From Wikipedia:

Beryl developed from a tropical wave that left the coast of Africa on June 25. After forming on June 28 in the Main Development Region, it began rapidly intensifying as it moved west through the central tropical Atlantic. On July 1, Beryl made landfall on the island of Carriacou, Grenada, as a high-end Category 4 hurricane, causing total devastation. The hurricane intensified further as it entered the Caribbean Sea, peaking as a Category 5 hurricane early the next morning with maximum sustained winds of 165 mph (270 km/h) and a minimum central pressure of 934 mbar (27.58 inHg), before slowly weakening over the next few days due to wind shear as it passed south of Jamaica and then the Cayman Islands.

The final Log of SV Unladen Swallow - Hurricane Beryl

The Wikipedia Entry takes care of the scientific details, but we need to tell our story as we were there.

First of all, most marine insurance companies require insured assets to be south of 12.4N latitude by the 1st of Jul. Statistically, this is the start of Hurricane season and “Statistically” few if any storms strike the Caribbean south of this latitude. Tyrel Bay Marine sits at approximately 12.2N placing it South of the south edge of the “Hurricane Box” and making it an ideal Hurricane storage facility for charter boat and personal Yacht owners seeking to leave their boats for all or part of the Hurricane Season in a safe location.

Our plan for the 2024 Hurricane season consisted of two parts. The first was to NOT be close to any hurricane – this meant be mobile and run like hell if it looks like anything is coming near us. In fact when we renewed our insurance policy the previous winter, we checked the box that dictated that we would not be involved in a hurricane. The 2nd part of the plan involved a haul-out scheduled in JUNE (before hurricane season) at a facility outside the hurricane box. We knew we had critical work to do, replacing our system of bottom paint and antifouling, replacing the lower rudder bearing as well as a bunch of planned upgrades. Our work schedule called for 2-3 weeks on the hard and get back in the water and be ready to keep moving. We had visions of exploring the Grenadines, Grenada, and the Trinidad and Tobago. We were also planning our work in concert with our “Buddy boat” and their planned haul-out plans for their maintenance.

We got off to a delayed start when we discovered that the yard had misplaced our reservation and left us in the water 2 extra days. These 2 days might have been the difference.

Our work plan included:

• Replace the Rudder Bearings (yard mechanic assist)

• Replace the system of coatings for our bottom paint (yard labor)

• Replace the Freezer Keel Cooler

• Service the Outboard (yard mechanic)

• Service the Main Engine (yard mechanic)

• Replace the Windless Solenoid

• Patch all of the Fiberglass holes in the cockpit (sub contractor)

• Cabinetry reconfigure (4 areas) inside the boat (sub contractor)

• Re upholstery the salon cushions and other canvas work (sub contractor)

• Install the master alarm panel

• The Cabinetry work was going to require re homing the electrical and electronics panels and equipment in the nav station area

• Put in a permanent gimble for the new convection/microwave and induction cooktop

We needed to have the rudder, keel cooler and bottom paint done before we could go back in the water. The other tasks could be done with us tied to the marina’s floating dock system. The rudder wasn’t successfully removed from the boat until over 2 weeks after being lifted. It took another couple of days to remove the old bearing and then we discovered the new bearing didn’t fit the modified rudder post and the rudder post required rework. This work was never completed as the storm showed up shortly thereafter. The end result was that the 8 inch hole where the bearing was to be mounted was still open when the storm arrived and had we been put back in the water, we would have promptly sunk.

Projected Windfield based on the App Windy

The bottom job also got stretched out when the yard employees got way over aggressive striping the old coatings off and significantly gouged the below the waterline Gelcoat. This put us behind getting the new system applied. The bottom was ready for the water on Friday before the storm.

Thursday before the storm, I had been watching the forecasts as they evolved and it became clear that we were in for more than a casual squall. I went to the marina office staff and inquired as to the yard’s plan to deal with the hurricane. I was told that they were not concerned about it as historically, the storms always turned north and amounted to nothing for the island. If owners called and requested their boats be strapped down, they would at a cost of $300 or so. I stated that I was formally requesting our boat be strapped down. I was informed that they would do the best they could as my boat was sitting in a maintenance area verses a storage area and there was not sufficient ground anchors for the boat. I asked they make best effort.

