Longboat commissioner got stuck on boat during Hurricane Helene

Commissioner Gary Coffin took the saying “the captain goes down with the ship” literally during Hurricane Helene. 

Luckily the ship didn’t actually go down, but it was close according to Coffin. It was unfortunate timing that led to Coffin being stuck on his boat during the storm, but he was able to find some silver linings in his situation. 

On Thursday, the day of Helene's arrival, Coffin was evacuating the island with his wife, Lynn. After they got to the mainland, Coffin said he realized there were some things he forgot to do to prepare the house for the storm, so he went back on his own. 

After wrapping up the last-minute preparations, Coffin tried leaving the island again but was turned away this time. He wasn’t allowed past the blockade and instead had to turn around to go back to his house.

Courtesy image

Then came the storm surge. Starting at about 6 p.m. that Thursday night, Helene’s storm surge brought feet of water from the Gulf of Mexico. According to Coffin and accounts from other residents, there were some points where the Gulf met the Bay on Gulf of Mexico Drive.

At his house, Coffin realized his boat, the Southern Cross, was in danger. The boat is tied up on sliders on the dock’s pylons, designed to adjust to the height of rising tides. But that doesn’t necessarily protect the boat from a hurricane-level storm surge. 

Coffin went to the boat and made adjustments to make sure it was properly tied up on the sliders, but the waters continued to rise. The waves were so high at one point that he feared the sliders would reach the top of the pylon and move the 40,000-pound boat from the dock.

The water in the canal was high enough where it covered the electrical boxes on the dock's pylon. At the peak, the bay almost touched Coffin's pool toward the back of his house. 

These high waters made it unsafe for Coffin to get off of the boat. He would have been jumping into waters where he couldn't see where it was safe to put his feet. 

At that point, Coffin decided to stay the night on the boat. Throughout the night, he was getting up to adjust the slack on the boat’s line. If tied too tight and toward the top of the pylon, Coffin worried the boat would tip. 

Photo by Carter Weinhofer

Coffin said the winds weren’t terrible that night, but the rocky waters kept bumping the boat around and against the dock. 

“It wasn’t good sleeping, I can tell you that,” Coffin said.

Still, the boat is a nice one, with bedrooms, a small kitchen, a shower and, more importantly, air conditioning. This was especially nice when the island was without power and water the next morning. 

That next day, a Friday, Coffin began assessing the damage. Overall, he considered his house lucky. Despite the water coming from the Gulf on one end and the Bay creeping toward his pool in the back of the house, there were only a couple inches of water that intruded into his wife’s art studio and the garage. 

Photo by Carter Weinhofer

Coffin was also so busy trying to keep his boat stable that he forgot to keep track of his jet ski that was stationed at his neighbor’s ramp. He was able to find the jet ski at the end of the canal, but it was lifeless, possibly from taking on too much water. 

Friday was also spent fielding calls from neighbors. Many asked him for pictures of their houses to know they were still standing. He was happy to. 

“That’s just what neighbors do,” Coffin said. “It’s a measure of comfort for them to know it's still there.”

That night, Coffin decided to stay on the island and in his boat again. The vessel had the upper-hand of working AC, whereas the house still didn’t have power. 

Then, on Saturday, Coffin reunited with his family at a hotel downtown. He and Lynn returned Sunday to get to work cleaning their house.

Coffin, also a town commissioner, was back to doing his job the days after Helene passed, though he admitted he was still figuring things out as he went. 

“There’s no instruction book on what to do as a commissioner after things like this,” Coffin said.

This included checking in on businesses in his district — like Dry Dock and the Longboat Key Club — once the owners were allowed back onto the island. 

Overall, although Coffin’s experience on his boat during Hurricane Helene was unexpected, he saw the positives in being on the ground the following day. 

“I’m glad I was here,” Coffin said. “All these people (neighbors) wanted to see their houses…It was good to be on the ground and help them with that.