Riding Out The Island Hurricane

Greetings from the island everyone. I hope that all of you are doing well and enjoying these cool Fall mornings that we have been having lately.
I so much enjoy sitting out on the porch during the cool mornings and watching the early sunrise, while having a few cups of strong hot black coffee, and seeing the hummingbirds drink from the feeder. No traffic, no horn honking and no bothersome noise. . or people. The winter duck hunters in their airboats will start showing up soon, but they don’t bother me at all, I’m to the point that I hardly even notice or hear them running the shoreline enroute to their blinds. It’s all good.

But I’ll tell you what certainly was NOT good last month, and that was my decision to ride out what ultimately became Hurricane Nicholas, very slowly zigzagging his unpredictable way across Matagorda Bay. Initially forecast as a “big rainmaker”, and even later as a Tropical Storm, Nicholas could not make up his mind when, where or at what strength landfall was going to be made, and I felt the fury of his strengthening and indecisions.

I had made the usual and necessary preparations, picking up all the loose yard items and moving things up high in case the surge rose above 4’, which is my safe number before the bay waters begin coming inside the downstairs kitchen. The primary concern, my Haynie Bigfoot boat, which I bought new nearly 22 years ago, was secured to my neighbors, Britton & Susan’s, very well built sturdy dock. I screwed 2×6 boards on the outside of the dock posts so the port side gunnel could rise and lower with the surge, adding a two foot buffer above the top of the 6×6 dock posts. This was a wise decision.

The winds started picking up in the afternoon, nothing terrible yet, from the NE 30-40 mph. But at about 5:45 p.m., the winds and driving rain got steadily worse, especially the winds, easily sustained at 60-70 mph (weather data would later show that recorded gusts in Matagorda Bay were 94 mph). At 7:10 p.m. the strong NE winds began pushing the surge into the back yard and beyond. I noticed that the stern of my boat was much lower than earlier, so in this storm I went outside and found that the lagoon had become part of Matagorda Bay, and the strong winds were pushing waves over the starboard side of the boat faster than the self-bailing drain holes could keep up, causing the boat to badly list and begin to sink. This was bad.

I quickly attached the stern battery hatch bilge pump and began pumping, and leaned all of my weight on the port side gunnel in an attempt to level the boat and keep the waves from crashing over the starboard side and into the boat. All the while, I’m trying to keep my balance on the dock, which now was nearly 2’ under water, and the wind blown salt water was burning my eyes. The boat battery eventually drained completely down from the bilge pump, so I quickly went got a battery jump box and used that to operate the pump. Slowly but surely I was able to gain ground and kept the boat from completely sinking, and kept the outboard cowling above water. Thank you, Lord. All the rear hatches were completely full of water and I was finally able to drain them. The ordeal with the boat, in those terrible weather conditions, had to be three of the longest hours I’ve ever endured.

I absolutely will not put myself in that position again. You have no control over what is happening during a storm like that; you are resigned to simply watch and hope, and pray. Lesson learned. Thank you to everyone for your thoughts and concerns, and offers to help in my storm cleanup and repairs. Slowly but surely everything is getting back to normal.

Well, that’s it from the island for now. Everyone take care and have a wonderful day.