Tracking Earl - Worrying about friends

It is both interesting and frightening to track the course of hurricane Earl.  The marine forecasts still say "the track is too uncertain to predict marine weather."  As I watch three or four times per day I continue to find pre-hurricane tasks to add to my list:  take down the jib, take down the dodger, reinforce the brackets for the solar panels (or do I take them down.)  Today I realized that the track is very close to New Bern, NC where several of my friends have elected to live on their boat for the summer.  All indications are that they will be hit far harder than St.Pierre so my thoughts and prayers go out to them.