Waiting for the Uncertain
22 August 2009 | Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron, Halifax, N S
Bob, A very, very quiet Saturday morning
We arrived in Halifax intending to stay only a day or so but thanks to hurricane Bill it may turn out more like a week. This morning is very quite, last evenings fog has lifted in the harbor and there is a stillness that would suggest just another beautiful day in the maritimes but I don't think it will last very long. I wander through a number of hurricane forecasting websites every couple of hours and the probabilities have increased for Bill to track close to the N S coast as a Category 2.
The RNSYS staff are methodically preparing this place for the storm. There is a calm confidence about their leader a fellow named Wayne who manages the docks and marine facilities. He moved us to a more protected area and we are greatful. I suspect preparation activity levels will peak today and tonight and it is reassuring that this club has invested in their docks and pilings since the last hurricane. They've welded four foot additions to the top of every support piling with horizontal retaining bars at the tops of each piling. In the surge from the last hurricance the floating docks almost broke loose, a tradegy I can't imagine. The chain chafe marks are visible just below the welds of the new sections; a graphic reminder of just how little margin there was between making it through and total disaster. We toured the harbor yesterday in our dinghy and I was surprised at the number of boats tied to far less secure floating docks.
We have an offer from the couple tied next to us to stay at their home in the event we are forced to leave. Throughout this venture at critical points we've had people step up and fulfil a need. Quite amazing and it has effected our behavior as well. Whenever a boat needs some assistance we are right there offering, a bit of paying it forward.
So we wait and wait, just as thousands of other boaters along the eastern seaboard are doing as well. The storm track has moved slightly further west and storm warnings are now being posted along the New England coast.