By By EDWIN MODLIN II
edwin@wdnweb.com
Staff Writer
Boaters whose boats were destroyed by a fire at McCotter’s Marina on Jan. 7 have received relief aid from donations raised by Salty Southeast Cruisers’ Net and Waterway Guide.
The funds were presented to the boaters Friday morning at the marina. Claiborne Young, editorial director and co-founder of Salty Southeast Cruisers’ Net website, said other boaters decided to help raise money for the boaters who lost their vessels in the blaze.
“There was a tragedy here last month, and through our website and Waterway Guides, we have brought the cruising community together to collect money for the victims of what happened here,” he said. “And we’ve had a tremendous outpouring of donations from as far away as Canada and France.”
Young said SSCN and Waterway Guides representatives were at the marina to distribute the first round of funds, around $5,000, to the fire victims.
“We’re going to have a final distribution at the end of this month,” he said. “The cruising community … are a very close-knit bunch, and when something tragic happens to one group, the rest of us try to help out. It’s just a natural thing for us to do.”
Young said boaters started raising money within 24 hours of learning about the fire.
“The first call (donating money) came from a couple from the UK who were vacationing in France and heard about it,” Young said.
Salty Southeast Cruisers’ Net is an organization that mainly serves the coastal communities of the southeastern United States.
And with donations still coming in from people all over the United States, Young said, “It just means that cruisers are some of the best bunch of people on this good Earth.”
Chuck Baier, general manager of Waterway Guide in Annapolis, Md., said his company and Cruisers’ Net are competitors, but they came together to help those in need.
“But as you can see, we’re friendly competitors, and as you can see when it comes to the boating community, we try to come together and help boaters also,” he said. “We basically have the same motto, and that is ‘Boaters helping boaters, and cruisers helping cruisers.’ And that’s been the concept of (both companies) since their inception.”
According to Baier, any Waterway Guide users may go to the Waterway Guide website, read about the fire and those in need and donate money to help them.
“The funds will continue to come in until the end of February,” he said. “But we decided we shouldn’t wait until the end of the month because a lot of people really need (financial) help right now.”
Baier added said many boaters lost everything, including boats that were their homes.
“An awful lot of people’s boats and homes went up in smoke,” Young said. “And within 24 hours (of the fire), Cruisers’ Net had set up a relief fund to help those of McCotter’s Marina.”
Helen Bass, who lost her boat and everything on it, received one of the checks handed out Friday. She did not disclose its amount.
“It’ll help a little,” she said. “But every little bit helps. It’s not enough to do a whole lot, but I’ll apply it to where it’s needed the most.”
Bass lost a 36-foot boat, on which her son lived at one time. He moved from the boat about a month before the fire started.
“Had it been a couple boats farther down, it would not have been affected,” she said. “It was located right next to the boat shed.”
Tracie Smith, a boat owner who lived on her boat at the marina, said she and her fiance, Mark Hudnel, are not receiving a check because their boat did not sink, even though it was severely damaged.
Smith said she remembers that horrible night. She was awakened by the barking of her dog.
“The fire was right at the stern of our boat,” she said. “Mark was trying to free our boat, and embers were falling all over us and around us. I could smell my hair burning.”
Smith said she and her fiance frantically swept the embers off their boat, but more and more kept raining on them.
“That’s when we knew there were just too many (embers) and noticed our propane tank was next to the flames,” she said. “That’s when (Mark) gave me a life jacket and we jumped into the water.”
She said another boat came, and the people on it picked her up and took her to shore. Smith was treated at a hospital for burns and hypothermia.
Smith said it is a wonderful blessing to see so many people helping those who lost everything in the fire.
“You see so many negative comments, and the good comments by far outweigh the bad,” she said.
Smith said when she jumped in the water she thought for a split second she and her fiance might die.
Smith said she and Hudnel remain boaters, but they still think about that night.
“It gets a little easier each day,” she said. “You’re not consumed by it so much as before.”
People may donate to the relief fund by visiting www.cruisersnet.net or visiting www.waterwayguide.com.