Weekend Storm Batters Boats & Downs Trees, Again

by Judy Silberstein

(November 2, 2006) The fierce winds and rain that swept through the Sound Shore on Saturday, October 28 wreaked havoc on weekend sports and Halloween activities, smashed a large boat onto the rocks at Manor Park, downed wires, and knocked a huge tree onto an unoccupied car in Mamaroneck Town.

The Morningstar was dashed against the rocks at Manor Park during Saturday's high winds. Photo courtesy of Mamaroneck Sea Tow.

A Bad Weekend for Dr. Marianne Massey

When winds ripped a large tree branch onto the hood of her blue Nissan at exactly 9:26 Saturday morning, it was only the latest bad news for Marianne Massey, a veterinarian who this summer moved from Croton to Lester Place in Mamaroneck Town. “The cable guy had just misdiagnosed my TV, saying it was broken, when we heard a loud crash.”

“It was really, really bad for me. I lost my mother on Friday,” she explained. All she wanted to do was spend some quiet time, maybe watch TV and try to forget for a while. “You couldn’t even seek solace.”

The massive branch, almost as large as a major tree, had taken down three poles and deposited power lines across Lester Place, a dead end street off of Fifth Avenue in Mamaroneck Town. Residents could not leave their homes, and the power remained off until late that night. In addition, Dr. Massey’s cable, Internet and phone were out until Sunday evening. To top it off, the damage to her car was considered “an act of God” and not covered by insurance.

“The TV’s working fine now,” reported Dr. Massey on Tuesday afternoon. At least that part is okay – but all the rest is terrible,” she said.

The Morningstar Hits The Rocks

Perhaps the most serious damage of the storm was to the Morningstar, a 31-foot Pearson sloop that broke away from its mooring at Horseshoe Harbor and landed on the rocks at Larchmont’s Manor Park.

“We got the call during the height of the storm, around 11 am,” reported Ken Cavanagh, owner of Mamaroneck’s Sea Tow Marine, the “nautical equivalent of AAA” for this section of Long Island Sound. Two of his bright yellow rescue boats made it to the scene “but the boat was already ’holed’ and we determined it wasn’t prudent to remove the vessel,” he said. She was deemed a “total constructive loss.” Sea Tow returned to Manor Park on Tuesday morning with its 100-foot crane barge and lifted the Morningstar off the rocks.

Morningstar was "holed" and taking in water near Manor Park.

Seas were 4 to 6 feet and the winds were in excess of 40 knots during the height of Saturday’s storm.

“It was awful,” said Captain Cavanagh, who has been through his share of bad weather and admitted, “I was a water rat,” during the years he was growing up in Larchmont.

Sea Tow was called to rescue three other vessels on Saturday, including another 30-foot boat at the Larchmont Yacht Club.

That was only a tenth of the number needing rescue during the storm churned up by the remnants of Hurricane Ernesto at the beginning of September. Mamaroneck Sea Tow’s crew, which includes three full-time and up to a dozen part-time captains, rescued 30 vessels, the largest a 52-foot power boat. Another large boat they were called to help was the 35-foot Westerleigh, which like the Morningstar, snapped her mooring ropes and landed on the rocks at Manor Park, where she sat for many days often surrounded by crowds of adults and children. (See: Ernesto Churns the Sound, Tosses Trees, Takes Out Power.)

For those who were wondering whatever happened to the large yellow sailboat, Captain Cavanagh offered an update to the Westerleigh’s tale.

“Luckily, soon after the storm, there were some lunar tides, and we were able to take advantage of that,” he reported. With help from the high tides, the Sea Tow crew rolled the Westerleigh over onto a cushion of large tires and “skidded” her off the rocks.

Nevertheless, she did sustain considerable “internal damage” and some external damage to the fiberglass hull. According to her owner, Bob Diamond, the Westerleigh is “on the hard” in the parking lot at Brewer Boat Yard in Mamaroneck. It’s up to the insurance company whether she’ll be repaired or considered a “total loss.” Either way, Mr. Diamond hopes to have a totally fixed or a totally new Westerleigh moored off of Manor Park in the near future. “Everyone was super nice,” he said.

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