Yacht owners race to batten down hatches as Cyclone Fina approaches
Darwin yacht owners rush to secure vessels ahead of Tropical Cyclone Fina, with memories of destruction from 2018's Cyclone Marcus driving urgent preparations.
As Tropical Cyclone Fina churns off the Northern Territory coast, it is all hands on deck to batten down the hatches – literally – at Dinah Beach Yacht Club.
After running into strife during Severe Tropical Cyclone Marcus in 2018, yacht owners Bluey and Debbie Walker of Humpty Doo made the trip into town to ensure their vessel was secured well ahead of time.
The pair said they were putting everything away and ensuring the sails of their yacht were packed away properly to avoid them unfurling in the storm.
“In Marcus, when we were in Bayview, the front head sail (of another boat) wasn’t tied up properly and in it came undone and it got snagged and next minute the boat was trying to take off, but it was still tied to the wall,” Bluey said.
“It was smashing into the front and jumping to try and come over onto our boat. That was big, we had to cut his sail for him.”
Debbie said everything was tied, including solar panels, had been tied down this time.
They encouraged other yacht and boat owners to ensure their vessels were prepared accordingly.
“Don’t be complacent … because there’s nothing worse than doing it when it’s blowing,” Bluey said.
“It’s too hard. It’s just too hard. It’s too late. You’re chasing your tail.”
After securing their yacht, the Walkers intended to finalise preparations at their home in Humpty Doo.
“We’ve already started out at home to do, but we’ve got to go back and do more,” Debbie said.
“It’s just things that are just sitting there like my pot plants. I’ve got to push them all against the house.”
Dinah Beach Yacht Club general manager Wendy McCallum echoed the Walkers’ sentiments and said preparations were being carried out site-wide across the club properly and premises.
“It’s also about working with all the occupants up on a hardstand,” Ms McCallum said.
“They have their vessels up here to make sure that everything is secure as possible and lashed down and tidied.
“We just work as a big team and help each other out and make sure that everyone’s as safe as they can be.
“We’ve got 30 boats up on the hard stand. Some people reside on their boats. So they will be their busy making sure their home is safe.
“I would say it is probably maybe 20 to 30 people on the ground today that are either paid staff from the club’s perspective or they are club members that have their property here.”
Ms McCallum said there were mixed emotions heading into the cyclone, with some people calm, and others more concerned.
“Some people are very easy about it. Some people are quite nervous. We get the whole mix here from very anxious through to, yeah, just that little bit of Darwin complacency because we’ve been through so many before,” she said.
“But I think everyone is taking this one seriously and they’ve put in some really great preparations to make sure that property and people and everything is safe.”
Ms McCallum said the club would trade on Friday night to give everyone a final chance to socialise.
“Because we have underground power, there’s opportunity we can open back up again and people can come down and get it cold drink and a hot feed, especially if they’ve lost power … obviously when it’s safe to do it,” she said.
Originally published as Yacht owners race to batten down hatches as Cyclone Fina approaches
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