Hurricane Charley ... Friday, August 13, 2004 ... Direct Hit, Cat 4
After 4 years looking forward to an October 2004 cruising departure date, Hurricane Charley visited Burnt Store Marina on Friday the 13th of August 2004. Winterlude was not hurricane ready & we were extremely fortunate that we didn't have serious damage. Our heartfelt THANKS go out to Nick on War Dept and Jim Worcester, our caretaker, for getting Winterlude prepared while they were making their own hurricane preparations. We nervously watched Jim Cantori on TWC from Annapolis while we attended Billy's Plebe Parent Day at the US Naval Academy, the first time we'd seen Billy since dropping him off in June for Plebe Summer.
We figured if we saw Jim Cantori standing in front of the Burnt Store swimming pool with Winterlude in the background in the pool, we'd better be making an alternate date to leave to go cruising. But luck was with us.
We figured if we saw Jim Cantori standing in front of the Burnt Store swimming pool with Winterlude in the background in the pool, we'd better be making an alternate date to leave to go cruising. But luck was with us.
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Here's the photo of the known damage on Winterlude as of today, 8/24/04. I say known damage because we weren't there, haven't had a chance to get there yet & so no one's been inside the boat to check for interior damage or electronics damage.
You can see above how the sails are off, the canvas is off, the lazyjack Mack Pack is wrapped with packing tape as are the kayaks |
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 D Dock, relatively intact |
 Yacht Sales Office By D Dock - obviously some harsh conditions in our area! |
Here's "D" Dock -- "D" Dock is in the South Basin at Burnt Store Marina. You can see there appears to be little damage except some shredded jibs. Apparently all the water was sucked out of the marina when the eyewall passed. Because the marina took an almost direct hit (it's about 8-10 miles south of Punta Gorda, FL, Ground Zero), the dreaded storm surge never materialized. As a result, the boats were left sitting on mud on the bottom & when the water came back, many were caught under the docks, breaking pilings & docks. We have no eyewitness information, just information gleaned from friends in the area, so this info has been reconstructed.
Damage
Other friends had their boat in a boatyard on the hard. From the looks of the photos, we're not convinced being out on the hard was preferable to being in the marina. Luckily Manatee is a single standing boat in the line & the dominos started on the other side!!!
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A Dock & the south shore condos have all been condemned -- after Hurricane Charley ripped across Charlotte Harbor & into Punta Gorda, Florida 8/13/2004. Most of the destruction is in the process of being cleaned up & reconstruction has already started. The docks have been repaired in alot of places, but certain docks still don't have electricity 3 weeks after Charley. The broken masts in these photos are still there 3 weeks later, but the marina is open for business & fuel, deli & restaurant are functioning. The only big difference is the deli doesn't have any ice cream yet... but it's amazing that they've come this far!
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 A Dock, just 3 docks down from us |
 S Shore Condos, Condemned |
 North Basin Broken Mast |
Lessons Learned ...
Others were not as lucky...
Never, ever, EVER, leave the boat for hurricane season without having it prepared as best we can! Usually we take the sails off & prep the boat for hurricane season ourselves. This year, we left after Springbreak fully intending to get back before July 1 to get the sails off, lines doubled, chafe gear inspected & replaced where necessary, etc. We've been so busy with Aly graduating from college, Billy graduating from high school, then taking him to Induction Day at the US Naval Academy, then Parent's Weekend, in between putting on the Y Flyer Nationals on our lake, racing the Internationals & selling my house in our spare time, that we didn't make it back. We were SO lucky that Jim & Nick were able to get the boat prepared as well as it was. I'm sure there are other things we would have done -- changed out some chafe gear, etc., but overall they REALLY did a fabulous job & we have them to thank for the fact that we still have a boat.
In the future, we will NOT leave the boat for hurricane season without having it ready. It was stupidity on our part that no matter HOW busy we were, we didn't take the time to secure one of our favorite possessions & in the future, our home.
In the future, we will NOT leave the boat for hurricane season without having it ready. It was stupidity on our part that no matter HOW busy we were, we didn't take the time to secure one of our favorite possessions & in the future, our home.