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Saturday, June 3, marked the third day of the 2006 Atlantic Hurricane Season and the first ever Hurricane Expo at Bluewater Books & Charts. A panel of three very different people, all experts in the fields of weather and storm preparation, converged in Bluewater's main store in Fort Lauderdale for a much anticipated afternoon of seminars themed around how to prepare yourself and your boat for a hurricane. Chris Parker, Marti Brown and Bob Adriance were the speakers, and the event took place from 1:00 PM to around 6:30. 40 to 50 people attended, browsing Bluewater's selection of hurricane-related products between seminars.

Bob Adriance from BoatUS's Seaworthy Magazine was the first speaker. For over 20 years, he has worked for BoatUS's Marine Insurance Division, writing accident reports and editing their magazine, so he has been able to review and research the causes of boating accidents and disasters of every type. He flew in from BoatUS's headquarters in Virginia on Saturday morning, and arrived at Bluewater with a stunning collection of hurricane photos. He shared insights from his new book, Seaworthy, which is a collection of some of the most significant insurance cases that he has seen while with BoatUS. He analyzes each case in his book, and gives the reader helpful suggestions on how to avoid the same mishaps and disasters.

Adriance's presentation was incredibly thorough in that it covered everything from how boaters can prepare their boats to what precautions marina owners should take, and he used great photography to illustrate his points. The opening picture was of a fiberglass sailboat washed ashore after a storm, the name Gone with the Wind painted in large letters on its side. Among the gems of knowledge that he shared were the following tips:

• Never use chafing gear (like heater hose) that will keep your docklines dry—chafing gear should allow the lines to stay wet so that they will not melt from fiber-to-fiber friction
• Canals are some of the best places to take your boat during a hurricane, provided that they are not too crowded.
• Hauling a boat out of the water is always the best option.

Captain Marti Brown, who was the second speaker on the schedule, has many talents. One of them, as she says, is attracting hurricanes. She's a solo sailor who lives aboard her 31' sailboat in Boot Key Harbor in Marathon, Florida, and she's cruised all over the Bahamas. She's the author of the Idi-Yachts books (Marine SSB for Idi-Yachts and HF Radio E-Mail for Idi-Yachts), and has written several freelance magazine articles on hurricane preparation. Brown is a HAM radio operator, a reporting station for the Hurricane Watch Net, an active member of the Waterway Radio and Cruising Club, the Seven Seas Cruising Association, and the Royal Marsh Harbor Yacht Club. She's also an Advanced Nurse Practitioner and a licensed captain.

Brown had the audience laughing as she discussed her tendency to draw hurricanes. “It's like I have a big magnet at the top of my mast,” she said. But the presentation turned serious when she showed spectacular video footage of Green Turtle Cay in the Abacos during Hurricane Floyd, a Category 4.9. She showed her boat and several boats in the harbor (from a vantage point ashore) as the storm tossed them around. Her video clearly illustrated how the boats that had not prepared well (some had left their sails on, some still had dinghies unsecured on davits) were the ones that sustained the most damage. It was also a chilling reminder of how helpless we are against a storm this powerful.

Brown recommends keeping in contact with fellow cruisers and those who live on land wherever you go, because having a support network during a storm is vital. She suggested that cruisers should be prepared to pool their resources (one boat may have an ample supply of diesel, while another may have enough drinking water to share) to help each other. Also, she recommends mangroves as an ideal place for anchoring during a storm.

For Chris Parker, Bluewater is a familiar venue. He was the first author to speak in Bluewater's new store back in December 2005, and, with his popular book Coastal and Offshore Weather: SE US and the Bahamas and subscription weather service, Parker always draws a crowd. His presentation, the third one of the day, began at 4:00 PM.

Parker gave his audience exactly what they had come for: his outlook on this year's hurricane season. Basically, all the experts, Parker included, are saying that the northern half of the eastern US, from Cape Hatteras north, sustains the highest change of getting hit by a major storm this summer. Parker was also eager to point out the disturbance that, almost a week later, became Alberto, the season's first named storm.

The reception and panel at the end of the day gave the audience a chance to relax and share a glass of wine with the speakers, and to ask a few important questions. Anchoring systems were a hot topic, as was the issue of where to find a good hurricane hole. Everyone agreed that the best hurricane holes are in the Chesapeake Bay, and many of the participants were cruisers who were, indeed, headed to the Chesapeake Bay for the season. For folks who are stuck in Florida, this is bad news. But for folks in the Chesapeake, the predictions indicate that the Bay is more likely to be hit with a serious storm this year than it usually is.

The discussion ended with a question that hits hard for many: Is it ever okay to stay aboard your vessel in a hurricane? Adriance was first to respond that it's not, and that you're much safer off the water than you are on a boat. Many people think that they'll be able to accomplish something and protect the boat by staying aboard, but Adriance disagreed. “You'll be too busy hanging on and trying not to get blown overboard,” he said. “Replacing a chafed line is the is the last thing you'll be able to do.”

Parker and Brown have both stayed aboard, but neither would recommend it although both agreed that it's a personal choice. “You have to remember,” Parker said, “that once you make that decision to stay on your boat there is no way out and nothing you can do. You have to depend solely on yourself, because nobody is going to able to come and rescue you. A rescue would put too many lives in danger.”

For notification of future events, please email me at the address above and ask to be put on the event notification list. You don't want to miss out on the valuable information that is shared at events like Hurricane Expo, and you certainly don't want to miss the chance to share hurricane stories and meet other local boaters. Camaraderie is more important in hurricane season than ever.