1925 Elco Motor Yacht Lost in Little Washington Fire.

This boat was apparently lost in the massive blaze at McCotter's Marina early the morning of January 7. It is described as a Hermione Charters historic 56 foot 1925 Elco Motor Yacht.

Click to see Classic 56 foot boat lost in blaze

It was a fine-looking vessel, and I am sad to hear it was lost.

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.

Crazy sinking-but-not-sinking boat

I just want to make sure that I publish a new blog entry this year, it has been a real struggle to come up with new material. We have hardly sailed at all, because for the first time in eight years we missed our Maine trip. Click on the link below to see more about this craft.


Man Overboard! The Artistic, Globe-Trotting Sinking Ship | Gadgets, Science & Technology

Ocracoke Land Sailing

I've been around watching Paul ( http://paulandpiper.blogspot.com/ ) get his bike car converted to a sailcar, and that has led to great fun zipping around town on this head-turning creation. When the first fall winds started gusting through town, Paul called me and invited me out to the Hank Anderson Park west of Carrboro.

Paul heads down the bike lane on North Greensboro Street.



Carrboro is a bicycle friendly town, with great bike lanes. Too bad more trucks don't occasionally take out the overhead branches. The mast rig on the bike car is 13 feet tall, and it does brush a few branches, but his clearance beats some of the taller trucks, so they do a pretty good job pruning the industrial way.

A short video I shot Of Paul Van Ness sailing his homemade Bike Car in the Carrboro park parking lot.



YouTube - Sailing the VanNess BikeCar



Later we took the rig to Ocracoke Island and had the length of the island and a stiff breeze to propel us.



Finally, we took out the stops and had a tear down this narrow dock at the coast guard station.

Another significant flood on the Haw River in North Carolina

A winter storm passed through central North Carolina January 30th, dropping 5 inches of snow and sleet onto saturated ground. Heavy rains fell throughout the following week, capped by almost 2 inches on Friday February 5th. Between the heavy, steady rain and the thawing snow, a massive runoff was created. The Haw rose throughout the night and my crew and I headed out for a gander at the spectacle the following morning. We drove to the old highway bridge at Bynum, which is now a pedestrian bridge.

A 30-second video of a log racing downstream and nearly crashing into another large tree jammed into the bridge piling.



We went to the 15-501/Haw River Bridge and heard the thunderous roar of the water dropping 12 feet over the dam, which is several hundred feet wide there. Mark, Jennifer and I continued our flood sightseeing by driving northwest along the Haw to land owned by my friend David near Saxapahaw. A short hike led us to this view of the dam.



Mark owns a small parcel of land that includes a remarkable old mill house, built in the 1920's to provide electricity to a textile mill in Swepsonville, NC. His neighbors driveway crosses a bridge over a small creek, which had flooded, leaving them isolated. Fortunately they have a small boat to shuttle to the main road.

The river was flowing over a much higher wingwall. From inside the mill, we could peer out the window and see the raging current covering all the land normally in sight.


Inside the mill, the turbine openings in the floor were filled with brown flood waters almost to the floor level. Normally, these two pits are scary, dark, deep holes. On this day, they are two kiddy pools, only 15 feet deep!



Sunday, I drove out to my land on the Haw to take a look, and could easily observe the flood level by the debris hanging 3-4 feet up in the trees. My canoes were safely tied and the deck fared well, too.

Top stories of 2009: No. 1, Bismarck Dinius acquitted in boat crash case

The following case pitted a law enforcement officer against a sailboat captain, Bismarck Dinius, who was run over from behind, killing one of his crew. One interpretation is that the lawman was protected by zealous prosecution of the sailboat captain on the basis of his being drunk at the time of the crash.

LINK : Lake County News | California - Top stories of 2009: No. 1, Bismarck Dinius acquitted in boat crash case

Hobie Cat Graveyard

in Virginia Beach at 84th St.







Greetings! Back from another road trip, this time to Virginia Beach to visit my parents. Jennifer and I went for a walk on the beach to beach-comb after the massive nor'easter associated with Tropical Depression Ida in November. It lasted for days and destroyed bulkheads, houses, roads and beaches. It caused leaks at my folks beachfront house, but since they rent, the stress was low.

As we strolled toward Cape Henry, we watched cargo ships departing the Chesapeake Bay. On the way back, we strolled the strand line looking for things cast up by the tide. Here we found the Hobie Cat graveyard.

Hobie Cats are a common sight on the beach, and frequently become partially buried in the drifting sand over the winter, but these boats seemed mostly abandoned. Here, a red-hulled Hobie 16 actually has grass growing on top of the trampoline. A security-minded kayak owner is using the Hobie as a tie-down for his yellow craft.





This Hobie has been cannibalized for her trampoline, but I think the thiefs just wanted the metal, since the tramp fabric has been discarded between the hulls.



This Prindle seems intact save the rudder connector has been stolen, and the mast is missing. It seems like the missing mast could be a fatal problem.




Another Hobie 16 missing rudder parts and mast. It takes a real dirtbag to steal a mast for the money the metal would bring. It's no different than stealing an AC unit from a house, ruining a 2000 dollar unit for $40 worth of copper. It's kind of heartbreaking to see these boats left by trusting owners be stripped.




This yellow boat seems like the most beloved boat, with a complete set of parts, mast, lines, and a hula girl on the port hull. The owners should go sailing real soon.