The moment was far from magical, but it was decisive.

Storm surge from Hurricane Ike pushed Mark Scheyer's Pearson 35, Magic Moment, three slips down and wedged the keel atop a finger pier in Galveston's Yacht Basin Marina. With the island closed to all but first responders for a week, Magic Moment was on her own. Tides pushed the sailboat more; it fell, and the starboard side of the hull hit the dock.

BOATU.S. – BOB ADRIANCEThe Houston Yacht Club in Shoreacres estimates cleaning up Ike's mess will take at least two months.

Magic Moment cracked and went down.

Insurance settlement in hand, Scheyer, a professional photographer, intends to buy a bigger boat. "I have two or three other friends with boats that survived the storm, but after seeing what work is ahead of them, I think I was the lucky one," he says.

Scheyer is already shopping, but rebuilding the recreational marine industry in the Galveston area will take more than undaunted boat buyers. The storm wiped out several large marinas and thousands of boats. BoatU.S. estimates the storm caused $175 million in damage to 15,000 recreational boats in Texas alone. Many of the yards that can handle repairs have messes of their own to clean up. And a turbulent economy could keep some boaters out of the water. Still, marine insurers, marinas, boat owners and repair yards estimate the region could be back to something close to "normal" in about a year.

"I would really say we are looking at a good solid year if we don't have another big storm," says Jim Urban, owner of Tempest Marine Services, a small salvage and repair yard in Brazoria. "Some marinas that were really tore up will be longer than that." Urban has experienced 35 years of storms on the Texas Gulf Coast. His seven–acre yard is a bit inland, just outside Oyster Creek, and fared well. Others, notably in Galveston and the Clear Lake areas, were not as fortunate.

BOATU.S. – BOB ADRIANCEHouston Yacht Club's sign went unheeded by Hurricane Ike, which tossed boats around like toys.

MARKET ISSUES

The Texas recreational boating market is huge. The state has nearly 600,000 registered pleasureboats, according to Texas' Department of Parks and Wildlife, ranking it sixth in the country as of May 2008, and the eastern Gulf Coast is a big part of it. Texas overall is the second most popular state for retirees, just behind Florida. The Galveston area is an easy drive from Houston; some spots are only 30 miles away from the city's William P. Hobby Airport. Many people use their boats as weekend getaways, their beach cottages on the water, or at least at the dock. Compared with pricey spots in California, Florida and the mid–Atlantic shore states, the cost of living is relatively low.

BoattU.S. estimates Clear Lake alone had between 6,000 and 7,000 boats. That slice of the market contains primarily sailboats; elsewhere it is more evenly distributed between power and sail.

But one factor may make a full recovery more difficult. Economic uncertainty aside, the Galveston marine market had a relatively high share of older vessels, according to claims officials from BoatU.S. and Travelers Insurance. Rick Wilson, an assistant vice president with BoatU.S. who also directed the company's response team on the ground in Texas, additionally notes a higher ratio of older boats that carried only liability damage.

BOATU.S. – SCOTT CROFTAbout 80 boats were tied up at Bayland Park Marina before Ike's storm surge took them – and the floating docks – for a ride.

Travelers saw a similar pattern and even heard "never again" from some boat owners. "Some individuals I talked to, they are avid boaters; this is a way of life," says Dave Powell, Travelers' vice president over boat and yacht claims. "What shocked me were the number of older vessels in the mid–40– to 60–foot range and owners who said that it was their last boat."

Wilson estimates that 40 percent of BoatU.S.'s Texas claims involved total losses. And the salvage operations are far from complete. On October 7, Urban and his crew pulled out an older, 28–foot Pacemaker that sank in its slip. It was not insured. "I don't know if he is going to replace it or not," Urban says.

DAMAGE UNEVEN

From marina to marina, the level of destruction varied widely. Whether or not a facility had protective sea walls, floating docks and high pilings made some difference. "The extent of the damage isn't a Katrina, where everything was devastated, but it certainly compares to an Opal or a Fran," Wilson says. "The areas that are damaged are damaged heavily, but based on the geography, it is in a very narrow stretch, up the western shore of Galveston Bay," he adds. "The eastern side is more commercial stuff."

