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From: Peter Conrad Cumminsky (no email)
Date: Thu Sep 09 2004 - 16:51:03 EDT
Surviving Frances - by Capt. Pete - Part 2:
Copyright © 2004, Peter Conrad Cumminsky <>
You may re-distribute this document freely as long as you receive no
monetary renumeration from it. If you wish to use this document
commercially you may apply for a license to <>
Sunday - September 5th
The reverse of Saturday/Friday with lessening bands of wind and rain
during the day. The night was totally pitch-black outside - no power
anywhere except us.
Monday - September 6th
They let us out after breakfast even though the bridges were not open
yet - they were to be opened at noon. I got a ride with one of the
older people in our room who lived in a mobile home park here in Cocoa.
I saw many trees down but no major damage. Power was off everywhere
we went. His trailer was snugged between others and survived nicely
with just a few sections of the roof skirt blown off. Even his metal
shed and awning had survived while other trailer's around him had lost
theirs.
In driving to the Village all the traffic lights were out and it was an
eerie feeling seeing debris and tree branches, along with parts of
commercial signs, strewn everywhere as cars tried to avoid them and
paused at the non-working traffic lights. The village was a deserted
ghost town.
At the waterfront you could tell the river had overflowed from the
storm surge - a high-water line of debris and many planks of wood were
at road level. I saw that Dutch Nirvana was still afloat and lazily
dancing around it's anchors. I couldn't see if everything was all OK
on her but it was a reassuring site to see her rigging was intact and
she was still afloat. I said goodbye to my ride and walked closer.
The shoreline was a morass of wood and debris that clogged the slips
and boat ramp. The long dock off Lee Wenner Park had lost most of it's
western end and it was floating in between the remaining piles which
were tilted at crazy angles. The riverfront walk leading from the boat
ramp to the village's Riverfront Park hung at slight angles as if some
giant had twisted it and tried to return it to it's original shape.
There was no one else around - no cars in the Park or boat trailers. I
waited awhile to see if anyone would show up. I wanted to get out to
the boat to see if all was well with her - but no one came around. I
had a few energy bars in my pack so I laid out on a bench and had
lunch. I then took a short nap as I was tired from the experience of
the shelter - I had not got much sleep there due to the fact I did not
have my flannel sleep sack and pillow with me and because of the
comings and goings of the almost 30 people in the room I was in.
At noon I decided to check on some of my sailing buddies on the
northern side of the causeway where the NE side of Frances had hit -
the most dangerous semicircle in a hurricane. At first all looked well
in the protected condo marina and the boats anchored off on the river
looked OK but then I saw Bill's boat - a large ketch he keeps anchored
out in a "hole" in the flats on this side of the Indian River - it was
aground and it's masts were tilted crazily on the western shore. I
then saw the overturned hull of another boat out near the ICW channel
of the river. By luck I had chosen the best side of the causeway to
anchor on.
I hiked over to Bill's boat but the banks were so steep I couldn't get
down to see if she was holed. She seemed to be resting peacefully so I
went across the road to some shade to stand watch on her, and warn off
looters, until Bill arrived to survey the damage. I saw that the chain
from the anchor had broken near the bowsprit. I don't know if he had a
nylon "snubber" and could see no indication of one. The bowsprit stay
seemed to be badly frayed and strands of wire were broken near the
hull. He showed up a couple of hours later and hurried off to get his
aluminum 12 footer to try and get aboard. It was getting late and I
started to head toward the Church where I hoped to spend the night. It
was heavy going with my (still) heavy duffel.
I stopped once at a small triangular park on the way and talked with a
friend who lived nearby. He had had an exciting time during the storm
when he stepped outside during a lull to smoke a cigarette. He had
gotten into an El Camino parked near the building and was enjoying his
smoke when part of the asphalt roofing from the building landed on the
El Camino. He found that he couldn't open the doors due to the asphalt
piled over the roof of the El Camino. He was trapped! He rolled down
a window on one side and crawled through and around the debris. He
said he was really scared and that the sound of the asphalt hitting the
El Camino was like an explosion. He stayed inside the building after
that.
When I got to the Church I found the power out but the door to the room
was unlocked as usual and I settled down for the night. The two guys
that had helped me get to the shelter showed up but decided to go
elsewhere for the night. There was a curfew and everyone needed to be
off the street from dusk to dawn.
