Atlantic Hurricane Season begins: BoatUS offers essential storm prep info
by BoatUS 4 Jun 2018 10:40 PDT
This boat was not safely hauled ashore out of harm's way before Hurricane Irma struck Florida last September © BoatUS
With the start of the 2018 Atlantic hurricane season on Friday, June 1, Boat Owners Association of The United States (BoatUS) urges boaters, marinas and boat clubs to prepare now for a potential landfall, and offers free help online.
The national advocacy, services and boating safety group says that it doesn't take a direct hit to damage or sink recreational vessels or to cause havoc at boat-storage facilities.
Storm-planning help available from BoatUS includes the following guides:
1. BoatUS Hurricane Tip Sheet – This easy-to-read, short two-pager is also simple to print and hand out copies to customers or dockmates, and has great basic advice on hurricane preparation for recreational boaters.
2. Boater's Guide to Preparing Boats and Marinas for Hurricanes – In addition to helping boaters prepare their own vessels, this guide has valuable information for marinas, boat yards, clubs and other boating facilities.
3. Yacht Club and Marina Guide to Preparing for Hurricanes – A helpful resource for marina and boat-club staff, community resiliency managers and local government organizations that focuses on protecting boating facilities.
When a storm approaches, the website also has up-to-the-minute storm-tracking tools with live satellite images and checklists for what to do before and after a hurricane strikes. If you are on the go a lot, the BoatUS App offers a hurricane-alert feature that automatically notifies boaters with detailed storm information each time NOAA begins tracking a storm in their area.
Much of the hurricane guide information comes from the BoatUS Catastrophe Field Team, a recognized leader in hurricane preparedness and response with more than 30 years of post-storm recreational boat salvage experience.