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Hurricane Ivan... some more pics. #40582
11/28/04 11:37 AM
11/28/04 11:37 AM
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 3,293
Long Beach, California
John Williams Offline OP
Carpal Tunnel
John Williams  Offline OP
Carpal Tunnel

Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 3,293
Long Beach, California
Folks keep asking me how I made out, so I figured I'd save a few thousand words. Nobody'll be able to stay at the beach house for a while, but I promise we'll be back open for business soon. We have a touch of survivor guilt, as many of our neighbors lost everything, including the walls. Notice the missing houses and crumbled walls... Why our house, even our deck, is still standing, I simply cannot imagine.

Back of my house before Ivan:
[Linked Image]

Back of my house after Ivan:
[Linked Image]

Avenida 13 before Ivan:
[Linked Image]

Avenida 13 after Ivan:
[Linked Image]


John Williams

- The harder you practice, the luckier you get -
Gary Player, pro golfer

After watching Lionel Messi play, I realize I need to sail harder.
-- Have You Seen This? --
Re: Hurricane Ivan... some more pics. [Re: John Williams] #40583
11/28/04 01:17 PM
11/28/04 01:17 PM
Joined: Nov 2002
Posts: 5,558
Key Largo, FL & Put-in-Bay, OH...
Mary Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Mary  Offline
Carpal Tunnel

Joined: Nov 2002
Posts: 5,558
Key Largo, FL & Put-in-Bay, OH...
John,
How do they get rid of the sand? And what do they do with it -- put it back on the beach?

Re: Hurricane Ivan... some more pics. [Re: Mary] #40584
11/29/04 12:16 PM
11/29/04 12:16 PM
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 3,293
Long Beach, California
John Williams Offline OP
Carpal Tunnel
John Williams  Offline OP
Carpal Tunnel

Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 3,293
Long Beach, California
Warning! Totally unrelated to sailing and with a political bent!

The County's contractor will happily remove it for you (they're being paid by the load) if you will sign a release and right of entry. I declined to do so. They excavated my yard anyway, along with my front step, protected sea oats (my front yard was in much better shape than the back), and water meter . Just goes to show why they wanted the release. Since I hadn't signed one, I got a new water meter courtesy of the County. The folks with the water company are up in arms because (at last count) 62 water meters and 15 fire hydrants had been torn out in the contractor's zeal for sheer volume. I think more (or any) oversight is needed.

The County paid around $20 million for a beach renourishment project over the last two years, which extended the beach seaward about 100-300 yards in all the tourist areas. Most residents were not really in favor of the project. All that sand in the pictures is the poorly sorted, uncompacted stuff that was pumped up from the bottom to give the hotels more room to pack 'em in. My opinion (and I have some background in this area) is that we paid a premium price for a poorly executed job. Lessons learned from other renourishment projects in the state were apparently ignored. It is very tough to make a case for trying to manage a barrier island, which by it's very nature moves around a lot. If you choose to build or live on one, you need to be fully prepared to lose everything. That goes for residences, hotels and businesses. Ivan proved that spending money to add land to a barrier island at best irrevocably alters the natural system and at worst is simply futile. You have to agree to radically change the island by putting in baffles, breakwaters, jetties, spits, etc., or you have to accept that whatever sand you throw up will be washed away, probably pretty quickly, and you'll have the previous shoreline to look at again soon.

In any case, the County's contractor is staging all the sand it collects to be sifted, sorted, and put back onto the beach. There are great mountains of orange and gray tinted sand peppered with debris awaiting treatment. Ivan, like Opel nine years ago, exposed more of the purportedly illegal orange clay roadbed and building foundations that ostensibly don't exist on the white sand island.

Of course, a discussion of the cost of having unenforced laws on the books doesn't belong here any more than the rest of this rant. Hopefully, you stopped reading this at line one. This is the sort of post I hate to see on Cat Sailor, but at least you now know what the plan is for the sand. I am paying my contractor to carefully excavate my back yard to prevent doing any additional damage, and some of the sand I will keep on the property to begin a small-scale dune restoration anchored with sea oats. The rest is being moved to the right-of-way where it is enthusiastically received by a dump truck driver who hears the cash register chime each time he drives by my house.


John Williams

- The harder you practice, the luckier you get -
Gary Player, pro golfer

After watching Lionel Messi play, I realize I need to sail harder.
Re: Hurricane Ivan... some more pics. [Re: John Williams] #40585
11/29/04 12:39 PM
11/29/04 12:39 PM
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 12,310
South Carolina
Jake Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Jake  Offline
Carpal Tunnel

Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 12,310
South Carolina
I would still classify that post as midly sailing related. We DO sail from the beach and since we're looking at the beach now surrounding your house...and you keep some sailboats there right?

