High winds wash in unsecured vessels

POULSBO — The Feb. 4 windstorm sent a small boat onto Dan Delaney’s property but Monday morning’s winds sent a much larger one onto his shoreline.

Delaney, who lives off Bovela Lane on the northern edge of Liberty Bay, awoke Monday morning to find a 30-foot sailboat snarled in a tree about 100 feet east of his front porch.

“I called the port and Kirk Stickle said he was aware of it,” Delaney said of the boat that had been anchored in Liberty Bay.

The boat had three anchors, but they weren’t enough to keep it from being carried off in the strong winds that whipped across the bay last weekend, he said.

“We had some strong winds last night and I’m glad it didn’t end up on my porch,” he said as he surveyed the boat Monday afternoon.

If it had been blown into his porch, Delaney said its mast probably would have broken a window or two and damaged his house.

“I talked to Kirk at the Port of Poulsbo about having people moor their boats out in the middle of Liberty Bay,” Delaney said.

If the owner of the boat doesn’t come forward, Delaney said he will look into salvaging the vessel, but he is hopeful someone will claim it.

“If the owner shows up, I’ll do what I can to help them remove it because we own a sailboat, too,” he said.

Delaney said despite putting a lost and found ad in local newspapers he hasn’t been able to locate the owner of the boat that washed up Feb. 5.

He has, however, found an abundance of driftwood during the recent windstorms.

“I said I wanted a driftwood beach, but I didn’t want it all at one time,” Delaney said with a smile.

Stickle, who manages the Port of Poulsbo Marina, said the boat was outside of the port’s boundaries and was in either the city’s or Kitsap County’s jurisdiction.

“Boat owners by and large are cognizant and aware of the weather,” he said.

Every time the port receives a weather warning, employees check all of the vessels in the marina and ensure that they are properly secured.

“We check for loose lines, loose tarps and we’ve got live aboards who watch out for other boats,” he said.

The port hasn’t had any major problems during the recent windstorms, because of its preventive efforts to replace worn lines and other equipment before it becomes a problem, Stickle said.

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