What we've learned - Webinar to look at Hurricane Sandy marina damage

by D. Scott Croft on 27 Feb 2013 The Association of Marina Industries (AMI) and the Boat Owners Association of The United States (BoatUS) are teaming up to offer a series of three online webinars on March 5, 12 and 26, 2013, at 2:00 pm EST for marine facility operators and others interested in learning about how to secure boats to avoid damage in future storms.

The first webinar on Tuesday, March 5, will provide an overview of the damage from Sandy. Marina personnel worked feverishly to prepare, only to watch helpless as Sandy's unprecedented swell ripped up fixed docks, lifted floating docks off their pilings, and swept boats off of jack stands. The BoatUS Catastrophe (CAT) Team was onsite as soon as they could gain access, in many cases within 24 hours of the storm making landfall. They remained in the field right through Christmas, recovering boats, assessing damage and investigating what worked and what didn't to secure boats before the storm. Beth Leonard, Director of Technical Services for the BoatUS Marine Insurance Program, will be sharing the CAT Team's experiences in this one-hour presentation. Find out why this storm did so much damage, how and why marina preparations fell short, and what lessons are coming out of Sandy.

Hurricane Sandy was the single-largest recreational boating industry loss ever recorded, with over $650 million in damage to boats alone. Not included in that figure are the hundreds of millions of dollars in damages to marinas, boat yards and yacht clubs. Boats that didn't stay put in Sandy's exceptional storm surge caused damage to other boats, marina infrastructure, and private and public property.

All webinars are at 2:00pm EST:

March 5 - The first in the series, 'Sandy Overview: What We've Learned,' will look at what made Hurricane Sandy so destructive and the types of damage it caused to boats and to marinas, and share some survival stories.

March 12 - 'Securing Boats on Land,' will focus on the challenges of securing boats inside storage structures as well as outside on the hard, and discuss some potential solutions and best practices.

March 26 - 'Securing Boats in the Water,' will look at the challenges presented by moorings and by various dock structures such as fixed or floating docks, and also look at solutions and best practices.

The cost to attend is $10 per webinar for members of AMI or BoatUS and, for non-members, $25 for one webinar, $40 for two and $60 for all three. NY and NJ facilities are invited to attend for free, compliments of AMI and BoatUS, but they must still register. Any proceeds after costs will be donated to the NJ Recovery and Relief Fund to aid recreational marine businesses damaged during Hurricane Sandy. Go to http://marinaassociation.org/training/online-webinars to register, or, for more information, call (866) 367-6622 or visit MarinaAssociation.org.