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The Early Path Predictions for This Storm Covered a Huge Area. Marinas &
Boat Owners Had to Make Decisions Early. |
From
August through October hurricanes are an annoying but normal part of life in
Florida. The damned things are
inevitable, and with climate change accelerating at an alarming pace they are
also getting more frequent and stronger.
And that’s why we always give ourselves a bailout option. This year we knew we would be stuck in
Florida for the tropical storm season, so we signed up for the hurricane club
at the River Forest Yachting Center (RFYC) in Labelle, Fl. That facility is 40 miles up-river from our
Fort Myers (Legacy Harbour) mooring, with two locks (meaning no storm surge)
between it and the open ocean, and with an expansive apron of concrete dotted
with embedded tie-down anchors. It was
designed specifically to offer safe harbor from big blows.
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Our Satellite Tracker Path from Fort Myers to River Forest Yachting Center
Near Labelle, Florida. |
When
the forecast for TD5 suddenly went from a dissipating tropical storm to a major
hurricane named Dorian in the span of a couple of days, it definitely got our
attention. And when the Euro model’s
forecast track had it going from Palm Beach on the east coast and straight over
Fort Myers on the west coast of the state at formidable strength, we decided to
move the boat to RFYC. We had been
intending to take the boat there for some maintenance attention anyway, and
this was a compelling trigger.
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| A Nordhavn 55, Fusion, Heading in the Opposite Direction....for Good Reason. |
Thus
on Friday, 30-Aug, we were up at
0600 and underway just before the 0700 sunrise, chugging eastward up the
Caloosahatchee River at a steady 7.8 knots.
In spite of the two locks (Franklin & Ortona) and a few bridge
openings to negotiate, we covered the 40 NM in just five and a half hours,
arriving at RFYC by 1230. Surprisingly
there was only sparse boat traffic along the way, one of which was a westbound
Nordhavn 55, Fusion, who via VHF told
us “no way we were staying in Palm Beach” and were headed to Twin Dolphins
Marina on the Manatee River in Bradenton.
We
did not have to loiter for any openings; both locks had their western gates
open when we arrived, and the two bridge tenders were prompt and
courteous. At the Alva bascule bridge
the attendant inquired via VHF: “Aren’t you guys headed in the wrong
direction?” We mentioned our RFYC
destination and haul-out intentions and he congratulated us on a good plan.
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Waiting on the Fort Denaud Swing Bridge & Hoping it Wouldn't Get
Stuck in an Intermediate Position. |
The only real angst we had was at the Fort
Denaud swing bridge (9 foot clearance); that thing is ancient and rickety, and
has been known to fail in the closed or partially open position….but not this
time. Even the weather cooperated, with
the usual thunderstorms holding off until much later that afternoon. And Ghost
Rider ran perfectly; we even managed to squeeze in a short wide open throttle
(WOT) run as we hustled to make the final lock opening at Ortona.
We
didn’t even have to wait for the haul-out upon arrival at RFYC….we were
directed straight into the well, got Ghost
Rider all strapped in, and we were out of the water in short order. We shut down everything – all AC and DC
circuit breakers, plus the inverter.
Except for the battery monitor and a few electrical panel LEDs, Ghost Rider was electrically dead. There would be no shore power connection, so that
was necessary to preserve the house battery bank.
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| Ghost Rider Hauling Out at River Forest Yachting Center. |
It
took us about three hours to get the boat prepped after the travel lift had
positioned us on their tie-down apron.
We had been through this preparation routine once before with Hurricane
Irma in 2017, so we had a good checklist to follow. We stripped canvas, lowered antennae, stowed
loose items, and tied or taped anything that might move or leak. In the 90+ degree heat it was an exhausting
afternoon. The RFYC staff placed plenty
of blocks and jackstands to support the boat’s 80,000 pounds, then ratchet
strapped 4 of our beefy corner cleats to their equally beefy concrete-embedded
hurricane eye bolts. We were storm ready
if needed.
