Tropical Storm Hanna Passes off our coast

Here's a very short video I took this morning of Hanna's effects at our house. Just a lot of rain with occasional wind gusting to as much as 30mph.



It's supposed to be sunny tomorrow

Ike is heading toward florida and doesn't look very nice.

And speaking of grounded boats....

My uncle- Captain Jerry, is the man who put the sailing bug into me at an early age. Captain Jerry currently keeps his sailboat on a mooring in St. Augustine FL. When TS FAY came through a couple of weeks ago, "Poppie" broke free of her mooring and was driven ashore during the abnormally high tide associated with the storm. I was in Bristol at the time and Jerry called me and asked me to go up and give him the 'low down' on the boat's situation. Jerry lives in Hickory, NC and would be planning on heading down to take care of the grounded boat in the following week.

When I got home, Jan and I went up to St. Augustine to check out the status of 'Poppie'. Driving along the waterfront just south of the marina, it wasn't hard to spot the tall mast - at an angle - and closer to houses than a mast of that sort should be. As we pulled into the driveway of the house where the boat was currently aground, the caretaker of the house was out on the dock looking at the 36 foot Freeport.

I got out of the car and introduced myself and he was very glad to see me. He'd not heard anything from anyone and was wondering when the boat would be addressed. It turned out that Ted was a super nice guy and I let him know that Jerry would be coming down within a week to take care of it.

UPDATE: I spoke to Jerry yesterday and they had to get a barge crane in there to get the boat out. It's currently tied up at a dock while the insurance adjuster starts his process of figuring the damage.

Miss Janella Aground Again

My first cruising boat - a 26 foot Grampian Sloop now lives on a mooring in the town that I live in. I bought Miss Janella from a charity in 2001. In 2003, I decided to completely refit her. I then sailed her from Kitty Hawk to Key West. She spent the winter in Key West with us and then I brought her up to our new home in Port Orange in late May 2005. Sometime later that year, I advertised her in the paper for sale and she was snapped up by a local guy. The marina where I kept her then go bought out by a condo developer, so everyone in that marina had to move their boats elsewhere. Marina slips are on a 2 year average wait list and so the new owner decided to moor her out - just about 200 yards off the ICW.

This time (because of TS Fay) is not the first time she's broken away from her mooring and in times past - I've gone to the guy's house to let him know. I'm going to just mind my own business this time.

Not liking this....

Hurricane Hanna is going to pay us 'some kind' of a visit later this week. The western part of our county is still under 3 feet or water or more from the 20+ inches of rain that Fay left behind. I'm supposed to fly out to So. California on thursday evening to attend the Saturday memorial service of Rob Kells - a long time hang gliding friend and business competitor of mine. Rob died a few weeks ago of prostate cancer. Hanna may change my plans on that.