Florida Hurricane Safe Marinas

[Cadence]

Originally Posted by RSH

We bought our catamaran in St. Augustine, where it had been on the hard for two years.

Saint Augustine Marina has the capability to pull your cat and put it back in, and the waterways are protected from the open ocean (we did our ASA 101-114 there).

Prices were very reasonable.

Waterway protected from the open ocean? I've seen a 22' surge go a good piece inland over islands. So I would guess it depends on how far inland. It's a crap shoot. The eye being twenty mile one way or the other can make a difference.

[DennisRyan]

Indiantown is about 20 miles inland and protected by a lock on the St Lucie canal. BUT, not sure the canal can accommodate your beam. My mono has an 11' beam and draws about 5'.

[DennisRyan]

Max airdraft is about 53' coming in from the east (Stuart).

[Cadence]

Originally Posted by DennisRyan

Indiantown is about 20 miles inland and protected by a lock on the St Lucie canal. BUT, not sure the canal can accommodate your beam. My mono has an 11' beam and draws about 5'.

I've gone through there with a 22' bean. One lock tender asked me if he deeded to open the other gate but I had 25'. I responded, it's OK I have Vasoline. I can not say anything but good about the lock or bridge tenders on the Okeechobee ditch.

[jkleins]

Originally Posted by RSH

We bought our catamaran in St. Augustine, where it had been on the hard for two years.

Saint Augustine Marina has the capability to pull your cat and put it back in, and the waterways are protected from the open ocean (we did our ASA 101-114 there).

Prices were very reasonable.

They also have over a year waiting list to pull out during named storms and require payment up front just to put you on the list. I signed up in January but didn’t make the list this year so had to move the boat north for the season (I am also on the marina slip list which appears to also be over a year long).

While being a transient you might get lucky if you get there early, don’t count on anywhere in St. Augustine to be available for haulout if you don’t have plans ahead of time. We visited all the local spots and this year we are just going up the St. John’s River to Ortega Landing.

Jim

[RSH]

Originally Posted by jkleins

They also have over a year waiting list to pull out during named storms and require payment up front just to put you on the list. I signed up in January but didn’t make the list this year so had to move the boat north for the season (I am also on the marina slip list which appears to also be over a year long).

While being a transient you might get lucky if you get there early, don’t count on anywhere in St. Augustine to be available for haulout if you don’t have plans ahead of time. We visited all the local spots and this year we are just going up the St. John’s River to Ortega Landing.

Jim

Wow! I had no idea how lucky we were-once we bought the boat we just took over the spot from the previous owners for a few months while we were figuring out where to go/what to do, and they were very cool about it. We were also delayed for about a month moving it up to Charleston because of weather and they had no problem with that, either. There were plenty of spaces available, but to be fair, it wasn't hurricane season, either.

[jkleins]

Originally Posted by RSH

Wow! I had no idea how lucky we were-once we bought the boat we just took over the spot from the previous owners for a few months while we were figuring out where to go/what to do, and they were very cool about it. We were also delayed for about a month moving it up to Charleston because of weather and they had no problem with that, either. There were plenty of spaces available, but to be fair, it wasn't hurricane season, either.

I wasn’t expecting it to be so hard either [emoji3]

[flagatorclearwa]

[QUOTE=Kita;2993535]

Originally Posted by S/V Illusion

Hey I ment no offense, just from past experience. I am in Tampa area & have tried to run north & the storm hook to the east & i had to hide in Swanee River. And if I was to head south the storms are always coming from the southeast so it kind of puts me heading right into that path. For me it's always worked better to hunker down in a good place and I've been lucky enough to not suffer a direct hit other than Irma while I was in Suwannee River. Fortunately by the time the storm got that far north it was beat up to a category 1 or 2 and was not a big problem but it was certainly educational.. but if I thought I could outrun one I would certainly give it a shot. Good luck to you guys trying that... I honestly mean that... but knowing when to run is definitely a very important factor. I guess I was just waiting too late to make that commitment because it's so difficult to tell which way the storm is going to go at that point

Curious how far up the Suwannee you went and did you have plenty of depth the whole way? I live on the river and I'm toying with the idea of buying a cat that needs lots of work and bringing it here to do the work behind my house. I'd need to remove the mast (or buy one of the demasted hurricane boats) to get this far north (bridges at Fanning Springs and Old Town), but I'm talking about a refit that would take 4-6 mos., so could be worth it.

