Hurricane Irene Slams Marina

McCotter's Marina Damaged by Irene

Another Boathouse Gone

Once again, McCotter's Marina suffers losses, this time from the Category 1 Hurricane Irene. I only have local news reports to go by, and I will confirm this information when Paul and I return to retrieve Piper and Paul's boat from Broad Creek.

This photo seems to show the wreckage at the docks of the marina, east of Washington, NC




A combination of hurricane force gusts and storm surge likely caused this collapse, I doubt anything could have been done.

The storm surge on the western shores of Pamlico Sound was predicted to be massive as this map of risk indicates.


The red areas are in the Neuse River, and the Pamlico River near McCotters is the shaded in brown, indicating nearly as severe a risk of flooding.

With that in mind, Paul's family and I zipped down to McCotters to ensure the safety of their 29 foot Columbia, Delphine. Our strategy was to anchor her out in the creek, where she could ride over the storm surge. At dock, she would likely be damaged by surge and waves and it was too late to have her hauled out. She had been up on stands for the previous two years. Also the flood might float her off of any stands that the staff might set up.

Here she sits on stands in October.



Below, after Hurricane Irene has passed, a boat is stranded blocking the road; this sort of damage is the reason there is currently a curfew in Washington, NC.



In a photo also from the Washington Daily News, boats in slips ride out the storm while the docks are awash.



Finally, from the WDN, from the Washington waterfront is this well-anchored sailboat with a branch, riding safely on the Pamlico River.



With Luck, Delphine is fine, Piper and Paul actually used three anchors to secure her. If no trees or boats ran into the sailboat, then she will be as we left her on Thursday. The eyewall of Irene was around 25 mile from McCotter's Marina, so no one could be confident of complete protection. I'm sure the staff did all they could to protect their property and that of clients. I hate to see property damaged, but the most important thing in a dangerous situation is to protect life and limb, and once again, no lives were lost as McCotter's suffers their continuing bad luck.

Major Marina Fire

McCotter's Marina Fire Destroys 25 Boats

Before Paul and I went down to Ocracoke to sail the Bike Car, we went to the marina to winterize Delphine and secure her as she sat on land. Paul and I toured the marina extensively, including the big boathouse. Well, the boathouse burned last night. I wanted to post some pictures of some of the boats that were within that boathouse. Many were beautiful antiques. According to fire officials, the fire was worsened by the heat trapped under the roof. To look at the damage, there is no evidence that there was a structure at all!

Paul checks on his boat in October to see all is OK. His boat was actually about as far from the fire as possible.



The fire at McCotter's Marina blazes out of control on Friday morning. Photo credit : Washington Daily News



Video from WITN with footage of interviews and the fire

Aerial photo of the damage from a WRAL video showing that the big boathouse is gone, along with numerous beautiful vintage boats



The large boathouse in the upper left is now rubble on the bottom of the Pamlico. Pauls boat is safe outside of this view in the lower right.


See McCotter's on Google Map

McCotter's Official Site



From the Washington Daily News




View of the outside of the large boathouse which burned Friday morning, during better days in October.



View from within the doomed boathouse



Paul and I walked out to the end of the big boathouse to catch a good view of the entire marina. I saw the table and chair from the helicopter view of the damage on WRAL, so I guess the end of the dock survived. Three boaters were rescued from the end of the dock by being towed away during the fire. A woman suffered from hypothermia after jumping in.








Table and chairs next to Paul in the above photos have strangely survived, as seen in the WRAL screengrab below. The large tarped cabin cruiser behind Paul in the October photo is now gone. It had hailed from St. Louis, Mo.






One of the beautiful cruisers lost to the flames Lady Larimar of Washington, NC




The striking deck of Mercedes III of Washington, NC, Also lost to the flames



Article from Local News

From Eyewitness News 9

:WASHINGTON, N.C – Investigators are trying to find out what caused an early-morning fire at McCotter's Marina that injured three people and damaged 25 boats along with a dock.

The Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office says the 911 call came in around 12:30 Friday morning.

When crews arrived on the scene, they said the north dock was engulfed in flames. They worked to get boats out of the way of the fire but 25 of them were damaged with most being a total loss. A covered dock was also lost to the fire.

Three people were treated for minor injuries including burns and hypothermia.

The U.S. Coast Guard is on the scene to see how bad, if any, the environmental damage is from the fire.

Watchstanders at Coast Guard Station Hobucken, N.C. got the word from the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Department of a fire at the marina around 1 AM this morning. They immediately launched a 24-foot rescue boat crew.

A boat crew from Coast Guard Station Hobucken is still on the scene monitoring the situation and has placed boom in the area to contain any debris and pollution from the fire. They've also contracted a cleanup company to respond to the scene.

Pollution investigators from Coast Guard Sector North Carolina are on scene as well to assess the amount of pollution caused by the fire.

Fire departments from Chocowinity, Bath, Washington, Bunyan, Clarks Neck, Old Ford and Cherry Point responded. The investigation is on-going.