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	Boat Hurricane Damage
	I was going through my photo archive and came across these boat damage photos caused by hurricane Wilma in 2005.
	This boat in the above photo is a Catalac 12M and was owned by Stephen and Janet Metcalf. Unfortunately the boat was driven onto the rocks you see in the foreground during hurricane Wilma as a result of poor anchoring by a neighboring boat. The damage to the boat isn't readily apparent, even after hours of pounding on the rocks. Although the Metcalfs' lost their boat as a result of the damage, they promptly located and purchased a Catalac 10M to replace her. Talk about brand loyalty!!

The above photo needs an explanation. The Down Easter pictured above lost it's mooring during Hurricane Wilma. The Metcalf's clarified the actual events that took place. Apparently this Down Easter, lost her mooring and then slammed into a very heavy ferro cement boat. The two boats became tangled and both hit the Catalac, damaging her port side and knocking her from her double helical screw mooring. The Catalac was driven by the hurricane force winds onto the rocky causeway. Instead of being driven onto the rocks like the Catalac, the Down Easter was forced under the bridge portion of the same causeway. The problem? Well, the bridge height at that point was 20 feet, and the mast height of the boat was 45 feet. As the wind caused the mast to be slammed into the deck of the bridge, the forestays pulled out. Repeated slamming eventually bent the mast towards the rear of the boat and the cabin top gave way. It peeled back like it was a convertible. When the mast finally was forced out of the boat completely, it carried the cabin top away with it. This beautiful Down Easter wasn't properly moored and destroyed two other boats while becoming a total write off herself. This just goes to show you what can happen in a hurricane. That even when you do everything right, you can still lose your boat. I would also like to point out that this is a terrific case being made for a deck stepped mast.

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