below is a copy on an email they sent out:


September 2017

Hurricane Irma ruins
Sint Maarten Yacht Club


Dear members and friends of the Sint Maarten Yacht Club,

You have seen the news. Irma has been devastating to Sint Maarten. It is heart breaking to see this beautiful island get hit like this. The SMYC also suffered greatly despite all the preparations. First I will give you the good news. The main building survived intact. This means that kitchen, bar and offices are intact. This is something we are of course very happy with.

There is also extremely bad news however. The wooden part of the dock is completely gone. Only the crane survived, posing as a lonely sentinel in the lagoon. The storage space beneath the containers of the sailing school has disappeared. The Budget Marine Lounge on top of the sailing school came crashing down from the top of the containers. The deck at the side of the bridge has been destroyed. The structure to place the awning on has been damaged severely. And part of the coastal protection between the terrace and the dock has been consumed by the water.

The fleet has taken a big hit too. Optimists can be found all around Simpson Bay and we are missing most of the lasers. Luckily most RS Visions, the Laser Pico’s, and two Lasers survived and we managed to store the newest optimists in the office upstairs.

This all means that we will not be able to continue sailing lessons until further notice. This is because of several reasons. The damages on the dock are so severe that we cannot launch boats from there. We still have to assess whether the main steel structure, where the containers of the sailing school are standing on, have not been compromised. The lagoon is not a safe place to sail right now, with a lot of diesel on the water and sunken ships all around. There is also another issue. Parents have been and still are evacuating their children, so we do not have students to give the lessons to.

The present situation is, that the SMYC is barely generating any income. The board is looking into this and is investigating what the consequences will be for the near future. We will keep you posted.

In 1995 after hurricane Luis the SMYC still managed to organise the Heineken Regatta. So now after Irma we are determined to have the Heineken Regatta in 2018 as planned. The regatta will be a symbol of the resilience and perseverance of the people of Sint Maarten and of the Sint Maarten Yacht Club.

We and with us the whole of Sint Maarten are in our darkest hour, but we will prevail. We cannot do this without you however, our members and friends, so we hope we can count on you to stay a member, be our friend and help us get through this. If you want to make a contribution in any way possible, please let us know via [email]smycmanager@gmail.com.[/email]

On behalf of the board many thanks in advance.

Robert-Jan Trügg

"The present situation is, that the SMYC is barely generating any income."

This is the worry for all businesses! Where will the income come from before, during and after the rebuilding process.