Tuesday - September 7, 2004
I left the Church early - 7:30 AM - and went down to the boat ramp to
see if I could get a ride out to my boat. After a while a man with a
dinghy showed up and offered me a ride out. His was the Pilothouse
Motor-Sailor that anchors south of the cove I'm in. I had noticed that
it was not there and he said that it had broken free and slammed into a
condo marina with damage to both the boat and the docks. It's an older
boat and he thinks the insurance company will declare it salvage.
Getting closer to Dutch Nirvana I saw that the outboard motor and
rudder were gone! She also seemed to be lower in the water than usual.
Upon getting aboard I saw that the steel cable around the outboard was
hanging by the upper rudder attachment and the tiller was still there.
The entire wood motor bracket had come away from the steel motor mount
and the cable had torn off the primary mount point there. The outboard
was suspended below the water by the steel cable.
Opening up the companionway hatch reveled about 6 inches of water
below. On the Tanzer there is no "sump" and the bilge is nearly flat a
couple of inches below the floorboards. There's nowhere really to
place a bilge pump so I have it below the companionway where the inside
access to the under cockpit is. It was clogged with carpet fibers,
etc. I unclogged it and soon had the water out. Inspecting the lower
rudder mount, which is just below water-level showed it was twisted and
one bolt was partially protruding so I believe that's where the water
was seeping in.
All under settee storage had a couple of inches of water in it and some
books and magazines as well as some clothes were waterlogged. Some of
the food storage was also affected as was my laptop and computer grip
which I had wedged into the area between the toilet and hanging locker
area so they wouldn't fly about. I started to open the plastic bags
and sort dry from damp, hanging the damp outside if salvageable in
shifts as I have little area to dry things. I did what I could that
day until I just had to get some sleep. Hopefully I could figure out
what to do with the outboard tomorrow. A rain shower awoke me and I
brought some thing that were about dry inside before turning in for the
night - my first back aboard Dutch Nirvana.
Wednesday - September 8, 2004
I awoke at dawn and ate my breakfast - the first time I had prepared my
own food in a week. I got things ready for going ashore after noticing
that lights were on in the Village. I could get to the Library for
e-mail and a phone if someone would launch their boat this morning.
About an hour later I saw Jerry from Rockledge Boating Center come away
from the Boat Ramp and I flagged him down. We raised the outboard and
he brought me ashore and promised to take the outboard to his shop.
One problem in process to solution.
After getting to the library I found the phones working but no one I
called answered their phones. I was still stranded without a way of
getting back and forth to my boat. I had heard on the radio that a
"Comfort Station" and shelter had been setup about a mile away so at
11AM I set off to see if I could get some food. I had come ashore
without my heavy duffel and had nothing but my small lumbar pack (and
my life vest).
The people at the Baptist Church running the station and the Red Cross
at the shelter gave me food and an offer to spend the night if I
couldn't get back to the boat. I left after the meal and went back to
the Library to try the phones again with no luck. Then I went to the
Boat Ramp which remained deserted. After waiting a couple of hours I
decided to go to the Shelter and have dinner and spend the night. The
rain hit me just a block away from the shelter and I showed up very wet
and miserable. I found some of the same people I had seen at the
college shelter there as that had shut down. They had good hot food
and I slept there that night though I didn't get much sleep due to
worrying about Dutch Nirvana.
Thursday - September 9, 2004
I had breakfast at the shelter and trekked back to the Boat Ramp at
7:30 AM. It was still deserted so after an hour or so I took off for
the Library again. Still no answer to my phone calls so I hit the
computers and did some of my e-mail - I'll be awhile in catching up. I
went back to the shelter for lunch and was caught for awhile in a rain
shower again and decided that no boats would be at the ramp now so I
headed back to the Library after the rain and am now typing this
missive.
That brings me to the end of this article and I'll swing by the Boat
Ramp after sending this and hope to get back aboard - I want to check
that the pump is still working. I'll probably stay at the shelter
again if I can't get a ride back so;
Fair Winds
-- End of Part 2:
=====
- Peter Conrad Cumminsky | <>
- "The Gods do not subtract, from man's alloted time,
- the hours spent in sailing." - anonymous
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