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Other than somewhere else.......
Every few years we see the pictures of wrecked yachts.
I assume in some instances the same owners have had their boats destroyed more than once
I am not sure how many end up be salvageable but what sort of windspeed could they cope with if they were out at sea without being destroyed?
Will insurance companies renew policies for owners, are premiums outrageous?
The more of the destruction i see the more i wonder how insurance companies can offer reasonable premiums given the damage and the regularity with which it occurs
The answer really is somewhere else. Yachts should be like snowbirds and just kept north in the summer/fall. If you do have down there, there is normally plenty of time to move any ocean going vessel before the storms hit, that is what they do with cruise ships. Harvey might have been trouble since it came up so fast and you could only dodge to the east.
I wonder the same thing about the insurance companies, I also believe in most cases the owners would get more from the boat being totaled than they could sell it for, which may account for why it often appears the boats were left in harms way. I know several people who have made out very well when their boats were totaled, also in the Northeast some policies have clauses that will not pay out if the boat is left in the water, not sure if they have those in FL.
Watching a youtube channel Gone with the Wynns which tracks first the life a full-time RVers, and now as sailors. In their case their insurance required they be below the 12 parallel by August first or they had no insurance. There were really supposed to be south sooner, but got some extensions until Aug 1 and they made it to Panama before Aug 1.
A lot will move their boats out of the high probability areas during hurricane/typhoon season. Some will put their boats in "hurricane holes" that are sheltered water moorings or pull them out on the hard...which might be good enough, unless the place takes a direct impact of the hurricane eye.
In the Caribbean, there are a lot of charter boat fleets permanently stationed there (people go down and rent the sailboats). It is not feasible for them to move their fleet each season.
Sometimes it just takes one or two poorly moored ships to break loose and take out/wreck a ton of other boats who were otherwise properly tied down.
Boat insurance premiums can be un reasonable and very expensive, with a lot of conditions attached to them. A lot of boat owners are un insured.
As to what winds they can endure on the open ocean is hugely dependent. In general though, a sailboat is much safer in the open ocean in bad weather where there is unlimited maneuverability and area to drift and ride it out. A lot of the wreckage you see is because the boats had no where to go, nowhere to give with the wind, so they piled up in the shallows, or against land, or against each other.
Also, at least in modern times, boats at sea have days/weeks notice of hurricanes and just sail out of their direct path.
No doubt plenty of sailboats get taken down by weather out to sea though.
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If you're a scuba diver its called a new wreck dive site.
To my understanding boat insurance is a lot higher in Florida than in the great lakes area.
During the storm depicted in the book (and movie), The Perfect Stom, there was a guy with two chicks out on a sailboat in the worst of it.
The guy (owner of the boat) tried to convince his bitches not to call for help, assuring them that the boat would be fine. One of them called for help anyway and the Coast Guard found them and "rescued" them.
After the storm settled the boat was found floating at sea with only the mast broken.
Civilize the mind, but make savage the body.
- Chinese proverb