Vero Beach Power Squadron Raft-Up in Indian River

Vero Beach Power Squadron Raft-Up in Indian River

This is a community event sponsored by the Vero Beach Power Squadron (VBPS), a local non-profit boating organization who promote Safe Boating, thru education and practical experience. They have a few of these raft-ups during the year.

This one happened today, 2/28/09, at Hole In the Wall in Indian River in Vero Beach, Florida. There were 15 powerboats and 74 people. I was on board one of the boats and I can say it was a perfect day to be on the water. It was sunny all day with a slight breeze until early afternoon when the wind started to pick up.

The event starts at everyone’s boat dock and they pick the times to depart. Their departure depends on a lot of variables, which I will not get into. The key element is predicting arrival times relative to boat size. The rational is that you want the bigger boats to get there first.

There is a Raft Master, Harold Leh. He contacts the various vessel captains via VHF radio Channel 69 in as they approach and provides direction about who ties up to whom and in what sequence. This affair starts in the middle and works outward. Typically, one of the larger and heavier boats will be the Anchor Boat using an oversized anchor and long chain. When possible, the largest and heaviest boats are placed in the center of the raft up with the boats getting smaller as the boats raft-up to the left and to the right sides. If all goes well you have something like what is depicted in the photo.