Hurricane "Matthew"

Tuesday October 4, 2016

Tide Hiker's adventures continue. We have been watching "Matthew" with increasing interest for a few days, and last night the forecast track made a distinct turn to the West and pointed pretty much at Charleston. The ETA is Thursday night/Friday morning. This morning the marina is a hive of activity.

Some people believe that the best thing to do is get hauled and stored on land. Boat owners can purchase "hauling insurance" from local boatyards, and many do. However, if it is a "real hurricane" boats stored in yards will tend to topple over in winds over 100 MPH and that's not good. And I called "our boatyard" and they had "no vacancies".

The problem with our marina - the Patriots Point Marina - is exactly that - its on a point and very exposed. Plus it has no "hard" break-wall. Plus the slips are moored with chains and not pylons, meaning that the floating docks could be dragged under the water in the surge. We knew all that when we took the slip but decided to take the risk and now we are paying the price! We spent the morning stripping Tide Hiker of canvas and potential "missiles".

The marina management organized a meeting on the dock at 12 Noon to discuss alternatives. there were two, neither good.

Choice I: Take Tide Hiker up the Cooper river "as far as we can go" which is only about 15 miles up river and anchore. There was a local captain who was organizing to take a group of boats and anchor them in the old rice fields. They would arrange transport back to the marina. The river is navigable about 50 miles up to the damn at Lake Marian - but unfortunately there is a low railway bridge about 15 miles up river. It requires 6 hours notice to open and none of the phone numbers were being answered!

Choice II: Stay at Patriot's Point. There were plenty of reasons we did not want to stay - it seemed inevitable that Tide Hiker was going to have a very hard time and she would be damaged. But it seemed better than the unknown of anchoring in a hurricane, and so we decided to stay. With that in mind we headed to the local boat store and purchased 5 new fenders (We already have seven!). After the Canadian trip we have plenty of lines.

Our previous marina at the IOP is much more protected. Last night I emailed a bunch of our boating friends asking if they knew of a vacant 50' slip. I followed up with a few phone calls after lunch and hit gold - we had a slip at the IOP.

We were on our way by 4.00 PM. The wind was up to about 30 MPH and there is a strong current in the marina. I screwed up the departure and came so close to wiping out the moored boats on the other side of the fairway. But otherwise the 10 mile ride was windy but uneventful

Wednesday October 5, 2016

Nothing interesting today. I spent the morning attaching fenders to the dock (Our usual "hanging fenders" are no use in a hurricane as the wind blows them out of place.) At noon I called in on 21 Yacht Harbor to meet the tenant and check the house preparation. Rest of the day Deidre and I cleared the decks and taped, bungied, zip-tied or otherwise secured everything exposed on deck.

Later in the day I rode (on a bike) 13 miles over to Patriots Point to pick up our car. Charleston was quiet and looking a bit deserted. There seemed to be a police car at every intersection.

Thursday, October 6th, 2016

I thought I would only need the morning to complete Tide Hiker's preparation but did not eventually leave the marina until about 4 PM. However, I am now satisfied that everything that we could do to protect Tide Hiker has been accomplished. We have been able to secure Tide Hiker 3' to 4' off the dock so she can bounce around without crashing into the dock - otherwise she could actually beat the dock to pieces.

I put a request on the IOP "Neighbors" website for a medical type to remove the two stitches in my head (resulting from the skin doctor visit Friday) and a local orthopedic doctor met me at the marina and nipped them out. Nice guy!

The Pilot House is stacked with canvas and gear.

Tide Hiker is held about 3' off the dock, with double spring and breast lines.

Four sets of double lines hold her away from the dock. We are lucky that the adjacent dock is vacant

I think the weakest exposure is the stern lines to the dock as they have to be so short.

All our lines were chafe protected and were tied and/or zip tied in place.

We called in at the "young Taylor's on the way to the "old Taylor's". We are not thrilled that they have decided to stay put for the storm.

The old Taylor's house on "French's Creek" in Huger is adjacent to the Francis Marion Forrest and about 25 miles from the ocean. I am told that the house is protected from the wind (as its in a 20' "hollow") but since its on a creek is subject to flooding! The creek is not really a creek, but a canal dug by slaves in the 1700's in an attempt to drain more of the forest for agriculture.

The house is elevated 21 steps, but the "lower level" is very nicely finished with a fully equipped play room and a great workshop. During the October 2015 "1,000 year rainstorm" the house was flooded in about 5' of water and the Taylor's have really just finished the renovation! The creek is already almost breaking its banks when we arrived because the local dams are releasing water in anticipation of 10' of rain this week.

A "Hurricane party" was in full swing when we arrived. We watched Matthew made landfall in Florida.

Friday October 7, 2016

Please note we do not have phone service here. AT&T does not reach Huger. However we do have WiFi so we are receiving and sending email.

Still all calm this morning. Matthew's projected track and schedule did not change much during the night. We now expect the wind and rain to start this afternoon and build into hurricane conditions on Saturday.

Now 4 PM and nothing has happened except a bit of rain. But the TV stations are having a blast. One example of the absolutely non-stop speculation and rubbish they are broadcasting: "NOAA is estimating up to 8" of rain tomorrow. But what if we get 16" That's double the amount water!"

