Part One. Irene is here, time to get to work.

Irene has arrived, and we tumble off the boat early Saturday morning to greet her. Just like a woman guest to make more work for us (oops, did I type that out loud?)
I always say it, mostly for the first time visitors to the page: Don't forget to turn off the music player to the right>>>>


Hurricane Irene waiting for the storm

Friday night, waiting on Irene's arrival
Don't forget to turn off the music player at right.
First in a continuing series of Hurricane Irene.
We are hauled out at SailCraft Boatyard in Oriental NC, and last we hear before losing power is that the eye will pass overhead mid day Saturday as a Cat1 hurricane.

Prepping for Irene

Visitor to Journey!!!!!



Oh, the excitement! We are expecting our first official guest to stay on the boat tonight! Her name is Irene, and she is a real mover and shaker of a lady. She is very famous, and is known far and wide. I've heard she can be a bit of a bitch though, so I have been extra careful to make sure everything is "just right" for her arrival. (Heard she devastated the Bahamas chain) Not that they weren't ready for her... guess she is one of those house guests that is just hard on the place, breaks things, you know the type.

I was trying to sleep late last night, hot, muggy and the mosquitoes were gnawing at every square inch of exposed flesh, when I had a pleasant thought... "get it while you can suckers, in 24 hours you will all be dead!"  Yes, I would imagine that 90-100+ winds will kill most of the biting nasties off and I get to test the theory tonight and tomorrow.

At least with the bulk of the storm arriving during daylight, I will be able to get some video of the worst of it just before the wind driven rain flails the skin from my body. I will be using the GoPro cameras for this, it is wide angle so you, dear reader, will be able to get more the sense of being in the midst of the storm with us. It is also the only waterproof camera I own, so there really isn't another choice. At the wind speeds we are expecting, there would be a few seconds of filming before a conventional camera would be inundated with water and rendered useless. As it is, the wind will be trying to rip the camera out of my hands and tear away the hatch boards when I go out.

I tried, unsuccessfully, to find a palm tree in camera range. Hurricane videos are useless without the footage of palm fronds tearing themselves apart in high winds. Ah well, we will just have to persevere without that valuable addition and make do with the pine and conifer trees around us. (sigh)

We have tied the bases of the boat stands together, and tied our bow cleats to trees ahead of our boat. Gosh knows, we can't go floating off, we have no rudder to steer with! 

If you haven't already done so, "like" the FB Journey page. (link on right) That is where I will update throughout the storm until we loose signals.

Wish us luck, when we said a while back that we like to stretch our comfort levels when it comes to bad weather and being on the boat, rest assured that this is NOT what I had in mind.

It takes a boatyard to raise a boat

Don't forget to turn off the music player on the right!