Less than a month after Bay Marine reopened its Waukegan yacht sales, service and storage center after a devastating fire nearly a year ago caused $40 million worth of damage to the building and boats, the company had to repeat the process elsewhere due to a natural disaster.

With operations in Waukegan, Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, and Fort Myers, Florida, the storm surge from Hurricane Ian picked up boats in late September dropping them in different slips and on people’s yards, impacting yachts owned by Bay Marine and its customers.

Matt Felhofer, Bay Marine’s owner and president, said he and his team of employees, insurance agents and other professional experts quickly applied what they learned from the Waukegan fire to get the Florida operation going quickly.

“I never even fathomed a storm like the one that passed over our sales office in Fort Myers could ever happen,” Felhofer said. “We were able to make quality decisions from what we learned here to help the team there. We always kept the ball moving forward. We never missed a beat.”

Bay Marine is currently selling and servicing primarily 40- to 80-foot yachts from its restored facility near Waukegan Harbor and Marina after erecting and then operating in a nearby temporary site to take care of its customers during the restoration.

Started in Surgeon Bay by Felhofer’s father, Francis, in 1969, Bay Marine…