Thank you for sharing this, Bruce. So glad you and your wife and the senior citizen residents and Tampa-area people in general were spared. And of course it’s wonderful to hear that your C&C Astralis survived the hurricane. It’s a valuable lesson, what is really important.
To not detract from this thread, I’ll start another thread with a not-so-good tale of Irma’s impact. Cheers, Randy Stafford S/V Grenadine C&C 30-1 #7 Ken Caryl, CO > On Sep 14, 2017, at 6:51 AM, Bruce Whitmore via CnC-List > <cnc-list@cnc-list.com> wrote: > > Hello all, > > I thought I would share our story about Irma: > > As we prepared for Irma late last week, we went from “It looks like it’s > going to miss us, but let’s prepare anyway”, to “this could be really bad, > but we’ll be OK at home”, to evacuation in anticipation of a catastrophic > hit. In that process, we resigned ourselves to the idea that flooding and/or > structural damage to the house plus the total loss of our boat was highly > likely. That realization was both sobering and enlightening. We figured out > we could prepare for an extended uncertain future and fit much of what was > really important to us (other than Astralis, of course!) in one car, and we > gained a lot of clarity as to what is, and is not really important to us. > > Thankfully for us (though not for many here in Florida) Irma weakened > dramatically after ravaging Marco Island about 3:30 PM and moved inland. We > were fortunate enough to be able to seek protection in a senior living > facility where my wife works. As I helped my wife assist the resident > senior citizens (many with memory & physical disabilities), we put on calm > faces while we anxiously waited for nearly 12 hours, expecting Irma to > devastate Tampa. Then we watched as four things slowly happened: > > Irma took a path inland a bit, robbing it of warm moisture from the Gulf, and > directing the eye away from Tampa > The storm sped up from about 8 mph to 12-14 mph, indicating the storm would > not stay long, and its strength would dissipate > Sheering winds bought dry air in from the east, which by late in the evening > could be seen as wrapping nearly all the way around the eye reducing the > power of the hurricane > The winds dropped on the west/southwest side of the storm, virtually > eliminated the destructive storm surge that had been predicted – Massive > amounts of water had been sucked out of Tampa Bay, but the expected 8+ feet > of storm surge didn’t materialize, and it returned without much fanfare > > The final chapter of this short story is that we got to Astralis, our 1994 > C&C 37/40+ yesterday, and found that she was floating nicely, the rudder had > been jammed over from sitting on the sandy bottom but was otherwise OK, and > we there was evidence of 2 previously unknown minor deck leaks over the stern > berth. Everything else was remarkably fine. The marina had already replaced > a torn-out lonesome post, and it was clear to us that had the storm hit much > harder, things would have been very, very different. A little bit of further > irony struck us as we realized that when we bought her on February 1st, she > sat down in Marco Island. Had we not moved her to Tampa, she would have > likely been a total loss. > > This was our first hurricane, having moved to Florida from Chicago only 2 > years ago. We had a chance to see, first hand, how communities pull together > to prepare for hurricanes, hunker down and help ease each other’s fears as > they grasp the idea of losing their homes and most prized possessions, and > help clean up the aftermath. Yet, our local damage is nothing like that > incurred by so many others across the state. > > Gratefully, > > Bruce Whitmore > > (847) 404-5092 (mobile) > bwhitm...@sbcglobal.net > _______________________________________________ > > This list is supported by the generous donations of our members. If you wish > to make a contribution to offset our costs, please go to: > https://www.paypal.me/stumurray > > All Contributions are greatly appreciated!
_______________________________________________ This list is supported by the generous donations of our members. If you wish to make a contribution to offset our costs, please go to: https://www.paypal.me/stumurray All Contributions are greatly appreciated!
