Hurricane Isaias, Southport marina damage

[Frosty]

I hear what you're saying, Psneeld. I grew up in an area with tornadoes, and there is usually more damage from "air debris." Pieces of things hitting other things, items bent over at odd angles, "torn" stuff, and debris ending up where you don't expect it ("I recognize that, it's a piece of the Joneses barn --- but they live miles away!")

Now maybe if the tornado arrived over water it would look different; I've never been near a large body of water during one. So, like you, not saying it wasn't a tornado, but more that it just didn't say "tornado" to me when viewing the photos.

 

[Shay]

Southport Marina

The Southport Marina was a very well built. You will have a hard time building a dock that is able to stand up to a direct hurricane hit. I own a slip at the Morehead Yacht Basin. Our docks were built by the same company that built the Southport Marina docks.

After hurricane katrina, our hurricane insurance quadrupled in price. As a slip owner I could purchase a hurricane haul-out contract with a local boat yard for less than what my share of the hurricane insurance at the Yacht Basin. We decided to self insure against hurricanes and adopted a policy that every boat must evacuate the marina if the NWS is predicting hurricane force winds to hit Morehead City within the next 72 hours.
There is a lot of people who complain about being told to leave with a storm coming, but we have never had any hurricane related damage to our docks and after the storm is over we have a marina to come home to.

It will probably be years before the Southport Marina is rebuilt.

Shay

 

[Woodstock]

Many of the yards in our area around Southport have hurricane haul-out programs. However, most haul out programs don't become active unless the storm is predicted to be hurricane strength. So, in this case lots of boats didn't get pulled because Isaias was tropical storm level and not showing strengthening for several days until a couple hours before landfall.

 

[psneeld]

Much the same in Jersey with Sandy and whether it was a hurricane or not when it came ashore.

Many insurance companies got lucky when it was downgraded just before it hit.

MANY marinas survive hurricanes just fine based on a lot of different conditions....especially if just CAT 1 or 2. Usually its water rather than wind tha is the problem.

Often pilings driven not that many years ago are subject to pulling or breaking for a variety of reasons.

As a person that used wooden pilings for many things in commercial operations, the newer green treated pilings seemed to snap way easier than older ones from the creosote era.

Some marinas get rebuilt fast, others not so. Depends on who knows whom in the marine construction business and access to money.

 

[caltexflanc]

My haul-out program at Jarrett Bay, as well as my insurance (which paid half the haul-out costs), were for named storms. I was with ACE via the Gowrie Group. I agree with Shay (hi Shay, long time no see!) about the quality of the marinas. Building a hurricane or sustained tropical storm proof marina with floating docks is well nigh impossible, especially when fully exposed to the strongest winds. That's what wiped out the newly refurbished marina at Bridgepoint in New Bern; it lacked the protection compared to the Grand just across the small harbor (which in my opinion has inferior docks). Ditto the old Fort Pierce City Marina.

 

[psneeld]

Actually, floating docks faired better than fixed docks in South Jersey during Sandy.

Yes a marina can withstand a hurricane, just maybe not the fury or height of a severe storm surge. That is based somewhat on location or like Fort Pierce Florida did...built protective islands...breakwaters can help if high enough.

And some locations and marina builds...you are better off in the water than on land if the storm surge covers the land of the marina.

So many variables make every situation tenuous and if possible...always good to get away from direct hits.

 

[mcboatface]

Sad, but from what I've read it wasn't just high water and straight winds, ie hurricane. Tornados hit that area and from personal experience not many such structures, no matter how well constructed, will stand up to those forces.

There was a small tornado not too far away, but it didn’t hit Southport or any of the several other nearby marinas, all of which are seriously damaged. We were up there the day after the storm to close on a new to us boat. Planned to stop in Southport the first night, but every Marina was closed due to damage.

We did a float by on Thursday on our way offshore and they already had a crane at Southport. You can see in the photos that their dry storage building didn’t have a scratch on it. The boats on the hard were fine.

This was definitely a water event assisted by an awful lot of wind. In Wrightsville Beach they measured a 94 mph gust on the pier. We arrived about 12 hours after the storm and saw almost no structural damage. Kind of amazing.

 

[Ski in NC]

I don't think it was the surge. I think it was weak pilings. The water did not come very high. Looking at the post storm photos, almost no pilings were remaining. If the surge floated the docks off the pilings, the pilings would still be there.

This was a wind event.

 

[Group9]

What a shame.... sure looks like the docks and pilings didn't hold well.


Really don't want my boat in a marina during a hurricane.

