Tiki 21 Spared by Katrina

This is my Tiki 21 as I first saw it in Ocean Springs, shortly after Hurricane Katrina devastated the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Like most of the boats on the coast, this catamaran would have been destroyed or damaged if the owner had not moved it inland on the trailer. Amazingly, the area where it is shown parked in the photo above - in the previous owner's yard - was under 18-feet of Katrina's storm surge. The owner's house was flooded even though it is built on high pilings. The beams and mast for the Tiki 21 were not on the trailer and were submerged under the flood waters, but luckily they were tied down where they were stored on joists beneath the house and were not damaged. The sails were stained some by the flood, and the plans got wet, but nothing was seriously damaged.

I knew about this boat before the Hurricane and had talked to the owner about possibly buying it even then. After finding out I had lost Intensity to the hurricane, I called him again and found out the Tiki had survived. The price was now reduced due to other priorities he had in dealing with his flooded home, so I drove to Ocean Springs to check it out.