Smoke on the Water: Survival and Severe Losses: Rivrdog

The good news is that Rivrdog is alive, dry and well.

Plenty of bad news though. Too much bad news, and new wave of storms bringing ever more ice, agony and destruction to the Northwest. I've seen carports collapse under snow in a freak 1984 snowstorm in San Antonio, TX (we had 16" in a day). What he's dealing with there is several orders of magnatude more severe.

I've moved his update from the comments in the "Rivrdog SOS" post to here. It stands alone, as it should.

(recd: 8 Jan 03, 02:09 am Pacific Time)
Rivrdog update: Here we go again!

Apologies to Acidman: Bejus! Did someone out here in the Looney LeftNorthWest
piss off Ma Nature?

Now, after 4 snowstorms since Boxing Day and one fierce ice storm that shut down
the entire region, the weather-guessers say that we are in for another ice
storm. That unexpected storm, almost upon us, will graze the coast and itâ€™s
low pressure will draw a renewed blast of Arctic air out of the East (Red) part
of the northwest, down through the Columbia Gorge again, and over the entire
Portland and Seattle area, to give us another half-inch of ice. Itâ€™s on the
radar within 150 miles. The wreck of the small-boat dock just collapsed two more
cruisers, their cabins squashed like bugs down into their hulls. It was built of
sheet metal and extruded, not forged, metal beams. The big-boat dock, built of
real wood, properly milled when sawmills were the major business here, is still
hanging on. My guess is that it canâ€™t take another half-inch of ice, though,
and will fail tonight. There are 9 nice yachts left there, but my crew of hard
men has pulled out two more since noon. Go
d, I wish I could have led men like this into war when I was in the war biznez.
These people are out defending their PROPERTY, which (preaching to the choir) is
the reason we are here. We can own PROPERTY in this nation, for the time being.

We can also rent it, if we possess actual wealth. Reacting to the disaster
before others (several moorages in this area have collapsed, and many boats are
lost or homeless), I extended my credit for the yacht club members and rented
some available local moorage to replace our lost boat berths for those boats
that we were able to save.

Saving two more yachts required hanging our butts out a bit, but we did it! To
reach the yachts, stranded in the sinking moorage, we had to wade along a
sunken, ice-coated walkway canted 25 degrees from level. The river temperature
is 36 degrees, affording 30 seconds of self-rescue to anyone who fell in, but no
one did. At the yachts, boarding was accomplished by arm strength, then the
boats had to be hand-maneuvered out of the roof trusses of the sinking shed,
then we cleared 8 inches of snow and ice off unused docks to land them. Some
electrical engineers were born today, figuring out how to wire and share the few
kilowatts of available electricity among the rescued fleet, now at 5 boats, to
stave off freezing of the boats and crews.

As the only flag officer of the yacht club present, I have declared a survivors
party, and we shall shortly have a couple of drinks and a common meal to
celebrate our survival and our determination to do more.

Cheers! From Multnomah Channel Yacht Club. One more storm, then we apply our
brains and experience to recover.

To my boating friends, a fair wind and calm seas! To those who read this account
and have prayed for and supported me, my undying thanks.

Next winter, Iâ€™ll be in Baja where this !@#$%(*&^%$#@ weather is unknown.

Rivrdog

Post Script:

We had our party, and I was relaxing on my boat when the big dock completely
collapsed. Sounded like 5,000 pencils being snapped in two at once.

The wreckage hides the damage, but by crawling over wreckage and icy decks, I
have counted that there are still 8 of 11 boats afloat under the wreckage. No
one on them. The small dock next to me is collapsing further into the water,
joining it's big brother in the watery grave, sinking the boats trapped under it
one by one. The culprit is this damned ice storm, pouring rain down and freezing
it on the wreckage, destroying what is left of it's flotation.

Gone, all gone. I came here to match wits with Ma Nature, and she beat me at
every turn. Acidman, you were right, she's a bitch when she wants to be. I have
to abandon my own boat now, still tied up to the floating clubhouse, because of
the danger from the sinking shed just 30 feet off my port side and the potential
of gasoline leaking from sunken boat tanks. The weather is so bad that the Coast
Guard, which normally speeds to any pollution case, just had me make a telephone
report and wished me luck.

I'm packing only my computer and weapon off the boat now, together with a
sleeping bag and life jacket to pass the night in the clubhouse. It is weird
here on my boat, my solace and refuge for 6 years now, leaving her to her fate
and bailing out.. I can't maneuver her out because of the other boats that are
between me and the open water, with the wreckage blocking the clear channel past
those other moored boats.

I will report my own rescue later.

Rivrdog

I'm certain that I speak for us all, Rivrdog, when I say that the only important thing, is the well being of you and your crew out there. Our collective prayers, good vibes and well wishes to you all. And yes, to the survival of every possible boat, too.

And, "your own rescue"? Details, soonest Cap'n.

One last thing. Send as many photos as you or any of your mates have recorded here, to me. I'll post 'em here on the blog.