On September 7th 2004, Hurricane Ivan hit Grenada
with winds of over 100mph

Much as we had been enjoying our time in Tobago in company with our friends on Allways Sunday, Blue Marine, and Voyager, there were two small clouds on the horizon.

First, Ron on Voyager had hurt his back somehow and it wasn’t clearing up. Previous back surgery meant that this had to be taken seriously.

Second, tropical storm Ivan was making big clouds out  to the East. It was the largest tropical storm ever to form so far South in the Atlantic, and clearly had the makings of a major hurricane. Though it was predicted, like most hurricanes, to go North West, there was a risk that it would not go North enough and hit us in Tobago.

Two trips to Trinidad

Ron and Jodi on Voyager were already due to head for Trinidad. It is just a day’s run and the weather was fine but in case of problems I offered to go with them. We had a good run and by late afternoon Voyager was safely tucked up in the Crews Inn marina. I’d expected to fly back the next morning, but found I could get a flight back that evening. Just as I was booking that at the hotel desk the phone rang for me. It was Leonie calling from Tobago – could I come back tonight as Ivan was looking dangerous!

The flight back to Tobago takes 15 minutes and costs about £10, a real bargain. After conferring with Allways Sunday and Blue Marine we decided to leave early the next morning.

Trouble with Customs

By this time it was evening and we were unable to clear out in the usual way, though Allways Sunday had managed to do so that afternoon. So we went to the nearby airport and explained our problem to an immigration officer, who said he understood and would inform the other authorities in the morning, and we were free to go.

We had a pleasant and uneventful trip to Trinidad but when we arrived the Customs people were not happy. They said we had broken the law and we and Blue Marine could be taken to court. Despite our explaining the circumstances they would not yield, save for saying that we would be taken before a senior officer in Port of Spain the next morning, rather than arresting us.

This was worrying especially as we needed to spend the next day preparing for Ivan, which was so big that even if it passed a hundred miles away it could still give us strong winds. And there was still a risk that it would come close and we would need to clear out of the marina and head South.

Preparing for Ivan

In fact by the next morning Trinidad was on hurricane alert and our hearing was postponed a day, so we had plenty of time to prep the boat, taking off the genoa and the bimini, doubling lines, filling the water tanks and laying out anchors to hold us off the wall we were alongside. Although I was only expecting winds of around 30kts we were preparing for 50kts. More than that and we’d probably have to leave, if it was not too late.

Ivan arrives

Once you’ve done all that preparation there is a frustrating calm waiting for a storm to arrive. We just wanted to get on with it and wished Ivan would hurry up. Eventually around lunchtime the wind and seas started building and it started getting a bit bouncy in the marina. But we never had more than 27kts of wind and everything was fine. The biggest worry was a group of four big steel workboats which broke loose in the anchorage and started dragging towards moored boats. There was a risk they might take out the marina dock, but luckily a brave tugboat went out, put a man aboard, and towed them off, holding station with them for about 4 hours until it was safe to reanchor them.

Ivan +1

The next day I went to Port of Spain with Lynn from Blue Marine for our hearing. In a way it was lucky for us that Ivan had turned out to be serious, as the officer said that though we had not followed procedures he understood why and would not prosecute – relief! Then it was back to the boat to put back all the stuff we had taken off.

Ivan +2

Only the next morning did we learn of the devastation that Ivan had caused in Grenada, and that the storm had passed directly over the main yachting centres in the South of the island. Voyager got an email from Windquest, which had sheltered in Port Egmont in Grenada, to say that many boats were damaged and there would be shortages of food, water, medicines, and petrol for dinghies.. In Trinidad YSATT, which is a trade association for the marine interests, was co-ordinating aid and talked about this on the cruisers' network which takes place on the radio each morning. I mentioned to Leonie that we might need to go back to Grenada, just as she left for a shopping trip to Port of Spain. Then I went to YSATT and offered our services, as we have a watermaker which can produce 50 gallons an hour, an unusually large amount for a yacht. In view of the stories of looting  and the escape of all the prisoners from Grenada’s gaol, they did not want to ask me to go, but made it clear  it would be welcome if we did.

That decision made we put a call out on the radio for people to bring jerry jugs that we could fill up with petrol,  and food. Mark Maunder arrived and offered to crew for us, which I readily accepted. We rushed around prepping the boat and by late afternoon when Leonie came back she was dismayed to see we had gone! In fact we had only gone to the fuel dock  and came back to the marina to pick her up and clear customs. Lynn was given money by YSATT to buy food and Jodi stayed on the boat collecting food gifts from other cruisers while dealt with Customs. We finally left around 7pm with Mark and two Venezuelans who had begged a lift as their catamaran was up in Grenada in one of the marinas and they were rightly worried about it.