The rudder stock Thru-Hole - the dark line running through the center of the image is bare fiberglass from over aggressive sanding

The straps used to secure SV Unladen Swallow - Points to note:

• The boat was in a maintenance, not a storage area - there were no ground anchors for the bow

• The bow was strapped to a piece of Jersey barrier that was also holding the stern of the boat on our port side

• The Starboard side was strapped to a piece of concrete piling - the workers chose to anchor us to the end of the piling - no understanding of mechanical advantage here

• The Stern shared ground anchors with the catamaran in storage behind us

• The Straps where quite heavy duty - did not see a failed strap in the yard post storm

I remarked to Brownie that they were not taking this seriously and we were in trouble. We reached out to the insurance company broker to inform him of the circumstances and he asked us to update our wind/ storm plan and provide it to him so he could forward it to the company. As Friday became Sat and Sunday, and the forecast became more ominous, the yard got more serious but for the most part were still living in denial. By Sunday, the yard had a skeleton crew running around trying to strap down all the boats, but they were having to use what ever bits of concrete they had available. Even had all the boats been strapped down with fixed ground anchors, the results likely wouldn’t have changed that much. Our boat was strapped down with fixed ground anchors for the 2 stern cleats and then the 2 bow cleats got a strap down to the end of a piece of concrete piling on the starboard side and a 8’ length of jersey barrier that was being shared with the catamaran on our port side. The number of Jack stands was not increased. Our boat has close to an 8’ draft so this meant that we stood very tall and presented a large windage. I could walk under the hull without bending at my waist.

We did everything we could do to secure the boat, contents and reduce windage as much as possible. We removed the 3 rigged sails (the 2 head sails on roller furlers, and the main sail.) The 2 head sails didn't come down easily and there was some quite stressful moments trying to coral them with the wind gusting. We dropped the sail pack and strapped it around the boom. We collected the rest of our stuff that we had strapped down on the deck and moved it back inside. The cargo net still covered several other larger items and we added some more tie-downs. We strapped the rudder to the keel so it would still be there post storm. We also had our scuba compressor that needed a home. I finally just covered it and left it on the other side of the keel. It was heavy enough that getting it back up and into the boat was going to be difficult. We picked up the construction debris and anything else that was going to become a projectile. Said a prayer and walked back to our Airbnb to await the storm.

Jul 1st was a Monday.

For haul-out, we had reserved an Airbnb about a 10 minute walk from the boat yard. This was crucial to our still being functional after close to a month working 8-12 hour days on our boat. The Air conditioning and comfortable bed made all the difference in the world. We were able to extend the reservations a week longer than originally planned – we had reserved for 3 weeks just in case we went long (not unexpected) but they couldn’t go to 5. We ended up swapping accommodations on Sunday before the storm. The new Airbnb was just around the corner. We ended up in a second floor studio. The owners allowed us to move in a day early – our reservation started on the 1st. Their house was adjacent to the apartments. They also owned the restaurant and bar on the beach in front where we had been eating most nights.

We brought our water jerry cans to the apartment so we had access to water if it became an issue. The island power system was turned off at 0830 on the 1st to prevent issues with downed live wires. This was one of the few smart things we observed. The storm’s effect built in intensity throughout the morning and by 1030 it was Armageddon outside. The walls of the apartment were being struck repeatedly by flying debris. The rain water was being forced up and under the corrugated galvanized roofing and raining on us inside. We had watched the roof of the owner’s house completely disappear earlier. At this point, the eye wall reached us and we decided to move downstairs. We still had a roof, but downstairs had concrete all the way around other than the windows. We found our host family (Husband, Wife, young daughter, and bar keep) already huddled there. We had to go in through the back door as the front door was blocked by a significant part of the roof from the Airbnb we had occupied for most of June.

With the eye overhead the weather was actually quite pleasant and of course the guys had to go outside and survey the damage. We walked out to the beach road and found a large steel cabin cruiser on the beach in front of the bar and the roof of the bar was missing. The bar owner pulled cold beers out of the cooler which was still cold (power had only been off for just over 2 hours) and we had a beer. As soon as the first few raindrops showed up we beat a hasty retreat back to our shelter to await round 2. Because the eye wall went directly overhead, the winds came from the north for the first part building steadily toward their 150 MPH peak and then fell off to virtually zero and then when the other side of the eye wall reached us, they immediately started at 150 from the South this time and gradually receded over the next hour or so. By 1500, it was tame enough to venture outside and go see what was left. Brownie stayed behind to help there and I made my way down the road past the empty spaces and piles of rubble most of the beach bars had occupied and into the boat yard.

