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Two hours ago: pea soup fog and not a breath of wind. Now: torrential rain and gusts upwards of 20 mph and climbing. Irene is on her way.
Fortunately, it looks like she's not going to live up to the usual hyperbolic bleatings of impending doom we always get from the government and media around here when what passes for hurricanes manage to stagger this far north.
If we get sustained winds over 50 and more than a few of inches of rain on the outer Cape, I'll eat my fully adjustable, unstructured Whaler hat. We get at a couple of Nor'easters every year that are at least as bad as I suspect this storm is going to be.
Of course, I pulled the boat anyway, just in case. With the overkill tackle from my old boat (150lb. mushroom and 35' of 1/2 inch chain in a well-protected 15' of mean high water), my little Montauk is probably safe on her mooring in any weather. Still, you never know when a weak link in the system is going to be exposed, or when someone else's poorly secured boat is going to get loose and start careening around the anchorage. Better safe than sorry, I suppose.
Here's hoping that all in Irene's path come through unscathed.

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My Whaler is safely on her trailer in Dennis. I worry about the boat owners on racks at Sesuit. Those racks don't look very wind sturdy. I saw alot of Boatel wind damage when I lived in FL.

I am second guessing leaving the aft cabin canvas on the boat. It's 11 years old, so I was thinking of ordering new canvas at the New England Boat show this winter anyway.

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I attempted to launch on Friday afternoon (a logistical acrobatic act to get the free time) only to find they had pulled the docks at the ramp. Phewy! The guys tring to haul out were having a bear of a time.

BTW - as usual (calm before the storm) the weather on Friday was fantastic.

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I'm 70 miles NW of NYC and at 12 PM Sunday we are still getting hammered. The sump pump in the basement is completely over run and I have a foot of water in it. I will bet we have received at least 15 inches of rain and still coming. The creek by my house is usually a foot or so deep and is a raging river right now and taking out the road where it goes under through 2- 5 foot pipes. It is a good 20 yards from the house foundation to the creek edge but the creek is at my foundation now. Trees are down all over this area and low and behold we still have electricity which is usually first to go.

If it gets much worse or we do loose electric then we have to abandon and move to higher ground. My boat is safe on the trailer and on the high side of the house. I've been here in this house for 8 years and have seen 2 other floods during spring thaws but this one trumps them all. For those still in the eye of the storm all I can say is you aint seen nothing yet because the rains keep coming and the creeks and streams are going to be rising for a long time to come.

Hang on top your hats.

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Good luck Gamalot. Hope you get through it with none or little damage and above all stay safe.

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Was this storm as potentially deadly as Mayor Bloomburg and Gov Christie hyped it up to be??

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Every bit and even more so for those upstate like where I am and just above me in Margarettesville and Prattsville. They still have rivers going through the main streets of town.

NJ always gets hammered by the Ramapo River and the Deleware River so I expect they are in some serious trouble for the next few days.

I figured it was a lot of Media Hype too but got prepared just the same. Would have been fine except the sump pump was just way too small for this flood. For every gallon pumping out 4 were coming in. My sump drain pipe has a back flow preventer that has apparently failed or is clogged. We will not be going to town tomorrow until the repair the wash outs in the roads. Some are 50 feet across and 10 feet deep.

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Wish the storm would have hit us here in Texas. We're in the middle of an extreme drought and could use a couple feet of rain. Lakes are anywhere from 9-40 feet low.

Glad you made it out alive Gam.

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After riding out the storm less than 100 miles from the coast, it totally lived up to the hype. Starting @ 7:30 am on Saturday it rained until Sunday morning @ 8am. At times the rain was actually falling but mostly it was being blown sideways. I would say we had steady 15kt - 25kt winds during the day and 30kt- 40kt winds after dark last night with gusts up to 50kts.

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Sounds like the people inland got it worse than those of us on the coast. Apparently, the rain was a much bigger factor than the wind, especially for areas west of the eye.
Here on the outer Cape, the storm was fairly uneventful. As I posted above, we get at least a couple of Nor'easters every year that are worse. We did lose power at our house, which seems to happen during every major storm. We live at the end of a long point, and the lines that power our road are strung just 12 feet or so off the ground. The town of Orleans does a lousy job of trimming away the trees and branches that overhang the lines, so we always lose our electricity during events like this. Our local proprietors' association has petitioned the town to put the lines underground, but so far they have refused, even when we offered to pay for it ourselves. Go figure.
Other than that, things weren't too bad around here at all. From what I've heard and seen thus far, nobody got hurt, there was minimal beach erosion, and no significant property damage was incurred.
Sympathies and best wishes go out to those who weren't so lucky.

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They promote these things like a prize fight. It gets a bit ridiculous I you ask me. I don't think it was a hurricane when it hit ct and there is some wind damage such as trees down here and there but I think based on what went through south east ct it was overstated. Seems it was more about the rain to the west of the eye that caused problem. Some towns received 10" which is a lot.

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Im glad the government stepped in and said how bad it was going to be. if they dont theres idiots who make the story afterward a sad one.. even though it was all talked up by the media, i still seen and heard stories of complete fools doing stupid things.
We got hammered in NC and took alot of the brunt for you up north and there would have been a lot more casualties and damage if the government and media didnt say anything about it. Ive heard of lost homes cars boats and lives...

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Rain for those inland was the major issue. I put out a 5 gallon bucket on my patio and secured it. It is full and over flowed so I think I can safely estimate we got a good 15 inches of rain in less than 12 hours. I have never seen the creeks and streams rise as fast as they did yesterday. Here in the mountains all that water funnels into the streams and heads toward the larger streams and rivers. We never really had serious winds until last night after the rain had stopped. I am sure we had gusts over 50 MPH but clear skies and soaked ground. We only lost electric for about one minute which is completely amazing for Forestburgh which is deep woods and lots of very tall evergreens with shallow root systems.

Where I am the only condition that could top Irene would be a warm Nor-easter in early April that melts a deep snow pack too fast.

Although my basement did get trashed and my nerves a bit frayed you all can be very proud of me because the Montauk made it through double tarpped and is dry as a bone. Just 2 days ago the tarp was a tent over top of it but I decided to drop it down and wrap her up for this storm. I finally have a week of perfect weather heading my way to finish the GC but I have other duties to attend to getting the basement dried out and cleaned up and a yard that looks like a Hurricane came through. OH WELL!

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The news media takes it far past warnings and information with their sensationalism. However in general, you can never warn too much with these storms. Their paths can be unpredictable and the difference of just a few miles can mean some rain and wind or a lot of devastation.

When Charlie rolled through central Florida a few years ago, inland took the worst punch from the winds. I only lost an old orange tree at my place near Stump Pass but just two miles south there were a few lots with just cement slabs left.

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x2 JohnnyCW. What would have happened if the media "down played" Katrina?

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that's the problem with how the media handles it. It like the boy who cried wolf.