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A sailor tends to his boat Wednesday as rough conditions from Hurricane Ian pick up along the Palatka riverfront. -
Jessica Fricker holds her cat, Choppy, who tried to escape on the Palatka riverfront after they rowed to shore Wednesday from their sailboat on the St. Johns River.
Two people in red raincoats paddled to the Palatka riverfront shore Wednesday in a dinghy from their sailboat that they anchored on the St. Johns River.
Jacksonville native Jessica Fricker said she traveled from the Bahamas about a week ago to Palatka to escape a tropical storm down there only to run into Hurricane Ian here. She and her companion traveled on a 35-foot sailboat named Anteayer with a black cat named Choppy.
“Being here, we have two anchors in the water … and we did as much as we could to get everything battened down and secured.”
The sailboat floated Wednesday afternoon just across from the Palatka riverfront boat slips while Fricker climbed to shore with all her valuables to stay safe from the hurricane.
She said, compared to other places where the hurricane impact could be worse, the winds are too bad here.
“I was worried more because the wind kept picking up,” she said. “I was worried about getting to shore because, you know, the wind’s pushing, the current’s pushing.”
While Fricker and her crew gathered their belongings, another person was sliding his boat into the water to go fishing. That same day, the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office’s Marine Unit towed away three boats at the Palatka riverfront.
One boat, the agency said, was tied to the walkway under Memorial Bridge and the owner had not removed it.
“If left in the area, the boat could have broken away and hit the bridge which would prompt a real closure of the bridge,” the sheriff’s office said in a social media post. “Marine 1 was able to successfully move the boat to the other side of the river and anchor it in a cove area.”
Another boat owner asked the agency to move his boat because it was “unmovable.” The agency removed a third boat tied to city docks.
The Boat Owners Association of The United States stated some types of boats must be pulled to shore in order to make it through a hurricane. If that’s the case, the national organization wrote, the boats should be “stored well above the anticipated storm surge.”
Smaller sailboats can be laid on their sides once ashore, and some marinas strap the boats down, the association said.
If sailors are keeping their boats in the water, the boats should reportedly be kept in a harbor that is protected from storm surges on all sides.
Fricker said her sailboat is very buoyant, but now she took a dinghy to shore and will watch the storm from the mainland.
“We’re just admiring God’s handiwork,” she said.