Now 7 PM and the rain seems to have started in earnest. The creek is over its banks but still a couple of feet below the top of the bulkhead.

Now 10 PM: Going to bed. Lots of rain and wind outside, but nothing threatening. We expect to be up during the night.

Saturday October 8, 2016

Now 4 AM: Lots of wind and rain but nothing threatening. The creek is still 1' below the bulkhead. But Matthew is still in Georgia.

Now 7 AM: We have been up for a couple of hours. Still have electricity, though Charleston seems to have plenty of outages. The creek is over its banks and 1/2 way to the house. We just loaded the two downstairs refrigerators (!!!) onto the motor cycle lift (!!!) so they are now 3' off the floor and still running - so the beer will be cold!

Seems that Matthew has decided to make landfall a little south of Charleston.proper. Its still raining hard but wind seems moderate. Its 7:40 AM but still dark outside! The creek is spreading quickly, almost up to the back door now.

This email just received from friends Don ans Barb who took an AirB&B in Savannah area:

"HUGE tree just fell on the house, punctured several ceilings in this one story house.  SCARED THE SHIT OUT IF ALL OF US! We are all in the central hallway to the bedrooms which appears to have the most support.  Water is pouring in. We heard from folks at the marina and the water has subsided 6ft and calm there. So at first light we are headed back to the marina.  Safest place now!"

Now 9 AM: The creek is now lapping the back door and there is about 1" on the floor under the house.

Looking towards the creek as the water was rising. Eventually the chair was pushed over and under.

Looking at the road side. 

The poor dog needed a pee but was scared of the water!

By late morning the underneath of the house was flooded about 18" deep, but we still had power. The rain continued but the wind was not too bad. Kylie is doing OK, just rain and lots of wind. They lost electric power, but only for a short time. According to the TV the eye of the hurricane is past Charleston, heading north. Lots of chatter on the news and the surge affecting the northern beaches (including the IOP)

By early afternoon: The rain has stopped but the wind is picking up, from the north and west. Lots of branches and debris flying around. On cue, the power went out. Gene fired up his generator to keep the refrigerators and phone going.

By late afternoon: The sun is peeping thru and there is a lot more natural light. There is no TV, no emails or internet, just the (land line) phone when the generator is running. The creek is running very strongly and we think the water level is dropping, or at least not rising.  Getting antsy about Tide Hiker in this wind.

At about 4 PM the hurricane seemed "over" - the rain had stopped and the wind was just gusting - so Deidre and I decided to wade out, walk to the car and try to get back to Tide Hiker.. Gene volunteered to help. The water was about hip deep. We just took our wallets and phones in plastic zip top baggies. Gene and I took one of Deidre's arms each and headed out. It was strenuous walking against the current but we were on the road so we had good footing. We only had about 200 yards in the water and all went well.

I walked the 1/2 mile to pick up the car and came back for Deidre. A large tree had fallen over the road near the school and taken down the power lines. There was a patrol car guarding the tree and lines and he let us through. We had no trouble making it to the IOP although we had to talk our way thru a road block on the Connector.

Tide Hiker was fine. The dinghy cover was a mess and a minor component of the aft deck cover was broken but otherwise she had fared well. I was a bit surprised how much the lines had stretched. The wind was still gusting a bit at the dock but otherwise all was fine. We drove past 21 YH and the house looked undamaged. Plenty of trees down on the golf courses but that was to be expected.

Sunday October 9, 2016

Nice sunny day, breeze about 10-15MPH. Tried 1/2 dozen places before we could find breakfast out. Back to "the creek" to pick up the rest of our stuff. Gene met us at the school. Water was still over the road but not too deep for the truck. Popped in on Ky and Ryan and Mason - they were in their yard cleaning up. Back to the IOP for some shopping and to "un-do" Tide Hiker.

Seems that we were lucky and dodged the worst of the storm. Reports from places north and south of us are much worse. The following news from friends on "September Song":

I know you all want an update on September Song. All of Myrtle Beach is dark and the streets are empty, This area got hit hard! We just went through 24 hours of pure HELL! We are still getting gusts (I would tell you how high, but our anemometer blew off) and rolling the boat to port 5 degrees, but it's not as bad as the over ten degrees we were rolling three hours ago and it's starting to settle down some. Our worst fear was realized when the docks floated over the pilings from the storm surge. Things had calmed down, so, Brad, the dock master, drove back to the condo to pick up Stephanie and our stuff. Little did we realize we were inside the eye wall and when it passed, it was worse than the previous 16 hours. Luckily, because our dock is next to a higher wall with posts and railings and I was afraid they were going to float over the pilings, I tied lines to the dock and boat from the posts earlier and it kept the dock from floating away with September Song tied to it. No problem, right. NOT! When the surge and tide started going out, the part of the dock we were tied to started coming down on the pilings and was tilted 45 degrees and getting worse. A section of the dock behind us floated back over the pilings, so in 50 knot winds, in the dark, me, Stephanie, and Brad, the dock master, set new lines and I slid September Song under power back about 50 feet and Stephanie and Brad secured the lines. I am so blessed to have a partner, co-captain and Admiral in good times and bad. Love you, Stephanie, to the moon and back! We are now tied to a level floating section of the dock and hopefully all the excitement is over for the night. Goodbye Matthew. We beat you! Time for a Captain an Coke!
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