Tsunami hits West Coast Harbors

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bluebayou

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Alas, the horrible earthquake in Japan did do some damage on the West Coast. Here are some videos of your worst nightmare, your boat getting loose when you are helpless, from the San Jose Mercury News:

http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_17592881

Charles, formerly mooring in Santa Cruz (before Ranger Tug came along)
 
Thanks for posting Charles, pretty dramatic footage. Our hearts go out to all those people that have experienced losses, especially those people in Japan.
 
Subsequent to hearing the news reports about Santa Cruz, I heard that the harbor in Brookings, Oregon, even more exposed to the open ocean, also experienced boat losses and 4 people were swept to sea. One person was never found.
Our thoughts and prayers go out to the millions of people suffering today in Japan; here on the West Coast, the loss of life was minimal, but millions of dollars worth of boats still felt the shock.
Here's some footage of boats coming un-moored in Brookings and drifting out to sea:

http://www.kval.com/news/local/117820628.html

Charles
 
Alas, I had overlooked Crescent City, whose harbor suffered perhaps even worse boat destruction. According to one report "35 boats were destroyed." The tsuanmi-induced surges reached 8 feet in height. For an idea of what 8 feet of sudden surge does to a harbor, here is a truly gripping video:

http://mckinleyvillepress.wordpress.com ... g-tsunami/

Reviewing what happened to these 3 harbors on the West Coast, what can we conclude, for TugNuts, tug owners:

1) Make sure your boat insurance covers tsunami destruction, and is current.
2) Avoid, if possible, mooring in harbors open (except for a jetty) to the Pacific Ocean.
3) When mooring, imagine a sudden tsunami surge---look at the dock, lines, fenders, etc.
Any other thoughts, suggestions?
Charles
 
OK, I realize I am from South Dakota and not particularly subject to tsunami problems, but I am curious...with all the warning, why were so many boats still in the harbors? In Honolulu and on Maui (where the was actually less time to prepare), the marinas were pretty much empty when the surge occurred. Seems like being out in deeper water would be the prudent thing to do.
 
Several years ago, when I was looking for a marina for my 25' Marathon, I had settled on a marina that had two sets of docks. One set of docks were new (and pretty) but were directly in line with the mouth of the harbor. The other set of docks were around the bend and appeared to be protected somewhat from waves directly from the mouth of the harbor. I chose the latter. A year later, after a hurricane came through with a 4' surge, I found out I chose right. All the boats tied up to the new docks were heavily damaged. The boats at the old docks were fairly well protected with only a couple of boats that did not have spring lines sustaining damage.

The moral of the story is: there is more to consider when selecting a marina than price and conveniences. Consider where any weather would come from and how much protection you will have. If weather is coming and you cannot take your boat out of the water, then ensure you have at least a 8 point tie-down with spring lines, with enough slack in the lines to account for the anticipated surge. Good quality 1/2 inch lines are a better choice for this application. After you have all the lines on your boat, rock your boat around the slip to ensure all the lines are properly adjusted. And you might want to empty your dock box. The 4' surge at my dock put the water level 3' over the top of my dock.
 
Another thing to remember, and which many do not seem to understand, is that "doubled" lines which are of different length are merely two "single" lines and which will break one-at-a-time as the storm progresses.

I have already mentioned in another post that spring lines should also be adjusted to move the boat further from the main pier of the slip. (Good) lines do stretch (by design) and lines set for convenience during normal weather will allow the boat to go places one cannot imagine until the damage is surveyed the next day.
 
The following link shows how to use spring lines at a dock. The spring lines are in red and the bow/stern lines are in green. In heavy weather, when you are tied up in a slip where you have pilings on both sides of your boat, you should duplicate the spring lines and bow/stern lines on both sides of the boat. Also make sure you put all your fenders out.
http://www.tropicalboating.com/boat-handling/spring-lines.html. If you have enough lines, you can double them up, meaning using 16 lines instead of 8.

If you need to add cleats to your boat, make sure you use a backing plate made of steel or thick wood. If you don't, the cleat screws will pull out and you will end up with a big hole in your boat - not very pretty.
 
tikenyon,

Both Crescent City, CA and Brookings, OR are on the edge of the Pacific ocean. During the tsunami warnings, we had storm/gale warnings along the coast. Going out to sea might not have been a good choice. Most of the harbors along the Oregon coast have river bars at the entrance, which break heavily during storm conditions. The CG closes those river bars to boat traffic and you best not go out. If you do go out, you might not be able to get back in. Folks along the Oregon coast were being evacuated to highter ground. So if you are there, you grab your kids and pets, jump in the car and drive inland. The boat can always be replaced.
 
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