Hurricane Florence and Matthew

[Hydraulicjump]

Hey all you tug owners in the Florida panhandle, Georgia and the Carolinas. Just wanted to say that we--and am pretty sure we speak for the whole Ranger Tug community--are hoping for the best for all of you, whether recovering from the floods of Florence to surviving the windy chaos of Matthew. It is heartbreaking to see all those mashed up boats that are shown in the press. Each as dear to someone as our tugs are to us. But we have yet to see a Ranger Tug in the news, which is good.

Let us know that you are OK when you have the chance to tell us your stories.

What an incredibly difficult two years, with Harvey, Irma, Maria, Florence and Matthew. May you all--and your boats--be safe somewhere.

Jeff and Barbara in San Francisco

 

[gwishon]

We're in Apollo Beach, on a canal just off Tampa Bay (west side). Michael passed by us, roughly 200 miles to the west. We had some wind and rain, and one tornado warning just to the south of us. Tides ran about 2' above normal (which were already high due to the king tides). Some docks in the neighborhood were under water for a few hours, but at our dock the water never approached any further than about 8" below the lower edge of the dock. I normally keep our boat on our lift, but a lift motor was being serviced, so I had her tied to the dock throughout the storm, with spring lines on both sides and lines from bow and stern, fenders deployed on both sides. I checked on her every few hours and adjusted lines and fenders as necessary. There was some local minor flooding in the Tampa Bay area, but nothing like what occurred further north. Seeing the pictures this morning, I really feel sorry for the folks in the panhandle. Many people here are gathering supplies and clothing and heading north to help out. It'll be a long time before things return to normal up there.