We Move Back to Fleetwing - but some boats had moved to shore

 It was good to be home again. Fleetwing suffered no damage and we quickly put the dodge back up but the bimini had a problem with the aft zipper. The thread exposed to UV on top of the bimini gave way. The 20 years of UV light was too much to ask of the sewing thread. The bimini fabric was fine, Sunbrella is tough stuff! Terri, our friend from Jacksonville offer to do the sewing with her professional machine and after a few tries ourselves, we realized it was beyond our capabilities - so we took Terri up on her generous offer. We’ll travel to Jacksonville where she lives and for the repair. 

After every storm, it seems we get boats that come ashore. In all the cases I’ve seen, it’s been due to lines tied to the mooring that parted. The mooring itself still sits out in the mooring field, lonely now. Those that moor never seem to learn that a Cat 1 hurricane requires extraordinary preparation in ensuring lines are double and triple tied with fresh line. 

First of all, I would never leave a boat out on any mooring in Cat 1 conditions. Even if your lines were enough for the conditions (doubled and tripled), the problem is in those around you. If a boat breaks free and starts drifting down the mooring field, you have no chance. The boat gathers other boats and you have a floatilla coming at you. This scenario happened at the Cat 4 hurricane that hit Marathon. Some boaters had prepared perfectly - but they were defeated by those that did not - and involuntarily joined the floatilla flushing out all the boats as it drifted through the mooring field. 

We saw about a half dozen boats come to land during Milton. We saw none still attached to a mooring ball. Their lines had parted, the mooring ball was still anchored firmly. In talking to the marina office, I learned that the owner of each boat out in the mooring field was contacted and offered an inspection with lines being added or replaced, for a fee of course - no free work. They all to a captain, passed on the offer. Now they have to go through insurance claims and arrangements for salvaging their boats. Experience is the only teacher - and sometimes that doesn’t even work. 

This post is the last in the series. I covered Milton and hopefully, there are no more hurricanes but then it’s still October and not even halfway through - but we can hope.