Where I live, they won't let you leave your boat in your slip in the marinas during a hurricane, and I can't imagine why anyone who wasn't just hoping to get an insurance check would want to.

Marinas are boat killers in Hurricanes. There is always someone who doesn't, or can't, or won't remove their boat for a hurricane. At best, the end up washed ashore, at worst, they become boat popsicles on a piling.

 

[rslifkin]

Where I live, they won't let you leave your boat in your slip in the marinas during a hurricane, and I can't imagine why anyone who wasn't just hoping to get an insurance check would want to.

Marinas are boat killers in Hurricanes. There is always someone who doesn't, or can't, or won't remove their boat for a hurricane. At best, the end up washed ashore, at worst, they become boat popsicles on a piling.

It depends on the construction of the marina and how well boats are secured. There are definitely plenty of marinas where I wouldn't want to be in a bad storm, but there are also others where a well secured bunch of boats could take quite a bit of wind and surge before anything bad happened.

 

[psneeld]

I don't think it was the surge. I think it was weak pilings. The water did not come very high. Looking at the post storm photos, almost no pilings were remaining. If the surge floated the docks off the pilings, the pilings would still be there.

This was a wind event.

Ski...I think its always a combo....but float the docks and boats a few feet higher than normal...and the new pull snaps old pilings like twigs.

I used to blow out slips with boats and some pilings would snap with the minimum of pull...they lasted day after day, thunderstorm by thunderstorm, small storm by small storm....but just a tint bit extra...gone.

 

[BandB]

Someone said earlier that the marina was well built. I will argue with that. Unless something hit that we're not aware of, such as a tornado, the result indicates it wasn't built to the standards needed. Any marina should be able to handle the winds and surge the storm brought. Marinas can be built to handle both up to a limit far beyond that seen here. It looks like some significant design weaknesses. It's not enough to have nice docks. You must have well supported docks with strong supports and poles that are taller than any surge. Now if there was a tornado that hit the marina then that could be different but the photos just look like the docks broke loose.

 

[Medic]

Well...thanks for all the replies.

First, Frosty...Not a "before" shot. The "curve" shouldn't be there at all.

Second...The reason my wife and I even were in Southport, with the idea of checking out the Soundport Marina, was to find somewhere sorta central to the Bahamas to the south, and Long Island Sound/Nantucket to the North.

Any better ideas than Southport?

 

[ranger58sb]

Second...The reason my wife and I even were in Southport, with the idea of checking out the Soundport Marina, was to find somewhere sorta central to the Bahamas to the south, and Long Island Sound/Nantucket to the North.

Any better ideas than Southport?

We liked Charleston when we wintered there a few years ago...

-Chris

 

[caltexflanc]

Depends on what you want from the surroundings, culture and transportation logistics. We liked having access to great beaches, a first class inlet, and having excellent cruising destinations within day's journey at 8 knots. So we chose Morehead City pretty quickly.

If you liked Southport's location, there are plenty of options in greater Wilmington, including Wrightsville Beach which has a good inlet right there (Masonboro)... but not a lot of cruising destinations immediately at hand. Next spot west down the ICW is Little River and North Myrtle Beach which have some nice marinas and Little River inlet. Both greater Wilmington and Myrtle have close by interstate access and middling, destination wise, airports.

Our personal next choice was Savannah, but we spent a lot of time cruising the mid atlantic and northeast, so a little too south, but we really love it there, and some of our favorite cruising destinations fairly close at hand.

 

[ranger58sb]

Ah. Good point. We liked Savannah too. But we were only there for a few days, and also having some work done en route... so didn't get to see as much as we'd hoped.

The marina choices we considered were further out from "downtown" too... even with courtesy cars, it was unlike having marina shuttles and free bus routes in downtown Charleston.

Nice place, though.

For that matter, we also like Ortega Landing in Jacksonville... a great marina with nearby facilities and including the free JAX buses for old fogeys. Getting even still further south...

-Chris

 

[BandB]

Wifey B: It's a boat. Boats float and move. Don't get tied down to Southport or Wilmington or Myrtle Beach or Charleston or Savannah. A month at a time in each and more places. Too many places to see to get bogged down and if one location doesn't do it for you, the next will. Along the Carolinas and GA, we love Morehead City/Beaufort and Wilmington and Myrtle Beach and Charleston and Savannah and all are perfect for a few weeks or a month.

 

[ranger58sb]

Any update on Safe Harbor/South Harbor Village Marina and Southport Marina? We'll be heading that way in the next few days, so we're planning ahead...

