More more Irene

South Burlington, Vermont

We're heading down to New York for a couple of days. We're going to a send off for our friends John and Mary Ann who are moving to Arizona. (No, not because of Irene.)

I've heard news from other sailors. Staying at a marina has it's own risks. That is part of the reason why we chose Porter Bay. We had only one other boat within a half mile of us.

Up on Champlain, there are several marinas at the north end of the lake that cater to Canadians. One of them sent me the following report. " around our marina it was a disaster many boats dragged their moorings and ended up taking others with them and many boats ending up on shore with at least 3 sinking, many boats with damage to masts from hitting together. " You see one problem often overlooked is that sailboats tied in adjacent slips can crash their masts into each other as they rock violently in bad weather.

Further south is the Blackbeard Sailing Club on the Neuse River near New Bern, NC.   We have several friends in that club. One of them, George, sent the following report.  "But Blackbeard Sailing Club ended up with 13 boats in the trees and two completely lost. It was a tough hurricane for chafed lines as the winds stayed very high until midnight or so Saturday."

For we boaters it is very frustrating to read the news accounts claiming that Irene was a non-event.

Fortunately for Jenny, there is little damage in the Burlington area.  Most of the rain fell on the east facing slopes of the mountains.  There are three major ridges.  One follows I91 near the eastern edge of Vermont.  The next is the Green Mountain Ridge up the middle of the state.  Third is the eastern edge of the Adirondack Mountains in New York.  It was the valleys at the bottom of those three eastern facing ridge lines that experienced the worst flooding.

Below, see the lake level rising as a result of Irene.