Cruising Sailors Forum Archive

Sandy's impact

The storm really devastated the Jersey shore from Atl.City northward.All of the shore communities were just hit terribly hard.My home waters are Raritan Bay between Sandy Hook and Perth Amboy NJ and every town on the bay was smashed by a 13.5 ft surge on top of a full moon high tide.My marina is on Cheesequake Creek in Sayreville near the western end of the bay into which the surge was funneled.Sort of a cul-de sac for the water.My boat NiftyNickers was on the hard and I thought she was safe,until the water rushed up the creek.The docks to which many boats were tied were swept up and over the pilings and up the river bank into the boats that were on the hard.Many of the boats on the hard belonged to members of Keyport and Raritan Yacht Clubs as they has just been hauled for the winter.Altogether I'd estimate perhaps 300 boats on the hard and another 200 still at the docks in just this one marina were damaged or destroyed.At the east end of the marina is a pile of 30 or 40 sailboats just pushed together as if by a huge bulldozer.My boat was pushed over in a domino effect by several other sailboats initiated by a large sportfisherman that came up the riverbank in the surge.Although she's on her side I dont see any damage to the hull or mast just a broken solar panel,wind genny,and radar dome and a bent radar arch.Fortunately she's a Pacific Seacraft Crealock 37 and built like a tank.As bad NJ's damage was I think that Staten Island NY got the worst of it,at least 35 people killed and incalcuable damage.Just heard that the NY marathon will be run Sunday which starts in Staten Island and that they are evicting storm victims from the hotels so that the runners can be housed in them.Incredible!

Messages In This Thread