Surviving Frankenstorm “Sandy”

As a low pressure front was coming at us from the West, a Tropical Storm/Hurricane was predicted to turn West from the Atlantic Ocean and create this “Frankenstorm” when they merged.  I don’t know if they called it that because we are so close to Halloween but the name seems to have fit. 

The crew of Jay Sea Dee had enjoyed many museums and sights here in Washington DC and it was time to move on.  That was our plan as of Thursday morning.  We deposited our marina key in the overnight box and planned on an early morning exit…then we watched television.  Well it would take us two days to get back down the Potomac and if this storm changed at all we could be right in the middle of it.  Soooooo…we stayed.  At that point we were anchored out in the river.  By Friday morning the storm was more defined and predicted to head straight for us.  At that point we called and got our T-Head spot back at the docks of The Capitol Yacht Club at the top of the Potomac River.  Although it costs about 5x the amount spent to anchor…Safety First! 

On Saturday, we noticed much more air traffic (we are just across the river from Reagan National Airport).  We were told by the Dockhand who has been here for decades that we would know it was a Presidential helicopter if it was travelling in a threesome.  Then we noticed that Obama must be coming home to weather the storm from the White House.  We also prepared Jay Sea Dee to weather the storm by taking down all the canvas and put anything loose inside the boat.

Last night Hurricane Sandy finally hit.  The worst of the winds hit around 10pm and our wind gauge read 60 mph.  That is the highest wind Jay Sea Dee has ever seen.  The boat vibrated quite a bit as the dock lines held it taught to the dock.  The wind was noisy but not overwhelming.  We were some of the lucky ones as we didn’t even lose electricity.  Our thoughts and prayers go out to all those who were more personally affected, including those crew members on the HMS Bounty who had to get rescued as the ship sank and they lost the Captain.

Today, I got up and took a photo from the deck of Jay Sea Dee.  We could see The Washington Monument behind the office building ahead of us even though it was still raining.  They say we might even get snow today…amazing.

Today Jay Sea Dee is “dressed” again with the canvas back on and ready to go.  We will attempt to leave in the morning barring a lot of debris in the river or major flooding as predicted.