While true all the boats could have taken off with the several days notice you have to understand that with that timeframe the storms are very far away and you are relying on computer models for a track that may or may not be true. Having a small boat is much different than the French military ships that arrived after Irma but had to quickly speed away before Jose. These ships can go very quickly in any direction and can also handle the rough seas much better than their small sailboat.

A small sailboat has such a small window to either heed the warning days in advance and take off or bunker down and hope for the best. What you don't want to do is get caught in the middle....taking off but not allowing yourself enough time to get out of harm's way. Just going 50 miles out so that you are away from the eye isn't going to help much in a boat like the one they had. Most people would probably opt for dry land and by the looks of the marina pictures and footage....looks like most did. Waking up alive with no boat is better than a lot of the other scenarios.