Disturbing report from New Bern, NC

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motion30 said:
I and the full-time live aboard in South Florida, last year when Irma was coming through projected path hurricane covered the whole state of Florida. I was prepared to run but could not determine where to go. I prepared the best I could and we got lucky here and everything turned out okay. Not the same for everybody
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I agree it's not the same for everybody, sometimes your location limits your options, also important are different levels of experience and comfort of being on your boat in a crises, and driving at night. In my case, when our town was under mandatory evacuation, and we were in the center of the "cone" for Cat 4 Katrina, our family left home with our oyster boats and our pleasure boat and important belongings 2 days before expected landfall. We went west at 8 kts on the ICW for about 120 miles. Someone asked me at that time what would I do if Katrina turns westerly towards us, my reply was 'I wish she would, then my home may be saved, and I can be in Texas in another 24 hours.' But Katrina didn't turn and she flattened Plaquemines Parish and pretty much everything in it. 20 hours later we were back in our home port evaluating the damage.
 
My point exactly.....it can work with a little planning and plan B and C and D.......etc

And if I returned with my boat...I cold base out of it for weeks to start recovery ops on the landside issues.

Again, doesn't always work out that way but most don't even plan or try to.

For them, let them eat the big insurance premiums.
 
psneeld said:
My point exactly.....it can work with a little planning and plan B and C and D.......etc

And if I returned with my boat...I cold base out of it for weeks to start recovery ops on the landside issues.

Again, doesn't always work out that way but most don't even plan or try to.

For them, let them eat the big insurance premiums.
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Unfortunately its everyone who gets to cop big premiums and here insurance is pretty much mandatory.
 
Besslb said:
It is always a gamble.....do you haul out and risk floating off, or do you risk staying in slip and see what happens? At our marina we are a hurricane hole.....but this time....we got hammered. Skinny Dippin seems to be fine.....but other docks in our marina not so much. We were very lucky.

I think our friends in hurricane zones will agree....some you win, some you don’t. This time we have been lucky. Thank goodness.
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As I always say, “Sometimes you’re the bug and sometimes you’re the windshield.” I was the bug with Hurricane Irma. Still haven’t found another boat. :(
 
Just getting a chance to read some of the thread after the storm, folks the storm was bad from a sense that the slow movement or the lack of combimed with wind with the eye staying offshore while in the area its really easy to see the type of damage and storm surge that we had.

Look at the water that ended up in Trent river all the way to pollocksville . I have been a lot and each one is different. But knowing that the wind direction was going to pushing water towards New Bern and with the conditions of the storm offshore, I would have never left a boat in the water at all.

Of course you think that a bist is better on the hard. But that proved to be wrong for sure von this one
 
Just got the report that Jarrett Bay had only two boats with minor slippage on the stands, no significant damage.
 
caltexflanc said:
Just got the report that Jarrett Bay had only two boats with minor slippage on the stands, no significant damage.
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And that makes a key point. It's not being on the hard that is the key. It's where you are and how it's secured. I've been amazed how many boats hauled out or already on the hard that I've seen with severe damage. Yet, I'd expect minimal at Jarrett Bay.

Haven't heard from Bennett Brothers in Wilmington. That would be interesting to know.
 
BandB said:
And that makes a key point. It's not being on the hard that is the key. It's where you are and how it's secured. I've been amazed how many boats hauled out or already on the hard that I've seen with severe damage. Yet, I'd expect minimal at Jarrett Bay.



Haven't heard from Bennett Brothers in Wilmington. That would be interesting to know.
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That’s true. Look up Bridgeton Boatworks (New Bern) on Facebook. They didn’t fair well at all. They lost a bunch of boats. Some just floated away and landed on the other side of the river or in the wetlands. Same with Tidewater Marine. I haven’t heard about Deaton’s or Sailcraft in Oriental yet.
 
Storing on land needs evaluation just like staying in the water.

If the marina is exposed to wind and/or surge.....even much further from the landfall, it can be a poor selection.

Jarrett Bay may not have fared as well had the storm surge associated with a CAT 3 or 4 hit the area as it is relatively close to an inlet.
 
There is a friend that had a custom 32' sailboat in the finishing stage on the hard in Bridgetown that I have not heard from. He worked on building this boat since probably 2002 iirc , top of the line everything . If anyone knows to his boat and it's statis please let me know . His life's work to retire was in that boat including his wife too.
 
Deaton's and sailcraft did fairly well two fell over one with significant damage . we only had one small sail boat sink at WCYOA in Whittaker creek where these boat yards are . i'm going Thursday to check for interior water damage. pics sent by friends show i only lost an antenna .but i expect water intrusion because my monitoring system showed bilge pump coming on a lot. maybe it was just sloshing in the 80 mph winds.:ermm:
 
Vashon_Trawler said:
BandB said it best in my thread:

And just where would you move the 1,000,000+ boats in Florida? Many of them are safest right where they are in marinas that have been built to provide hurricane protection. Would you risk your life to move your boat? Or what about your house and your family?
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Simi 60 said:
You don't need to move 1000000+ boats, you only need to move 1, your own.
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That misses a point.

