Getting Hauled at Portland Yacht Services Today[/caption]

By Carol McCracken (Post # 864)

Yachts and yachts and yachts crammed the yard at Handy Boatyard, Falmouth, late this afternoon after crews were almost finished with two days of hauling yachts from the waters of Casco Bay. Normally the view from the Sea Grille is of the 1,200 boats moored in the Falmouth anchorage. Today that view was blocked by the proximity of yachts parked wherever space could be found. Handy’s hauled as many as it could and the rest will have to ride the storm out at their moorings or in hurricane holes found in Phippsburg and Harpswell up the coast.

Matt Lazcaro at Hamilton Marine, the discount boat supply store said that usually this time of the year is slow, but the last two days have been like a mid-summer day. Boaters looking for lots of fenders, anchors, mooring pennants and a variety of other equipment to help them ride this storm out safely.

DiMillo’s Restaurant on the waterfront with a protected anchorage was taking a yacht by yacht approach as to whether or not to vacate the marina. Concern was for the “storm surge” that could well develop Sunday. Complicating this is a high tide expected for 11 pm the same night. The Restaurant will open Sunday morning at 11 am as usual, but according to Dan DiMillo, we’ll see how it goes through the day.

Portland Yacht Services had expected to haul 29 boats today, but when mhn.com arrived the list had grown to 43 boats to haul, according to Rob Benson, operations manager. “We are not adding any more names to the hauling list,” he said this afternoon.

editor’s note: At at the end of the day, PYS actually hauled 60 boats. There were more requests for the service, but PYS ran out of cradles for the boats.