It's essential to secure your boat during a severe storm, like Hurricane Helene. Storm surge can damage or even flood your boat.
That's why several boaters at Cape Harbour Marina are taking all the safety precautions recommended to keep their boats safe.
Bradley Johson with Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation said you should tie up loose items near your boat and add fenders on your boat.
Daniel Kiefer, a Cape Harbour Marina boat owner, said he came from Michigan yesterday to get his boat ready.
"You just want to make sure you got your fenders out and located in places where it'll keep the dock and the boat apart from each other, so you don't have damage," he said. "You can damage the dock, as well as the boat."
Kiefer and other boaters have also doubled and even tripled up on lines, tying them from their boats to nearby pilings.
"You have to keep and extra lines to the boat, but yet not tie it down so tight that it can't move with the water and the wind," he said. "You want it to move a little bit, or it will rip the dock up and cause even more damage."
Bradley Johnson, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation PIO, said the ideal thing you can do is "trailer your boat and get it off-water."
Johnson said it's essential to prepare for the worst and hope for the best.
"I think if Hurricane Ian is an example of how severe an impact a storm can have, just try to think back to that and remember that."
Johnson said if an emergency does arise, you should call 911 or Channel 16 from your WHF marine radio.