Revenge of Isaac

Maybe I was too smug.  Maybe everything seemed to be going too well.  Or maybe it's just fate.

I got a call this morning from the owner of the marina where DELTA BELLE is lying.  A local liveaboard had just notified him that the boat in slip 16, a boat with a wind generator, had sunk.  Only the wind generator was above water (and I'm assuming the mast, too).

I got one of those shocky type reactions...took a few deep breaths to settle down, and called BoatUS, my insurance company.  That was an hour and twenty minutes ago.  During that time...
Information was collected in the claims dept, (how many lines did I have, color of boat, slip no., and importantly, how the cabin was locked, what of value was below etc.) and I was transferred to an adjuster
More information provided, including name of yard where I would like DELTA BELLE transferred.
Brief explanation by Boat US about what would take place.  (air bags and pumps...towing to yard)
Put on hold while Boat US contacted local Tow Boat US.  Turns out owner of that firm had his boats out of the water until wind abates, and local law enforcement allows boats up the bayou to the marina.  He himself was in a kayak on the bayou surveying other damage, and will call me when he's assessed situation and actual process of salvage starts.

How do you quantify the value of hundreds of paper charts, radar, gps, SSB, documents, tools, custom berth cushions, air conditioner, reefer unit, etc. etc.  It's all rushing around in my thoughts.  My monitor windvane can take immersion, but what about the Perkins?

So far, things are proceeding apace, other than my mind racing over what could come next...salvage, restoration, time lost, plans awry, etc. But...no life was lost.  I wasn't aboard at sea when this happened.
And hopefully, DELTA BELLE did this on her own and didn't impact my neighbors.

I notified wife, son and mother...and now am blogging to any interested parties about this.

Marina owner said that electricity in the area is still off, but that winds have died down.
A few gas stations with electricity are open, but that as there was a "run" on gas before the storms, finding some is still a bit sketchy.

Right now my emotions are kind of strange, not having gone through a boat sinking...particularly when a good part of my future plans were tied to DELTA BELLE.  Maybe they still are.  The emotions and the plans.  As the blanks are filled in I'll post the information.  In the scheme of things, I (we) are very, very fortunate.

Hellooooo Isaac

Isaac's upon us.  A real live hurricane.  Just read a post by Dani of SUNDOWNER, berthed in New Orleans itself, with pictures of how they have stripped their boat and made ready for the storm.  Based on their description and photos, they have been very prudent.  Now, only time will tell.

I have been a bit concerned about DELTA BELLE.  She's lying in the marina you can see on the previous post. (with a satellite shot below)  However, she has been stripped of all deck canvas.  The staysail's off, but the main is still there, albeit under the sailcover and carefully tied with gaskets.  I asked the good folks at Northshore Marine to pass by to see if there's anything they could do to further secure her in the slip, which they kindly agreed to do.  My neighbors in the little marina also said they'd look after her if the need arose.  I like to think I'd do the same for them if it came to that.

So that's it for hurricane prep.  I'm still very eager to get back to Louisiana on the 9th of next month, and can only hope that I find everything in good shape...both for the people there, and for DELTA BELLE.

Now for some pictures....

This is the DELTA BELLE as I first saw her in the marina on Bayou Castine, Mandeville, LA
The sail covers need attention and have since been repaired, the green house-sides are now a nice white, the former name has been removed, bottom painted with 2 coats of Trinidad red, zincs replaced, new battery charger, running lights with fresh bulbs and most of the flaky old varnish removed.  Also changed oil and filters, racor filters, emptied fuel tanks and added clean diesel.  She had been left unused in the slip for over two years and showed it.  Green algae was rampant on the running rigging, wind generator, radar house, inner bulwarks, etc.  "Sweepers, sweepers, man your brooms!  Clean sweep down fore and aft!!!"

This is a bow-on view with a fender dangling over the port side.  There's a pvc
pipe around the bob-stay.  Now removed.

The Beginning

Hurricane season is upon us.  Rather, it's upon the people of the southeast.  My only direct connection with a hurricane was Andrew.  It hit south Florida 20 years ago and bent a sapling in my front yard. Andrew also took my boat, FIDELIO, and lifted her onto the concrete dock at the Matheson Hammock Marina in South Miami.  The rudder was destroyed, one of the pulpit stanchions was forced through the fiberglass of the foredeck, and the deck-stepped mast had toppled over.  The strong fiberglass hull of a Pearson Triton  held together while the O'Day in the next slip beat herself to death against a piling and sank only a few feet away.

FIDELIO had been up for sale, so I guess you have to say that her demise and Andrew was the beginning. The insurance money I received I invested, and the proceeds  gave me the wherewithal to buy a Westsail 32, now the DELTA BELLE.  In the interim I had a little 18' yawl, a Drascombe Lugger.  Look up Webb Chiles to see what that was about..

Now this ain't going to be no fancy schmanzy blog. (my IT skills aren't up to that yet)  It may even end here, but I hope to get it to a standard set by some of the other sailing bloggers I follow.  I've got a few family and friends who have said they would like to know what I'm doing. Like TV and censorship, you don't have to read this.  You can simply turn it off, tune out, or whatever.  

If, however, something herein piques your interest or makes you want to read more, please do let me know.

I'm experimenting with style, photography...the whole range of rhetoric.  My wife accuses me of using more complex words when simpler ones will do, but that's  how I run.  I've been reading about sailing for so long that I tend to use a nautical term when I think it's appropriate, so you can either look it up or ask me what I think I meant.  If I'm off base, my intentions were good.

I leave for New Orleans, Mandeville, and the DELTA BELLE on September 9.   By then Hurricane Isaac will have come and gone.  We'll see if this blog weathers the storm.