Ernesto and the Annapolis surge

Well it wasn't Isabel but is sure did spill over the seawall here on Mill Creek.

A "fun" surge for the most part. Took advantage of the water being over the deck of the pier to get a good scrub down below the water line - great when the boat is eye level to you and you don't have to stretch to reach her. Just wear those tall boots.

We did loose a dozen or so planks off the pier, which isn't surprising since it is out into the Severn.


-David
Independence 31
Emerald

Ernesto funnelled into Selby Bay

When I arrived at HPM about 2:40 PM on Friday, the wind and waves had every boat except those in the shore-most half dozen slips on either side of our dock rocking and rolling really violently. This action only picked up as the day went on. Farther out on our dock (the dock that is closest to Selby Bay & therefore taking the brunt of the wave & wind action), a piling pulled or broke loose between two slips & each of the boats in those slips had bow lines attached to it. One of these was a really beamy Benniteau & as a result, she was pushed more toward her starboard side & against the piling at the end of the finger pier (she was bow first into the weather) & rearward closer & closer to the dock...after a few more waves & hobby-horsing up and down, the "swim platform" of her stern came up under the dock footboards & pulled them loose on that end. Then next boat shoreward now also began to move to its starboard & occasionally make contact with the piling at the end of the finger pier between the 2 of them...I began to think that the whole outermost third of the dock was going to eventually disintegrate. I also watched as the wind wormed its way under a dockmate's furled genoa...the wrap of sheets & "safety line" down about head high never came undone, but the wind found an edge up above & eventually pulled as much of the top of the genoa out as it could...hunks of foam luff eventually went flying & then tatters of sailcloth were to follow...another boat began the same process but some of my dockmates jumped on her & turned the roller furling a few more wraps...not certain how that genoa faired as there was still a foot or 2 at the top catching the wind...more than one boat had lines part (I was glad that I had doubled mine on Thursday) & although the crew at the marina claimed that they had been tying and re-tying boats all day long (and I saw them in action at least once), it was my dockmates --heck, I even jumped on a neighbor's boat to retie a stern line to pull it away from its finger pier and piling--who were doing most of the work on others' boats & on the next dock over, too, while I was there...we took a break for dinner & came back around 9...still 3 hours before high tide...the parking lot was under 6" - 8" of water at that point & the waves were lapping over & banging through from under the footboards of the dock...I guess the level of the water was about 3" under the footboards with all that time to go before high tide...meanwhile, the wind was whistling (according to my hand-held wind gauge) at 35 - 40 kts in a pretty sustained fashion (we had seen mid-40kt gusts earlier) and, believe me, when one's face is struck by rain drops propelled by winds of that magnitude, one senses more than a slight stinging sensation...in fact, earlier in the day, the mgr of the marina said that although the flooding wasn't as bad (yet) as Isabelle, he thought the wind was worse 'cuz it had a clear shot at the marina given its direction! Incidentally, I had to question his professional capabilities when he asked 2 or 3 of us what he thought should be done about a) the piling that had come loose and b) what should or could be done to secure the 2 - 5 boats that were on that side of the dock where I mentioned all the problems were occurring. I'm pretty sure that the highest wind reading from Thomas Point Light during all of this was a gust at about 53mph.

I left between 9:30 & 10:00PM after witnessing a dockmate/friend fall into the drink while trying to board another friend/dockmate's boat (mistimed his step onto the toe rail of the foredeck area as it bobbed up and down)...I was on the finger pier closer to the dock when this happened as I was supposed to board the boat after him & had to assist in pulling him out & onto the finger pier (thank goodness there were still 2 of us on the dock to pull him onto the finger pier as I don't think I could have managed it myself)...no injuries sustained but it looked touch-and-go for a few seconds as the Pearson 39 pithched and yawed & narrowed the gap between her hull and the finger pier with Clay in between the two. Another reason that had me thinking about leaving was that I was shivering uncontrollably 'cuz my foulies were on board Spirit (even if I could have gotten on to her, and there was some doubt in my mind that I could, I didn't see how I could get off her given how violently she was pitching & how shaky the finger pier can be sometimes) & my jeans were soaked clear through--adding what seemed like an extra 20 pounds to me from the waist down. So, after some soul-searching & thinking that I was going to be pretty useless in my hypothermic state, I left, hoping for the best & if not, well, hoping insurance would cover my losses. As soon as I got into my car, I stripped my soaked jeans off & drove home in my u-trow:redface: , hoping that I'd not have a flat tire, accident, or be stopped by the police for whatever reason!:0305_alar

From what I understand, no real catastrophies ensued & things are pretty much back to normal...I haven't been over yet, still toying with the idea of going today & if not today, for sure tomorrow.