Seriously though, this is really interesting insight. Especially since the media has since gone away. It's damning how local governments try to control the beaches but usually end up doing more harm than good. Another instance is the Charleston, SC breakwall that was built at the entry of Charleston Harbor; turns out that it would have caused the complete errosion of Folly Beach (the island) because it changed the way the current flowed through the area. Folly subsequently had to build jetties to try and divert the current in order to protect the island. We're so narrow minded and quick to jump to conclusions when it comes to this stuff.

Last edited by Jake; 11/29/04 02:57 PM.

Jake Kohl
Re: Hurricane Ivan... some more pics. [Re: Jake] #40586
11/29/04 01:49 PM
11/29/04 01:49 PM
Joined: Nov 2002
Posts: 5,558
Key Largo, FL & Put-in-Bay, OH...
Mary Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Mary  Offline
Carpal Tunnel

Joined: Nov 2002
Posts: 5,558
Key Largo, FL & Put-in-Bay, OH...
John,
I think your account is VERY interesting, and I also think it is VERY relevant to beach-cat sailing, since we rely so much upon beaches for most sailing events. I just hope they are going to put the sand back on Pensacola beaches instead of the contractors selling it to the highest bidder someplace else -- like maybe Key West.

Re: Hurricane Ivan... some more pics. [Re: John Williams] #40587
11/29/04 02:43 PM
11/29/04 02:43 PM
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 277
Baton Rouge, LA
Dean Offline
enthusiast
Dean  Offline
enthusiast

Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 277
Baton Rouge, LA
Good post.

Few people realize that if you choose a domecile on or near a coast, in addition to the vagaries of Mother Nature you will also have to submit to the vagaries of a local governing or semi-governing authority that can often act without apparent experience while executing illogical decrees. The local authority is too often at odds with the county, city,and state governments who are also positioning for a piece of the tax/fees pie. This zoo is funded by beachowners or leaseholders through various fees of dubious legality.

Two years ago I sold my place on Pensacola Beach after twelve years of puzzlement under the Santa Rosa Island Authority. Also sold my lot on the sound in Navarre. I toured the beaches and some of the sound coastline over the Thanksgiving holiday. It's a sad sight to see small mountains of so much sugar sand mixed with what appears to be Home Depot having been pureed in a blender. Sadder is the thought John expressed of suffering not only the cleanup but with the way it has been decided to do so. Living on a beach is difficult in more ways than one can imagine.

Re: Hurricane Ivan... some more pics. [Re: Dean] #40588
11/29/04 03:53 PM
11/29/04 03:53 PM
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 3,293
Long Beach, California
John Williams Offline OP
Carpal Tunnel
John Williams  Offline OP
Carpal Tunnel

Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 3,293
Long Beach, California
Hey Dean -

I don't mean to sing the blues too much here - one good sunset from the deck with some friends (you can watch Key Sailing regattas from there) makes it worth occasionally having to shovel sand out of your living room. The Island Authority continues to be a problem because they are appointed by the County (except for one token seat). The residents of the island don't make up enough of the County's population to be able to influence (by voting them out of office) the Councilmen who make the appointments. I understand the reasons why, but I get frustrated with a government that's sole concern is getting as many tourists as possible onto the island for as long as it takes to get as much money as they're able to spend. The residents' concerns and welfare are far down the list - we have a 1950's treatment plant that spills several times a year, a patchwork phone and electrical grid, and poorly constructed roads. But, hey, we're about to get one hell of a multilevel parking structure and WOW have you seen the state-of-the-art toll gate?

Still no mast-up cat beach, but maybe someday.

Sheesh... somebody turn me off!


John Williams

- The harder you practice, the luckier you get -
Gary Player, pro golfer

After watching Lionel Messi play, I realize I need to sail harder.
Re: Hurricane Ivan... some more pics. [Re: John Williams] #40589
11/29/04 11:06 PM
11/29/04 11:06 PM
Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 3,224
Roanoke Island ,N.C.
Team_Cat_Fever Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Team_Cat_Fever  Offline
Carpal Tunnel

Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 3,224
Roanoke Island ,N.C.
Hey John,
There planning a beach restoration here on the Outer Banks of N.C. Can't imagine it's going to help for long. We had an inlet cut through Hatteras Island by Isabel, in the exact same spot it had cut through many years before (pilings in the sand were uncovered where a bridge had been) and it was deemed necessary to fill it instead of bridge it. One of the excuses was the Army Corp of Engineers said it would increase dredging of the other 3 inlets if it was left open. Next good storm is gonna rip it open again.
Same maladies up here it just colder that's all.
Your right about it being worth the grief though.
Hope to see ya at the Steeplechase,
Todd A. Hart


"I said, now, I said ,pay attention boy!"

The cure for anything is salt water - sweat, tears, or the sea
Isak Dinesen
If a man is to be obsessed by something.... I suppose a boat is as good as anything... perhaps a bit better than most.
E. B. White

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