Sherpa: RIP

Lepke said:

If my boat was in a hurricane path I'd move it. Hurricane paths are know as much as a week in advance. Responsibility comes with boat ownership. If you can't take the time maybe you're in the wrong job.
People that leave their boats to be destroyed raise the rates for all of us. And rates will be going up after the loss payments this year.

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Spoken like a guy who is somewhere between Oregon and Alaska. "Hurricane paths are know as much as a week in advance." HUH? Check out this years Irma and last years Matthew if you want to see how accurate those paths are "a week in advance".

Those of us keeping our boats in marinas here on the east coast of Florida watched all of those fleeing to safety as you suggest. They were all going down the Okeechobee Waterway and were waving and smiling as they went buy with a "Poor stupid east coast boaters" look on their faces "Don't they know they should move their boats to help everyone with their insurance rates?". After a day and a half they were all comfortably tucked into slips over in... Ft. Myers. Southwest Florida. Where the storm came ashore basically. Winds were pretty bad over here but not like over there where those boats went to "safety". I have been told, and now see why, that trying to outguess a hurricane is very risky game. I moved our boat from a lovely, full service but wide open, unprotected marina to a small one with no services and an iffy entrance at low tide but very protected on three sides. Took off anything that could catch some wind including the wrap around flybridge canvas, a PITA to put back up. I bought $1,100 worth of new and spare dock lines, used fire hose for chaffing gear, triple tied some lines, put an anchor out as the boat is pointed at the one unprotected from wind direction and shifted the boat forward to take the strain off of the pilings and on to the concrete piers and seawall cleats as best I could. Post storm I don't have a scratch, didn't take out any of my neighbors, the pilings are in the same place and angle as they were prior and all is good. I don't really know much but think I did more for your insurance rate than those moving their boat.

When you're next aboard Sherpa raise a toast to her and give a shot overboard to Neptune as thanks!

Lepke said:

If my boat was in a hurricane path I'd move it. Hurricane paths are know as much as a week in advance. Responsibility comes with boat ownership. If you can't take the time maybe you're in the wrong job.
People that leave their boats to be destroyed raise the rates for all of us. And rates will be going up after the loss payments this year.

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Having gone through Hurricane Charlie in 2004 at Tampa Bay, it is with all due respect that I say, anyone who tells you they know where a hurricane will precisely be a week in advance is a fool. Plan B went through Matthew last year on the hard in Green Cove Springs with only a cracked window. (from a tree limb)

I'll take the earthquakes here in CA any day over the hurricanes in Florida. Those that do out of necessity deserve medals...

Delta Dog said:

I'll take the earthquakes here in CA any day over the hurricanes in Florida. Those that do out of necessity deserve medals...

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I am not so sure. Which would one take? The way hurricanes have just hit Puerto Rico or the way the Earthquakes have just hit Mexico? I guess I'd choose the hurricane simply because I understand it better, but neither one a great choice. The one that scares me too, even though never impacts as many people, is tornadoes. We did have some tornado type activity, although perhaps not technically tornadoes, around here from Irma. In areas like Pompano I know of some random homes or boats or docks hit extremely hard while all around them was just fine.

We knew the risk of hurricanes when we moved to the coast. We also know the relative safety of where we are. We studied hurricanes and preparation and did all we could to prepare, not as it was on the way, but when we got started here in 2012. We were prepared for Irma as well as we could be when hurricane season for 2013 approached. Certainly if we'd been in the direct hit of it's initial landfall it would have been worse and that's always possible but highly unlikely. Of course it was unlikely that Naples would get hit as it was, just as it was unlikely than NY/NJ would get hit as they were by Sandy. Our first priority is lives and we feel we're protected there even with the worst of possibilities. Then comes property and we feel we're as well protected as possible.

