waaay long time ago, before the beginning of time, and after i lived in lost angeles and thereabouts, forever, i boat sat some different boats at the laurel street moorings in san diego.
once i bought my own boat , again, i relocated to coronado moorings. i also spent time on the other two mooring fields , as i was in sd from 1995-2011. quite some time., all on water, all over the bay, only place i did not keep a boat was anchorage 8, as that was no place for a lady to live.
1995-1999 was spent mainly in laurel street, with a month here and there, rock n roll hell and commercial basin, aka ac harbor. y’all new folks dont get it. ANYway, i made a buncha friends at laurel street. we anchored around with a bunch of folks, and had a decent life.
storms in san diego bay initiate with winds from south east to north west, when laurel street is protected, anchorage 9 is open, then clock from nw, right through laurel street moorings, like a freight train, many times.
ok so this time was just last week.
oops
i donot know, as yet what happened at shelter island rock n roll hell, which is usually destroyed during storms, but i have been in contact with a friend in the laurel street mooorings. i contacted him because i saw a pic of a few boats at the old “abandoned” fuel docks with balls still attached, wrecked after this storm.
i know i donot have many friends remaining in the mooring there, but the loss of anyone or boat is sad and difficult.
there was a force 50 named islander. i first met that boat in cerritos channel, port of lost angeles, in a repo dock, selling for 20,000 usd. and i passed her up. i watched her daily, across the channel from me–beautiful girl. she was itching to sail the far oceans.
then she left.
i relocated to san diego, 1995.
wow there she was… my friends’ neighbor. same boat. same name. prepping for travel, owner said. ok awesome.
easter sunday 2001, 0200 in morning, during a nasty nasty storm with documented winds at over 60 kts, islander broke loose from her mooring, drove herself thru 4 other boats, patsy n jimmys boat, jays boat, annies boat, and the boat of queen of the bay, mark.
marks description was awesome, it was imaginary , he said, so very imaginary, as the islander charged into his motor sailor. oops.
that was first one……. then came the rest.
she was repaired, as were the other boats, and life went on. i watched her thru her changes– she still has same owner, and she no longer preps to leave.
damn.
now she is on bottom, done forever., gone.
along with many other boats from the same neighborhood. yes all were seaworthy. yes all were affixed to moorings and yes all were able to get under way easily. however, these storms are flaming bitches.
i know .
btdt. many times.
and, yes, each mooring is checked annually, since the china chain incident, 2001, easter sunday , featuring islander, force 50.
i am sad these folks lost homes. they lost boats and many have no recourse.
dayummmmm. i still donot know how many lost, but the numbers are many.
