DaySailer.org Forum

Here is a picture of my foredeck crew inspecting the boat after the ice storm that hit the Northwest coast the night of December 14:

It looks like a close call, but the tree aft of the boat came down prior to my parking on the street. The close call was what happened within an hour of my moving the trailer off of its pad under the gum trees next to the house:

There are still so many widowmakers that I had to take Blue Moon to the boatyard.

We back up to a steep forested ridge, with all the service lines placed aesthetically out of sight of the street along an easement at the edge of the woods; that is to say, exposed along their full length to anything that falls. We were camping in a dark house for six nights until power was restored by athletic linemen who had to climb each pole (no way to use their equipment because of that aesthetic placement) in the dark and rain. Any of you with larger boats, think about that the next time you have to go up the mast to retrieve a halyard.

at least you and family are uninjured. everything else is just stuff that be repaired or replaced

True. And we got off easy. Two houses uphill from us, a tree came through the roof. I haven't heard any horror stories of crushed boats, but there were lots of smashed cars.

Glad to know you faired well. Ice storms can cause a lot of damage. I remember one in the late 90's here in central Texas. A lot of the area was without power for about a week. When I would go out to feed the horses in the morning, you could here large oak trees splitting of branches or breaking and crashing down from the weight of the ice. The sound would come from several directions both near and far.

John

Yeah, the oaks had a lot of damange, and many of them will have to be removed. In a place as heavily forested as this, it's hard to find a place to store a boat that isn't threatened. If it's not ice and snow (which take out the deciduous trees), it's wind (which takes out the shallow-rooted fir and pine). So I'm now up to $50/month for storing boats at the boatyard.

talbot wrote:Yeah, the oaks had a lot of damange, and many of them will have to be removed. In a place as heavily forested as this, it's hard to find a place to store a boat that isn't threatened. If it's not ice and snow (which take out the deciduous trees), it's wind (which takes out the shallow-rooted fir and pine). So I'm now up to $50/month for storing boats at the boatyard.

Don't feel too bad Talbot: I'm paying almost $100/mo here to store one boat, 15 miles from home, and I can't even leave the mast up because it's 1/2 mile to the ramps. But I've learned very quickly to count my blessings out here ...