onsite all day and responding to concerns or requests for help quickly including the owner of the marina who worked alongside the boat owners to keep their vessels safe. The cruising community truly is that – a community and for that we are very grateful!

Back to work!