Surviving a hurricane!

On the same day that we paid our boat insurance premium and were making plans for a trip South to the Chesapeake, we had to rethink everything to avoid hurricane Henri. We tried to secure a mooring at Dodson’s Marina in Stonington, Ct. but when we called to confirm, they said their regular clients were filling up the harbor and nothing was available. That turned out to be good news for us when we found out that Henri was going to make landfall near Stonington! 

Sitting on the mooring in Jamestown, it looked like no one was too concerned about the impending storm, until the day before it was to make landfall. Boats were being hauled and secured while Andrew and I removed and stowed our jib & staysail; lifted, deflated and stowed the dinghy; wrapped the mainsail and double up our mooring tackle. It wasn’t looking like Jamestown would be a good place to be so we called half a dozen marinas trying to secure  for a slip or a moorings but nothing was available. A local friend suggested we anchor up the Narragansett in Potters Cove but we would have to dig out of the bilge and put together our Fisherman’s storm anchor and deploy our Sarca Excel (regular anchor).

The morning before Henri reached Rhode Island, we were preparing to make a run up the Narragansett when once again our hero Jim, called to let us know that another Safe Harbor Marina (JBY’s parent company) up the river in Wickford Cove, was hauling boats and opening up moorings. We signed up immediately on Dockwa (the online registration system) and waited to hear if they could take us. Around noon, we found out they had pole moorings available (which Andrew and I had never heard of or seen before) and by 3pm we were secured between two telephones poles sunk in a quiet, sunny cove. The presence of sailors, kayakers, tubers and all other manner of boaters enjoying the beautiful day, belied the approaching storm. 

By noon the next day, we saw a steady 45 knots, gusts to 60 and 2-3 foot white caps in what had been a flat calm harbor!! Fortunately,  the storm started to calm around 2pm and after a really good night’s sleep, we motored back to Jamestown and returned to planning for our trip to the Chesapeake.