Messing About In Sailboats

Sandy's Devastation Part 1

These two shots were taken by fellow RYC clubmember, Alan Uminski this morning. You can see the full extent of what happened here. Watch in Slideshow mode. It may me weep. Yesterday, there 30-40 boats standing there. Great boats like Sinn Fein, multiple winner of Newport-Bermuda; great boats I crewed on like Bellefaster; great boats like Why Knot,a daysailer clubmate George inherited from his uncle and took loving care of so that he could take his family sailing; great boats like Forbidden, Slice, Poppy, For Sail, Mad Cow and Magic who would race multiple times a week come rain or shine Boats are inanimate objects and it's so much more important that their crews and owners are safe but boats have souls. We lost a lot of souls last night. Read more →

Raritan Yacht Club Devastated

Just received this from club-mate Bob Wardlow. My heart is breaking: Very Bad News... at 6:00pm the intense waves and storm surge from Sandy, breached our yard. All the boats in the yard were knocked off their stands and floated heading toward the west end of the yard. From there the boats were continuously smashed against the yard buildings until the lcoker and ice building gave way colapsing and washing onto the nearby beach. The water was up to the floor of the cupola as of 8:00pm. For the rest of the night I was unable to see more than the outline of the cupola. At this point I don't know how much of the docks have survived. There were a couple of trailered boats that were still standing but I can only image how much damage they sustained by the other boats crashing into them with each oncoming wave.... Read more →

Raritan Yacht Club and Sandy

This photo was taken from the yard at 1600, four hours before high tide, when the wind will be at its highest. Seriously concerned about RYC. Read more →

Sandy GRIBS

I downloaded the GRIBs for Sandy. This tells the story of how long we will be in the middle of this thing. Combined with an especially high tide later tonight, things will get ugly along the shore. At 0800 today the water was over the bulkhead at RYC in Perth Amboy. Very concerned about the next 4+ high tides. Stay safe out there. Read more →

Worrying. Sandy Has Us In Her Crosshairs

Maybe I am being paranoid but in the last 36 hours the sharp end of Sandy's estimated landfall has shifted North from Delaware to the Northern Jersey Shore. According to this Storm Surge projection, Raritan Bay (clumsily-circled in dark blue by me) will see 9-12' storm surges. Thankfully my boat is up the creek at Morgan Marina and hopefully out of reach. When I left RYC yesterday, there were still a handful of boats on their moorings. I fear the worse for them. I also fear for the 40 or so boats in the yard at RYC. They are very exposed. Read more →