Yes, "I" would only need to move one widget. But if my nearest/best widget container will only hold ten widgets, I might not get there before it's full. And the other 999,990 widget movers would be hard pressed to find a viable widget container.

-Chris
 
But it only takes a percentage of widgets to move, and even if that's broken down into less and less destructive areas....insurance on widgets may not have to rise as much... :)
 
Scratchnsaw said:
There is a friend that had a custom 32' sailboat in the finishing stage on the hard in Bridgetown that I have not heard from. He worked on building this boat since probably 2002 iirc , top of the line everything . If anyone knows to his boat and it's statis please let me know . His life's work to retire was in that boat including his wife too.
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If you check BBW's Facebook page, they have been very good at posting pictures of the entire marina. They even drove around New Bern and located boats from their yard that floated away. :)


https://www.facebook.com/bridgetonboatworks/
 
Our marina (cypress landing) up the Pamlico faired well despite the 7.5' storm surge. We all prepared and only lost one boat, (My sistership Cape Dory 28). He was ass to the wind, on an outer dock. Despite all suggestions he move it further into the marina and turn it around he didn't. That beautiful, low downeast sheer got him,...No other damage other than a ton of junk washed in. New Bern was predictable with the early wind directions straight down the Neuse. As the stom moved in and the wind shifted to right up the Pamlico we'd all had plenty of warning by that time. 5 days with no electricity, but being on the high side of the river, no water damage. Everything was back to normal, including the clean-up a day ago....Like it never happened.
 
Larry...any good news on Swanee?
 
psneeld said:
My point exactly.....it can work with a little planning and plan B and C and D.......etc

And if I returned with my boat...I cold base out of it for weeks to start recovery ops on the landside issues.

Again, doesn't always work out that way but most don't even plan or try to.

For them, let them eat the big insurance premiums.
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I live inland from the coast, but because of the projected track of Florence, and the recent experience from hurricane Matthew, which caused severe damage in my area, I also needed to secure other property. That would include my home, my office, my company shop, my parent's house, some income-producing property, my church (which was flooded in Matthew) and so on and so forth.

If I lived on my boat, I would have headed south or north well ahead of the storm. But for me, and for others with landside responsibilities, it just wasn't feasible. There was not enough time in the day, nor did I have enough help. I had been on a waiting list for a haul-out reservation, but didn't make the cut.

So, I anchored up in a well-protected creek off of the Neuse River, said a few prayers, and took the dinghy back to the boat ramp. The boat's still floating and the damage appears minimal. (I flew over in a small plane on Wednesday). My first plan was to move the boat from Morehead City to New Bern, but I couldn't find any vacancies. In hindsight, that was obviously a blessing.
 
O C Diver said:
In the case of New Bern, it's been a safe location in the past. By the time it became clear that the flooding and storm surge was going to be epic, it was too late to move. That's my take anyway.

Ted
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That's just not true. The surge was forecast days in advance at 13 to 14 feet and the marina pilings were only 10 feet tall above high water.
It's just pure laziness and irresponsible boat ownership that allows these sorts of catastrophes to go on, not to mention the pollution from all the sunk boats' fluids.
If an owner cannot possibly get to a boat to move it to a more secure location, there are often plenty of folks who will charge a pretty penny to do so for them. With this storm, there was plenty of warning and almost every boat could have been dealt with.
I summered in New Bern on a 65' steel yacht one year and within a few days I had scoped out at least a dozen places in the area where my owner's vessel would be more secure than the marina docks, should a tropical system threaten. Every responsible boat owner in any area which might be threatened by a tropical system should do the same.
That most do not and just allow their boats to become garbage and pollution is just plain criminal, IMO. I'm certainly not a fan of government interference in my boating, but in this case, I believe that the fines for irresponsible boat ownership should be extremely severe. One such incident makes all the hullabaloo about derelict boats seem so trivial!

I think the insurance companies should refuse the claims of those who make absolutely no effort to mitigate the damage (or loss) to their boats and after a few years, the insurance rates for those of us who are responsible boat owners will come back down to a reasonable figure.
 
psneeld said:
My point exactly.....it can work with a little planning and plan B and C and D.......etc

And if I returned with my boat...I cold base out of it for weeks to start recovery ops on the landside issues.

Again, doesn't always work out that way but most don't even plan or try to.

For them, let them eat the big insurance premiums.
Click to expand...


Fall back plans just make sense. I'm not sure why the idea trying to move to a safer location causes so much bristling. There are exceptions to even the most accepted practices in boating (and probably everything in the world :). But the basic idea of having a Plan A and B and C etc is just good planning.

I have to chime in about insurance :) The premiums are high because those companies make a lot of profit. No different than a hardware store charging $100 a sheet for plywood or $10 for a bottle of water during hurricane prep times.
 
psneeld said:
Florida is tough unless in the panhandle.....
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Here in the FL panhandle I moved my boat to safe haven FOUR times in 2004 - now that's tough!

I have survived many hurricane threats here since 1990. The worst was Opal in 1995. Every one was ridden out at a hurricane hole, not always the same hole. I kept six anchors in the forty-pound range aboard my GB 42 and 1200 feet of 5/8" nylon rodes and was always ready to leave the marina 1990-2000 or my house 2000-2105. I never allowed the boat to be immobilized due to engineering issues during hurricane season.