Ivan +3

We had an uneventful ride up to Grenada. The previous day the seas had still been high but now all the weather had been sucked out and we motor sailed much of the way. It was great having the extra crew as we could get some good rest, and we came into Prickly Bay around 7am. We’d spent weeks in Prickly Bay before, but it was as though we had gone from spring to autumn in England. The trees were bare and and the usually lush hillsides brown. Houses which had been hidden were suddenly in full view. Everywhere bits of roofing and rubbish was strewed about as though someone had emptied a giant rubbish bag from the skies. And everywhere boats lay on their sides, many aground and some sunk.  In the big Spice Island boatyard which houses hundreds of boats we could see only a handful of masts still upright. .

The Customs and Immigration office was not open, so we tried to clear in with Coastguard, who told us to remain at anchor until an immigration officer came from St. Georges – ETA unknown. This was despite my protestations that we had urgent medicines for a cruiser. However after waiting an hour they relented and decided to allow us in themselves, so we were able to start our work.

The days that followed

It is difficult to describe this time in Grenada succinctly. I have written a separate more ‘technical’ report that I have sent to various cruising organisations and that I hope may help in future situations.

It took us a little time to find our feet and work out the best way to help people. Cruisers are folk who pride themselves on their independence, so if we went up to them and said “do you need help?” they would say “No, we are OK”, when they were clearly not OK.  If you asked “How many days water do you have?” and they said “Two”, then you could say “Well, let me fill your jerry jugs for your”, then once the ice was broken they would admit that a little petrol for the dinghy would be really useful for helping to get the anchors up, and we wouldn’t by any chance have a little tinned meat as they’d had none for some days.

We had to be very sensitive to the mental states of the people we met. It was no good us charging in all upbeat. We had to be ready to deal with people who were still in complete shock, which might make them completely apathetic, angry, tearful or incredibly active. And it was humbling how many people we met sitting on trashed boats who were far more concerned for the welfare of the islanders than for themselves.

It was undoubtedly true that the islanders were much more badly affected than the yachts. Yachts carry stores and fuel and can make electricity; cruisers are also a very supportive community as well as being relatively affluent and resilient. The islanders had nothing to fall back on. We had taken the decision however that we were there to help people on yachts. We did not have the resources to get involved in inland distribution, but with our boat we could, and did, visit every bay where there were people on yachts and ensure that they had adequate food and water. We also encouraged people who could to leave so that they would not be a drain on resources, and again ensured they had provisions to get them to their destinations.

With over 300 boats to deal with inevitably we could not talk to each one.  But a number were in good shape anyway and many had watermakers which could at least supply their own needs. As time went on we tended to co-ordinate with a particular boat in each bay which would check on the needs of the people there and arrange distribution of the supplies we had. In practice we could only visit one or two bays each day, so this worked quite effectively.

Not just us

Of course, we were not the only boat to come and help. Even before we arrived two large charter yachts, Costra V and Thalassi, who are regular visitors to Grenada, had come up from Trinidad and were doing what they could with their own supplies of water and fuel. A number of other boats also came up from Trinidad to help friends and inevitably did what they could for other boats too. In particular the French motor yacht La Flibuste came down from further North and did a fantastic job pulling eleven boats off in Port Egmont and St. David’s, all without charge, as well as being wonderful hosts to the stranded yachts.

Klaus, a South African, brought up his boat Wandrous from Trinidad and started doing salvage work for free for uninsured boats. It was an extraordinary sight to see Klaus up to his thighs in water, grinding the hull of a boat stuck in the mangrove, with a mains powered tool. It was hot, dangerous and sweaty work, made worse by being covered in itchy fibreglass dust. But he would work on as long as the light held - asking for nothing.

With a little help from our friends

We had great help in our work from Mark, who had to return after some days to Trinidad, but was replaced by Mike and Lucy, whose own boat had been damaged in the Spice Island boatyard. They spent some days with us visiting yachts and their good humour and hard work made a terrific difference.