-Chris

 

[Woodstock]

Any update on Safe Harbor/South Harbor Village Marina and Southport Marina? We'll be heading that way in the next few days, so we're planning ahead...

-Chris

Safe Harbor/South Harbor Village - Transient dock is operating. Power and Diesel/Gas available but no water hookups or pump-out yet. Both on-site restaurants are open (and good!).

Southport Marina - Transient dock recently re-opened and is operating. Power and fuel is available. Don't know about water and other amenities. Boat ramp is still closed so not as much day traffic through the marina as normal.

 

[ranger58sb]

Thanks, that helps a lot!

Maybe see you as we pass through. I have to see if I get a chance to fit the new replacement for our in-op, possibly original, fresh water pump in between now and then...

-Chris

 

[Woodstock]

Thanks, that helps a lot!

Maybe see you as we pass through. I have to see if I get a chance to fit the new replacement for our in-op, possibly original, fresh water pump in between now and then...

-Chris

South Harbor Village doesn't have the pedestal water hookups working yet but they have big, temporary hoses running down the dock with taps every 40-50' so you can get water that way if you have to. Don't know what Southport Marina has.

 

[ranger58sb]

Ah. Good to know. As it happens, we did just finish replacing our fresh water pump, too, so we could be back in business for a stop there. Wifey has family semi-nearby (Wilmington) and they came down once as we passed through that area... maybe we'll talk 'em into joining us at the Italian restaurant for dinner or something.

Weather permitting, we'll head from Beaufort to Charleston tomorrow... though the forecast isn't all that great.

-Chris

 

[ranger58sb]

Woodstock, looks like we might pass thru South Harbor Village on Thursday, assuming space is available. If you happen to be around and see us on the transient dock, c'mon over for an afternoon beverage.

-Chris

 

[Woodstock]

Woodstock, looks like we might pass thru South Harbor Village on Thursday, assuming space is available. If you happen to be around and see us on the transient dock, c'mon over for an afternoon beverage.

-Chris

Chris,
I may take you up on that
Just FYI, Joseph's (the Italian restaurant) just posted this but Rusty Hooks is still open and it's our favorite.

Hello All,
Unfortunately, Joseph’s has had a positive test result amongst our staff and we will be closing. While according to the Brunswick County Health Department we do not have to close, we have decided to err on the side of caution and use this time to get our staff tested. We will post an update later on in the week as to when we will be opening our doors again.
We appreciate your patience during this time. Thank you and be safe!

 

[ranger58sb]

Good timing, thanks for the tip; we were just starting the process of looking into a reservation at Joseph's... so we'll switch our thoughts to Rusty Hooks (had some great food from there in March 2020...)

Looks like we'll be arriving sometime near 1200-1300-ish... since were only in Little River now.

Cheers, -Chris

 

[rwidman]

Safe Harbor/South Harbor Village - Transient dock is operating. Power and Diesel/Gas available but no water hookups or pump-out yet. Both on-site restaurants are open (and good!).

Southport Marina - Transient dock recently re-opened and is operating. Power and fuel is available. Don't know about water and other amenities. Boat ramp is still closed so not as much day traffic through the marina as normal.

We spent the night there a couple weeks ago. I think the water is on and I know the heads and showers are open.

 

[ranger58sb]

We spent the night there a couple weeks ago. I think the water is on and I know the heads and showers are open.

Yep, SHV transient docks open, fuel available, water available via a series of hoses laid along the dock (not at pedestals), pump out not available, Rusty Hooks open, Joseph's not (at least last night, apparently due personnel covid test).

Saw your boat at St. Johns as we passed through the other day, but didn't see any signs you were around at the time.

-Chris

 

[Woodstock]

Woodstock, looks like we might pass thru South Harbor Village on Thursday, assuming space is available. If you happen to be around and see us on the transient dock, c'mon over for an afternoon beverage.

-Chris

Sorry that I missed you. Saw your boat when I was there a couple of times but didn't see anyone around. Then on Sunday I saw you were gone. Safe travels and see you next time.

 

[ranger58sb]

Thanks! Yeah, we loitered there a couple extra days because of the thunderstorm predictions... but then we got on with it. Arrived "home" today.

Did score decent meals at both places, though.

-Chris

 

[rwidman]

.........

Saw your boat at St. Johns as we passed through the other day, but didn't see any signs you were around at the time.

-Chris

I don't know why (since we are both retired and could come any time), but we usually get there about 10:00 AM on Saturday and head for home about 4:00 PM on Sunday. Unless the weather is bad.