Loophole LaRue, SASS #51438 Posted September 7, 2017 Share Posted September 7, 2017 My family and I have been fortunate to occasionally charter a catamaran out of Tortola in the British Virgin Islands for a week or two at a time. Absolutely our best vacations. Luckily, not this year. LL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Grass Range #51406 Posted September 7, 2017 Share Posted September 7, 2017 So if you know a hurricane is coming why would you not move your boat inland to a safe area? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Utah Bob #35998 Posted September 7, 2017 Share Posted September 7, 2017 5 minutes ago, Grass Range #51406 said: So if you know a hurricane is coming why would you not move your boat inland to a safe area? In the Virgin Islands, that's not an easy thing to do at all, and there aren't really any safe places form a Cat 5 storm anyway. The main focus is securing your home and family and/or evacuating. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Utah Bob #35998 Posted September 7, 2017 Share Posted September 7, 2017 http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/hurricane-irma-destroyed-nearly-every-building-on-the-island-of-barbuda/ar-AArpKb9?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=mailsignout Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trigger Mike Posted September 7, 2017 Share Posted September 7, 2017 I've often thought if there was anything a boat owner could do and really there is not. If you are on those islands, the hurricanes often destroy the entire island. You could get on your host and travel out to sea well away but you never know where those things are going and during Rita I recall a cargo ship tried to do just that and the hurricane moved onto where it was and the crew had to be rescued. if stateside, say on the eastern seaboard you'd have to travel down to the gulf to try and escape it knowing there is a chance the gulf will get hit by the hurricane. then if you go out to sea, the docks will be knocked out so how would you get home? I have learned there are times there is nothing you can do but watch as the storms of life hit you and pray for the best. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eyesa Horg Posted September 7, 2017 Share Posted September 7, 2017 Maybe for the same reason folks rebuild their homes in the same spot it's washed away 2-3 times B4, I guess they like the view B4 the storm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loophole LaRue, SASS #51438 Posted September 7, 2017 Author Share Posted September 7, 2017 My sailboat was on a mooring on Cape Cod when hurricane Bob roared in about 1/2 mile away. I was able to strip the mainsail and double up on the lines, but more was not possible. Picture a couple thousand boat owners trying to pull their boats, when there are only 1/2 a dozen marinas and a dozen ramps. And even if you could get your boat out, where would you put it that was safe? A boat on blocks on land is perhaps even less safe than a boat on a secure mooring. One of my neighbors had a 40' offshore fishing boat tied to his dock; he moved it to a mooring he had in the river, thinking it could swing and risk less damage than what often happens to boats tied to hard docks. He guessed wrong. His mooring was undersized for the boat, and a 12' storm surge up the river caused his boat to act like a cork, pulling the mooring anchor out of the bottom. His boat travelled through the adjacent mooring field, and damaged all of our boats like a cue ball bouncing off a bunch of other balls. He ended up river, stuck on shore between two trees, 10' off the ground. My mooring was properly sized, and I had enough scope that the surge did not cause the boat to pull the anchor. I lost my roller furling genoa (the big sail up front that rolls up), and had some dings and dents from the drifting fishing boat, but was otherwise intact. Surviving a hurricane is part preparation and a bigger part luck. LL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trigger Mike Posted September 7, 2017 Share Posted September 7, 2017 scenes like your picture are always heartbreaking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loophole LaRue, SASS #51438 Posted September 7, 2017 Author Share Posted September 7, 2017 1 hour ago, Grass Range #51406 said: So if you know a hurricane is coming why would you not move your boat inland to a safe area? Grass: Hard to get a size perspective from the photo. Most of those cats are 40-50', with beams (widths) of 24-35 feet. You cannot trailer them over island roads, nor is there a safe place on land on the islands. You can try to sail or motor away, but you are putting yourself, your crew and your vessel at great risk by doing so in the face of an approaching hurricane. There is no way to tell which way leads to safety, nor are you likely to be able to move fast enough to get out of harm's way. In the end, the best you can do is try to make sure that your mooring is solid, strip your sails and gear, get everyone off the boat to safety ashore, and pray. LL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Henry T Harrison Posted September 7, 2017 Share Posted September 7, 2017 I have zero sympathy for the millionaires who lost their well insured toys. My heart breaks for the poor residents who lost what little they had in this world. The rich will get a new toy probably bigger and better where will the poor islanders get the money to rebuild their lives Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trigger Mike Posted September 7, 2017 Share Posted September 7, 2017 i hate to see anybody lose out as even with insurance you have a deductible and i imagine even the rich sometimes do not replace what they lost and they also have sentimental value attached to their things as well. the Bible says wealth is a security in Ecclesiastes and I'd hate to begrudge someone because they have more security than me. Since we know even in communist countries they have rich and poor there will always be both, but so long as their are rich people there are people who can hire us poor people and give us the money we need to feed our families. