Even before the big storm hit, Albert Bonnici had spent the entire week anxiously anticipating the gale force winds that had been forecast for Sunday.
However, nothing could have prepared him for the record high-force winds that battered the country and left his boat in pieces, after waves snapped the ropes that had been securing it and pushed it into a nearby bridge.
“It was devastating for me,” he said, explaining how he had arrived at Manoel Island to find his “pride and joy”, a Skipperline, that has always been kept in top notch condition, being battered into a wreck.
He desperately tried phoning friends for help but it was already too late, he told the Times of Malta.
“We brought ropes and tied them to the boat to try keep it from banging from the quay,” he said. “We lost the mast but in the initial stages of the storm we still believed that we would manage to save the situation. Then, another yacht was cut lose and that spelled the end for us,” he added, his voice betraying emotion as he relived that moment he realised that the battle was lost.
“I wanted to get in the boat to see whether there was something that I could do, anything. But my son held me back,” he said, adding he would have risked his life had it not been for his son persuading him to see reason.
Although the gale-force winds had been forecast throughout the week, Mr Bonnici said there was nothing boaters could do except tie down their boats and hope for the best.
“We always knew there would be a problem, but I have been boating for 25 years and I never saw anything like this in my life,” he said.
The cost of berthing at a marina was prohibitive for many leisure boaters, he added, and besides, there was no other safe option.
Then, another yacht was cut lose and that spelled the end for us
“The prices of berths keep going up because there’s more demand than supply,” he said, adding that marina prices had skyrocketed to such an extent that they were even more expensive than in the United Kingdom.
The lack of feasible options has created an ever-present worry among boaters that lack a safe place where to keep their boats during storms, Mr Bonnici added.
Sunday’s storm tore across the country, leaving uprooted trees and destroying eateries in its wake. The weekend storm saw wind gusts reach a record 72 knots or 133km/h.
Tens of people had to be evacuated from their homes following the stormy weather.
The damage consisted mostly in felled trees, demolished walls, water tanks, PV panels, collapsed roofs and balconies, as well as downed masts and wires, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said earlier this week.