Stranded Bundaberg boatie to ride out TC Alfred on yacht in Scarborough boat harbour

A boatie stranded will “bunker down” in his yacht at the marina after his return home was interrupted by Tropical Cyclone Alfred. Watch the video

A boatie stranded in southeast Queensland will “bunker down” in his yacht after his return trip to Bundaberg was interrupted by Tropical Cyclone Alfred.

Ian Blake came to the southeast to take his boat back to the Bundaberg but due to the weather conditions he has prepared to sleep on the Scarborough boat harbour as the cyclone passes.

He is among a number of boaties along the boat harbour preparing to do the same.

While other residents spent the final day before the cyclone securing their homes, sandbagging and helping elderly neighbours.

“I got caught out, I was on my way to Bundaberg. But obviously, I’m not going to sail out in this kind of weather conditions, so I’m just going to bunker down in my boat,” Mr Blake said.

“When the cyclone actually hits, there’s nothing I can really do except stay in the boat and make sure everything’s secure.”

Andreas Nicola interviewing Ian Blake from Bundaberg in Scarborough Marina. Picture: Steve Pohlner

Mr Blake said he was a bit concerned about staying in his boat but he had nowhere else to go as he wanted to keep an eye on them.

“You can’t help the fear of being stressed about it. You feed off everyone else’s panic. I’m not too worried.I’ve been through bigger blows,” he said.

“The biggest concern is stuff coming off other people’s boats that aren’t latched down properly, the biggest thing is probably the dinghy sitting on motorboats.”

Mr Blake said he has sailed through winds of 150km/hr before and so he has done some preparations.

“As you can see the covers are off. The prolonged wind speeds on my canvas just rips it to pieces, 100km/h winds, it’s pretty vicious, you can’t grab it and hold onto it,” he said.

“They will really give you a bit of a flogging. That’s all you can do on the yacht, remove the canvas, make sure everything’s latched down, it doesn’t blow around too much.”

Ian Blake from Bundaberg in Scarborough Marina. Picture: Steve Pohlner

On Friday residents across Redcliffe were seen walking their dogs, running and playing watersports as they waited for the cyclone to hit.

Others did some final last minute preparations to secure their homes.

Kelly Beadman said she has been hit by the floods three times in seven years so this time she has tried to prepare and learn from the others.

“It’s annoying, but we love living here and we don’t want to move, but we’re prepared,” she said.

“We just don’t know what to expect. Normally we know how high it gets here but with the surge coming, we just don’t know how far it’s going to come up.

“It’s a bit scary.”

Ms Beadman said she has got a lot of sandbags and they’ve put a timber barrier up.

“We’ve learnt from the last ones. We do what we have to do,” she said.