In August 1983, a group of officers of the Houston Yacht Club met to decide what, if anything, should be done to prepare for a hurricane that was thrashing about in the Gulf of Mexico . The chances of the storm coming ashore in Houston seemed remote; the last hurricane to hit the club had been Carla in 1963. In the twenty years since Carla, the committee had advised members on several occasions to begin hurricane preparations only to watch as each passed harmlessly away from the Houston area.

Still, after four days of tracking the erratic storm on weather charts, the committee once again advised its members to begin hurricane preparations. Some of the smaller boats were pulled from the water and lashed down, trash cans and tables were brought inside the club-house, and a few of the larger boats in the harbor were taken to anchorages in open water. But with only twelve hours remaining before expected landfall, weather forecasters were predicting the eye would pass about 75 miles west of Houston , too far away to be anything more than a nuisance.

Most of the preparations to that point were done without conviction, but shortly before the storm was supposed to come ashore to the west, hurricane Alicia suddenly veered and began heading straight toward Galvaston Bay – and the Houston Yacht Club.

Winds at the clubhouse were soon blowing 45 mph, kicking up a nasty chop in the shallow waters of Galvaston Bay . It was too late to move boats from the harbor, so members at the club did whatever they could – doubled upon docklines, adjusted fenders, and added chafe protection. Most then headed home, but a group of volunteers remained to do whatever else could be done that night to protect the boats during the storm.

Alicia Comes Ashore

For many years, the boats at the Houston Yacht Club had been protected by an 11’ high x 20’ wide earth and cement seawall. Earlier that year, the club had expanded the number of slips by constructing a wood seawall further out from the older seawall. This new seawall stood about six feet high and created a second, outer harbor around the older harbor.

During the night, Alicia’s winds increased to over 135 mph, and the tidal surge began lifting Galvaston Bay over the new seawall, threatening boats in the outer harbor. Conditions were extremely dangerous on the docks, and the volunteers that had been adjusting docklines and fenders on boats were forced to retreat back to the clubhouse. There was nothing more that could be done that night but hunker down and wait.

Not until the next morning did the volunteers realize the full extent of the damage. Other than the tops of a few masts that were poking awkwardly above the waves, the outer harbor was empty. One by one, the windward boats nearest the submerged outer seawall had been breaking their lines in the heavy seas and smashing against the boats to leeward. With the exception of a few boats that had sunk, most of the boats in the outer harbor were now piled in a mangled heap on the cement seawall. Although boats behind the seawall in the inner harbor had been better protected, a few had also come loose and were now stranded on the clubhouse lawn.

Picking Up the Pieces

For the next few months, crews of workers swarmed over the Houston Yacht Club. One of the first to arrive was the BoatU.S. Catastrophe Field Team, who worked closely with Houston Yacht Club members to select qualified salvors and manage salvage operations. After several weeks, all the wrecked boats were gone. Some were eventually repaired, but most were hauled away never to return. When the final count was in, a total of 141 boats at the Houston Yacht Club had been completely destroyed.

Repairing the docks would take much longer. By the end of December, the club had returned to some semblance of normalcy, but even after the wrecked boats were gone and the docks repaired, the specter of Alicia hung over the Houston Yacht Club. Sooner or later another hurricane would come ashore, and when it did, the seawall would not protect boats in the outer harbor. The Houston Yacht Club needed a better – a much better hurricane preparedness plan.

After Carla in 1963, there had been some attempt by the Houston Yacht Club to devise a hurricane plan, but after twenty years of misses the attitude toward hurricanes had gradually become “relaxed.” The plan, whatever it was, had never been documented, so club officers and volunteers had been largely left to wrestle with events as they unfolded.

After Alicia wrecked the club, it was clear that to be anything more than marginally effective at protecting the boats, a hurricane preparedness plan needed three things. First, details of the plan had to be carefully researched and documented; Further, all of the members who kept boats at the club would have to be familiar with the plan; Finally, the plan would have to be structured so that it would be carried out with the same thoroughness, time after time, regardless of how many misses there had been in the past.

According to John Focke, who chaired the committee that was responsible for publishing the hurricane preparedness plan, protecting member boats was not the sole objective of the plan. After Alicia, insurance rates for the club property and some of the member’s boats began to rise dramatically. So Focke said that a second, equally daunting objective was to convince insurers to continue providing coverage to the club and its members at reasonable rates.

Birth of a Plan

During the many months it would take to publish the Houston Yacht Club Hurricane Preparedness Plan, an eleven man committee would spend hundreds of hours interviewing other members, talking with boat manufacturers, and interviewing government and civil defense employees. Much of the research was done by members like John Peek, who had anchored his boat in a hurricane hole during Alicia. The boat survived and John was asked to report to the committee on anchoring techniques.

Three “outside consultants” also worked with club members on the project: Ken Pagin, of the Coastal Development Department; Nash Roberts, a weather consultant; and Bill Oakerson, who heads the Marine Insurance Division at BoatU.S. Focke and many of the other Houston Yacht Club members became acquainted with Oakerson while he was in Houston with the BoatU.S. Catastrophe Team. Oakerson’s role was to review material from the insurance perspective.

