- May 15, 2024
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When tropical weather threatens the Gulf Coast, Sarasota residents face many decisions and preparations, often in a short amount of time, as was the case with Hurricane Idalia.
They need to secure homes and property. Residents must decide whether to ride out the storm or evacuate, and if so, where to go. Boaters, too, must prepare and secure their docked and anchored watercraft in a matter of days, return to their homes or evacuate, and hope for the best.
But what if your boat is also your home?
If a storm’s path deviates even a few miles in one direction or another that can mean the difference between a glancing blow or a disaster. Hurricane Ian, for example, had little impact on Sarasota Bay whereas just a few miles south were images of boats piled atop one another, some sunken and others driven onto dry land.
The approach of Hurricane Idalia meant tough decisions for Steve Lloyd, whose residence is a 52-foot Horizon catamaran he moors at Sarasota Yacht Club.
Since 2020, Lloyd has lived in his floating home after traveling here on a working vacation trip to check on coastal properties he owns just before the COVID-19 response shut down air travel.
“I had properties on Siesta Key for years, but I never came here. And then when I came to visit, it was when we went into lockdown,” Lloyd said. “I came for 10 days just before Easter and we went into full lockdown. Everyone was telling me ‘If you fly home you're going to die.’”
So he hunkered down here for a while, the isolation forcing him to reexamine his lifestyle.
At 300 pounds, he decided to make some changes. He quickly lost 40 pounds, and one day while taking in the view at Turtle Beach, he decided not return to his West Chester, Pennsylvania home.
“I actually stayed until September, flew home, gave away all my furniture to Goodwill, sold my house in 10 days and drove back here in my car and didn't bring anything,” he said.
He calls his new lifestyle “my best life,” the motto emblazoned on the stern of his floating home.
Lloyd co-founded Stone Bay Holdings in 2012. The investment group holds about $300 million in real estate, including short-term rentals on Siesta Key. His boat doubles as his office, his view dictated only by the weather.
He had never “even owned a rowboat,” he said, but the pandemic changed everything.
“I was looking for a house on the Intercoastal but I couldn't find one. They were too big,” Lloyd said. “I saw an ad for the Fort Lauderdale Boat Show, and I went and bought a yacht and I've been living on it ever since.”
He doesn’t pilot the yacht. Instead, he hired a captain, Kyle Fraley, who along with a crew are at the controls on his occasional excursions to the Caribbean or destinations off the Atlantic Coast.
It was Fraley who advised Lloyd to move the yacht to Marina Jack — where he keeps a floating boat slip just for that purpose — to ride out the storm.
Moved and moored at the end of Dock G, plenty of work remained.
“Once you get the boat secured, then you really have to observe everything else around you because another threat is things flying around the marina that can damage your glass and your boat,” Lloyd said. “You have to hope that everyone else has tied their boat up properly and has done the proper things for everyone to be safe.”
With the boat secured, Lloyd had one last decision to make: ride out the storm or head 3 miles inland to wait it out with his girlfriend. He chose domestic tranquility, but it was anything but tranquil. Like other boat owners, he didn’t know what he would find when he returned.
“The boating world is an amazing, kind, caring world where everyone helps each other, but the emotions of having this asset, having my home on the water, you want to be there, but you also have to think about safety,” Lloyd said. “At least my captain was down there checking on my boat every few hours. There's really nothing that you can do after the winds pick up over 45 mph.”
Once the danger had passed, Lloyd returned to find “My Best Life” intact. Some others weren’t so lucky.
Looking across the marina toward Gulfstream Avenue, a sailboat listed against the seawall, its mast pointing toward land. But not even two days after Idalia, other than water near the top of the docks, all appeared normal at Marina Jack, any sunken boats already removed.
Lloyd was relieved for himself, but concerned for others who were not so fortunate.
“You get to the dock and you see the debris everywhere, you see how high the water was from the storm, and then you walk by a 50-foot boat that's sunk. Your heart just sinks for that person,” Lloyd said. “You see sailboats up along Gulfstream Avenue and you see another sailboat that's up against the Ringling Bridge and your heart goes out to them because, as a boater, you know how much time and effort that goes into this.”
Although still somewhat new to the boating community, Lloyd said occasional worries about hurricanes are worth it for the lifestyle.
“We live in this special place and 360 days out of the year it's just amazing. You put so much time, money and effort into such a valuable asset, and it’s amazing that it all can be lost in maybe be five or six days out of the year,” he said. “But if you talk to fellow boaters, they wouldn't have it any other way because we have a very special boating family. Everybody is walking by when you're doing your own preparation and asking if you need help. Everyone is helping each other.
“Then you have to go through the night of the storm and you're not sleeping well, and then you have to go and assess the damage. It’s not only checking your boat, it's making sure everyone else is OK, and that's what makes the boating world special.”
