Questions from the yachting sector

Dear Sir,

Can you imagine that you were in charge of the government of a small island where  15% of the economy was attributable to the yachting sector, this sector had significant competition, and the island was hit by a hurricane that was stronger than any hurricane that hit any global yachting destination ever in the history of the world? What would you do to minimize the damage and optimize the industry’s contribution to the economy in the short term?

Let’s imagine there were huge damages to the boats and many were under water, docks were damaged and if the boats were not moved, the docks would not be able to be rented in the coming season. Would you try to get the vessels salvaged as quickly as possible or would you impose new rules that would slow this process up? Would you ensure that the visitors for the coming season were assured that the navigation  channels were cleared and that the minimum facilities for visitors in the coming season were defined as safe and make efforts to advise potential visitors of this?

Would you be aware of the fact that the amount of salvage capacity needed was much much more than was locally available? Would you be aware that if boats were left immersed for a long period it would increase the chances of them being abandoned? Would you be aware that immersed boats would suffer from electrolysis finally causing their tanks to break and spill fuel? Would you be aware that long immersion would quickly reduce the value of the damaged boats to zero or less? Would you be aware of the fact that the disadvantaged owners or insurance companies would be unhappy about losing value? And would you be aware of the likelihood that they would tell their friends what happened?

Robbie Ferron