The plan totaled 75 pages and contained dozens of diagrams of harbors, docking arrangements, anchoring techniques, and the club grounds. Oakerson described the plan as the most comprehensive effort ever made by a marina to protect boats and facilities. “Their plan is especially impressive, not just because each step of the plan is so carefully documented, but because a name is always given – someone who is responsible for seeing that each step is completed in an allotted time.”

Score One for the HYC

The plan was first tested when hurricane Jerry struck the club on October, 1989. Thanks to a prior arrangement with one of the local weather services, news of the storm was relayed to officers of the Houston Yacht Club as the storm entered the Gulf. As Jerry continued to draw nearer, boats were evacuated from the outer harbor to hurricane holes or marinas further inland. Docklines were doubled and chafe protection added to boats in the inner harbor. A crane was brought to the club, and smaller boats were lifted from the water and stored on the parking lot and lawn. Masts on all of the various fleets and smaller boats were unstepped, tagged, and stored. In addition to the member’s boats, another 83 boats visiting the club for the Tornado World Championships were secured on the lawn with augers and rope. Finally, trashcans, tables, and telephones were moved out of harm’s way.

Despite winds of 100 mph, none of the boats at the Houston Yacht Club were lost. Although not as powerful as Alicia, Hurricane Jerry proved that the clubhouse, boats, and grounds could be readied successfully in only 72 hours. Jerry also proved that the Houston Yacht Club would never again be tempted to relax its hurricane preparations.

The success of the Preparedness Plan came as no surprise to BoatU.S. Marine Insurance. After reviewing the original plan, BoatU.S. agreed to continue insuring qualified member boats at the club without increasing rates. BoatU.S. is currently insuring almost 100 of the boats at the Houston Yacht Club.

The Houston Yacht Club Hurricane Preparedness Plan: A Summary

How Does It Compare to Your Marina ’s Plan?

One of the first problems the committee faced was finding a way to get accurate weather forecasts quickly, so that the club would have at least 72 hours advance notice to prepare for the storm. Weather reports on radio and television were sometimes slow to be up-dated.

The solution was to develop an annual contract with one of the offshore weather services used by the offshore oil industry. As soon as a low pressure area enters the Gulf, a forecast is sent to the Commodore and then up-dated every three hours. Further, the weather service can give opinions that could not be offered to the public in a news broadcast.

Next, the Hurricane Operations Group initiates the hurricane plan. “Milestones” in the weather forecast are identified that trigger the various levels of evacuation. At any time in the sequence of implementing the plan, the Commodore may accelerate or abort operations as weather conditions dictate. Each of the various tasks include an estimate of time to completion.

The first step in the evacuation plan is to evacuate all of the trailer boats. Next, a second crane is brought in to help remove the non-trailerble boats up to 8,000 pounds from the harbor (The club also has another carne of its own). Once the boats are secured in the parking lot, crews strip them of masts, sails, dodgers, etc.

The third level of evacuation is to remove ALL of the cruising boats from the outer harbor. Arrangements have been made with several inland marinas that will accommodate about 100 of the club’s larger boats. Hurricane holes have also been identified so members can opt to ride out hurricanes at anchor.

The plan requires that either the Commodore or the Vice Commodore be on duty at all times to work with a group of advisors – the Hurricane Operations Group – at the clubhouse. In the field, captains and crew chiefs are responsible for evacuating larger boats, securing facilities, operating cranes, stripping boats that have been secured in the parking lot, and evacuating boats.

For example, the Houston Yacht Club has a captain (and a back up) for each of the fourteen docks at the club. There is also a captain for each of the one-design fleets of smaller sailboats at the club. So when the Operations Group decides to prepare the J-24s, that fleet’s captain would muster J-24 owners to haul boats, unstep masts, etc.

In addition to the captains who oversee the docks and fleets, there are crew chiefs who are responsible for crane operations, harbor operations, and the clubhouse and grounds. The crew chief for the grounds, for example, is responsible for seeing that volunteers board windows, store outdoor furniture, shut off electricity, store emergency water, and provide emergency sources of electricity.

All of the various captains and crew chiefs rehearse the hurricane plan with members well in advance of hurricane season.

Communication in any emergency is critical. The plan calls for the various Captains and Crew Chiefs working at the club to review the operation with the Commodore every three hours and receive the latest weather forecast. Boats being moved to inland marinas or hurricane holes can communicate with the clubhouse via the VHF base station at the club or by another station established by the club in Houston . This network of licensed club stations is especially helpful in the likely event of a power failure.

Practice Makes Perfect

One of the basic tenets of the Houston Yacht Club Hurricane Preparedness Plan is to require members to submit individual hurricane plans. These plans must always include the name and address of a “boat buddy” who is familiar with the boat and can carry out the plan if the member is sick or out of town.

Every spring, when other boaters are still struggling with teak oil and bottom paint, members of the Houston Yacht Club are encouraged to practice preparing their boats for a hurricane. Members whose plan includes moving boats to hurricane holes or alternative dock sites are encouraged to visit the sites (with the boat buddy) so that ravel times can be recorded for future reference. Ground tackle and docklines should be inspected, and the plan’s docking or anchoring technique should also be rehearsed. Fittings that will be used to secure lines should be inspected, and lists made of all equipment that will be removed from the boat.