First of all, at Nanny Cay, very few cats
on the hard lost their rigs. Most of the mono's did, but most also fell over and tangled their
rigging. I don't think it's more complicated than that. The windage on the rig may have helped topple the
boats. Nanny Cay has facilities to drop rigs. It's just not customary to do so, but they are thinking of changing that and making it a condition of
storage.
Mono's in cradles also fell over. And, in Spanish Town, mono's with their keels in pits also went over and broke their keels. Not many cats in the
water survived, although mine did with some serious damage. Many cats on land shifted sideways and broke their keels. In the
water, of course, they weren't strapped down and many went flying. Even 50 plus feet up in the air. For long distances. I am a
catamaran sailor and, for long, have stored my
boat, which I live on, in the water. For storms of this strength, I don't think, any more, that
storage in the water is viable for a cat. Remember, a Boeing 747 takes off in about 200 mph, so if you could have tethered one, it would have taken flight. Eyewitnesses saw my boat
pitch up about 40 degrees, but it settled back down. Everything inside shifted.
Remember, the
wind was exceptionally strong. The Department of Disaster Management
lost their anemometer at 220 MPH, and thetr were other credible reports up to 300, probably in tornados. The DDM also lost their building and had to evacuate, with some injuries, during the eye.
I hope storms of this force are not the new normal. It was a terror to live through, even ashore.