Cruising Helmsman – June 2017

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Cruising Helmsman June 2017

WINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY

When the eye passed over and they felt that

conditions had settled enough to risk an excursion,

all three owners rushed down to the marina.

Kat describes the scene: “dozens of other

boat owners were there. Conditions were bad:

jetties twisted, pulled off or even missing totally;

a wrecked boat was half sunk on the marina

wall; one Easy catamaran all the way out in

the middle of the channel was still attached to

the berth which was, in turn, still attached to

the pylon (it later politely returned to its place

undamaged); sails shredded and whipping in the

wind; a Schionning cat. windscreen shattered

into a hundred pieces; boats slamming into

berths with exploded fenders; wind generators

with some or all blades broken off; a mast with

a shredded sail sticking out of the water next

to a berth where a whole monohull used to be;

awnings and clears in tatters clinging to twisted

frames; a broken mast folded over and poking a

hole in the boat berthed next to it. All of this just

in the first three arms!

"At that point we didn’t dare take the time to

venture further afield. It was disheartening and

sickening to see so many people’s dreams lying

badly damaged or broken.”

The eye passed and the back side of

Debbie hit; the wind came from the opposite

direction causing more destruction at Airlie

but, surprisingly, the town of Bowen was left

relatively intact this time. Even after Debbie

had gone inland, the area was battered by more

wind, rain, thunder and lightning as the tail of

the cyclone dragged through behind her.

As the weather eased, people turned up at the

marina to check their boats. Katfish suffered

some minor cosmetic damage to a bow where

it 'eskimo kissed' the steel jetty cleat, the TV

antenna disappeared off the top of the mast and

there was quite a bit of water damage inside

due to the production hatches failing to seal

adequately. But the hatches that John had made

when building Katfish remained watertight.

Cruising books were sodden but John was

more upset when he realised his precious 1969

copy of James Wharram’s book, 'Two girls two

catamarans' had been soaked through. He sat

gently peeling pages apart and placing sheets

of toilet paper between the pages, but about six

pages simply disintegrated when touched.

THIRD PARTY OFFICIAL STANCE

Campbell Fuller, the Insurance Council of

Australia’s general manager of communications

and media relations sent CH the following:

“In order for a boat owner to successfully claim

on another vessel owner’s third party insurance,

the boat owner would typically need to establish

that the other party was responsible for causing

their loss through negligence or breaching a

duty of care. Where damage has been caused by

yachts colliding during a natural disaster such as

a cyclone, it is unlikely that owners of damaged

boats will be able to establish this in most

circumstances. First-party insurance policies

are widely available that will cover boat owners

for damage caused during cyclones to their own

vessels, however policyholders are expected to

take steps to minimise the risk of foreseeable

damage. A failure to adequately prepare a vessel

for the impact of a forecast cyclone may result

in claims for damage to vessels and on-board

equipment being denied.”

FEATURE

DEBBIE

BELOW: Some

boats simply sank

in their berth.

This furler wasn’t

removed, like so

many others.

IMAGE COURTESY OF KERRYANNE WILKIE