Hurricane Sandy

As predicted, crew change got screwed up. 

We got off a day late. Which is not bad considering the effect “Superstorm Sandy” had on the Northeast (I’m not really sure when or why they decided to change the name from “Hurricane” Sandy). For the most part, everyone on our crew and all of our reliefs, escaped relatively unscathed. 

Things for our crew could have been a lot worse.  Three weeks ago, when we got on the boat, no one ever would have thought to themselves, “Hey, I better leave my keys with my car just on the off chance that the worst storm to hit the Northeast in recorded history happens to impact the area while we are 1800 miles away working in the Gulf so that someone can move my car so that it doesn’t get destroyed.” If you had said that to yourself, you may want to talk to a psychologist. Either way, that is exactly what happened. 

Fortunately, the two guys on our crew who did park their cars in our yard, actually did leave their keys with their cars. A few frantic phone calls to and from the other tug crews in NY and their cars were spared from the massive coastal flooding. A local Home Depot parking lot, just high enough above sea level and just far enough away from the high water, proved to make the difference between driving home crew change day, and calling their insurance company to file a claim.

Not everyone in our company was so lucky.

A certain co-worker posted on social media, “Sea water should not be in the cup holders of your truck but its in mine:-( “

Not a good day.

As bad as that is, another one of my co-workers did not fare nearly as well. One of the nicest Captains in our company lives on the New Jersey coastline. Right on the New Jersey coastline. His house did not fare well at all. The only thing I have heard so far is that he has not returned back to work because his house is flooded out. Chances are very good that the damage is so bad that his house may have to be razed and built again from the ground up. 

In addition to that, our home office is located in Staten Island, NY. They did not escape unscathed either. Reports are coming in slowly, but anytime your office is located less than 100 feet from NY harbor and you get record high storm surge, chances are it’s not going to be dry inside come the next day. It wasn’t.

It’s going to be a long time before things in the Northeast get back to normal. Our thoughts go out to all of those people who were affected by Sandy. 

Mother Nature is a bitch.

It may not have made the “Top Ten Nine Rules ofTugboating” but it is a well-known saying in the maritime industry:  Mother Nature will win. Every time.