Fleetwing Survives Hurricane Irene!



Fleetwing at PYC - muddy waters

With the approach of Hurricane Irene, we took off the dodger and bimini and all the side curtains along with the jib. We figured, "Why take a chance?" The whole procedure only took about 30 minutes and we were able to rest easy that we did everything prudent to protect Fleetwing. We decided to leave her on the dock rather than do a haulout with yard storage given the amount of trees in the area that could fall. The storm struck on Sunday with some wind and lots of rain, not as much wind but plenty of rain! The docks at PYC are floating docks and they were much higher than normal due to floor waters. The Hudson River does not normally flood, at most it will get 4 to 5 feet above normal but that's it.

Rowing through the PYC parking lot

Coming to the club on Sunday afternoon after the brunt of the storm passed, we found the yard flooded and we waded through knee deep water to reach the clubhouse and I had another wade to reach the docks so I could check on my boat. Fleetwing suffered no damage, thank goodness and we rejoiced in that.

Coming home that evening, we were on the back porch when we heard a tremendous "Crack" and then found our 35 year old willow tree toppled over into the road, bring down the electrical lines and the internet and telephone connections. We were very lucky to get both repaired on Tuesday.

Going up to the boat on Monday, the water had receded somewhat so at least I didn't have to wade over to the dock at low tide but the water was a beet red color, full of sediment. Everything was still okay and when we returned Tuesday, we put the jib, dodger and bimini back on, she looks like Fleetwing again.

Our travel lift - Normally on dry land

Irene was desvastating to the area. There are still 53,000 without power just in our area alone. The ground was saturated with water and many trees fell victim to the winds. We consider ourselves very lucky to only be without power for one day and to have no serious damage to either our boat or house.

We are still planning on starting down the ICW to Florida on 9/15 if the hurricanes hold off long enough. We will not start out if a hurricane is coming up the coast. Wish us luck.