"...lash myself to the lee side of the big oak..."

I really hope that you don't become a pancake if that mighty oak goes down.

I don't know how you guys do it. We are gonna be sailing, in a great big cruise ship, from the north coast of Venzuela to Miami on 'bout 10Oct, and we are already worrying about what kind of TS/hurricane might be in the area then. You guys to it a bunch of times, every year.

(and, lucky us, our boat is having problems with its "azipod," an electric egg beater type gizmo that replaces a normal screw and rudder, causing it to have to run at less than top speed. Oh joy. Gonna cost us our trip under the Golden Gate too, that port has been cancelled)...