Well, we experienced an unexpected earthquake this week (5.9 on the richter scale), centered near Richmond, VA., our neighboring state. Eileen was out in a field at a farm with our neighbor and I was on the 12th floor of my workplace in Baltimore. It was a small rumble at first and then it stopped. About 10 seconds later, the entire building started shaking and making an incredible rumbling sound and things were falling off my bookcase and shelves. In the same week, Hurricane Irene is looking like she is going to get ugly in these parts, and it looks like she will rear her ugly head errrrrr eye on Sunday morning. Who would believe an earthquake and hurricane in the same week!
Since this is the first hurricane that I have ever been remotely close to, I went to school on what I need to do to fend off any impending damage. It began with researching all of the hurricane models on stormpulse.com, nhc.noaa.gov, and several other sites. I also gleaned a ton of information and advice from my sailnet friends. In the past 24 hours the tracks are moving west (bad thing) and I had to make a decision before all of the slots filled up to haul the boat. I went back and forth, but ultimately made the decision to haul out, primarily so I don't have to worry and I will be able to stay home with my family.
On Wednesday night, Eileen and I removed the head sail, main sail, stack pack, and bimini top. We secured all of the halyards and other running rigging and removed anything that 100 MPH winds would remove for us if we didn't! Our friend Dave from across the creek (SVAuspicious) came over via dinghy to help us out. He is a wealth of knowledge and really helped. His classic line "I'm not telling you what to do, I'm telling you what I am going to do" was a real gift! He offered up so much advice and we are very thankful to him for that! This is the guy that has gone offshore in his boat for several hurricaines. First off, he has a Hallberg Rassy 40' center cockpit sailboat. He also has sufficient ground tackle (anchor and chain) to withstand huge waves and high sustained winds. Couple that with the experience of being a delivery captain in the open ocean and voila, you have a crazy guy that is going to hole up in a creek somewhere nearby!
Since Domingoman is on the hard, I took the opportunity to change the packing in the stuffing box. The propshaft goes from the engine, through the hull (below the waterline). The only thing that keeps the water out and the dry in is the stuffing box. There are only three 3/16" strips of flax that you put around the shaft, pack it in, and tighten the packing nut. You don't want to attempt this while the boat is in the water. Let me rephrase that...I don't want to attempt this when the boat is in the water! It seems like an easy job for me sometimes takes three times as long because something either breaks or doesn't fit properly. I am however happy to report that the entire job took about a half hour! The only problem is I won't know how good a job I did until she is launched sometime next week.
Now that I have battened down the hatches on Domingoman, I need to turn my attention to the house. Not much I can do to prepare at this point but we bought a generator just in case. If this is a direct hit, we will probably lose electricity for days. There are so many trees here and all of the power lines are above ground.
We are preparing for the worst and hoping for the best!