The boat yard was a complete disaster area. I found only a handful of boats still upright on their original blocking. Most of the mono-hulls had fallen over and created a domino effect. The catamarans had been tossed around like toys. Most had been lifted up only to be slammed on their keels forcing them up inside their hulls. There were bent and broken masts and rigging everywhere you looked.

There had been a Catamaran placed next to the travel lift well that was now perched partly in and out of the water having sunk when it crashed into the water that starred in most of the social media posts about the storm for the next week or so.

I made my way past most of the boats in the yard to find ours laying on its side having toppled in the first part of the storm (winds from the north). Looking at it closely, it was clear that the port side was likely caved in. Our starlink and solar panels were pointed at a steep angle towards the south horizon and were of no use – we could not help with communication and power until we got righted. When we fell over, the mast snapped at each of the 3 spreaders and was spread across the catamaran and mono-hull next to us and the mono-hull’s mast was laying on top of our starboard toe rail which was high in the air.

Closer inspection found a significant hole in the bow where it struck the Jersey barrier. There was also an area on the port side of the stern where the forces involved almost forced the jack stand through the hull. The starboard rear cleat had been sheared in half and ripped out of the hull/deck. The keel must have bounced when the boat went over and when it settled down, it was sitting on the rudder where I had lashed it to the side of the keel. I also found that the cement piling had rotated on the ground shifting all the load to the stern cleat/strap and was likely the culprit allowing the forces to become unbalanced leading to the boat falling over. We later learned from another boat owner who was in a shelter that overlooked the yard that we fell over early in the storm, so had we been better strapped down, we likely would have gone over anyway but with more force when something else broke.

I knew right then and there our boat was never going to be seaworthy again.

The yard was bad - there was a mangrove swamp in front of the marina that is traditionally a refuge for storms for boats in the water - it was worse. Over 200 boats went in there seeking protection. Almost 100 ended up piled in a corner (many with owners still on them) when a couple of late comers who didn’t properly secure their vessels broke loose and played bumper cars with the earlier arrivals.

The looting in the mangroves started that evening and continued until the government hired a floating crane to go in and remove the wrecks 4 months later.

While I have focused on our experience and the boat yard, I would be remiss if I didn’t talk about the island and its residents. First of all, 8 people perished on the island from flying debris, most after the eye had passed over. Power was not turned back on for the main trunks for 3 months. Over 80% of the roofs on the island were destroyed. Many houses were leveled. The island also has a mosquito problem during the rainy season with Dengue Fever being a known issue. After the storm there was large areas of stagnant water and the mosquitos quickly multiplied as a result. I had mosquito bites on my mosquito bites after a night’s sleep without screens and air conditioning. Fortunately we had a spare mosquito net on the boat and were able to rig it over our bed to slow down the pesky critters and allow us to get some rest at night.

There is little to no running water on the island with most water being provided from individual cisterns used to collect rain water during the rainy season which was just starting. The cisterns required power to run pumps to pull the water out. I was able to wire in 6 portable generators on the marina’s side of the island including one for the marina’s bathhouse (and fixed the plumbing to make it work), the marina owner’s house and several others in the week that followed.

International aid started to show up about a week into the recovery with Samaritan’s Purse setting up 2 desalination plants (one by the Marina) to provide free water to anyone needing it. They also set up a big field hospital as the island’s facility was damaged by the storm.

The primary hurricane shelter on the other side of the island was a cinderblock school which fell apart with residents sheltering in it, so they had to go from building to building while the storm raged.

We continued to live in our apartment and was able to eat with the family next door whose head was the heavy equipment operator for the yard. We became good friends and where able to retrieve all of the food still on the boat to contribute to the group eating. His daughter owned the first Airbnb we stayed in. I ended up working with him at the yard for the first couple of weeks trying to recover the yard as the yard employees had all lost their homes to the storm and were not ready to come back to work. This left the boat owners still on the island to fend for ourselves and the Americans present got together, figured out what was needed and got to work. Other nationalities to a lesser extent.

One of the first items was to clear the travel lift well (or slip). A Catamaran that had been placed on the hard next to the well had been knocked off its stands and ended up sunk in the well. I was able to borrow scuba gear (mine was buried deep in our boat) and with that shop’s owner and myself we spent 7 hours in the water doing the work to pull the hull out of the mud and eventually get the proper lifting straps on it to allow the travel lift to remove it from the water. I was rapidly building good will with the marina staff. The local grocery stores started to get deliveries about 2 week after the storm. The cruiser community setup a relief lift to help start the relief effort, but the local government wanted a piece of the action and effectively shut it down because they weren’t controlling (i.e. stealing from) it.

