Hurricane Ian – Thousands of damaged, battered boats scattered, lost

Rick Hartmann spent Sunday shoring up Fair Winds, a white Catalina 385 with blue trim and busted rigging.

The 38-foot sailboat is his business, but like thousands of boats all over Southwest Florida, Fair Winds is not where it was the day before Hurricane Ian slammed into the coast.

"It was a quarter-mile that way," Hartmann said, pointing toward the devastated Town of Fort Myers Beach. "Now it's here and I don't know who is going to pull it out of here and when."

Hartmann is not alone as thousands of boats are scattered across the Fort Myers area like colored leaves during a New England fall.

They're in trees, on roofs, across roads, in ditches and houses, everywhere but on the water or safely docked.

Hurricane Ian's lost boat legacy

Of the more than 1 million registered vessels in the Sunshine State, Lee County has more than 50,000 registered vessels, behind only Miami-Dade and Pinellas counties, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

Kenneth Farmer, owner of Southwest Florida Marine Salvage and Boat Works, said there is a common pattern in many neighborhoods.

"A lot of the boats that have floated across the yard, they need to look across the canal," Farmer said of owners looking for their boats. "The boats weren't tied down properly, and they floated through the yard and into people's front yards."

Farmer said most boat owners don't have the tools, skills or ability to salvage a larger boat on their own.

"The work we do is dangerous and people need to understand that," Farmer said. "I've seen some carnage, and the water is not safe to be in. People do not need to get in this nasty water right now."

Fair Winds is relatively far from the water, across the street from Pincher's Seafood and nestled against the pedestrian rail along San Carlos Boulevard.

Hurricane Ian: Where is my boat?

The mast is broken, the spars are damaged, the foresail is twisted and torn.

The boat is not his home; but it is his business, so instead of taking locals and tourists on relaxing sunset cruises, Hartmann is waiting for his insurance company to send an inspector.

"This boat was pristine," he said while climbing down a 6-foot ladder resting against the port rail. "I'm out of business. The marina is destroyed. I'm just going to have to go day-by-day and see what happens."

Not only are boats scattered across the landscape, many docks are destroyed — so there's no where to store the boats when they're not in use.

Even if his boat was completely functional and safe, Hartmann has nowhere to put it.

"It's going real slow," Hartmann said. "We don't know if they're going to total it. And we don't know who is going to pull it out of here, or when."

Mike Thomas of Cape Coral was helping Hartmann.

He and his wife had planned to move an even larger sailboat to the area this fall, but their plans have changed since Ian shook up Southwest Florida.

"My wife and I were trying to get a 45-foot sailboat, but there's probably no chance of getting one down here," Thomas said. "It will be at least a few years. So many people are looking for slips here now."

Many boat owners are looking for tows as well.

Sea Tow Naples sees challenges

Dan Mercier with Sea Tow Naples said he's seen boats in just about every position and location possible.

"There's just about everything you can think of," he said while on the water Sunday afternoon. "We've got boats that went up and over their pilings and a lot of the boats came back down and landed on the pilings."

Mercier said some boats are in inconvenient areas, well away from a boating channel or deep water.

"I've got boats way up in mangrove areas in front of shallow waters and I don't know how we're going to get to them," he said. "A lot of it will require cranes. A good portion of the vessels are either in the woods or in people's back yards or in between homes."

Mercier said boat owners who suffered damage should contact their insurance agent before getting it towed or repaired.

For Hartmann, the storm has been a life-changer.

"This is a great charter location because you're in the Gulf in 10 minutes," Hartmann said of Fort Myers Beach. "People love sailing out of here. The sunsets are beautiful. I had a nice little business. We'll see what happens."

Connect with this reporter: @ChadEugene on Twitter.