I knew that the first season with Nefertari was going to be the most risky since I was going to be leaving her on the coast during hurricane season. When I was there in August, I tried to do everything possible to prepare for a storm to pass through while I was away. I pulled all the sails and the bimini and stowed them below; I put the dinghy on foredeck, upside down with major strapping to hold it down; I doubled up all of the mooring lines and added fire hose at all chafe points. She is buttoned up tight but if Florence hits as a Cat 4, I am really depending on a lot of luck.
I am from the West coast so Hurricanes are new to me. I am crossing my fingers that Florence takes a turn, weakens or at the very least, heads a bit further north so we don’t get hit with the right quadrant. The marina I am in has floating docks with about 12-14 feet height on the pilings but I am not super confident in the overall integrity of the dock structure in a blow.
At this point, I have booked a (refundable) flight for Wed this coming week along with rental car and motel for the days that Florence is predicted to hit if current model holds. My plan is that if Florence looks like it is going to hit Charleston to any degree, that I fly down and take off the water maker, SSB and uninstalled radar. This represents close to $10K of equipment that would not be replaced with insurance. I am not sure that I will be able to do anything at the boat during the storm but I would be there to address any damage that may occur and try to recover as much as possible.
Needless to say, I am going to be on pins and needles for the next few days.
Karl