Moss Marina: surviving the storm

Family-owned Moss Marina, located on the island of Fort Myers Beach in Florida, US, claims the impressive accolade of being the first marina to reopen after Hurricane Ian hit the region in September last year. Marina president, Ben Freeland, explains how good preparation and an enthusiastic team helped pull off a near-impossible recovery in just two months. Charlotte Niemiec reports

Despite facing category 4 hurricane winds of more than 150mph (240km/hr) and over 13ft (4m) of storm surge, which wiped out much of the island’s infrastructure, by teaming up with the company that installed its docks – Golden Manufacturing – Moss Marina was able to fully reopen by 1st December.
Before the hurricane, Fort Myers Beach was a charming Florida beach town with a fun and eclectic vibe, at the heart of one of the world’s premier boating regions. With beautiful calm waters, white sandy beaches loaded with world-class shelling, incredible backwater fishing and wildlife exploration, world class tarpon fishing, offshore fishing of grouper/snapper and wildlife sanctuaries galore, it was the ideal stop-off point for excursions to the Florida Keys and Dry Tortugas around 100 miles (160km) away. The area is home to fun and laid back people, magnificent boating and personal experiences with nature.
Today, however, extensive work is ongoing to rebuild the paradise Fort Myers was. Six months after the hurricane hit, many homes remain in pieces while the town’s officials work to organise repairs from tents and trailers. Coastal properties and marinas were especially hard hit, with many simply destroyed.
“Homes, businesses, community assets and the dreams of many felt like they washed away with the tide,” says Freeland. “But, despite the devastating losses to our property, buildings, equipment, inventory and employees’ livelihoods, the Moss Marina team and our family locked arms and went to work immediately rebuilding what was left.”
No stranger to strong winds, marina teams over the years had carefully installed extra sturdy buildings and docks designed to withstand hurricane-force winds. After Ian, most of the buildings built in the 1960s remained standing. The marina had previously lost its hard docks during Hurricane Irma in September 2017. These were rebuilt the following year using Golden Marine Systems’ aluminium docking. “Golden docks are designed to articulate in wave and wind situations, which prohibits them from binding and breaking like most rigid dock systems do,” explains Mike Shanley, president, Golden Marine Systems. “This, coupled with a strong pile design, played a factor in the resilience of the floating dock system.”
The clean-up operation was a team effort between the marina and Golden Manufacturing, which is headquartered in Fort Myers and also found itself directly in the path of Hurricane Ian when it made landfall. When the storm subsided, “our docks had sustained some damage and were misplaced, along with some utilities,” says Freeland. “But we were able to recover and rebuild the existing floating docks to their original layout.”
Work was completed quickly. Shanley explains: “Some of the docks had to be reattached as they were compromised, but all in all they were able to use the docks within days. The marina arranged for Golden to be escorted onto the island by the US Coast Guard to deliver parts and assist with the smaller repairs. Some docks got hung up on the pilings but, once they were down, the docks floated perfectly and were then again utilised.” Two other marinas using Golden installations – Gulf Star Marina and Nervous Nellie’s – were also up and running shortly after the storm.
As one of the only usable marinas in the region, the US Coast Guard then used Moss Marina as a temporary base from which to launch its search and rescue missions. Today, the marina has retained the 55 wet slips it had installed before Hurricane Ian hit and has managed to rebuild 120 of the 210 drystack spaces it previously had available.
Preparing for the storm
Living for six months of the year in the direct path of hurricanes blowing in off the Atlantic Ocean, the Moss Marina team always makes sure to prepare as much as possible when alerts are issued. Ahead of Ian, it removed as many in-water vessels from the basin as possible, secured boats and potential flying debris, shut down its fuel system and ensured its back up generator was operational.
When asked what recommendations Freeland would make to other marina operators, he says: “Every property is so unique it is hard to be specific other than to really evaluate every aspect of your facility for potential risk with maximum tidal surge in your area, and design your docks and facility to accommodate this appropriately. Have your hurricane plan written and practised. Take all your important documents and irreplaceable items off the property ahead of time.”
Forging ahead
Freeland remains undeterred in his plans for developing the marina. “We were exploring a three to five year redevelopment plan pre-hurricane and expedited the plans post-hurricane. After seeing the destruction to the island, we felt we could really help to be an economic driver for the town of Fort Myers Beach, while providing a great example of how to bridge the history and unique personality to the future of the town.”
The marina has been a landmark of Fort Myers Beach for more than 80 years, with the Moss family owning and operating the business since the 1950s before George Freeland purchased it in 1982. “Through the years, Moss Marina has been the largest volume Chris-Craft dealer in the world, was home to the Big M Casino boats for over 15 years and currently is the temporary home to the US Coast Station on Fort Myers Beach,” explains Freeland. “With six generations of the Freeland family calling southwest Florida home since 1966 and owning multiple businesses, including the 40+ years of Moss Marina, the roots run deep.”
“Now that the US Coast Guard station and Moss Marina are operational and we all have a better sense of the challenges facing Fort Myers Beach, our family is rising to the challenge to be the driving force in rebuilding and stabilising the economic engine,” says Freeland.
His vision for the future is to develop a vibrant and unique mixed-use bayfront, integral to the downtown district with a complement of restaurants, shops, cafés, hotel rooms and bayfront access for the public to enjoy, he explains. DPZ CoDesign – renowned for its award-winning work throughout Florida – will be the marina’s design partner.