Watch out for "shady deals"

In the aftermath of the storms on the Gulf Coast, be aware of the market for "great deals:. Have your boat surveyed, and ensure a good ownership check is done. I have a feeling there are people who will attempt to take advantage of the situation.

Ike's victims: "Many hundreds, if not thousands, of vessels sunk"

By IBI Magazine (http://www.ibinews.com)

A BoatUS catastrophe team coordinator surveying the damage caused by Hurricane Ike told IBI this morning that "many hundreds, if not thousands," of boats were sunk by the winds and tidal surge. Ike roared ashore near Galveston, Texas, last Saturday, and left a path of devastation in marinas along the entire coast.

Officials have closed Galveston, which was hardest-hit, after tens of thousands of residents created a traffic nightmare yesterday while attempting to return to the barrier island southwest of Houston. The Associated Press reported that Texas search and rescue teams have pulled out of Galveston after checking on almost 6,000 people and performing more than 3,500 rescues. Fearing the possible onset of disease, town managers are pleading with residents still holed up in their homes to leave.

Galveston is also a major boating centre. Mike McCook, head of 15 members of the BoatUS catastrophe team on the ground in Texas, says that many hundreds of boats on the island were severely impacted by the hurricane. "If any survived undamaged, I would be surprised," he told IBI.

McCook estimates that "many hundreds, if not thousands" of boats were sunk by last weekend's hurricane. "The damage to boats and marinas is very broad, spread out about 400 miles along the coast," said McCook. "But it also went inland quite a ways, all the way north to Ohio and Pennsylvania, where boats were sunk because of flooding."

McCook says that, beyond Galveston, boating-intensive areas along the coast were also heavily damaged. "I spoke to the manager of the Watergate Marina and he said that of the 1,200 boats in his marina, 300 were sunk," said McCook. "I've also heard that dozens of boats in the Houston Yacht Club in La Porte were badly damaged."

Joel Rubin, owner of the Gulf Coast Marina and Boat Storage facility in Surfside, told IBI that he and his workers had heeded orders, boarded up their dry-stack facility and left town. When they returned, he had a pleasant surprise. "We took minimal damage," said Rubin. "It could've been a whole lot worse."

Rubin said that his building was rated for a category 2 hurricane and withstood the intense winds and surge. But he said that surrounding marinas and bridges did not fare so well. "Just looking at them, I can see they took a pretty good hit," he said.

IBI will provide further coverage as details emerge.

(18 September 2008)