Tsunami

[Ted Pounds]

Hope all you west-coast sailors (and Hawaii) are OK.  I'm in Tokyo and was asleep in my hotel room when the quake hit.     Keep the Japanese people in your thoughts and prayers.  They had no warning when the Tsunami hit the northeast coast here and were very hard hit.  Somewhat fortunately actual earthquake damage was minimal.  They really know how to  build things quake-resistant here (thank God).

[Joe Kern]

Ditto what Ted said.  I saw some video on the West Marine facebook page about Santa Cruz getting some tidal stuff.

Stay safe where you are Ted.

[Susan Ray]

Thanks for your concern guys. We motored out for about an hour at 1Am and bounced around till about 5 and returned. The harbor was still having 1-2 foot tide surges but no damage . The LaMarianna piers broke loose and about 50 boats escaped into to the Keehi Harbor...no reports of injuries yet. It was a very long night but safe home. I send my good thoughts to all those in Japan.

[scotty]

Thanks for your concern.
Yesterday was a big deal at the Santa Cruz Harbor. Our boat was undamaged, and for that I'm quite grateful.  There was, however,  a lot of damage to both harbor infrastructure and boats.   Seventeen boats sank, many were beat up, and some are just missing - drifted out to sea? Some of the docks are broken off and some are just gone!   The majority of docks are fine, although the harbor staff is checking them all for structural integrity. The docks look old now, you know, just kind of lumpy and crooked.  It's quite a mess. I'm going down later and check out our boat more carefully.
I saw the harbor today.  The water is still surging back and forth, like in a bathtub.  I think that is called a sietch?  The water is the most ugly brown, filled with floating debris.  It is so strange to see entire dock sections just gone, leaving behind pilings jutting up out of the water.  I was looking for a friends boat, and it's just not in the harbor.  The Coast Guard closed the harbor today to all boat traffic except emergency vessels.  A lot of people worked really hard to get us through this.
Still, the human spirit prevails and most people were grateful that there was no loss of life here.  Our thoughts and prayers go out to others who have lost so much more.  Especially the people of Japan who face tragic losses.

[Joe Kern]

Glad you and your boat are ok.   Were just lucky or was the boat in a good place, tied up well etc?

[scotty]

Basically we were in a good place.  However, I was glad of safe practices.  Because I am in a place with surges, I always double both my bow and stern lines.  I use fore and aft springs.  Sometimes I kind of laugh at myself for being overboard in being safe (forgive the pun), but I try to take the safe approach at the boat.  I figure that the safety of my family and friends is my responsibility.  This time it payed off.  There were boats that broke free (what a mess).  Our boat was solid.  The boats that were tied to docks that broke off were in danger no matter what the practice of the skippers.  So, you do your best, but it's in the hand of God.

[Joe Kern]

Looks like a couple of Catalinas at about 2:45 on in this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wol313mkT8&feature=player_embedded#at=169

[Mike and Joanne Stimmler]

We were on our boat Friday when the Tsunami hit and we didn't realize anything happened until we saw the two news helicopters flying overhead and then noticed that the bait barge was missing, that normally is about 100 yards from our slip in Quivera Basin at Mission Bay, San Diego. Apparently, it was broken up in sections by the surges that found it's way into the bay, and was floating scattered throughout the basin. By the end of the day, they managed to collect most of the dock floats and put them  back in position but still not functional when we went out for a sail on Sunday. There was minor damage to some boats by the loose barge sections drifting into some boats, but I didn't see anything obvious except for a missing buoy at the entrance to Quavera basin.

We survived the Tsunami     

[Ralph Masters]

Mike,
Down at Pier 32 Marina there was no decernable water movement this time.  We are far enough south and the inlet to San Diego Bay small enogh that it prevented any surge down our end.  Last year they said there was about a one foot rise and then fall over about a 30 minute period so still no real movement of boats.  Good to know you guys are safe on that end. 
Have a great week end,

Ralph
Ciao Bella