If I had not had a decent hole to run to, I would have run in the ICW at 8 knots toward the "navigable" semicircles of the storms. I would have run round the clock getting over 200 statute miles a day or 300 miles in a day and a half, which in every case would have been enough to get out of the dangerous side.

Nowadays, with this smaller, faster boat in a lift out back, I would probably leave it in place a cat 1 but move it to a hole nearby for anything stronger. If we had a Katrina bearing down, I would take seven hours and run it 123 miles to my brother's place with a steeply banked canal behind it and have wife pick me up to come back and throw all guns, computers, papers and other valuables into the covered bed of the pickup truck and head inland 35 miles to relatives.
 
foreverunderway said:
That's just not true. The surge was forecast days in advance at 13 to 14 feet and the marina pilings were only 10 feet tall above high water.
It's just pure laziness and irresponsible boat ownership that allows these sorts of catastrophes to go on, not to mention the pollution from all the sunk boats' fluids.
If an owner cannot possibly get to a boat to move it to a more secure location, there are often plenty of folks who will charge a pretty penny to do so for them. With this storm, there was plenty of warning and almost every boat could have been dealt with.
I summered in New Bern on a 65' steel yacht one year and within a few days I had scoped out at least a dozen places in the area where my owner's vessel would be more secure than the marina docks, should a tropical system threaten. Every responsible boat owner in any area which might be threatened by a tropical system should do the same.
That most do not and just allow their boats to become garbage and pollution is just plain criminal, IMO. I'm certainly not a fan of government interference in my boating, but in this case, I believe that the fines for irresponsible boat ownership should be extremely severe. One such incident makes all the hullabaloo about derelict boats seem so trivial!

I think the insurance companies should refuse the claims of those who make absolutely no effort to mitigate the damage (or loss) to their boats and after a few years, the insurance rates for those of us who are responsible boat owners will come back down to a reasonable figure.
Click to expand...

Interesting opinion:rolleyes:
 
Andiamo2018 said:
I have to chime in about insurance :) The premiums are high because those companies make a lot of profit. No different than a hardware store charging $100 a sheet for plywood or $10 for a bottle of water during hurricane prep times.
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You're entitled to your own opinions but not your own facts.

Insurance companies made between 3% and 8% in on property/casualty insurance in 2017. That is a fact. Whether that constitutes a difference from a hardware store or not is a matter of opinion.
 
danderer said:
You're entitled to your own opinions but not your own facts.

Insurance companies made between 3% and 8% in on property/casualty insurance in 2017. That is a fact. Whether that constitutes a difference from a hardware store or not is a matter of opinion.
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"The past 10 years has been incredibly profitable for insurance companies. Net income for the industry – that is net, not pretax – has equaled $448 billion; that’s almost half a trillion dollars. It is not chump change.

Let that sink in for a moment."

https://www.insurancejournal.com/magazines/mag-features/2015/12/07/390548.htm

It's true that it is only my opinion that almost half a trillion dollars is a lot of profit. I'm not sure about who owns the facts though :)
 
I'm pretty sure this was the Bridge Point Marina in New Bern. The same thing happened to it during Irene 7 years ago. The marina across the way has fixed docks and things seemed to have fared much better. Bridge Point finally opened a few years ago after rebuilding after Irene. So sad to see such a loss of boats and their marina again. A dock is NOT a good place to leave a boat during a hurricane. It should either be pulled up on the hard or anchored out with a couple of anchors set 45 degrees from each other.
 
Protection from wind and surge is key......whether a marina or anchorage is better or safer or whatever is a function of protection as much as what is holding you in place.
 
https://www.forbes.com/sites/brenda...7-companies-that-own-everything/#52e9b63e685b

Insurance company lobbyists wrote the definition of "profit". So their profit is whatever they want it to be. Banks, insurance, vertical markets, show it where you want.

Anybody remember where "mark to market" got us?

Too big to fail. Too dirty to see.


Talk about too dirty to see. A Florence marine salvage thread could be interesting.
 
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Let’s keep the thread on track, “Disturbing report from New Bern, NC“ and not have to move it. Thanks in advance.
 
My heart hurts for all the people that were affected so deeply by the storm. There’s always things people can do different. It is really hard to read posts from people that were not there. Did not have a boat to lose. And they’re sitting in an office chair typing on the computer. Why would you choose to judge.
It would be such a heavy decision to make. Knowing a storm is possibly headed your direction, and leave your dock trying to out run it. You could likely run straight into it. That could cost you way more than your boat. It could cost you your life.
 
O C Diver said:
In the case of New Bern, it's been a safe location in the past. By the time it became clear that the flooding and storm surge was going to be epic, it was too late to move. That's my take anyway.

Ted
Click to expand...

As a veteran of Katrina, it was obvious to all of us here, what New Bern and surrounding areas were in for, a week before it hit. Maybe, we haven’t done a very good job of describing what it’s like to go through a major hurricane.

Marinas are boat killers in a major hurricane.
 
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