The jumble of boats I saw upon entering the yard

The Catamaran that landed in the travel lift slip

Our first view of SV Unladen Swallow post storm

Laying on her side from behind

View from the front - impaled on the Jersey Barrier - notice the piling on the starboard side is pulled towards the bow

Looking towards the stern - the solar panels and Starlink survived even though they were at a bad angle for the 2nd part of the storm

The point of impact on the port side - there was a crease visible in the hull

Once we were righted, that crease was a crack that ran from well below the waterline all the way to the toe rail

The Scuba Compressor and the rudder were left at the base of the keel prior to the storm - we had lashed the rudder to the keel - notice the keel is now laying on the rudder

The crease made by the keel landing on the rudder

Impaled on the Jersey Barrier

The resulting hole - this is right on the bulkhead between the sail locker and the forward head

Where the port stern jackstand almost punctured the hull

The cargo net survived - Gladiator Cargo Nets!

The jumble inside the boat was epic

This area is where the Nav Station was and it the primary point of impact - the structural grid is cracked and separated from the hull here

Under the portside salon couch, the grid has separated from the hull

The view of the devastation from a house high on the hillside

The only way we could get sleep was under a mosquito net - the mosquitos were horrible following the storm

The structures along the beach side road where leveled except for a few cinderblock buildings

One of 2 Samaritan's Purse Water Desalination Plants

The Catamaran that landed in the travel lift slip - that will just buff out

I worked with a former yard manager who came in to volunteer to assist in the recovery – he had previous experience doing just that in the BVI – to remove and salvage my rigging from the boats it was laying on. At this point, anything I salvaged was something I wasn’t going to need to buy a replacement for. So we worked carefully and instead of cutting we disassembled my rigging both stainless steel cable and the running rigging. We actually saved most of it.

With daily communication with the marina staff (primarily the owner and his partners), we decided that the crane to pickup the boats and reset them was not going to be there for several weeks and that the owner had signed an agreement with a BVI based salvage company to recover the yard. (There was a brief period where it looked like I might assist a former yard manager in doing this very thing. ) And there really wasn’t much left for me to do, that it was time to evacuate Brownie, the Cat and I. We loaded our possessions back on the boat and caught a ferry down to Grenada and a couple of days later a flight back to the US after playing tourist and decompressing in St George’s, Grenada.

Insurance

The insurance company was initially going to deny our claim because we didn’t follow our published plan – i.e. run like hell. The broker went to bat for us and I wrote a 3 page detailed explanation of what we did and why. For a while we were really concerned that we had literally lost everything.

After 2 weeks, they asked us to submit a claim, but wanted us to submit 3 different quotes to remediate the damage. We went back and explained that was impossible with the boat laying on its side and they finally relented and sent an assessor to do what should have been done in the first place. We passed the assessor in Grenada as we were leaving.

We spoke with him several times and he explained what he was looking for and Lee was able to tell him exactly where to look. He also directed us to sign the agreement (although it was piracy) with the salvage company to right the boat stating that the policy would cover it. Once the boat was righted and he was able to gain access, he quickly found the damage areas and they easily met his criteria for a Constructive Total Loss. It was now official, the boat was not going to be fixed.

It would be late November before we heard any updates from the insurance company and they finally sent a settlement offer that satisfied the agreed upon values for the boat and its possessions. We hoped to have funds released by the end of December. However, this has turned into mid-January.

Salvage efforts

We started making arrangements to meet our buddy boat in St Lucia and make our way back to Carriacou to salvage our belongings and ship them from Carriacou to Grenada and then up to Florida.

Once back in the area, it took a week to empty the boat, pack up our stuff and get through the process of arranging the shipping.

We were able to get a truck to assist moving the goods from the yard to the town pier and onto a local fishing boat for the trip down to St George’s and then onto another truck to be transported to Tropical Shipping’s work yard and into a 20’ Connex. We had to employ several agents along the way to deal with all the paperwork and bureaucracies, but about $9K later it was all safely secured in a storage unit a mile or so from my sister’s place.

We could then start the process of sorting and cleaning and deciding next steps.

