RIGHT: L arm
being removed,
after the walkway
to the fuel dock
was destroyed.
OPPOSITE PAGE:
There were
lots of torn and
shredded sails.18
Cruising Helmsman June 2017Ovedie and another vessel were still tied to
their dock which had broken off the marina and
rolled over which caused both boats to pull in
towards each other. For many hours both boats
pounded and rubbed up against the upturned
pontoon and cleats but unbelievably both boats
were still af loat despite lots of damage.
Once Kat and John had assessed their damage
and realised it was minor they joined others
working on unattended vessels and began
pumping out the boat behind them which was
sinking. They managed to save two but were
unable to help a third.
“Are you okay?” “Do you need anything?”
These questions were being heard over and over
throughout the marina. A lady brought bottles
of water and fish. Someone else had been given
grapes and shared them around.
As Debbie continued on her dastardly way, the
high winds and pelting rain continued to hamper
clean-up efforts. The severe cyclone was over for
Airlie Beach but the tail of the cyclone continued
to wreak havoc on the town even while it headed
inland to the township of Collinsville.
Information has been scarce but gradually
some details trickled through. Reports
confirmed the total loss of the charter boat f leet
at Shute Harbour with 47 boats destroyed or lost;
eight to ten were badly damaged on Hamilton
Island with three of those most likely written off.
Insurance companies were quick to get the
representatives into the disaster area despite
difficulties with access to the region; Club Marine
had representatives f ly in before the storm hit
to circumvent that problem. All companies
reported that while there was extensive damage,particularly at Hamilton Island, fewer boats had
been lost than was expected.
TC Debbie resulted in more widespread
damage to boats when compared to previous
cyclones, but there were fewer write-offs.
Hamilton Island was the worst affected area
having many boats damaged while in the marina
and while moored, but there were no “piles of
broken boats” as occurred in Yasi.
There was one issue relating to insurance
that I was unable to confirm. A comment was
made to me regarding boaties who only carried
Third Party insurance. My understanding of
the comment was that they could not claim
against another boat that hit them because the
Insurance Council of Australia (ICA)had declared
the weather event to be a “natural disaster”. I
can only suggest that anyone carrying Third
Party should contact their insurer and ascertain
just what they are covered for. In fact, all policy
holders should make sure they know what their
policies cover. It’s something we sometimes take
for granted. (For latest update see sidebar box
‘Third party stance’).
With the clean-up underway, boaties were
reporting devastation at Airlie Beach. I received
the following (edited) e-mail from Joscelyn
O’Keefe, marketing and business development
manager at Abell Point Marina with details of
damage and the clean-up:
Dear Rosemary ... considering the strength and
duration of the system the marina held up well.
There was damage to the pontoon structures in
the north marina due to the relentless wind and
the consistency of the waves crashing over the rock
wall at the highest point of the tide. There is minorFEATURE
DEBBIE
IMAGE COURTESY OF ABELL POINT MARINA