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Folks, Hampton Yacht Club in Hampton Virginia was hit by a by a Tornado. Pretty nasty damage to the building and small boat storage area. I'm hoping my sailboat at the very end of 'B' dock (middle of the river) is ok. I'm not able to get to the club yet. The roads are impassible and I'll give an update as soon as possible.

Tim,
Local news (http://www.wvec.com/news/) posted a picture from a club showing a 470 or 505 on its side, mast bent, but a lot of stick are still standing in the background. the http://www.dailypress.com/ had a few pictures of some bigger boats on trailers that did not do well. Good luck with your boat. Didn’t HYC host the South Bay Race Week starting today?

Big Dog,

You're correct. Southern Bay Race week did start today. Now, I don't know the plans. I'll see what I can find out in the early am. I understand that I couldn't get to the club if wanted to.

I was able to survey the Hampton Yacht Club this am. It truly is amazing that no one was injured. The first evening of post race parties of the Southern Bay Race was happening at 8:15 when event staff and yacht club management directed everybody in the surrounding area to get into the hallway of the yacht club. Event staff hurriedly carried one disabled volunteer to safety and moments later the storm's path crossed right through the small boat storage area. The many small boats of the junior sailing program were thrown in a direct path to where everyone was just partying. Great thinking by the event staff and HYC management!

Three of the four building of the club have severe damage. The lower floor of the main building lost a majority of the front pane windows. The lounge area is completely open to the weather. The administration building lost two-thirds of its roof. The adjacent rental property suffered roof damage and is missing its front doors.

All keel boats that were in dry storage where knocked over off of their trailers. The only damage I noticed to boats in the water was from unfurled jib sails. My boat was spared from damage.

See the last post on Mist's blog for photos.

Glad eveyone is alright. We've been through that a lot on the gulf coast and growing up in Tulsa its a part of the life there. Hopefully its a good opportunity to rebuild and grow!

Chris

Wow, I can't believe SBRW had just started and was subject to a tornado. Glad to hear your big boat wasn't damaged, Mr. Mist.

Hope HYC gets back on their feet soon...this has got to be a blow, but if no one was seriously hurt, then I'd call it a bump in the road and a partial victory. Sounds like the staff really reacted well.

Being somewhat selfish, I was also glad to hear Deltaville was spared this time around. A tornado walked right by the Ullman-Latell Sails loft last year and I think my sails are in or near the "build stage" and are due in early August, so another delay would stink.

I also hope no tornadoes were damaged by that tornado. BTW, I learned last month that Maryland ranks third in the country when it comes to tornadoes per capita. The last I looked, yesterday evening, there were no trees on my boat shed but a lot of lunker trees fell by the wayside between 5 pm and 11 pm last nite in the neighborhood.