Ericson 25 and Ivan

[Brian Lowman]

Well, we are still getting over Hurricane Ivan in the Pensacola area and I thought you would like to see how my '73 Ericson 25 withstood the storm.

Gypsy Rose

If you look closely in the center of the photo, you will see a red sailboat sitting on the dock. Our marina was the only serviceable marina in Pensacola after the storm, but we were hit with a 14 foot storm surge that left Gypsy Rose on the dock. 4 other boats were knocked loose and she was the only one not holed.

Thanks to her full keel and nice, rounded bottom (board up) she came through with only some piling rash, which I hope to cure when I can get her into a repair facility. The insurance company (BoatUS, which was great to work with) could have totaled her (against my wishes), but the agent said that since she was such a beautiful boat and in such good condition, he would lower the claim to 59% (60% = totaled and I would have lost her to them).

Most people do not realize how devastating the storm was, but every other marina in Pensacola was either severely damaged or totally destroyed. You can go to pensacolanewsjournal.com and view their photo archives to see what happened. I live in Navarre (20 miles from Pensacola) and am a Park Ranger at our beach state park and we still do not have utilities out on the beach or at the park as of yet.

Needless to say, I love my Ericson 25, hope to get her 'pretty' again soon, and then resume my other fix up/upgrade projects.

Brian Lowman
s/v Gypsy Rose

 

[Loren Beach]

Congrats on keeping your boat!
(no photo, but I get the picture, as it were...)

Best,
Loren

 

[Brian Lowman]

Picture

Loren,

I could not insert or attach a photo. What am I doing wrong?


Brian Lowman

 

[Loren Beach]

Like finding my house, I just drive there without really thinking about it too much... Then, someone asks me for precise directions!
I shall attach a small picture or our boat taken last January during a freezing rain event (or "ice storm" as most of us call it).
Below this text box is an area called Additional Options. Second item down, in small blue print is a box that sez Attach Files. I click on the button that sez Manage Attachments.Then I get a new dialog box that lets me Upload File. I click on the button for Choose File. This brings up the ancient (well, ancient for a Mac) standard box to navigate to a folder or to, in this case, my Desktop. There I have the file I have already trimmed to size and saved for this example. Sorry it is only a cold Olson 34 and not an Ericson 25!
I click once on the file I want, amidst the mess of files sitting on my virtual desktop. I click on the "Choose" box and the description appears in the Manage Attachments box, and then all that is left is to click on Upload, and close that window.
I look over this bunch of text to try and catch the obvious misspellings, and click on Submit Reply.
Best,
Loren in PDX

 

[Brian Lowman]

Ericson 25

I think I finally got the hang of attaching a photo. If you look closely in the cneter of the photo you will see Gypsy Rose resting on the dockl.

Brian Lowman

 

[Loren Beach]

Having read about and seen the photos from other Ericson owners in your general area, I believe that I prefer our freezing rain over your 14 foot storm surges....


I just got home from checking on our lines and fenders, as we are having winds of 24 kt gusting to 35 today, as a low pressure area moves into western Oregon. Even on a river we can get a lot of large wind waves and whitecaps with about a 5 mile fetch (wind is blowing right down the river from out of the Columbia Gorge). Nice knowing that I already hauled my sails and canvas home for the winter.

I hope that you get your boat re-floated OK.

Best,
Loren in PDX

 

[gareth harris]

Well, at least you do not need to pay for a haul out to inspect for hull damage. I had Freyja trucked out to storage on the Erie canal (only inside storage I could find to rip up the deck) on thursday, and will be heading out myself to start repairs next wednesday, after my court showdown with Brown Marine on tuesday; but if you would like an extra set of eyes to assess for repairs, I could come by monday or tuesday.
Photos of Bayou Grande the day after the storm are in the Gulf Coast section.

Gareth
Freyja E35 #241 1972