IRMA'S DREADFUL TOLL — F
or decades, West Coast sailors have comprised a huge segment of the Eastern Caribbean's tourism market, particularly in the realm of 'nautical tourism' aboard bareboat charter yachts. Walk the docks of any West Coast marina and you'll probably find sailors who cherish joyful memories of barefoot Caribbean sailing, especially in and around St. Maarten and the British Virgin Islands — the world's top charter venue, which captures more than 70% of the market annually. The following is a brief overview of the nightmare that residents of those islands endured, thoughts on how you can help, and our best-guess prognosis for their recovery.
Bay. Gusts there were clocked at an astonishing 210 mph. On nearby Necker Island, Sir Richard Branson and his staff rode out the storm unscathed in a bunker-like wine cellar, but above them the swank, private resort was destroyed. Virgin Gorda's only town, Spanish Town, was flattened and its marina and boatyard devastated. Of the 500 boats on the hard, only three reportedly remained upright. Farther downwind on tiny Jost Van Dyke, virtually every beach bar — including Foxy's and the Soggy Dollar — was wrecked, and the combination of powerful winds and storm surge laid waste to almost every home. Road Town, Tortola, the capital city of this British Overseas Territory, is home to many offshore banking operations, most of which were left standing, although badly battered and roofless, as
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CARIBBEAN BUZZ HELICOPTERS
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During the next few days of her westward advance, Irma's wind speeds varied. But on September 4, the threat of her potential rage reached a new level of concern for those living near her projected track, as she had strengthened to Category 4 status (more then 130 mph sustained). The next day, September 5, the swirling monster's rating ticked up yet another notch to Category 5 status — the highest ranking on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale — packing sustained winds of at least 157 mph and much higher gusts. Among the islands that lay directly ahead of her were the French/ Dutch island of St. Martin/Sint Maarten and the US and British Virgin Islands — all world-renowned as favorite sailing venues for both bareboat charterers and international cruisers. As island residents made thorough preparations to secure their homes and
Revered by sailors the world 'round, the Bitter End Yacht Club took a terrible beating. It, and other resorts, will take years to rebuild.
LATITUDE / ANDY
CARIBBEAN BUZZ HELICOPTERS
Generations of sailors have weathered hurricanes at East End, St. John, now devoid of greenery.
property, employees of the region's many large charter bases worked frantically to secure their fleets in mangrove lagoons and dry storage yards. Before dawn on September 6, Irma made her first landfall at Antigua's sparsely developed sister isle, Barbuda, thoroughly annihilating nearly all of its wood-framed homes, killing three residents, and leaving virtually everyone homeless. By this point Irma's top winds had peaked at 185 mph, with gusts above 200; velocities that would continue for several more days as she roared through the island chain like a runaway express train with evil intent. Ir ma clobbered Sint Maarten about 8 a.m., piling up fleets of 40- and 50-ft charter boats as if they were fragile toys. She effortlessly ripped roofs off all manner of buildings, splintered wooden structures as though they'd been built of toothpicks, and thoroughly crippled the island's infrastructure. Just to the south, the tiny French island of St. Barth also took a beating, but with less tragic effects. A few hours later the eye of this insatiable storm reached the easter nmost Virgin isle, Virgin Gorda, destroying nearly everything in its path, including longestablished sailors' haunts such as the Bitter End Yacht Club, Saba Rock and Leverick
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n the last day of August, in warm North Atlantic waters off the Cape Verde Islands, an ominous storm dubbed Irma developed sustained winds of 115 mph — ample ferocity to be classified as a major hurricane.