Irma

The category 4 hurricane is battering Key West now, before it moves up the west coast of Florida. I have one friend riding it out in Key Largo (northern most key) and, perhaps, another in Key West. Frankly, I can't imagine people staying in Key West, but they are. Key West is probably, effectively, part of the ocean at this point with only buildings & telephone poles sticking out of the water. After KW, the storm will hit Naples, Ft Myers, and Tampa extremely hard with 8-12' storm surges. We can only hope that our friends on Florida's west coast have taken all precautions, or, better, moved inland or out of Florida all together.

Keith

_________________
2015 AI 2, 2014 Tandem

"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex ... It takes a touch of genius and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction." A. Einstein

"Less is more" Anon

Those of us in Houston are sympathetic. Wishing you all well and back into your homes as soon as possible.

_________________
Greg

2016 AI - Spinn & Jib

“Out of sight of land the sailor feels safe. It is the beach that worries him.”
– Charles G. Davis

Greg, I'm speaking from the luxury of being at 7000' near Taos in northern New Mexico. But, I have been in touch with family in S FL and WaterTribers in the north Florida Keys. I hope you did not flood in Houston.

Keith

_________________
2015 AI 2, 2014 Tandem

"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex ... It takes a touch of genius and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction." A. Einstein

"Less is more" Anon

Hey Keith. I was one of the lucky ones, I only flooded a car and a rental home we own. The flood was all the way up into the second story of the house. Only the attic stayed dry. That's one to remember. Our personal residence just escaped damage though.

_________________
Greg

2016 AI - Spinn & Jib

“Out of sight of land the sailor feels safe. It is the beach that worries him.”
– Charles G. Davis

Has anyone heard from fusioneng? He lives in Key West which was hit especially hard.

I hope he's ok.

+1

_________________
2015 Hobie Tandem Island Hibiscus
"Third Normal Form"

• Trampolines
• Hobie cover
• Davis Spar Fly
• Kayakbob's Sprayskirts
• Spine Board Hakas

While Fusioneng goes to Key West, I believe he lives in or near Naples--also hit very hard by Irma. This was a huge storm. It was hard to get out of its path if you were anywhere from the middle of the state down.

Keith

_________________
2015 AI 2, 2014 Tandem

"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex ... It takes a touch of genius and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction." A. Einstein

"Less is more" Anon

Terrible storms! I First Harvey and now Irma! I have been following the situation from a safe distance here in Sweden.
Almost imaginable, 400 miles wide, windspeeds around 150mph, just crazy!
I sure hope everyone is safe? Lots of property damage, just sad.
I am impressed by the people in US enduring the hardship and still keeping the spirits up.
Our thoughts are with you guys....
/Gustav

_________________
Sailing my TI and fishing.... thats bliss!!

There are several of us who make the Ten Thousand Islands our home for a few days every year. I make 12 hour drives from Georgia (US) to experience the truly remote and amazing kayak camping.

I've just seen some pics from some of my favorite landmarks.

Calusa Island Marina in Goodland, FL (where we launch) sustained a good bit of damage, debris, and displaces boats.

The locally "famous" dome house off Cape Romano took a beating, with some of them collapsing into the sea. Looks like they may end up being an unintended artificial reef.

Some of the islands we enjoy camping on have been "reconfigured" somewhat; but then nature has been reconfiguring those islands for millennia so I'm sure we'll be fine.

Our thoughts are with those in that region (especially the Keys and Naples / Marco) who have a long road ahead to recovery. Irma left many of us in Georgia without power for several days, but nothing compared to what our neighbors to the south have endured.

Also, our thoughts are with those in Houston who endured so much flooding. With Irma coming right on the heels of Harvey, attention got diverted away from their plight, but they will have a long road ahead as well.

I'm looking forward to my next camping trip this winter to the "TTI" and hope everyone will come out of this OK.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I've thought a bit about where we are going to be able to launch our first camping trips...starting about Nov 15. Hurricane Andrew in 1992 devastated the southern launching point out of Flamingo. Andrew destroyed the motel at Flamingo and rendered the marina and much of the surrounding area useless by pushing huge amounts of mud, which covers much of the shallows in front of Flamingo, into the marina and surrounding area. Because of the path of the Hurricane Irma, I think Flamingo will be non-functional for months to come.

That leaves us with Chokoloskee/Everglades City and Goodland. I understand Goodland was hit pretty hard. Also, Goodland is not generally a good launching site for the Everglades because it is too far north. That leaves us with Chok/EC. Because they are small towns, my thinking is that they will be restored ASAP. The National Park Service facilities in EC, hopefully, will have survived and will not have the mud inundation that Flamingo will have. Chok/EC are not coastal as Flamingo is. So the ground-level winds should have been blunted some. That's my hope.

Keith

_________________
2015 AI 2, 2014 Tandem

"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex ... It takes a touch of genius and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction." A. Einstein

"Less is more" Anon

We usually camp on Helen Key or Brush Island, so Goodland has been perfect for us. From reading your entries, Keith, I know you generally camp farther south. The farthest south I've been was a day trip to Dismal key from Brush Island this past January.

I hope you return from the mountains to find everything in as good an order as possible.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Made it through Irma and two weeks later Maria over here on Middle Caicos. And now it's time for me to finally get a Tandem Island!

Great to hear!

_________________
Matt Miller
Former - Director of Parts and Accessory Sales
Warranty and Technical Support
Hobie Cat USA
(Retired 11/7/2022)

Thanks for the concern everyone. The house in Key West is in old town (highest point in key west), just behind the hemingway museum/house, and near the lighthouse, we had very little damage I'm told, but I haven't gone down there yet. We got more damage at the Sarasota house, lost a tree and an outbuilding, (tree fell on it), and several sections of fence. I've been busy cleaning up, huge pile of storm debris piled by road.
We evacuated and stayed with family in Chicago area. What is normally a 6-7 hr drive to get out of Florida took us 3 days, no gas stations, and bumper to bumper traffic all the way out.
We had our RV with us, I'm glad because most of the RV's were damaged or destroyed at the storage place (tornado).
Our son stayed behind and boarded up the sarasota house, then bunkered up. The house is concrete and should be good to cat 3, however we are near the ocean in a flood zone, (my biggest concern was surge flooding). I had him tie the TI to a big tree out front, which would have been his last resort, luckily he didn't need it.
FE