- By Jeff Husby, GM/CEO
While Orlando isn’t typically Ground Zero for hurricanes, we’ve all lived through and experienced our share of powerful impacts over the years. Who could forget Charley? Irma? And most recently, Ian.
While we are fortunate not to have experienced the life-threatening and devastating disasters of our friends in SW Florida this time around, many in our Central Florida community did take a hit. RNO responded to scores of calls from customers in the area whose boats were pummeled by heavy wind and water conditions, including some boats which were submerged or sunken. Others saw docks or boathouses damaged, and in some instances, destroyed.
While there was non-stop news coverage on all the media channels about what to do to secure your family and your home, there wasn’t much attention focused on the boating community, which represents a huge population in Florida. In addition, we recognize there are many new boat owners living in our area, so we’re sure there was a great deal of stress generated by Ian’s sweep across Central Florida.
In an effort to help, RNO provided a few social media tips on our media platforms in advance of the storm, but we recognized in the process that better information is needed that is more targeted to our unique lake and river front communities. We found plenty of YouTube links about how to secure your boat in a slip during storms and other general tips, but many were more geared to larger yachts and/or coastal and marina-based venues.
My team and I have committed to producing some boater hurricane checklists and some custom videos over the next few months to address safety-oriented storm warning tips specifically for our customers and boaters in the Central Florida community. Our goal is to educate and to share best practices in an effort to keep our customers (and your boats/boathouses) as safe as possible should storm conditions arise. If there is a specific topic you’d like us to address, please email Wanda in our marketing department with your suggestions: wanda@orlandonautiques.com.
In closing, my team and I want to just take a moment to extend our heartfelt thoughts to all who were impacted by the hurricane, including those in our boating community, and to assure you, we’re here and ready to assist however possible. Call on us anytime.
