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| Dinghy lashed on foredeck amongst a forest of masts |
The most important element of storm preparation was securing Kelly IV safely. Having the boatyard haul her out and set her up safely on shore accomplished that. Also, there must be no opportunities for the storm winds to damage Kelly's canvas or equipment. Even before hauling Kelly, I had removed the sails and stowed them below decks. In addition, I rigged a crane using the whisker pole and some block and tackle to hoist the dinghy onto Kelly's foredeck. Once lashed into place, the dinghy was not only secured, but also covered the hatch in the foredeck and the starboard side portlight insuring no leaks in those places.
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| Soloar panels tied down |
Once on shore, I took off the bimini and the dodger and lashed down the solar panels so they wouldn't move in the high winds. I wrapped the loose cockpit cushions into a single bundle wrapped in canvas and stuffed them under shock cords so they couldn't be blown away. I also stowed the fenders into the small space between the aft seat and the steering wheel so they wouldn't catch the wind either.
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| Canvas and cockpit prepared for the storm |
I took the four halyards and ran them so they were additional supports for the mast. One along the forestay, another by the backstay and one port, the other starboard, each along the shrouds. Other gear, like the anchors and diesel jerry cans were already lashed down. The docklines and anchor lines were checked and confirmed secure.
Saturday evening brought rising winds as Irene bullied into town. The storm center was many miles inland by this time, enough so that the winds in Rockland stayed out of the south and southwest. This meant the harbor was much better protected than if the storm winds had come from the east, straight into the mouth of the harbor. Although it was noisy and windy through the night, I slept fine only waking twice, enough to confirm there were no problems and fell back to sleep without even climbing out of my bunk.
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| Irene in Journey's End Marina |
Dawn was barely discernible as Sunday's gray morning was nearly as dark as Saturday's night. Periods of rain punctuated the hard driven winds, now blowing gale force or stronger. Kelly IV stood firm with minimal vibrations of her mast when bludgeoned by the strongest gusts. I walked around the boatyard between rainfalls and saw that all was well, despite the roaring wind and whistling lines of the sailboats.
I spent midday Sunday using the internet in the marina office and reading my book. Early afternoon found me pushed down the street to a local pub where I found the Steelers playing the Falcons. For about an hour the sun peeked from behind the clouds and the winds quieted. I suspect that was the storm's eye as the gray clouds and blustery breeze soon came back to storm strength.
The storm winds buffeted my stroll into an uphill hike as I returned to Kelly IV. All was well on board, the lashings securing the gear in the face of the 40 knot bully. High tide came about 11pm, and it was a very high tide. The marina staff had earlier expressed concern about the floating docks floating free of their pilings in an extremely high tide. The piers and piles were bouncing at the top of their reach in the washing machine waves, but none were high enough to be damaged.
Once again, I slept well through the night and by morning all was normal. The breeze still persisted, but was down to about 20 knots, a normal wind for these coastal waters. The brilliant sunshine brightened the outlook for continuing our journey along the coast of Maine.
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| Irene batters boats at their moorings. Glad Kelly IV was hauled out! |
Kelly IV and I have now travelled over 2177 nautical miles from Erie, PA and weathered a major storm without incident.
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