The moment was far from magical, but it was decisive.
Storm surge from Hurricane Ike pushed Mark Scheyer's Pearson 35, Magic Moment, three slips down and wedged the keel atop a finger pier in Galveston's Yacht Basin Marina. With the island closed to all but first responders for a week, Magic Moment was on her own. Tides pushed the sailboat more; it fell, and the starboard side of the hull hit the dock.
BOATU.S. – BOB ADRIANCEThe Houston Yacht Club in Shoreacres estimates cleaning up Ike's mess will take at least two months.
Magic Moment cracked and went down.
Insurance settlement in hand, Scheyer, a professional photographer, intends to buy a bigger boat. "I have two or three other friends with boats that survived the storm, but after seeing what work is ahead of them, I think I was the lucky one," he says.
Scheyer is already shopping, but rebuilding the recreational marine industry in the Galveston area will take more than undaunted boat buyers. The storm wiped out several large marinas and thousands of boats. BoatU.S. estimates the storm caused $175 million in damage to 15,000 recreational boats in Texas alone. Many of the yards that can handle repairs have messes of their own to clean up. And a turbulent economy could keep some boaters out of the water. Still, marine insurers, marinas, boat owners and repair yards estimate the region could be back to something close to "normal" in about a year.
"I would really say we are looking at a good solid year if we don't have another big storm," says Jim Urban, owner of Tempest Marine Services, a small salvage and repair yard in Brazoria. "Some marinas that were really tore up will be longer than that." Urban has experienced 35 years of storms on the Texas Gulf Coast. His seven–acre yard is a bit inland, just outside Oyster Creek, and fared well. Others, notably in Galveston and the Clear Lake areas, were not as fortunate.
BOATU.S. – BOB ADRIANCEHouston Yacht Club's sign went unheeded by Hurricane Ike, which tossed boats around like toys.
MARKET ISSUES
The Texas recreational boating market is huge. The state has nearly 600,000 registered pleasureboats, according to Texas' Department of Parks and Wildlife, ranking it sixth in the country as of May 2008, and the eastern Gulf Coast is a big part of it. Texas overall is the second most popular state for retirees, just behind Florida. The Galveston area is an easy drive from Houston; some spots are only 30 miles away from the city's William P. Hobby Airport. Many people use their boats as weekend getaways, their beach cottages on the water, or at least at the dock. Compared with pricey spots in California, Florida and the mid–Atlantic shore states, the cost of living is relatively low.
BoattU.S. estimates Clear Lake alone had between 6,000 and 7,000 boats. That slice of the market contains primarily sailboats; elsewhere it is more evenly distributed between power and sail.
But one factor may make a full recovery more difficult. Economic uncertainty aside, the Galveston marine market had a relatively high share of older vessels, according to claims officials from BoatU.S. and Travelers Insurance. Rick Wilson, an assistant vice president with BoatU.S. who also directed the company's response team on the ground in Texas, additionally notes a higher ratio of older boats that carried only liability damage.
BOATU.S. – SCOTT CROFTAbout 80 boats were tied up at Bayland Park Marina before Ike's storm surge took them – and the floating docks – for a ride.
Travelers saw a similar pattern and even heard "never again" from some boat owners. "Some individuals I talked to, they are avid boaters; this is a way of life," says Dave Powell, Travelers' vice president over boat and yacht claims. "What shocked me were the number of older vessels in the mid–40– to 60–foot range and owners who said that it was their last boat."
Wilson estimates that 40 percent of BoatU.S.'s Texas claims involved total losses. And the salvage operations are far from complete. On October 7, Urban and his crew pulled out an older, 28–foot Pacemaker that sank in its slip. It was not insured. "I don't know if he is going to replace it or not," Urban says.
DAMAGE UNEVEN
From marina to marina, the level of destruction varied widely. Whether or not a facility had protective sea walls, floating docks and high pilings made some difference. "The extent of the damage isn't a Katrina, where everything was devastated, but it certainly compares to an Opal or a Fran," Wilson says. "The areas that are damaged are damaged heavily, but based on the geography, it is in a very narrow stretch, up the western shore of Galveston Bay," he adds. "The eastern side is more commercial stuff."
