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Distressing
Misery |
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"It
just isn't fair. So damned mean... the day
before the radio said that Lenny would pass
the island to the North. Sure, that meant
that we would get a lot of wind but not
hurricane force winds. In the morning the
radio suddenly said that it would pass directly
over the island."
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The
misery can be seen on the face of the owner of a 44
foot catamaran that has been crushed between a house
and a coaster. "We tried to save what we could
but we were helpless against all this violence. |
Then it veered back again.
It lasted for three days. We didn't have anything
to eat, hardly anything to drink. The coaster
with the appropriate name of ‘Survivor'
was moored to two heavy anchors and 90 metres
of chain each. Despite that the engine was running
flat out she was thrown around the harbour like
a tart and according to eyewitnesses she cut
down six yachts.
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The captain points towards the heavens, and says
that he hit one yacht at the very most and explains
that even God himself couldn't have helped him.
"There was a 2 to 3 metre swell running in
the harbour. We hit the bottom again and again
until we eventually ran aground.” |
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The couple with a five year old son
have lost their home. They are not insured and the damage
cannot be recovered from the shipping company. During
a hurricane in the eyes of insurance companies it is
every man for him. All they can do is recover anything
worth recovering from the wreck and trying to sell it
in Martinique. The family is bankrupt. Just like tens
of other sailing families. Out of the 300 yachts that
were moored in Simpson Bay Lagoon 120 to 130 have been
severely damaged. More than thirty have sunk. Fourteen
sailors are missing who tried to save their property
at the height of the storm. With the engine running
as hard as it could they tried for hours to survive
the super bastard Lenny that refused to let go of its
prey. At one point there were even two centres. Two
separate centres that raged across the island. The highest
wind speed recorded by the local Met office was 307
kilometre per hour. That was when the instruments failed.
The rain at a rate of 25 mm per hour from the heavens.
It was evident that this category four or five hurricane
wasn't as strong as Luis back in 1995 but it was such
a darned mean one. As the harbourmaster in the Simpson
Bay Marina told us: We had 150 knots of wind here while
the South side of the harbour was in a dead calm. Then
half an hour later the bastard started to wander around
and then it was exactly the opposite and then the wind
decided to come from a totally new direction."
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Masts are sticking up out of the water.
A catamaran that was lifted as if it was an air mattress
and thrown back in the water upside down is being hoisted
out of the water. Two dead have already been removed
from a sunken yacht and most likely there will be a
lot more following soon. Several people drowned when
they tried to put out in the seething sea to escape
the devastation in the harbour. Two Frenchmen in the
16 metre long 'l'Authentic Dream' tried to save their
yacht by heading North. The sails were torn to shreds,
the engine broke down and the skipper was washed overboard.
The second man was also eventually washed overboard
but despite the 8 metre high waves and wild breakers
he managed to cling to a piece of wreckage.  Sixteen
hours later he was washed ashore in Oyster Bay and although
suffering from hypothermia it was a miracle he survived.
Other yachts like the American Francis
Drake and the Dutch Nausicaa were - luckily without
any crew on board - torn from their anchors and, according
to reports from the American Coastguard, eventually
sank at sea. Some yachts are still missing without a
trace like the 9.5 metre long Octopus. And some were
incredibly lucky. The yacht Amadeus together with her
crew survived the storm at sea. They reached Martinique
safe and sound although thoroughly shaken. Motoring
around the lagoon while listening to the stories tears
come to your eyes. Families who angrily chase Maaike
away when she tries to take a picture of the misery.
Yachts that are being plundered by the local population.
A Belgian couple tell how gangsters brandishing pistols
tried to chase them away from their own yacht. Cloths
drying everywhere, rotting interiors and fittings, a
stack of CD's that has been underwater for too long.
A lonely yacht washed up on the beach of Marigot Bay
tells a sad story. Two anchor-lines disappear into the
now calm water of the bay. One is wrapped around the
propeller, the sails are torn to shreds, the hatches
are wide open.
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