Cape Cod boaters prepare for possibility of glancing blow from Hurricane Lee
CHATHAM - With Cape Cod and Nantucket inside the area that could feel the impacts of Hurricane Lee, currently a Category 3 storm that is slowly making its way north, some sailors and boat owners on the Cape are not taking any chances.
On Tuesday, the 1812 replica tall ship Lynx made a stop in Stage Harbor in Chatham, where it will dock for two days. Captain Donald Peacock says the Lynx will not go to its home port of Nantucket during the storm. Instead, it will be tucked away at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution for safety.
"Where we'll be very well protected on three great sides," Peacock said.
Smaller boats are making similar plans. Boat owner David Budd took his fishing boat out of the water at Riders Cove in Chatham, a move that he says he would have postponed by a few days if not for the storm.
"A little bit of an urgency, but we were going to do it anyway over the next few days," Budd said.
Chatham Harbormaster Stuart Smith already sent notices to the roughly 2,700 boat owners under his protection. He is taking the next few days to check on the town's storm moorings.
"We just don't have enough boat haulers to remove everybody's boats, so that's why we encourage people early to have a hurricane plan," Smith said, "There's 66 miles of coastline. Our job here is to make sure that people adhere to the rules and find a safe place for their boat."
A history buff, Lynx Captain Peacock knows that wherever Lee lands, the sea is unpredictable. In 1812, sailors would have little to go on besides their senses.
"You just read the sky and the sea, and you get prepared, and, you know, a lot of people and boats are lost," Peacock said.
