2023 May June Marina World

MARINA UPDATE
Moss Marina:
surviving the storm
Family-owned Moss Marina, located on the island of Fort Myers Beach in
Florida, US, claims the impressive accolade of being the first marina to reopen
after Hurricane Ian hit the region in September last year. Marina president, Ben
Freeland, explains how good preparation and an enthusiastic team helped pull
off a near-impossible recovery in just two months. Charlotte Niemiec reports
Despite facing category 4 hurricane
winds of more than 150mph (240km/
hr) and over 13ft (4m) of storm surge,
which wiped out much of the island’s
infrastructure, by teaming up with
the company that installed its docks
– Golden Manufacturing – Moss
Marina was able to fully reopen by 1 st
December.
Before the hurricane, Fort Myers
Beach was a charming Florida beach
town with a fun and eclectic vibe, at
the heart of one of the world’s premier
boating regions. With beautiful calm
waters, white sandy beaches loaded
with world-class shelling, incredible
backwater fishing and wildlife
exploration, world class tarpon fishing,
offshore fishing of grouper/snapper and
wildlife sanctuaries galore, it was the
ideal stop-off point for excursions to the
Florida Keys and Dry Tortugas around
100 miles (160km) away. The area
is home to fun and laid back people,
magnificent boating and personal
experiences with nature.
Today, however, extensive work
is ongoing to rebuild the paradise
Fort Myers was. Six months after the
hurricane hit, many homes remain in
pieces while the town’s officials work to
organise repairs from tents and trailers.
Left & Below: Despite the debris inside
and out, the core elements at Moss Marina
sustained minimal hurricane damage. Swift
repairs ensured all was up and running
again in record time.
Coastal properties and marinas were
especially hard hit, with many simply
destroyed.
“Homes, businesses, community
assets and the dreams of many felt like
they washed away with the tide,” says
Freeland. “But, despite the devastating
losses to our property, buildings,
equipment, inventory and employees’
livelihoods, the Moss Marina team and
our family locked arms and went to
work immediately rebuilding what was
left.”
No stranger to strong winds, marina
teams over the years had carefully
installed extra sturdy buildings and
docks designed to withstand hurricaneforce
winds. After Ian, most of the
buildings built in the 1960s remained
standing. The marina had previously
lost its hard docks during Hurricane
Irma in September 2017. These
were rebuilt the following year using
Golden Marine Systems’ aluminium
docking. “Golden docks are designed to
articulate in wave and wind situations,
which prohibits them from binding and
breaking like most rigid dock systems
do,” explains Mike Shanley, president,
Golden Marine Systems. “This, coupled
with a strong pile design, played a
factor in the resilience of the floating
dock system.”
The clean-up operation was a
team effort between the marina
and Golden Manufacturing, which
is headquartered in Fort Myers and
also found itself directly in the path of
Hurricane Ian when it made landfall.
When the storm subsided, “our docks
had sustained some damage and were
misplaced, along with some utilities,”
46 www.marinaworld.com – May/June 2023