An interesting situation in Florida. South Florida has adopted extremely tough codes for all new builds since Andrew. Just like northern California with earthquakes. However, parts of Florida have chosen not to do so. Also, Fort Lauderdale marinas are built as well as possible for hurricanes. Those elsewhere up the coast are not. So perhaps the real mistake often made is assuming hurricanes hit in certain places and not others. If you live on the coast from Brownsville, TX to Portland, ME, you have some risk.

Similarly on floods. There are very few areas not subject to floods whether by hurricane or storms or other factors. We had areas around Charlotte and around Greensboro that got flooded regularly, every three to five years. They weren't in flood plains and it wasn't massive floods. They were near large creeks that flowed through the cities. My cousin lives in Beaufort NC in a flood zone. Well, his house in well up the hill, rather than right on the water and then it's lower level isn't living quarters. Very inconvenient carrying things back and forth to the boat or carrying groceries in. However, he's not going to be flooded.

B and b. I didn't make it downtown after Irma due to cleanup at my own and friends homes. I left st augustine last Sunday to go back on tug in NY. I passed TF member Marine in Hudson River this morning. Downtown st augustine was flooded extensively so it wouldn't surprise me. I did make it to conch house marina and they had lots of dock damage

TF member Maerin, damn spell check

Lepke said:

If my boat was in a hurricane path I'd move it. Hurricane paths are know as much as a week in advance. Responsibility comes with boat ownership. If you can't take the time maybe you're in the wrong job.
People that leave their boats to be destroyed raise the rates for all of us. And rates will be going up after the loss payments this year.

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Boy, are you a dick or what? All that death and destruction and your response is that your insurance might increase..... Really? Somehow it's all about you now?

It just baffles me how people can be so self-centered as to have THAT response to such a disaster....... Just, wow.....

I appreciate everyone's messages--thank you. My wife and I have put so much time and money into Sherpa and we very much expected significant damage; but the Marina was well sheltered and he westerly winds were blocked by the bridge and larger boats next to me.

Anyway, here is the latest photo of her. She's getting a good scrubbing and some lovin' this weekend!

Vashon_Trawler said:

I appreciate everyone's messages--thank you. My wife and I have put so much time and money into Sherpa and we very much expected significant damage; but the Marina was well sheltered and he westerly winds were blocked by the bridge and larger boats next to me.

Anyway, here is the latest photo of her. She's getting a good scrubbing and some lovin' this weekend!

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That's what I'm talking about . Looks great .

BandB's response to Lepke is spot on. Chris had Sherpa in an unusually secure marina. But even if he didn't, by the time Irma's path became evident, his choices and those of every other boat owner along Florida's west coast were closed.

To say Floridians should move their boats in advance of a hurricane is akin to saying they should move the whole damn state out of the way. (Which is true - a low-lying sandy peninsula sticking out into the subtropical hurricane belt is an unsustainable proposition, but that's another conversation).

We Floridians who have boats invest a lot of time, worry and money in protecting them. It's not just about the economics. A boat is an emotional investment. Having insurance doesn't prevent us from worrying about and taking care of our boats when the weather threatens. I think actuaries know that, which helps account for why insurers are willing to rate and underwrite boat policies in Florida at all.

Blissboat said:

Having insurance doesn't prevent us from worrying about and taking care of our boats when the weather threatens. I think actuaries know that, which helps account for why insurers are willing to rate and underwrite boat policies in Florida at all.

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They definitely know that for a couple of reasons. People don't want to lose homes or boats. Second, people prefer to avoid the financial loss even of a deductible plus the fact a replacement boat is likely going to cost more. Hurricane plans are just thought processes. Ours list all the things we might or might not do but makes it clear we're not likely to and not obligated to do most of them. We don't commit to doing anything. However, we do what we can to protect our boats. We don't want to lose them. We like them. And the deductible on hurricanes is sizable enough we don't want to spend it.

Really the only ones who go against these assumptions are those boats that aren't being used and have long been on the market for sale. Most of those are still protected well, but the occasional owner might try to take advantage of a hurricane through negligence.