Originally I had envisaged we’d spend just a few days up in Grenada, but with continuing lack of fresh water this proved optimistic. But after about a week of 12 hour days we were getting tired and short of food for ourselves as well as for distribution,  so we asked our friends Lynn and Todd to come up in their boat Blue Marine, which they immediately did. This again made a huge difference to us as it spread the workload as well as providing much needed supplies. Also having people to talk to who were working in the same way as us was wonderful.

Another big help for us was Ron van Straaten who had just taken over the restaurant at the St. David's boatyard, naming it Barking Barracuda. Days later Ivan demolished his business but Ron not only got stuck in with rebuilding but made time to help others, driving 1,500 miles round this small island in a week. He found petrol for me when others said it was impossible, and promised to keep an eye on some of the isolated boats after we left. Most thoughtfully, he invited us to relax by the pool at his house one afternoon towards the end of our time the first break we'd had in twelve days.

Time to go

Eventually (after we'd made and distributed 2,000 gallons on the boat) water started to come back on, the shops began to open with limited foodstuffs, and the restaurants and bars got back into business, so we decided it was time to go. Many boats had left, but many were staying, often to help friends, and could now support themselves. So we got together a little flotilla of boats who all wanted to leave for Trinidad and set out one evening. We had a fine sail down, our only concern being a small singlehanded yacht who had no radio and had left some hours before us as his boat was damaged and he needed to go slowly. One of our party had lent him a handheld radio but we were unable to raise him on our hourly check-ins.

Arriving back in Trinidad

Arriving in Trinidad was wonderful. The Trinidad cruising community had already done a great job organising reception parties for boats, sending out dinghies to escort them through the Boca (the Dragon’s Mouth) and even venturing out 15 miles to put crews and fuel aboard some yachts for whom the 12 hour run had turned into a 24 hour plus passage in diminishing winds and increasing currents.  Our flotilla was met by these dinghies and also by our friends on Aquarel, Wyvern and Windquest, who had all been in Grenada themselves for Ivan and now came to help us in. It was wonderful to see them all and especially to see the little ‘lost’ singlehander come gliding safely into a mooring a few hours later. We had been unable to hear his attempted transmissions but by climbing halfway up the mast he could hear us, and said that knowing we were all out there looking out for him gave him great comfort.

It was an exhausting and stressful time for us, but we made many friends and it was truly uplifting to see how the cruising community really helped each other in this time of need. No wonder so many people we meet say "this is our home, this is our family."

Some statistics on boats in Grenada

After the hurricane there was much concern from friends and family about the outcome for individual boats. In each harbour thorough surveys were carried out and these were put into a database we helped to collate. The following statistics were extracted from that database.

There were about 670 boats in Grenada prior to the arrival of Hurricane Ivan. Of these about half were hauled out in one of the two yards.

In Grenada Marine's yard 27 boats fell out of 183.

In Spice Island boatyard 124 monohulls fell, leaving only 5 standing. Only 38 monohulls retained their rigs. Among the 18 multihulls two thirds had heavy damage and one third light damage.

Among the boats afloat before Ivan, one third ended up sunk or aground. It is hard to know how badly damaged the grounded boats were. Some could be pulled off easily; others were holed and became insurance writeoffs. Equally boats which remained afloat in some cases suffered significant damage from draggers or flying debris.

Harbour by harbour summary:

Calivigny: None of the 17  boats in Calivigny Old Harbour sank. The liveaboards all came out well. Other boats grounded.

Clarks Court Cut: Only one of the 15 boats anchored in the Clarks Court cut sank - none grounded.

Clarks Court Marina: Of the 45 boats in Clarks Court Marina about half remained afloat

Port Egmont: Only one of the 47 boats in Egmont sank (after being struck by a large boat which dragged). About 15 were grounded.

Hog Island: Of the 32 boats in Hog Island 2 went aground (one was quickly pulled off) and one (a trimaran) flew, dismasted some boats and capsized.

Prickly Bay: Of the 32 boats in Prickly Bay 14 remained afloat. However it is likely that some of the boats recorded in Prickly Bay went there after the storm, and it is known that several boats were swept out to sea by the North wind, and a few came back on the South wind. One reliable witness who remained on his boat said he counted nearly 30 boats just before the storm and less than 12 afterwards.

Mount Hartman: Of the 90 boats in Mount Hartman 54 remained afloat. About ten are sunk. We can't distinguish between boats that were at anchor or in the marina

St. George's: Of the 46 boats in the Lagoon about half ended up aground with a few sunk.

Click here for the pics

Click here for a brief overview of hurricanes in the North Atlantic