One could be sexist and say that like all women she likes the attention and is taking her time to honour us with her presence. On Friday night she was downgraded to a tropical storm on the west side of Florida and we went to bed with thoughts of making Wrightsville beach 140 miles further south than here in Bellhaven NC. At 0500 hrs on Saturday morning it (She)was now declared a full category 1 hurricane. My mentor skipper always said any wind over 45 knots is academic to a yachtsman. So we listened to the coastguard radio as they advised that preparations should be made for the arrival of Irene late on Sunday night. Then a look at the chart, showed a couple of anchorages that were less exposed to the southeast than the marina where we were. Some boats around us elected to sail south to Oriental and Beaufort to get shelter both in the direction of the storm without any certainty that there would be room when they arrived. All indications at 0900 hours was that landfall for Irene would be in the Beaufort Wilmington area. Not a place to be by choice.
The marina now had around ten boats and the dock master said the owner would hold a meeting at 1100 hrs in the bar. Bruce and I started to make prepare Bulldawg for the storm. This involved mooring her to all six available dolphins, removal of the cutter rig furling head sails, putting on of the mainsail cover and lashing it down. Finally the cockpit bimini was removed. The humidity had now risen to uncomfortable levels.
At 1100 we all gathered in the bar and met Axson the owner of Forest River Marina. He by way of preamble explained all the clearing up and construction on the site as the clean up from Floyd last month. There were pictures of his damaged dock taken during Hugo two years ago. He explained that his options were to put us all in a creek that was behind the town moored fore and aft to pine trees and this would be done on Sunday afternoon. Not before as the fishermen used it to gain access to their sheds and boats. This seemed to be perfectly rational to some of us, others started to ask why not now and how can I get my engineless boat in, the usual show of nerves that disaster movies are made out of.
The afternoon, which was sunny and warm was spent going to the store and buying essential supplies Guinness (bottled only), shrimp and potatoes. In the field next to the supermarket were hundreds of seagulls all sitting in the grass waiting , almost a scene from the “Birds”. By this stage the Hurricane was 550 miles south moving at a leisurely 10 knots. The marina filled up with more boats coming down from the north, and Axson’s men moved various boats out of the marina to the creek. That evening in the bar I met a girl who by amazing coincidence had been to Loch Maddy in Uist the Outer Hebrides, Scotland. I had weathered my first storm 10 as a skipper in that harbour for five days back in 1976.
At 0500 hrs the rain started, soft steady rain, occasional blasts of heavier showers, we switched on the TV and watching the local channel 9. They through experience had a very good storm watch programme, with doplar radar showing the rain storms to detail that you could identify where you lived and what was on the way. The big worry was after Floyd the incessant rain was going to raise already high rivers to beyond flood stage earlier than normal. The storm or eye of Irene was predicted at 1100 hrs to pass right over Bellhaven at 0300 Monday morning. She was now 550 miles away. In the rain others made preparations, which we had done the previous day. At 1200 in driving rain we began the procession to the creek behind the town to the shipyard. Even with a pilot aboard we ran aground and only when Axson the owner came out in his boat were we able to navigate the narrow twisted channel. One problem was that half the markers had been swept away by Floyd.
At 0500 hrs the rain started, soft steady rain, occasional blasts of heavier showers, we switched on the TV and watching the local channel 9. They through experience had a very good storm watch programme, with doplar radar showing the rain storms to detail that you could identify where you lived and what was on the way. The big worry was after Floyd the incessant rain was going to raise already high rivers to beyond flood stage earlier than normal. The storm or eye of Irene was predicted at 1100 hrs to pass right over Bellhaven at 0300 Monday morning. She was now 550 miles away. In the rain others made preparations, which we had done the previous day. At 1200 in driving rain we began the procession to the creek behind the town to the shipyard. Even with a pilot aboard we ran aground and only when Axson the owner came out in his boat were we able to navigate the narrow twisted channel. One problem was that half the markers had been swept away by Floyd.
The barometer that had been a steady 1018 millibar’s was now dropping about a millibar an hour. This would continue through the evening. As we all collected in the creek, boats were packed in side ways, end ways and some on land, we anchored ourselves to various pine trees on the eastern bank, and to the pilings next to the crab dock on the western side. Thirty boats were packed in this way with a labyrinth of lines crisscrossing the creek. It was noticeable that the sailing yachts had adequate lines for the task in hand, so could double up on extended lines and still have lines to spare, whilst some of the power boats despite there excessive windage had bits of bailer twine to tie themselves up with.
A last run up to the store for extra Guinness and potatoes, before the boats were pulled out into the center of the creek. The rain had eased off to the occasional flurry, to add to the drama we had a couple of cracks of thunder and the odd flash. By fitting up the inverter to the TV we could resume our channel 9 coverage. By 1700 we were 350 miles from Irene and she was beginning to shift eastwards. The pressure was down to 1003. After a dinner of tacos we retired to rest up for the action. Irene was now 300 miles south south east moving at 15 knots, with a barometric pressure in Bellhaven of 1000 mbs.
At 0200 the first gusts arrived , the barometer down to 995 mbs the Coast Guard radio confirmed that Irene was 50 miles east of Cape Hatteras which put her 110 miles east. So we were in the north west quadrant the ‘safe quadrant’, this of course meant that our predominant lines were set to the opposite of the wind, only one head rope holding two boats was laid to the bow from the western shore. The gusts were mainly 28-32 knots one of 35 knots around 0315. But all the water had gone out of the creek we were down around two foot. By 0500 the barometer began to rise again now up to 1000 mbs again. and the wind was beginning to reduce to 20 knots in the sheltered creek.
At 0700 everyone was up and beginning to re rig sails, biminis and hang wet oilskins out to dry. We and North Carolina had weathered a hurricane, not the full brunt, but close enough to make one appreciate the fragility of ones existence. This was the third for North Carolina this season and my first official hurricane. Our problem now was how with reduced levels of water to get out of the creek!
Pintal, S.V Bulldawg US 923879, Neuse River, North Carolina, October 1999
Waiting For Irene
Bulldawg all trussed up waiting for the blow
