It was a tough couple of days for the crews up in Dockyard as they prepared to secure more than 200 boats ahead of Hurricane Joaquin.

A team who work for Spar Yard/West End Yachts endured soaking wet, windy conditions as they hauled vessels out of the ocean and secured boats that were to stay on the water.

Sonny Sullivan, who owns Snorkel Bermuda tour boats but works with the company on a seasonal basis, said the community came together to help to get the work done.

“Initially, we were taking a load of boats out of the water, putting them on blocks and hurricane-proofing them,” he said.

“We have to put the boats between all the buildings and we take a few further steps than we normally do when we block them.

“We probably took about 200 boats or so out of the water. For the boats that stay in the water, you do your best to tie them up before the hurricane comes but inevitably when it gets really windy you notice this needs adjusting or that needs adjusting or things just start breaking, and that happened a lot.

“There were a whole bunch of us moving around Dockyard at all hours of the night securing things further and preventing any further damage or anything like that.

“There were all sorts of helpers — about eight to ten operating the equipment and maybe one or two guys for each of those eight.

“The owners help out a lot, too, in some cases. Willy Freeman, the marina manager at Dockyard, was helping and the roaming crew were going around when all hell was breaking loose.

“Sundee Faulkner at Bermuda Pottery, she never touches a boat, but she makes us all lunch and snacks and finds us where we are working and feeds us and makes sure the rest of us are taken care of.

“It has been two days of pulling boats up back-to-back and getting soaked in the rain. I haven’t slept properly and I’ve got the flu. I’m hoping I can kill it with some rum later on.”