Regards,

Ed

I'm happy to report that we had no damage at Herrington Harbor North. The new jetty they built this summer is probably the most likely reason there was little damage. We were able to salvage the Labor Day weekend sailing excursion and enjoyed a very nice weekend. We left Saturday evening for Dun Cove and enjoyed calm seas, a gentle breeze [we motored] and a great 3 qrt moon to show us the way. We heard from friends who arrived a few hours earlier that the bay was a mixing bowl in the afternoon with waves in every direction. Dun Cove was calm and typically beautiful. Sunday we headed for San Domingo Creek. The only waves at all during our stay on the hook there were from the crab boats, which to us seemed to take particular pleasure in throwing as big a wake as possible as early in the dawning hours as possible.

People said we were crazy!

Last Friday, during the storm, I actually took part in a sea trial. We just sold our "good old" Hunter 285, after buying our E-32. The surveyor was going on vacation for two weeks and the broker was sailing away on Monday so the new owner of our 285 wanted to do the sea trial come hell or high water. Well, he got half of his wish.:eek: It was the quickest sea trial in maritime history, I think, because we motored from Port Annapolis to the mouth of Back Creek and then returned to the slip. Maybe ten minutes. No sails, of course, in the 30-knot winds but the owner sure got a good feel as to how a Hunter 285 with a Yanmar two handles in a high wind. He was happy, I was happy, the surveyor was happy along with the broker so the deal is done and we should get our check this week.

Now, today (Tuesday), I'm sitting in our 32 in a slip at St. Mike's and glad we're in our 32 and not the Hunter. Been rockin' and rollin' all day with lots of rain.

A Couple of Miles

Very interesting! Here on the Eastern Shore we had a pretty good high tide on Friday night and Saturday, actually all weekend, and some wind, my guess 20 to 30 with an occasional gust above, which was over by dawn on Saturday, but nothing like Ed describes. Saturday was a cold drizzle with little to no wind. We went to Queenstown on Sunday, which was a motor, but the sun came out and it turned out pretty nice. Monday started out very nice as we sailed back to Rock Hall / Swan Creek, but ran out of wind around 1 PM, or so. Looked like some weather headed up the Bay behind us, which turned to light shower around 5 or so for the drive home.

Oddly enough, when we got home [Bucks County, PA] we found a lot of wind damage and much more rain then we saw on the Bay. Again, interesting what a couple of miles can do when it comes to weather. Cold and rainy here now with a flood watch [Tues. evening]. Go figure

Deale conditions

When I checked on Kokomo late Friday afternoon instruments showed sustained 25 knots with gustst to 30.

High water based on the shore vegetation debris line was 2-3 feet above normal high tide level. That would have peaked at about the level of our pier decking. Friday and Saturday at least the level showed most of the time at one foot below the decking.

At its worst at Selby Bay...

The high tide was higher than the footboards of the dock & I'm guessing more than a foot at some points in the parking lot of the marina & there was a lot of debris on the dock from stuff that had been floating in the water & was left behind when the waters receded. We went over yesterday to adjust the lines & I found out that the spring line on the starboard side of Spirit had parted...but none of the others did...my doubling of the stern and bow lines on Thursday may have been of some use & she remained within the confines of her slip w/ no rubbing. This wasn't the fate of many of our dockmates' boats...some had minor damage where the lines wore a groove in wooden toe rails or cap rails because the boats rose so high on the high tide & the lines were looped around pilings that were lower than those portions of the boats at that point and too taut for the circumstances. Other boats had pulpit and stanchion damage due to sever rubbing or crashing into portions of the dock and/or pilings. Others still had severe rubbing and banging marks along their hulls, rub rails, and toe rails & more than one had chocks pulled loose--the cleats held on the boats held, but the chocks through which the dock lines traveled on their way from the pilings to the cleats were just worked loose. Most of the damage was sustained by the larger boats as the slips (now with the advantage of hindsight) just don't seem to be wide enough for these boats. If owners wanted to slacken their lines to allow for the abnormally high tide, the boats would crash into the pilings and/or finger piers on the sides (or into the boat in the next slip!! ). If the lines were kept taut to keep from hitting the sides, they were too taut when the water rose & didn't allow the boats to rise w/o the lines doing damage to parts of the boat from rubbing/chafing. One might say that this is exactly the reason that owners and/or marina crew should be standing by during such a storm in order to adjust the lines. I have to tell you, that when it was at its worst while I was there, it was almost impossible to adjust lines given the forces of the wind and water...easing them off was possible, but one ran the risk of not being able to stop them from "easing" once one had started to do so. And forget tightening them up...even if one could get an end around a winch, then undo the portion of the line on the cleat...I saw one owner struggle with all of his might trying to crank his boat farther to the port side of his slip to get his starboard side off a piling. All of this assumes that one was able to even board one's boat (I couldn't reach Spirit to board her when we came back from dinner...and, then, had I been able to get on to her, how could I get off safely?)!

Because Spirit sits in a slip that has been thought by us to be too big for her, she could pitch and yaw to her heart's content & not come into contact w/ unforgiving pilings, finger piers, or the dock.

