DAVIS ISLANDS — The Davis Island Youth Sailing Foundation has spent the last few days searching for lost boats, 10 of which were swept away by Hurricane Helene.
Every year, the non-profit introduces the sport to hundreds of kids.
“We’re teaching them sportsmanship, teaching them teamwork, and just being part of a bigger community,” said executive director Karl Felger.
Felger and members of the foundation have been on a mission to retrieve all their boats. So far, eight have been recovered.
“We located five of our boats immediately in the water that we were able to recover. Another one of our assets was on the other side of the basin in the mangrove trees,” said Felger.
Fortunately, the boats they were able to recover suffered minimal damage.
“We had some members, one had a jet ski, one had a little jon boat, they were able to help us drag them to the shore line,” said Felger. “We basically use them year round so they are very instrumental to how the club functions.”
He says the outpouring of love and support from their foundation families has been overwhelming. They can’t wait to get back out on the water.
“Our plan is to continue to try and resume normal operations hopefully as soon as tomorrow,” said Felger.
The Davis Island Youth Sailing Foundation has started a fundraiser to help with these recovery efforts. For more information, go to this link
A South Tampa man turned to Susan Solves It after he said ADT told him he had to keep paying for a security system at his Hurricane Helene-damaged home, even though the system was so new that he never had a day of service.