[DreaminFred]

Another sheltered river in the elbow is the Withlacoochee. Good depth several miles inland, and a well-marked chennel in (which needs to be explicitly and carefully navigated (personal experience)). A very unusual hurricane path, not unheard of, but not typical.

My hurricane strategy generally involves my boat being on the hard at Indiantown Marina (accessible via the canal from either east coast or west).

Fred

[DreaminFred]

Originally Posted by DennisRyan

Indiantown is about 20 miles inland and protected by a lock on the St Lucie canal. BUT, not sure the canal can accommodate your beam. My mono has an 11' beam and draws about 5'.

Indiantown routinely pulls and stores catamarans.

F

[Cadence]

Originally Posted by DreaminFred

Indiantown routinely pulls and stores catamarans.

F

I've been through the locks with a 23' bean. The lock tender asked if he needed to open the other 25' gate.
I would check on the travel lift capacity beam wise at Indian Town.

[Sailing August]

Green Cove Springs just South of Jacksonville is good. Affordable too.

[Scatterling]

Originally Posted by S/V Illusion

... leaving the boat on the hard is the LAST thing you should do...

Many, if not most, boats on the hard in Florida are owned by folks who don’t live in Florida, and are therefore not able to move them when a storm approaches. I anxiously follow the storms that approach my boat on the hard, but understand it’s just a “thing” and can be replaced by insurance money if the worst happens.

[Cadence]

Re: boats on the hard. The blocking is more important than most think about in a blow. A few light jack stands doesn't cut it.

[MicHughV]

Hurricanes are classified by category, as most people know...1 thru' 5.
category 1-3 are survivable....no guarantee, as you won't get off scott free, so expect damage.
category 4-5...a direct hit....fuggetaboutit...

Though hurricanes as seen on the news are massive, some the size of the State of Florida...it's the eye wall where the most damage will occur.

The eye wall can be 30 miles across..around 45 km for metric folks. If your location is within that 30 mile swath, you pretty much are toast. The further you can get from that eye wall the better.....still very windy, but survivable.

Remember too, that if you are on the " wrong" side of a hurricane, the forward speed of the hurricane is added to the rotational speed. The opposite is also true, on the " right" side, the forward speed is deducted.

Wind force goes up as the square of wind speed, while the wind between one category and the next may not sound like much...the wind force can quadruple...this is very important to remember. People focus on the wind speed as that gets touted by the media, but the wind force is the bogey man in the room.

Hurricanes in Florida have come up the east coast...the west coast...the center...the panhandle....the Keys......there is no real " safe" place.

Underneath the hurricane " eye" there will be very low pressure, this causes the ocean to rise under the eye, much like sucking water thru' a straw and then placing your finger over the top of the straw.... It's this rise, which can be 10-15-20' high, that comes ashore with the eye wall. Once the hurricane, think a 30 mile wide straw, hits land, this " mound" of water moves with the hurricane, the so-called " surge"...and can travel for miles inland, so if the wind don't git ya....the rising water can.

Ok, having painted that picture, I think it is reasonable to say, that there is no safe hurricane area anywhere in Florida. If you happen to be in the wrong spot at the wrong time, that could spell a problem.

Georgia, the Carolina's and on up the coast are hit just as often as Florida.

All sounds rather dismal, and it is. Many insurance companies are loath to insure boats for this very reason.

Is there a light at the end of the tunnel.
Sortoff.
The National Hurricane Center tracks these storms as do various others, resulting in the so-called " spaghetti" models, which are computer simulations predicting the path of a hurricane.

The predictions have a reasonable accurate track record, but only when they are 1-3 days from hitting the coast. Beyond 3 days, might as well throw a dart.

Still, within reason, following the predicted path of a hurricane does give a person some limited option of moving a boat, would like to repeat the word "limited".
But how far can you move a boat in one day?...in rough weather ? and where ??Keep in mind, the predicted path can move in the same direction as your planned escape route.

Don't be fooled by so-called " hurricane havens"....there is no such thing.

Folks that keep boats in the water in Florida will have most "known" hurricane haven sports earmarked, so there will be a crowd. If the wind and waves don't get ya, a boat that breaks its mooring lines, anchor, etc, can git ya.

I just caution you to think wisely here before considering your option.