Dear Beneteau & Company,
I was telling a friend of how well my sailboat made it through hurricane Katrina and they thought should send you guys a note. Many of the boats in my area sank, took on water or flipped over. "Clubhouse" (Beneteau Oceanis 461) survived with barely a scratch. The hatches sealed tight with only a couple of drops of water coming in the starboard head port light. I taped the sliding companionway hatch and wash boards in place so no water would be forced around the edges. The area where it was docked, Slidell, LA, experienced sustained winds of 170 mph with gusts to 190 mph. The winds were strong enough to break off an 8 ft. VHF antenna I had mounted at the stern and chaffed the spinnaker and lazy jack lines. These did not rub against the mast they apparently just chaffed from the extreme wind.
I think a major point of why the boat survived was the locations and size of the cleats. There must have been a tremendous load on the lines as I could not untie them from the dock pilings but because of the clear location on the toe rail, I experienced no chaff. Anyways that for building a great product, I will be living
on it with my family while our house is being rebuild. It did not fair as well as "Clubhouse" it has extensive wind damage and flooded with 4 feet of water from the storm surge.
Thanks again,
Nick Cenci
Beneteau 461 "Clubhouse"
