40 boats lifted clean out of the water (10 photos)

A 300-ton crane was delayed and about 40 sailboats were stuck in the water for an extra day at the Hilton Beach Marina on St. Joseph Island over the weekend due to weather conditions.

Marina sailboat owner and annual sailboat haul-out organizer Cheryl Bayles said the delay resulted in perhaps “a couple thousand” dollars in additional shared costs to the boat owners but it was unclear exactly how much.

High winds coming into the harbor from St. Joseph Channel on Saturday created rocking boats in white-capped waters along with a risk of the crane that lifts the boats out of the water not being able to safely place them on their winter cradles.

“There was a wind warning up (and when) we started ... the crane just said ‘No this is too much.' It was gusting up to over 50 kilometres an hour so it created a problem,” said Bayles.

25-year veteran crane operator Mark Kelly of Sterling Crane said a one-day weather delay like the one on Saturday is quite rare.

“It’s the first it’s ever happened to me,” he said.

“We’ve been doing this since 1989... this is the first time we have had to suspend haul out due to wind conditions,” said Bayles.

Only three boats were lifted out of the water on Saturday when the haul-out ended around 10 a.m. 

The rest of the boats were lifted out on Sunday with no major problems.

In 2016, the boats will go back into the water at the usual day, the first Saturday of May, weather permitting.