The Adventures of Split Decision

The story of a new boat owner faced with a hurricane!!

By  Don  Widmayer

Jann Snellings became the proud owner of a 36 foot PDQ catamaran named Split Decision in April 2004 as a gift from her Dad, Nelson Stall. One of the inherited gifts of ownership of a boat is the decision of what to do with it if a hurricane is predicted to strike nearby. I, Don Widmayer (Jann’s fiancée), tell the story of our decisions, some good and some not so good, when the strike of a hurricane was imminent.

We begin this story near the middle of August of 2004. The hurricane season was very active and Florida was to be hit by hurricane Charley. Charley was predicted to hit Tampa, which created one of the largest evacuations ever in Florida’s history at the time. As the storm began its Northern trek off the West Coast of Florida, it strengthened rapidly, and made an unexpected turn to the west. It struck Punta Gorda as a much stronger Category 4 storm and left a path of destruction through the middle of the state. We watched the weather forecast closely, and decided to leave the boat tied up where it was docked, in a small narrow cannel behind Nelson’s house on South Hutchinson Island in a community called Venture Three. This location is about a half mile from the Ocean and a quarter mile from the Indian River Lagoon in  Jensen Beach. Extra lines were added and anything that was loose was tied down and secured. The wind at the height of the storm only reached about 20 kts in Jensen Beach.  A bullet was dodged and all was well for Split Decision.

In early September, hurricane Frances was predicted to strike Florida near Jensen Beach area. Jann and I discussed whether to move the boat or to leave it tied up in it’s present location. If the hurricane was to strike well north of Jensen Beach by at least two hundred miles, then the boat could stay where it was, but if the storm took a course more to the South, then the boat should be moved to a safer location further inland. Larry Adler, a student in one of my classes, told me that if I ever needed a hurricane hole for the boat, that he had one in mind. On September 2, the decision was made to contact Larry and find out where this hurricane hole was located. It seemed, based on the current projection of hurricane Frances, that we needed to move the boat. With a storm surge predicted between eight to ten feet, it might not be a good idea to leave the boat at it’s dock. That much surge could float it above the pilings that it was secured to and thus cause considerable damage to the boat, not to mention Nelson’s house! Larry told us of an area called Kitchings Cove located about eight miles west of the ocean up the North Fork of the St. Lucie River. He said that it was a very protected cove and would be a great place to put the boat during the hurricane. He gave us some information on what to look for when we brought the boat up into the cove. We checked the charts and planned our journey up the St. Lucie River. In the late morning, approximately 1100, we headed for Kitchings Cove. Larry offered to assist us in securing the boat and the use of his dingy. Jann and I were very inexperienced in how best to  secure the boat, so it was great having an experienced sailor assist us in securing Split Decision. Larry has been sailing for many years. We were in the process of anchoring in the cove when Larry came out to the boat and told us that the dock master at Tarpon Bay Yacht Club said that we might be better off moving the boat out of the cove and up further into the creek beyond the cove. That advice seemed to make a lot of sense. Larry and I went up the creek in the dingy to check out the area where we would tie up the boat before the boat was actually moved. A location was determined and the boat was relocated further up the creek. The creek was just about twenty five feet wide which was just a little wider than the beam of the boat at 18’ 6”. Surrounded by mangroves, this seemed like a great place to secure the boat to protect it from the high winds expected.  We decided to angle the boat across the creek with the bow facing east with two anchors off the bow and two lines off the stern tied to the mangroves. As we were setting the anchors off the bow, another boat motored slowly up the creek and   began to pass by us to proceed a little further up the creek above us. We explained to the captain of the mono haul that once the boat was tied and anchored there would be no way to get out of the creek until we moved our boat. The captain said that he would be leaving as soon as the wind died down whether we were on the boat or not. He was not too happy about us blocking the way. Split Decision was secured and we left it behind feeling like we did all that we could do to protect our boat.

It wasn’t until the 7^th of September, that we learned the fate of the boat. Tuesday evening, we dinghied out to see the boat. When we got to the boat, it was apparent that the storm, with it’s strong winds, had enough force to move the boat from it’s previous location. Split Decision was pushed back to the west edge of the creek. Both thirty-five pound anchors had dragged! Our neighbor was gone, he was able to maneuver around the repositioned anchor lines. The storm surge of eight feet and the constant wind, pushed the boat closer to the mangroves. As the surge receded, the stern of the boat rested gently on the mangroves at the edge of the creek leaving the bow in the water and still facing east. We boarded the boat to discover that there wasn’t any damage or water inside the boat.  What a relief to find no damage other than a few scratches.  The next day, we went back out to the boat in the afternoon. We tried to move the boat off the mangroves by wrapping the anchor lines around the two large winches at the stern of the boat. By slowly winching up on the lines, the hope was to pull the boat back into the water. It was now starting to get close to dark. With the curfew quickly approaching, we had to abandon our first attempt to move the boat. 

During the week following this last failed attempt, we solicited the help of Clay and Camille Yates and a friend of theirs who is active in the Sea Scouts, Greg Frederick. We also contacted Ray Clarke of the Port St. Lucie Power Squadron for his assistance. Both Clay and Ray had a boat that would end up being a part of the rescue effort. On Saturday, the 11^th, we met Clay and Camille and followed them out to the Port St. Lucie Yacht Club boat launch. Their boat was launched into the water and we all hopped in and headed towards Split Decision. Ray was to meet  us  at  our  boat. Once  we  all  met  at  the  boat  and  assessed the situation,, there was a little friction among all as to the best approach to moving the boat. It was mentioned that there were too many captains, and I said “there is only one captain, Jann and I”.  That got a little bit of a laugh. The tension was eased and we got busy with a plan. It was decided that we should remove the bow anchors to free up the bow cleats. Clay used his boat to take Greg over to pull up the anchors and bring them back to the boat. Camille was busy tying two lines to the mangroves opposite the Split Decision. The lines were then run back to the large winches at the stern. While this was going on, I was clearing away any obstructions that prevented the boat from moving forward. There were several large mangrove roots in front of the rudders that had to be cleared so the boat could move freely. Jann and Ray were stowing the anchors and lines in an effort to keep the deck clear. They also removed the stern lines that had been tied to the mangroves.  When that was done, Ray ran a line from his boat to one of Split Decision’s bow cleats and Clay did the same on the other side. When this was completed, we had Clay on one winch and Jann on another. As they were winching the lines, both boats began pulling forward. After a few minutes, Split Decision began to move forward and off the mangroves. I lowered both 9.9 Yamaha engines into the water, started them, and we began motoring the boat back out to Kitchings Cove. Much to our relief, everything worked just fine! We began anchoring Split Decision in Kitchings Cove while Clay and Ray picked up the lines that were left behind. We secured the boat and thanked everyone for their generous help. Jann and I departed with Clay, Camille, and Greg back to the boat launch.  We felt that if another hurricane ever came to the area again, we would secure the boat in a different manner, so that it would not move as it did this time. We left Split Decision anchored in Kitchings Cove for a week, and after a close look at the weather  forecast on Saturday evening, we decided that the new hurricane out in the Atlantic was moving North therefore not a threat to Florida. We decided to move the boat back to Jensen Beach on Sunday. Little did we know, in about a week we would have the opportunity to try our hand at securing the boat in a different manner. On Monday, Hurricane Jeanne looped around and was now predicted to strike in the very same area as Hurricane Frances.