We received news that the the Wanderer’s Olson 30 La Gamelle survived Hurricane Irma. The following is an excerpt from his Facebook feed: 

Given the force with which Irma hit St. Barth, the survival of La Gamelle is a miracle. I don’t believe more than a handful of sailboats — if that many — survived on the little island. Early photos showed one boat up on the quay next to the Capitainerie, that boats were sunk all around the harbor, and that the detached keel of one medium-sized boat was in the street behind Baz Bar, and that’s all on the more protected side of the island.

The survival of La Gamelle is a miracle assisted by my ‘partner’, Axel Jouany, who had her on a trailer between two hardware stores in the industrial part of the island near the yacht club. I’m so glad that La Gamelle survived because to me she represents the essence of sailing. One main, one jib, no engine, and no electronics. So you, the boat, and the ocean become one in a way that larger and more complicated boats cannot.

The survival of La Gamelle proves once again that life just isn’t fair, and shows you how much luck plays in hurricane survival. For years I used to keep La Gamelle at the St. Martin Shipyard next to the airport in the off season. St. Martin was ‘Hiroshima-ed’ by Irma, as was the shipyard. Had La Gamelle been there, she would have been destroyed.

And for nine years I had ‘ti Profligate — the 45-ft Leopard catamaran I live on for three months a year in St. Barth — in a yacht management program in the British Virgin Islands. When hurricanes came, they kept her at Paraquita Bay, Tortola. Most of you have seen the dramatic photos of the pileup of boats there, where several hundred million dollars worth of boats were badly damaged or destroyed.

Now I keep ‘ti Profligate in Antigua in the off season, hauled out at North Sound Marina. This is only about 30 miles from Barbuda, which was obliterated by winds sometimes exceeding 200 mph. Antigua had about an hour of 80-knot winds, which quickly died down to about 60 knots. A lot of breeze, but virtually no boats at this big yachting center were damaged.

Having had two boats make it through Irma — where both would have been destroyed four years ago — I’m experiencing more than a little ‘survivor’s guilt’. I know that so many people lost not just their boats, but their boat/homes, which in many cases were their biggest financial asset. Not just in St. Martin and the British Virgins, but also at Anguilla, the US Virgins, many other islands, and much of Florida.

There are countless boat owner heartbreak stories. The one that bummed us out the most was the case of Rob and Dolores Blackwood of San Diego. He’s a hard-working rigger, delivery skipper and jack of all maritime trades. Dolores, originally from Mazatlan, runs a boat cleaning service. 

After years in California and Mexico, the couple came to the Caribbean, and stumbled across a CT-54 in need of a lot of work for not much money. They made a ridiculous offer on the CT — Xanadu — and it was accepted. As soon as Rob finished a delivery, he was going to rush down to Xanadu and start to work on ‘Dolores’ Floating Mansion’. And as soon as he could get around to it, Rob was going to buy insurance for the boat. But then Irma came.

With word coming out from the British Virgins very slowly, hope for Xanadu was almost nonexistent. After all, billionaire Richard Branson’s Necker Island mansion was destroyed. The Bitter End YC was leveled. The Saba Rock Resort and restaurant were complete shambles. Nanny Cay was destroyed. Understandably, Rob and Dolores resigned themselves to the fact that Xanadu was history. It was heartbreaking.

But there was a miracle!

Last night we spoke with Rob, who said their broker in Virgin Gorda told him that of 500 boats hauled at the Virgin Gorda Boatyard in Spanishtown, 497 went down and were badly damaged or destroyed. One of the three that still stood was their Xanadu! It may be many months before they are able to get her to the water, given all the destroyed infrastructure (such as the boat yard office no longer existing), but  they still have their dream boat in one piece. And she’ll have a new name — Still Standing.

Hurricanes in the Caribbean are a fact of life — even more so than strong earthquakes are in California — and if you own a boat there, don’t fool yourself: you are running a risk. But for years now, the hazard hasn’t been that great.

I recently saw insurance company data that said the chances of a boat’s getting hit by a hurricane in the Lesser Antilles was under 2% a year — those are pretty good odds, which is why it wasn’t hard to get insurance for boats. But that was before Irma. It remains to be seen if anybody will offer boat insurance for the Caribbean hurricane season in the future, and what the rates will be like in Florida.

Putting hurricanes in the Caribbean in context, Irma is likely the most destructive storm to marine interests in history. Hugo and Luis were monsters that destroyed an incredible number of boats, but as the dust settles, Irma appears to have caused far more destruction, as well as more marine and visitor infrastructure — and that’s just in the Caribbean.

The fate of the winter charter season in the Caribbean is unclear. While boats in charter fleets will likely be moved up from Antigua and farther south, we’re not sure there will be any infrastructure in cruising destinations. It’s possible that self-sufficient private boats could cruise the British Virgins like it was 40 years ago, which would be interesting.

As for major regattas, the folks in St. Martin have announced they are planning on holding the 38th Heineken Regatta — a real biggie — the first week in March, just as always. Planning to. Given the near-total destruction of the island, it remains to be seen how realistic that is. We’ve heard nothing about the BVI Spring Regatta, but can’t imagine it happening. On the other hand, we don’t see any reason why there wouldn’t be another Caribbean 600, one of the great middle distance races of the world, as it starts and ends in Antigua, an island that didn’t really suffer any damage.

Our heart goes out to everyone who has lost a loved one, a home, a boat, a business or anything else. It’s not much consolation, but the future has to look a little bit brighter in the sense it can’t get much worse. Bless all of you.