I think that all of the reports of lighter winds and smaller high tides in other areas of the Chesapeake just a few miles away were because these areas had land structures or formations and/or breakwaters/jetties to dampen the effects of Ernesto...had "he" had the ability to gather up steam across a wide area like the South River and Selby Bay with nothing to deflect or deter him, I think these other locations would have seen similar conditions...40kts was not unusual Friday night at HPM & TPL clocked a gust at slightly over 45kts (approx. 53mph). From the posts of what happened along Long Island and around the LI Sound in CT & RI, the wind had an open run at a lot of those locations, too, and was, apparently, even stronger (according to one post, the low pressure tropical depression, Ernesto, was strengthened up that way by bumping into a high pressure system inching its way down from Canada).

Oh well, nobody was injured in our neck of the woods & it's all just boat units to get the damage repaired, huh?

Regards,

Ed

Just north of Selby Bay

We spent Friday night on our boat in her slip at Severn House marina on Back Creek (3.5 miles N. of Selby Bay). In hindsight, after reading Ed's post, I'm not sure it was such a good idea. I was concerned about the tide surge and the need for adjusting our lines (our slip is a bit too narrow for our boat). It seemed the only way I would be able to tend to the lines was to sleep aboard. Thankfully, Back Creek was more sheltered than Selby Bay.

We arrived at the dock about 8:30 PM to find the port forward rub rail scraping wood off the piling at the end of the finger pier. She was bow in, facing north and the northeast wind was blowing her right into the piling. We managed to take in some line on the starboard bow line, enough to get her off the piling (leaving her close enough to board) and then added an extra line to the starboard bow. The gusts that came through were enough to make her heal over as if under sail.

I set an alarm to get up at midnight to check the lines and then again at 2 am (approximate high tide). The water did not come up as much as I expected, never rising above the boards on the finger pier. At 2 am I was satisfied that she would ride out the remainder of the night ok (the wind seemed to have come around more northerly and wasn't blowing us over so much, or maybe had just settled down some). It was eerie to awake in the morning to such a relative calm. Walking the docks of Severn House, we didn't see much damage other than a few boats having rubbed on some pilings. The woody debris that dribbled down the topsides of Red Rover where her rub rail rubbed on the piling washed off easily and there appears to be no harm done to the gel coat -- I'm glad to have gotten her off the piling when I did!

I'm not sure what I'll do if a bigger storm targets our area. I'd hate to be aboard if boats upwind of us break lines and start banging about. However, I don't know how to adjust my dock lines to the outer pilings if we get a big tidal surge without being aboard (plus my condo is 50 miles from Annapolis). At least my slip is on a bulkhead along the shore and not on a dock so I don't have to worry about a dock breaking up between me and the shore!

John
E-38, Red Rover

video link during "calmer" portions of Ernesto

Taken via digital camera by a dockmate around noon on 9/2 in Selby Bay, Edgewater, MD, off the South River...about an hour after the first high tide of the day...the second occurred near midnight Friday night...winds at this time were of the 20 - 30 kt variety w/ occasional gusts into the high 30s & maybe straying into the low 40s...

Near the end, he tries to capture the height of Ernesto at this location, but it's too dark to see despite his "death ray" foredeck lights...in the audio, you can hear him mention something about somebody's having an engine on...a dockmate started up his engine in an effort to move his boat away from the dock & finger pier piling/dockage to adjust his lines...he has reported that he was marginally successful with that manuever in that he was able to adjust one spring line.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxmU39rM6vo


Regards,

Ed

Ernesto...

I left the Coan River Marina thursday after tieing additional lines; watched the weather channel at home. I'm still sort of stunned how the storm was played down. Weather man on the beach in wilmington saying Saturday will be great; don't let the storm keep you away from the holiday weekend. The marina had worse damage than Isabel; 2 sunk boats ; some on the junk heaps that were formerly docks. A liveaboard charter operater said he clocked winds at 60 (i don't know whether it was knots of mph); a silverton on my right which was tossed like a marshmallow on thursday, sunk on Friday after taking out the piling i was tied to; I shoved a Beneton 33 to the left; it ended up on the dock. It's an very interesting point made in an earlier post about the slips being too narrow; although that was not the root cause of this domino effect, it would be comforting to have more wiggle room. In the meantime we're without slips; little prospect of when they'll be rebuilt or even have the boats unstacked. Really quite depressing.

Wow

That's a lot more damage than we sustained at Holiday Pt Marina in Selby Bay. On the other hand, and I have to stipulate that I'm not a dock engineer (if such a position exists), those pilings don't appear to be all that thick in the first place.

I don't doubt the strength of the wind and water, but what did the condition of the dockage wood look like (i.e., no rot)? Just curious given the apparent size of the pilings.

Sure hope your damage doesn't prove to be too substantial. Good luck!

Regards,

Ed

ernesto

I think you're right about the smallish looking pilings. That dock used to be
30' slips. After Isabel, they rebuilt as 35. So now instead of 28' boats in there; they've got 33 - 34' boats. Plus they had a concrete boat at the end of the dock that the owner says was about 14 tons; broke loose did some damage then went aground.