Boaters in Greenwich Cove Pulling Boats or Battening Down For Irene

At Norton’s Marina they’ve been pulling boats since Wednesday, but  can only do 15 to 20 a day and have 300 at the docks or on moorings.

Bob and Audrey Wilkinson of Jamestown considered themselves among the lucky ones as they watched their power boat float into the slings of the Travel Lift.  Once on a trailer the boat was headed for their son’s house in Potowomut, where they felt it would be safer than at their home on the north end of the island.

Audrey said her husband’s family lost their home and all their possessions in the hurricane of 1938. He was 7 years old when those winds slammed into the house in Edgewood in Cranston. 

She said he always takes hurricane warnings seriously and even built their Jamestown home 200 feet back from the water because of his childhood memories.

Pat Norton says that in bad weather boats on a mooring are usually better off than those at the dock.

She says owners of docked boats are adding boat fenders, additional lines and chafing gear and taking off anything that could catch the wind.

The currently predicted Southeaster is a better forecast then a Nor’easter for Greenwich Cove. Wind from the northeast would blow water right into the marina. Wind from the southeast will blow up the bay. There will still be plenty of problems from wind and the expected large storm surge, but less than from a Nor’easter.

When the track of the storm became apparent calls came in from boat owners in New York who wanted to bring in their 60- and 100-foot boats and tie them up alongside the outside dock. Those requests had to be turned down.

Norton says they have also notified all their customers that as the storm hits, the water and electrical service to the docks will be shut off.

Norton’s has been through this before, the last time with Hurricane Bob on Aug. 19, 1991. Pat says a five-day storm that came later that Halloween finished off anything that hadn’t been damaged by Bob.

The Marina itself gets hit hard by such storms.  During “Bob,” water was 3 feet deep in the office. The main building is actually built on a slant, with a 16-inch slope from front to back. That helps, but in addition to taking care of their customers, the boatyard staff will have to move out or move up everything in the office, ship’s store, store room and carpentry shop.

The last thing that will happen before they stop pulling boats is getting their own boats out of the water. The launch will be the last boat pulled and will be left in the slings of the Travel Lift, ready to start taking boaters back to their moored craft when it is safe.

Bob Wilkinson says there is a lot of boating season left and his boat will be going pack in the water when the storm is safely past.