Kathy McKenzie at BoatingOz has done a really good analysis of the events caused by the storm which hit the Whitsunday Islands at the beginning of February.
The storm damaged about 55 boats in Airlie Beach and passengers on a 3 day cruise had to be rescued by helicopter when their boat ran aground on Hook Island during the night.
Kathy’s article highlights several areas that contributed to the high number of vessels damaged by the storm:-
- Inconsistent Weather Forecasts
- Increase in population and lack of experience
- Complacency due to no recent cyclones
- Pioneer Bay is a bad anchorage in a Northerly
- Number of moorings
- Development
- More Multihulls
- Cost of marina berths
Click here to read the full report.
As some people were onboard their boats or nearby it seems amazing that more boats hadn’t taken refuge in the marina. Easy to comment with hindsight but that anchorage is notorious in any Northerly wind. What do you think?
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