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By the time a storm is three days out, the marina is busy, and everyone is doing the same thing at once. Doubling lines and adding fenders is the visible part of hurricane preparation, and it is also the last part. The work that actually protects the boat happened weeks earlier, when someone sat down and decided who is responsible for what.
At Yacht Management, that is what superyacht hurricane management means to us. Not a binder nobody reads, but clear answers to a short list of questions that owners and captains should be able to answer before June.
Do You Have a Plan, and Does Anyone Else Have a Copy?
A plan that lives in one person's head is not a plan. A useful one names the boat's primary and backup locations, who authorizes a move, what the trigger points are, and who calls whom.
Your insurer likely cares about this more than you expect. Marine underwriters commonly require a written storm plan, and many hull policies carry a named storm deductible of 5 to 10 percent of hull value regardless of how well you prepared (United Marine Underwriters, n.d.). If a claim comes in after a storm and the plan you were required to have was never documented or followed, that is a difficult conversation to have at the worst possible time.
We put the plan in writing before the season starts, file it where it needs to be filed, and make sure the captain, the owner, and our team are all working from the same version.
Who Is Watching the Storm?
Forecast tracks shift, and somebody has to be the one following them so the captain is not refreshing a weather app between other jobs. Our shore team monitors developing systems and flags the decision points early, well before a watch becomes a warning.
That matters because the good options disappear first. Priority haul-out slots and protected dockage get committed days ahead of the crowd. We coordinate with our own boatyard on the New River, where we have an 80-ton travel lift, hurricane storage, onsite storage, and 24-hour security, and we arrange alternatives when a vessel is better served elsewhere.
Who Talks to the Captain, the Owner, and the Insurance Company?
This is where most storm plans fall apart. When the captain is fielding calls from the owner, the marina, the insurer, and three vendors, the actual preparation stops.
Every boat in our program has a dedicated yacht manager, and during a storm event that manager becomes the single point of contact. In practice:
- The owner gets consolidated updates from one person, covering weather, vessel position, and what has been completed
- The captain talks to the manager and otherwise stays focused on the boat and the crew
- Insurer and marina communication runs through our office, not the bridge
- Every decision gets logged, with times and photos, so there is a clear record afterward
One thing we do not do is second-guess the captain on safety. The master has the final call on the vessel, and if the captain judges that a transit is unsafe, that decision stands. Our job is to make sure the captain has good information and does not have to fight for resources to act on it.
Who Coordinates Everything Else?
The list of small tasks before a storm is long, and every one of them needs an owner:
- Dockage or haul-out confirmed, with a backup
- Extra lines, chafe gear, and fenders sourced and aboard, not ordered on the day
- Canvas, tenders, and deck gear struck and stowed
- Shore power, batteries, bilge pumps, and high-water alarms checked
- Vendors and yard crews scheduled before they are fully booked
- Photographs taken and dated for the insurance file
- Crew schedules, berths, and travel sorted out
With 90 full-time team members and in-house technicians, we are not subcontracting most of this. Our teams provide dockside care year-round, so the people preparing your boat already know it.
What Happens Before, During, and After
Before: The plan is written and filed. The location is chosen and confirmed. Gear is aboard, systems are checked, and the pre-storm photo set is taken. Your manager confirms in writing that preparations are complete.
During: Nobody is on the boat in dangerous conditions. Your manager keeps the owner updated with what is known and does not guess about what is not. Communication stays on one channel.
After: This is the part that gets skipped and should not. Our team inspects the vessel as soon as it is safe to do so, documents any damage with photographs, and gets the insurance claim moving while the yard schedule is still open. Post-storm checks cover lines and chafe points, bilges, shore power, electronics, and running gear, and repair work moves to our boatyard if it needs the lift. Accounting and reporting tracks every storm-related expense for the claim.
Get Your Plan Sorted Before the Season
Hurricane preparation is not complicated, but it does not work if it starts when the storm is named. If you want a written plan, a confirmed location, and one person coordinating it all, contact Yacht Management and we will build it around your vessel and your schedule. For more on keeping a yacht protected and ready, visit our yacht management blog.
Sources
United Marine Underwriters. (n.d.). Named storm deductible.