George Danner, a licensed captain and editor at Dozier's Waterway Guide, performed an instructive survey of the region and posted the details at www.waterwayguide.com. Galveston Yacht Basin, Bayland Park Marina and Hilton Marina were destroyed. Other areas fared well: Blue Dolphin Yachting Center in Seabrook; Boardwalk Marina, South Shore Harbor Marina in League City; and Boardwalk Marina, Waterford Harbor Yacht Club and Portofino Harbour Marina, all in Kemah, saw just 20 percent or less damage. Marinas that Danner classified at 60 percent or more damaged include Clear Lake Marina, Clear Lake Shores Marina, and Watergate Yachting Center, which had more than 1,100 slips. Meanwhile, 80 percent of the west side of Lakewood Yacht Club, he reports, was damaged or destroyed, and many vessels between 60 and 80 feet long sank. The east side of the same facility was mostly spared, according to Danner.

MARK SCHEYERMagic Moment, Mark Scheyer's Pearson 35, gets lifted from the bottom of the Galveston Yacht Basin on October 8. It will be sold for salvage.

"It was very interesting the damage that happened in Galveston, with some marinas totally devastated and then others completely untouched," says Rob Field, a CAT Team (catastrophe) claims manager for BoatU.S. "Other storms, it comes ashore on the coast of Florida and destroys everything." That unevenness comes when storm surge is a bigger factor than wind. Watergate in Clear Lake Shores, for example, sustained heavy damage, but right next door in Kemah, the Waterford was "100 percent intact," he says. But Waterford had 20–foot pilings and concrete floating docks.

Bayland Park Marina had state–of–the–art floating docks, too, but its eight– to10–foot pilings couldn't compete with the surge. The docks simply lifted off and floated for ¼ mile, into trees and road. Owned by the city of Baytown, it's still sitting in one big pile.

At the Galveston Yacht Basin, one of the region's largest facilities, many of the boats are stored on lifts in covered slips with steel girders. The surge – which topped a protective nine–foot–high seawall – had vessels dangling on slings and wedged onto concrete piers. Though much of the television coverage showed sailboats tossed about, the region is packed with powerboats, many now with crushed hardtops, at best. At the Yacht Basin, one 48–foot Fountain got tossed into the marina building.

MARK SCHEYERA nine–foot seawall couldn't stop Hurricane Ike's powerful storm surge, and the forces tossed these boats at the Galveston Yacht Club atop each other.

Yet Bill Boyher's sailboat, at a private marina west of Marina Del Sol in Kemah and on the far west side of Clear Lake, had only minor damage. Summer Rose is another Pearson 35, and "rather heavy, by today's standards," Boyher notes.

FAR REACHING

What also set Hurricane Ike apart from other storms is the damage it caused as it moved inland and merged with another front in the Midwest. The claims followed Ike's drenching rains as the storm moved north and east. While affected areas in Texas saw eight to 16 inches of rain, according to the U.S. Hydrometeorological Prediction Center, places in Missouri had up to eight inches, Kansas had 11, Illinois and Indiana saw 10 and Iowa and Ohio experienced seven.

Travelers received claims "all the way up through New York," Powell says. Neither Progressive nor ACE–Marine would comment, citing corporate policies against discussing claims. BoatU.S. estimates 100 of the 400 to 500 claims it's received so far are from outside Texas and that Ike's remnants caused $25 million in damage to recreational boats in other states, bringing the storm's total to about $200 million. "We had claims in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi and New York. It definitely did a lot more damage going inland than any other storm," Field says. "Quite a few boats got so much rain dumped on them their bilge pumps couldn't keep up. In New York, it was wind damage."

