Admiration

I have to take a moment to salute my friend, Mr. Rivrdog. I'm truly humbled. Riding out Hurricane Claudette aboard ship as I did here in Galveston Bay, well, it wasn't shit compared to what he and his crew have endured over the past three days, and are enduring, still.

There is courage, character, selflessness and dedication in every syllable of every post he's shared with us. Frankly, how he found the time to keep us appraised of his plight is astonishing to me. For the record.

Two boats; lost. All dock sheds; lost. All hands safe and sound, and heroes all.

I'm linking this post as a trackback to Kim DuToit's magnum opus essay "The Pussification of the Western Male". My blog progenitor, Acidman also posted just today on the subject of "Balls". Rob? These guys got 'em, in spades! Kim, hope you get a lift from reading 'bout some truly NON-pussified guys.

Damn, I'd stand watch with Rivrdog and his crew, anytime.

Rivrdog update: Friday evening, 9:39pm Pacific Time

I had no time to weep over my failed mission to save my moorage from the winter onslaught. After abandoning my own boat and retreating to the relative security of the clubhouse, I got 3 hours of sleep, then awoke to find another half-inch of ice coating and weighing down everything here that floats (that’s everything but the pilings). The main clubhouse had taken on a list (tilt), and the associated floating structures were dangerously low in the water. We were isolated by the wreckage of the moorage structures, which blocks exit to land, and the glare ice on everything, making walking impossible.

I made calls to report our situation, then looked up to find a member and his two adult sons, one ex-Coast Guard and the other ex-Navy, working their way down the icy ramp, hand over hand. They were dressed in sea survival suits, and had ropes and harnesses. They set to work on the first destroyed shed, rapidly clearing the ice from the walkway, inspected their trapped boat, then cleared the entire shed roof of ice and snow. They put in a whole day, next clearing dangerous snow and ice accumulations from other walkways. Don’t try to tell ME that military training doesn’t benefit our youth!

The prospects were looking good until the !@#$(*&^%$# weather people announced the NEXT storm, the THIRD ice storm in a row. It’s due to hit during the night. They are fairly definite that this is the last one, and they are so confident that they have posted a Flood Watch for all the melting that is going to happen next!

After a short go-around with the Department of Environmental Quality, in which we reached an understanding that the two sunken boats weren’t releasing any pollutants, not threatening the planet, I was released from a $30,000 call-out of a pollution company (for the time being).

The bottom line: all the boat shed moorage lost, two boats lost, 11 boats trapped in the wreckage, 5 boats saved from the disaster, AND NO ONE HURT OR LOST! Your prayers HAVE had an effect.

My dear wife is still hanging in there out in the mouth of the Gorge, and with luck, the ice will moderate enough by Sunday for me to visit before I have to come back here.

Thank you all again for your support. I have numerous photos of the storm and the damage, and I’ll send a few along so Jim can decide how much bandwidth he wants to use to publish them.

Rivrdog

Soon as Rivrdog sends me the photos, I'll post 'em up for you. Bandwidth be damned.

Oh, and Rivrdog. Keep being careful. The worst fuckups happen when people think "the worst is over". Don't let that one bite you in the ass.

And yeah, y'all keep those prayers, vibes and good wishes going still. They've still a day or three to get through before "it's over" out there.

If you're new to this nearly real-time saga of Rivrdog's saga of bravery in the face of a record breaking storm in the Pacific Northwest, just scroll down to the post Shipmates, where the story begins.

Perphaps I'll string all of the posts and updates into a single, contiuous and chronologically correct post when his photos come in.

Comments

[Rivrdog]

Thank you, sir, for your generosity in posting all of my little ditty. It has been an adventure out here. For those who haven't kept up on the news here (outside of my struggles at this moorage), this storm has had a record effect. One example: 3 entire days of commercial, private and most military air transport have been lost at a huge cost to commerce (I did hear the characteristic sound of F-15's flying on all three days, though, so you can add our our Boys in Blue to your Brass Balls List). FedEx actually couldn't deliver any packages in a major city for the first time in their 30 year history. Interstate highway travel has been closed for 3 days, and just reopened. Rail commerce was suspended. Sadly, at least 3 other boat moorages have had major structural failures, including two where folks live aboard their boats. Their damage has been far more severe than here, with dozens of boats lost. The total disaster effect of this storm is just now being tallied.

Tonight and tomorrow are the last damage control days, then we begin reconstruction here. We spec'd out a jury-rig water system suitable for drinking water today, and we will put it in Saturday. We discussed a temporary conversion of the destroyed covered moorage to a salvaged-dock open moorage as the most expedient way to restore our function.

Tomorrow, we move the little rescued fleet of 5 boats to a new moorage upstream, where the owner has waived all the usual rental details for us. Interestingly, we could have done this today, but while we could have navigated the river, we couldn't have done the road driving to support the move. Shades of century before last, when there were no roads in this region and all commerce went by boat or pack animal.

A final editorial note: I wished the calendar forward subconsciously. The above update was really Thursday evenings.

Rivrdog

[Yellowlegs]

I would like to echo Jim's admiration for Rivrdog and his crew. And we'll continue praying for them.

[Denita TwoDragons]

Posted the latest, and I'll update the post and add your latest comment, 'Dog. G-d bless you and your crew--you guys truly do personify courage. You ever find yourself in Texas, you'll be guaranteed lots of fine food and good drink! :-)

--TwoDragons

[baldilocks]

It works. Prayer, that is.