Tropical Storm Debby

August 5-6, 2024

Port Royal, SC (docked)

We prepared for Debby for a few days.  The forecast is more about torrential rain than any significant wind (although that’s always subject to change).  The major issue is that Debby is supposed to stall right off the coast for several days and just dump rain (potentially 20-30 inches) on this area.

In addition to securing our dinghy and filling out water tank, John prepped us the best by moving Lailia to an inside slip.  We’re a lot more protected from waves here. 

The waves on the outside slip weren’t terrible but they aren’t even an issue on the inside.  Debby’s winds are coming from the east rather than the south, which keeps the waves smaller.

Our school district sent employees home at 1pm on Monday and let us know they would be closed Tuesday and Wednesday.  Students were supposed to start Wednesday.

We had bands of rain most of Monday evening.   We ate dinner and watched Netflix through that.

The only nerve-wracking time was around 9:30 when we started getting alarms about potential tornadoes. 

My coaching partner texted me the weather maps  while John pulled up radar images.

The sounds in the cockpit were bonkers, because the canvas and isinglass amplify the wind and rain.  The cool part is that in spite of all of that, Lailia was steady.

This morning (Tuesday) we woke up to see that we missed another couple tornado warnings while we slept.  That’s good news – we slept well enough to miss all that and bad news – we slept well enough to miss all that.

A lot of Spanish moss blew down last night.  It’s even decorating our car. 

The rain continues and will probably be coming for days.

We’re safe here and so thankful for everyone who checked in on us, offered shelter, and sent good wishes.