HURRICANE IRMA'S EFFECT IN BVI'S

[gts1544]

The pictures are of Paraquita Bay, Tortola's mangrove hurricane hole on the south coast of the island - the first taken on Tuesday, 9/5 before IRMA and the second taken today, 9/6 after IRMA. Anyone with a charter booked had better call first! George

[Jdege]

The before picture shows a lot of sail covers still in place.

I only see one in the after picture.

Either all the sails and sail covers blew off-camera, or someone removed them after the first picture was taken.

My guess is that the first picture doesn't accurately reflect the preparations that were made.

[Geoff54]

I just commented in another thread... the first picture is from 2015.

[danielamartindm]

From the looks of it, it could have been worse, considering 185 mph sustained winds. Most vessels just seemed to have been pushed ashore, I don't see a lot of sunken boats. I had a 30' Nonsuch on a mooring in Sag Harbor when Gloria passed over in September of '85. Moorings failed and boats became projectiles, holing others and breaking up on seawalls and the riprap breakwater. It was a surreal scene afterward, with mastheads protruding up from the harbor. I was one of the lucky; my mooring held, and damages were limited to a few gelcoat scuffs.

[JPA Cate]

Daniel, if you enlarge the picture, you will see a number of upside down catamarans, boats stacked up like logs on a woodpile, and masts going hither and thither.

Ann

[Pete O Static]

Yeah, not really "before" and after but whatever. If you enlarge the second photo, look in the foreground and you will see someone on one of the boats.

Here are some more pics. One of Paraquita and the other at the Moorings base at Wickhams Cay.

Lots of capsized cats.

[Spear06]

That pic of "after" In pataquita bay was taken during the eye of the storm according to other sites. If so the devastation could be worse. Pretty sure one of those boats in that pile up at Paraquita is mine.

[maxingout]

Impressive. It takes a lot of wind to lift a catamaran and flip it over. The last catamaran I saw flipped at anchor in a hurricane was "Marbles" in Grenada years ago. Hurricane Ivan had 170 mph winds according to the owners of the catamaran that flipped. It was a Privilege 39 catamaran. They took the insurance money and purchased another catamaran called "Lost Our Marbles".

http://www.maxingout.com/captainslogarchive38.htm

[Wendi]

If you do a google image search, you will find that 'before' photo is from 2015. Not from the day before.

[Mithril Bham]

Just got a communication from a friend's wife who is in Italy. She says all communication is down in the BVI and can't reach her husband. Fear damage is catastrophic there. Maybe even worse than I thought. Glad I don't have a boat there anymore and feel sorry for those who do.

[brownoarsman]

Originally Posted by magellanyachts

Just got a communication from a friend's wife who is in Italy. She says all communication is down in the BVI and can't reach her husband. Fear damage is catastrophic there. Maybe even worse than I thought. Glad I don't have a boat there anymore and feel sorry for those who do.

Please share this link with her. It's a live update list of people who have been confirmed safe. Have family there too.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...htmlview#gid=0

[Wendi]

Originally Posted by magellanyachts

Just got a communication from a friend's wife who is in Italy. She says all communication is down in the BVI and can't reach her husband. Fear damage is catastrophic there. Maybe even worse than I thought. Glad I don't have a boat there anymore and feel sorry for those who do.

There are pics being posted for VG and some parts of Tortola, so there must be some communication to upload these. Nothing from Nanny Cay, just one post from someone who said all the boats in the yard tipped over. But no pics of Nanny Cay.

[travellerw]

Sad in the BVI.. but search Facebook for pictures of St. Martin. Unfortunately Barbuda, St. Martin, St. Barts and Anguilla took the worst hit so far. Pretty close to %100 of the boats in the water were destroyed. It even destroyed concrete buildings. The Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda reported that %90 of the buildings in Barbuda have been destroyed.

Sad all over.. Very bad day for loads of people... I'm hoping people don't forget that once it smokes the USA!

[sailon46]

FYI Boats in Christiansted harbor ST Croix not a problem, Green Cay Marina not a problem. Its just 35 knt south. I guess Irma was all head but no Bootie thank God.
Ernie on the Mary Jane

[Pete O Static]

Conflicting reports coming out of Nanny Cay regarding boats on the hard. I have reports stating that the "boats in Dry Stack are ok"....."most boats on the hard have lost their rigs" and that boats on the hard are all on their sides or on top of each other.

When I was there last month to inspect my boat, only about 50% were actually cradled or strapped down to ground tackle. This may explain the differences because there is absolutely now way that anything that wasn't strapped down didn't fall over.