Waiting for Harvey

Friday, 8-25, about 11:30 a.m,

Hello, all. I thought I would do a quick post to let you know we are fine here. We are on the boat and feel relatively secure because we’re on floating docks (with 15 foot pilings), have solar power for most things, including the refrigerator, and cook with propane. We’ve prepped the boat and now we are just sitting here enjoying unseasonably cool weather – 77 – and sitting around wondering when to open the chips.

Our friends to the south are not so fortunate. We are anticipating top winds of 50 knots (we have sailed in 35) and a bucketload of rain for the next 4 days. Down south, they are anticipating 105 knot winds and even more rain in an area that does not shed rain well (dry and desert in many places). I have friends and relatives in Gonzales and New Braunfels and they are in areas that flood in heavy rain. We have friends in Corpus Christi as well. If Harvey comes ashore in Matagorda Bay, there’s always the nuclear power plant to worry about. May God send His angels to preserve those in danger.

We are past thankful that we did not go to Corpus Christi for the summer as planned!

How did we prep the boat for this storm? I guess the biggest thing was taking down the jib and the staysail, folding them and stowing them in a locker. Those things are enormous and heavy. Fortunately, others were here readying their boats and one man helped us fold them up. We took down the canvas awnings that shade our cabin and stowed them. We cleaned out the A/C system, filled the water tanks (40 gallons), and lay in food in anticipation of the storm surge (currently expected to be 4 feet). We did a pump out so the black tank was empty. We stowed everything in the cockpit. We moved my car to our garage storage which is plenty empty enough to hold it (!). We added everything that was in the back of the pick up. David checked the lines. We locked the dock lockers so they can’t blow open. All that took most of the day and some of the very early morning today so we are glad to stop moving.

Now we wait. Houston will flood badly, I’m sure. It has cemented over the wetlands that were designed by nature to handle this kind of weather event. I hope no one goes out. Last big rain, I-10 was 10 feet under water in places. Freeway underpasses are holding grounds for small lakes.

Anyway, long story short, we are fine and resigned to being wet and claustrophobic through Wednesday night. Hence the chips.

PS If Harvey takes a sharp turn toward us before making landfall, it's Plan B, I never argue with a hurricane.