Coastal Texas, of course, took the biggest hit. Travelers handled an 89–foot Hargrave after the surge embedded the stern in a seawall. The company used divers to plug holes, got the 100–ton yacht to a yard and sent it to Florida for repairs. The 48–foot Fountain was brand new. Getting it out took a 100–ton crane, and it's back at the factory in North Carolina for repairs.

LESSONS LEARNED

Galveston is no stranger to hurricanes. The "Great Galveston Hurricane" of 1900 killed 8,000 people and had a 15–foot storm surge that pushed inland up to 10 miles. Hurricane Alicia in 1983 was another bad one; Hurricane Jerry hit in mid–October 1989, quite late in the season. Even before the 2008 season, www.hurricanecity.com, a Web site that tracks Atlantic Ocean hurricanes and is packed with information, said Galveston was the area in Texas most affected by hurricanes and tropical storms since 1871. "Affected" is described as brushed within 60 miles or hit.

MARK SCHEYERInsurance companies recommend sailboat owners remove masts and canvas to minimize wind damage, but storm surge is a tough foe.

Even though Texas was largely spared during the brutal 2004 and 2005 seasons, marine–insurance experts say marinas have been paying attention. "Marinas have taken a lot of lessons from those, insuring they are properly protected, have good CAT plan," Powell explains. "They have taken every opportunity to have a CAT strategy in place."

But memory is sometimes short, and selective, when it comes to boat owners. Fewer owners in the Galveston area took advantage of the pre–storm haul–out coverage than their counterparts in the paths of Gustav, Hanna and Dolly earlier in the season, Field says. BoatU.S. received haul–out claims from Florida as Hurricane Ike approached because those owners know the best thing they can do is get their vessels out of the water, he adds.

As another incentive, insurance companies such as BoatU.S. will lower the deductible if the owner removes "windage," such as biminis, other canvas, masts and rigging. Some companies won't pay for damage to those items if they aren't removed. "Reduce the windage, haul your boat out and tie it down," Field says.

REBUILDING STARTS

Galveston has a long year ahead. Linda Poulin, marina manager at Seabrook Shipyard and Marina, hopes it won't take that amount of time. Much of the 750–slip marina fared well, though the 10 boats that remained in dry–stack storage floated away. Thankfully by the second week of October, electric and water service was restored to all the docks. "Our floating docks survived very well," Poulin explains. "Floating docks and high piers, that's the ticket." Seabrook hopes to open to new customers by mid–November. "If we could get the debris out of here, we'd look close to normal," Poulin says.

MARK SCHEYERMany boats lifted out of the water, some landing on damaged docks, others drifting up on land.

Getting such facilities back on line will be key to the region's recovery. "As a boat owner, you need a place to put them," Powell says. Field believes the facilities will come back. "They may rebuild differently," he explains. "If anything keeps them from it, it will be the economy." It's already been a tough year for the boat industry, and sales are down. As for Wilson, "It will be interesting to see after a storm like this if people will stay on the sidelines a little bit."

Forrest Wayne Davis hasn't decided. He doesn't yet know if his 1976 Nautor can be fixed. Before Davis and his wife left for a vacation in Europe, he tied it down with 18 lines in his slip at the Yacht Basin, but the sailboat broke loose and traveled ¼ mile before anchoring itself. The line ran out, and Solway Mist landed on the rocks. One side of the hull delaminated, wrecking the interior furnishings. The stanchions and lifelines on both sides shredded, as did the roller furler. The chain plate ripped off, and the ports shattered, meaning the interior also sustained serious rain damage. "It is kind of heartbreaking, seeing all that beautiful teak," Davis says.

Taking the 50–foot sailboat to the Caribbean, Mexico and beyond was part of Davis' retirement plan, and he had been upgrading all the electronics. Solway Mist had all–new radar, plotters, GPS units, two depthsounders and radios.

The Davises sold their powerboat last year and bought the sailboat about six years ago. At 63, Davis says handling a big sailboat is harder than it used to be and hasn't decided what to do. He may buy a smaller sailboat.

"Never say never," he says.