Evanston: dock-locked
Evanston: dock-locked
From Wikipedia: A supercell is a thunderstorm that is characterized by the presence of a mesocyclone: a deep, continuously rotating updraft. Of the four classifications of thunderstorms: supercell, squall line, multi-cell, and single-cell, supercells are the least common and have the potential to be the most severe...Supercells can occur anywhere in the world, but they are most common in the Great Plains of the United States.
Indeed.
Last Friday night a supercell scored a direct hit on North Point Marina.
We knew this as we drove north on Sunday with plans possibly to go sailing and spend the night. We assumed, perhaps naively, that if we no longer had a boat, someone would have told us.
The marina’s website said that many trees were down, as was a communication tower, some furling jibs shredded, power and water out at several docks, including ‘I’ where GANNET lives, and that ‘L’ Dock had been blown from her moorings and would have to be vacated.
Being the Fourth of July weekend, the marina parking lot was almost full. At the ‘I’ Dock gate we were unexpectedly confronted by yellow Police Crime Scene tape. There had been no crime, and security let us onto the dock, after pointing out minor damage to be avoided and telling me that there was no power. When I said that wasn’t a problem, he immediately concluded, “You’re a sailor.”
The marina docks are long. GANNET is only about a third of the way along ‘I’. As we stepped aboard the undamaged sloop, we overheard a man fishing from the stern of his boat on adjacent ‘J’ say, “Can’t get out.” Stowing our gear, we walked out to the end of ‘I’ and found that we can’t. The end of ‘I’ has been pushed to within a few feet of ‘J’. Not quite stepping distance, but almost.
So we went back to GANNET, where I did various small jobs during a fine but very light wind afternoon, followed by a bottle of chilled white wine on deck, and our first night aboard.
The V-berth is comfortable, not quite as long as THE HAWKE OF TUONELA’s, but both of us thought perhaps even wider. This seems odd when GANNET has a beam of 7’2” and THE HAWKE OF TUONELA 12’. However GANNET does not have THE HAWKE OF TUONELA’s rating rule dictated pinched ends and it is possible that at the location of the V-berth she is as wide or even wider than HAWKE. I’ll take measurements sometime and see.
The marina says that repairs may be completed this week.
It was good to spend a night on the water again.
Tuesday, July 5, 2011