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loophole LaRue, SASS #51438 Posted September 7, 2017 Author Share Posted September 7, 2017 31 minutes ago, Henry T Harrison said: I have zero sympathy for the millionaires who lost their well insured toys. My heart breaks for the poor residents who lost what little they had in this world. The rich will get a new toy probably bigger and better where will the poor islanders get the money to rebuild their lives HTH: If you could look at the actual numbers, I doubt that many of the purchasers of charter boats are millionaires. Most finance their boats, and count on charter income to make the payments; of course, with this disaster, many charters will be cancelled, and they will still be on the hook for payments. Not a happy situation. As for insurance, good luck. You cannot replace one of these boats with what the insurance company will eventually pay. You will be lucky to find a used boat as a replacement (if any are available, given the wide-spread damage caused by the hurricane), and then be faced with delivery charges, marine survey fees, equipment replacements, and extensive upgrades, most of which will not be covered by insurance, before the boat is suitable for charter. Many charter companies will not accept a used boat into their charter programs. And without reliable charter income, you cannot, in many cases, afford the purchase anyway. Many of these owners will be forced to take what they can get, pay off as much of their loan as possible, and walk away with a loss. I agree that it is more tragic for an islander to lose his home than it is for a pleasure boat owner to lose his boat; but they are both losses, and portraying all boat owners as spoiled millionaires is, in my view, inaccurate. I have sympathy for both. LL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Utah Bob #35998 Posted September 7, 2017 Share Posted September 7, 2017 Priorities become clear when a killer storm approaches. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whiskey Business Posted September 7, 2017 Share Posted September 7, 2017 1 hour ago, Henry T Harrison said: I have zero sympathy for the millionaires who lost their well insured toys. My heart breaks for the poor residents who lost what little they had in this world. The rich will get a new toy probably bigger and better where will the poor islanders get the money to rebuild their lives Most of those boats in the above referenced pic do not look millionare toys. Most of them look like a hard earned means of income for the islanders. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loophole LaRue, SASS #51438 Posted September 7, 2017 Author Share Posted September 7, 2017 22 minutes ago, Whiskey Business said: Most of those boats in the above referenced pic do not look millionare toys. Most of them look like a hard earned means of income for the islanders. It's a mix, Whiskey. Most of the buyers of charter boats are off-islanders, from Europe and the US, with the capability to finance the purchase and carry the loan during the term of the charter. But the charter business is huge in the islands, and it provides a substantial influx of cash for locals and local businesses. Many folks (like me) who charter the boats arrive a day or two early and stay over a day or two at the end; this feeds the hotel, restaurant and shopping businesses, who employ many locals. When we get on the boat, we buy food and drink for 8-10 people for at least a week from local supermarkets or provisioners - more jobs and cash. The charter companies employ office staff, dock hands, mechanics, cleaners and many others - more jobs and cash. Charter groups pay for fees, taxes and permits, again for the benefit of the local government and its citizens. The beach bars, restaurants, dive shops and other tourist businesses thrive on the money paid by sailors who charter. So these boats do support a great number of people. What does not show in this particular image are the hundreds, if not thousands, of boats owned directly by locals - everything from water taxis to fishing boats to freight haulers to sport fisherman to dive boats. Most of them will fare no better in this type of storm, and the losses will be huge. And many of those losses will be uninsured. There are no winners in a hurricane (except maybe Home Depot and Piggly Wiggly). LL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Utah Bob #35998 Posted September 7, 2017 Share Posted September 7, 2017 Speaking of millionaires, Richard Branson rode out the storm in his wine cellar on his private island. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Henry T Harrison Posted September 7, 2017 Share Posted September 7, 2017 Most of the boats in that picture are bigger than the average house on the island and cost 20x as much My prayers are for the locals who lost everything they had Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 Posted September 7, 2017 Share Posted September 7, 2017 6 minutes ago, Henry T Harrison said: Most of the boats in that picture are bigger than the average house on the island and cost 20x as much My prayers are for the locals who lost everything they had Much of what they had was their jobs, on those boats, or on the income from those boats. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nasty Newt # 7365 Posted September 7, 2017 Share Posted September 7, 2017 We were on an island-hopping vacation in the BVI in the late 90's when Bertha came through. It was a baby compared to this thing, I think a 2 or 3. They called all the boats back to Tortola and we rode out the storm in a block building not too far from the slips. When the eye was passing over we were able to go outside for an hour or so. It was absolutely dead calm, and the "heaviest" air I ever experienced. Then we went back inside and rode out the rest of it. Weird. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trailrider #896 Posted September 8, 2017 Share Posted September 8, 2017 And "Jose" and another that begins with a "K" is right behind Irma! Jose is already a Cat 4! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLACKFOOT SASS #11947 Posted September 9, 2017 Share Posted September 9, 2017 Do you know where the photo was made? Looks like it it might be near Nanny. Blackfoot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loophole LaRue, SASS #51438 Posted September 9, 2017 Author Share Posted September 9, 2017 4 hours ago, BLACKFOOT SASS #11947 said: Do you know where the photo was made? Looks like it it might be near Nanny. Blackfoot It's Paraquita Bay - about 1/2 way between Road Town and Beef Island. For reference, here are the before and after shots. LL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLACKFOOT SASS #11947 Posted September 10, 2017 Share Posted September 10, 2017 Thanks, a friend of mine has a NEW boat in Tortola, he doesn't know if it has been damaged because they havent found out where it is yet. He thinks it might be upside down at the bottom of the sea. Blackfoot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trigger Mike Posted September 10, 2017 Share Posted September 10, 2017 what a horrible mess. I would not want to be them and have to deal with that nor try to figure out how to clean it all up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sedalia Dave Posted September 10, 2017 Share Posted September 10, 2017 When I was stationed as NAS Key West way back when I had a friend that worked on a charter boat. One day the conversation got around to what do you do when a hurricane strikes. Because outrunning a storm is hard to do and hauling them overland not possible; he stated that it depends a lot on how big the storm is. For smaller hurricanes they tripple the mooring lines and remove anything that can catch the wind. For major hurricanes a lot of the charter boat owners would seal up the engine openings with gasketed plates, remove the electronics and anything else that couldn't be submerged. They then pulled the plug and sank the boat in its slip. They tied it off to the pilings that divided each slip below the water line. The bottom of the slips had a layer of sand that helped to protect the hull. Bilge pumps can become over whelmed and the boat will sink in an uncontrolled manor so the consensus was it was less risky to sink on purpose than leaving the boat above water. By sitting on the bottom of the harbor very little of the ship was exposed to the wind and the design of the harbor protected the boats from strong currents and large waves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Utah Bob #35998 Posted September 10, 2017 Share Posted September 10, 2017 Watching the storm coverage until I went to bed the monster had not yet made the predicted turn. I see it has now and is pounding the Keys, headed north. Supposed to make landfall between Naples anf Tampa. Naples floods in a heavy mist much less a whopper like this. This is very bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat Riot Posted September 10, 2017 Share Posted September 10, 2017 This isn't Russia and it ain't Cuba! This is the United States of America! My prayers go out to EVERYONE affected by this horrific storm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loophole LaRue, SASS #51438 Posted September 10, 2017 Author Share Posted September 10, 2017 I've been roaming foreign news services and FB today - mainly because the US "networks" seem to be fixated on pictures of wind in Florida, and are largely ignoring the horrendous devastation and loss of life in the Caribbean. I realize that hometown stories will always lead, but we no longer live within our own borders, and our interests and relationships stretch far beyond US shores. We all have some spot in the world that we associate with the happier days of our lives; for me, it's the USVI and British Virgin Islands. And my heart hurts today to see such tragic losses. Places we've been, and with them, people we know. Jost Van Dyke is flattened. Leverick Bay on Virgin Gorda looks like it was bombed and burned. Tortola is a wasteland. A sample - The Bitter End on Virgin Gorda: This WAS a modern, high-end resort. It is going to take a long, long time to come back from this. I pray that Florida is spared this kind of loss. And I pray for our friends in the islands. LL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sedalia Dave Posted September 11, 2017 Share Posted September 11, 2017 5 hours ago, Loophole LaRue, SASS #51438 said: I've been roaming foreign news services and FB today - mainly because the US "networks" seem to be fixated on pictures of wind in Florida, and are largely ignoring the horrendous devastation and loss of life in the Caribbean. I realize that hometown stories will always lead, but we no longer live within our own borders, and our interests and relationships stretch far beyond US shores. We all have some spot in the world that we associate with the happier days of our lives; for me, it's the USVI and British Virgin Islands. And my heart hurts today to see such tragic losses. Places we've been, and with them, people we know. Jost Van Dyke is flattened. Leverick Bay on Virgin Gorda looks like it was bombed and burned. Tortola is a wasteland. A sample - The Bitter End on Virgin Gorda: This WAS a modern, high-end resort. It is going to take a long, long time to come back from this. I pray that Florida is spared this kind of loss. And I pray for our friends in the islands. LL At least Jose has bypassed the area. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.