The stuff we decided to keep and ship back

This pile we decide we didn't want so we gave it away

This is the full 20' Tropical Shipping Connex ready for it's trip to FL from Grenada

Our storage facility in FL

Final Thoughts after several months of reflection

Let's consider the actions of Tyrell Bay Marina in preparation

I do not hold Tyrell Bay Marina at fault for the loss of SV Unladen Swallow. The preparation they under took was ill considered and not sufficient to protect the boats stored or stuck there. They had no experience with a Category 4 Hurricane and the yard likely didn't have sufficient ground assets (Jack stands, ground screws and holes in which to set monohull keels) to adequately secure the boats present against a storm like this. They did the best they could given the assets they had on hand.

Even with more advanced and complete preparation it is questionable if the boat could have been saved. I can only see 2 courses of action which might have saved the boat:

1. Set the boat on its side on the ground. There likely would have been damage to the hull but it wouldn't have fallen over. The impact with the ground did most of the damage, so by already sitting on the ground it wouldn't have sustained the impact damage. There is question in my mind about whether the mast might have survived. The shock of the impact with the ground likely broke it as opposed to the force of wind.

2. Dig a hole sufficiently deep that the hull would have sat level with the surrounding ground. The number of jack stands would have had to have been doubled or even tripled to keep the boat upright. The other thing required would have been at least 2 more ground stakes for the bow. Additionally, doubling the number of straps would likely have helped by spreading the side loads between the 8 cleats along the deck as opposed to just the 4 at the bow and stern.

3. Had the mast been unstepped it would have survived in tact on the ground.

The yard did not have sufficient resources to accomplish these actions for the 150 or so boats in the yard at the time.

Trying to maintain a boat through a Category 4 hurricane is likely a fools errand. Our plan for a hurricane was always to run from it. A hurricane is not a something to be trifled with and I had no intention of being caught with my boat stuck with no ability to move. We will not be caught in a yard during hurricane season again.

Insurance Matters

The insurance process has left a decided sour taste in my mouth.

The insurance company actually contracted with another company to do the assessment and adjustment. Those documents were then provided back to the insurance company for approval. The approval and funds went back to the adjustment company for dispersement.

The insurance claim process has taken half a year to complete and has cost us 6 months of interest payments on the loan. The boat was declared a total lost in July but the insurance company and its representatives have drug out the process unnecessarily. We paid a premium of over $10K and we expected our claim once accepted to be handled promptly (2-3 months). Our experience with auto, home owners, and medical insurance has been far more satisfactory. While this process has drug out, we have been unable to even consider taking on a new boat. It has left us land locked and quite frustrated. As well as needing to occupy my sister's guest room preventing other friends from visiting as was their normal routine.

The boat loan payoff finally happened on the 6th of Jan and the remaining funds were EFT'd to us on .......

The people of the island of Carriacou

The people of the island did not distinguish themselves in a very honorable manner after the storm. Brownie heard racial comments directed towards the "white folks" who were expect to come and do all the work for them and others seeking to do them physical harm. There were many men who chose to sit around in the days after the storm and just drink. They made no effort to become part of the solution in the critical first week while international help was being mustered. The political leadership on Grenada sought to profit by seizing all of the private aid being provided so they could redirect it to most profit from it. Of the millions of dollars donated only a pittance was actually delivered to the island.

The looting of the yachts in the mangroves was atrocious and the local authorities appeared to be helpless or had no interest or worse yet complicit in allowing it. Many yacht owners who sought refuge in the mangroves lost everything to the looters. And many of them considered themselves locals.

OK one last thing - and this is the most important -

We are richly blessed. God watched over us and his plan for our lives is still in play. We survived the storm without injury and had insurance to cover our losses and had a place to go as opposed to being homeless. We were able to use our skills and resources to aid in the initial recovery efforts on the island. There were other boat owners in the yard that were not insured. We know of a young couple who had their 2 boats in the yard just prior to the storm and had been placed back in the water in the days leading up to the storm. Both boats went into the mangroves and only 1 came back out. There was a family living on a Catamaran that had sunk everything they owned into it that was lifted up and slammed to the ground causing catastrophic damage to the hulls and the yard's empty diesel tank ended up on top of it. They were uninsured. They sold their boat to a YouTube couple for $20K looking for a deal on a hurricane damaged boat.

It's taken 6 months for us to get to the point of being ready to restart our lives, but in the meanwhile, we have been able to spend time with family and take care of other necessary things that would have been much more difficult while living on a boat.

Life is good.