While
there Rick sat down with John, the yard manager, and we wrote up a work order to
replace or repair the two faulty seacock through-hulls we had discovered back
in the spring. We also added some
remedial bottom paint work to the order – upon haul out we noticed excessive ablative wear all along the water line and some on the bulbous bow. Below that, however, the bottom paint was in
excellent shape.
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The Bottom Paint Along the Waterline was Looking Pretty Sad, Although
Below That It Still Looked Very Good. |
By
1600 we called it a day. RFYC is in the
middle of nowhere, with no good transportation options available locally. Fortunately we had dropped one of the cars at
RFYC the day before (by automobile it’s only an hour’s drive from Legacy
Harbour) so we weren’t stranded.
Coincidentally we had met another Nordhavn couple the day before, George
and Christina, who were transient berthed at Legacy; they also took their N35, Sophie, to River Forest, so we gave them
(and their cat) a lift back to Fort Myers to retrieve their rental car.
We
slept like corpses that night and then spent the next few days relaxing at our
Fort Myers condo while tracking Dorian’s progress (or lack of it) across western Atlantic
waters. By the time it reached the
hot-tub-temperatures of Bahamian waters (Sunday,
01-Sep) it had spooled up to a Cat-5 storm with sustained winds at 185 MPH
and gusts to 220, pushing a surge around 20 feet. The Abacos and Grand Bahama – places like Hopetown, Marsh Harbor, Green
Turtle Cay, West End, that we had so enjoyed during last year’s cruising – got
absolutely walloped by the storm as it plowed westward, stalled, and spun a sustained and devastating attack on those small islands.
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| Ghost Rider at RFYC After Being Relocated to a Covered Spot on the Apron. |
Dorian
had slowed so dramatically that it wasn’t until Wednesday, 04-Sep that RFYC was
able to start unstrapping and splashing boats. Chelle went shopping for groceries and supplies to drop off for our
area’s Bahamian relief efforts, and Rick drove back to RFYC to visit Ghost Rider and to get an estimate of
how long our repair work order would take.
The boat was pretty dirty but otherwise in good shape. Rick began reversing some of the storm preps,
ventilated the engine room and got shore power hooked up (to re-charge the house
batteries) after the RFYC staff relocated Ghost Rider to a work slot on the
apron that was also under cover.
Rick
made one more trip back to RFYC and the boat on Friday, 06-September, to complete reversal of our storm preps and to take care of some interim maintenance to-do's that our Wheelhouse program was nagging about. The RFYC staff indicated they intended to start on our work order the following Monday, so for now we were done with boat business.
In
the interim Chelle had kept extremely busy with the storm relief efforts for
the northernmost islands in the Bahamas.
In addition to her shopping trip we posted signs in our condo complex
and collected more non-perishables from our neighbors. One of our local Fort Myers boat yards,
Stokes Marine (LINK), was a nearby and convenient site coordinating supplies
and transport. (Owner, Brent Stokes, was
interviewed by CNN, a clip is available at the THIS LINK.) While Rick was distracted with Ghost Rider Chelle spent more of her time helping load up trucks and boats. Their initial flotilla and private plane formation delivered a significant payload to Lucaya, Grand Bahama, today -- it's the only port capable of receiving materials at this point. But the hope is to keep it going and include the Abacos sometime next week.
Overall they’ve done a fabulous job collecting and transporting
a huge amount of critically needed supplies....pics below. Fortunately the weather was cooperating, as Dorian had sucked all the moisture out of our atmosphere like a gigantic wet-dry vacuum on its journey north. If you want to help and are not sure how, there is a safe GoFundMe site at this LINK. Or just head over to the Red Cross web site HERE.
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| Just Some of the Relief Supplies Being Collected at Stokes Marine. |
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Loading Up the Boats. Some Would Sortie Across Lake O, but Many Were Trailered Over to
Fort Lauderdale and From There Headed to Lucaya, Grand Bahama. |
