Noisy, blustery night last night. I didn’t sleep much & got up a little after 6 this morning to make some coffee. A little after 7 I heard the tractor that pulls the trailor of jackstands (the moveable legs that hold the boats upright on land) stop next to our boat and thought oh no, they can’t be serious – it’s a mess out there. Wayne jumped out of bed in a state of disbelief also thinking that they were coming to get us with the boat lift, but the guys were just out tightening all the jackstands to make sure they held up against the predicted 50mph winds blasting the boats along with the torrential downpouring of rain that has the ground quite saturated with standing puddles that look like mini-lakes. If you look at the wind map follow the directional pointers as they circle inward toward the Chesapeake. we're located near the orangish/pinkish area with the red moving in towards us.
Wayne called the boatyard at 7:20 to tell them we didn’t want to go in the water in this mess and was told that there was no way you're were going in. Nobody was going anywhere today unless it was an emergency. The docks are all flooded and the marina has no power. I guess some of the lines are underwater along with the gas pumps and docks and it’s a mess down there. I was in the process of putting on my shoes and foulies (raingear) to head for the lounge/restrooms for my morning constitution and decided I’d better grab my camera. I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to take any pictures in this mess without destroying my camera but thought “you never know”. In the pic to the left the posts sticking up out of the water next to the sailboat is where the travel lift drives on to put the boats into the water. Its GONE!
You couldn’t see the docks – they’re all underwater and the area where the boat lift operates to lift and lower boats into the water was not visible – the entire area is under water. In the picture to the left one guy is standing on the dock and the other is standing on the boat. Note that the dock is about a ft under water.The forester I chat with and Jim (Frosty) were in the lounge – they had to wade through the water on the submerged docks to get to there. What a mess. The weather forcasts are calling for more of the same throughout the day with wind and weather warnings up all over the area. The tides are 4 ft above high tide and 5-6 ft above high tide in the Norfolk area. The wind warnings are calling for 40-50 knot winds with gusts to 60 still. Good day to hunker down and hope that the boat doesn’t get tipped over in the winds – that would be quite a domino effect in the boatyard. I can see why they were checking the jackstands this morning. The NorEaster and remnants of hurricane Ida are feeding off of the warm water to rejuvenate Ida and it’s wreaking havoc along the North Eastern seaboard. In looking at the weather maps the air is all swirling around us like we’re the center of the low pressure area. The forcaster at Accuweather called it a crescendo of wind and waves that will be building through the next high tide with sustained winds of 50 knots and better. These are the worst weather conditions in 20 years for Virginia Beach and the Norfolk area. Some areas have higher than high tides of 5-6 ft higher than the high tide level. Wayne said it’s that Aben mojo happening again and tomorrow we’re expecting more of the same. The flooding along the coastal area due to high waves is expected to continue after the winds and rains have stopped.
What a day. The winds at times are very scary – they keep clocking around rotating the wind generator on the next boat over in irratic patterns. The rain sounds like hail on the hull of the boat. The little heater has been running nonstop, all day and I’m about to turn the oven on and heat up the rest of the meat pie I made last night for dinner tonight. It will be interesting to see what tomorrow brings.
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