Hurricane haunts Polson author
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In 1980, Hurricane Celia began in the south Atlantic, hit the Caribbean and bullied her way above the Panama Canal Zone into the Pacific Ocean. After causing floods in Santa Barbara, she gathered her 100-knot winds and headed up the coast, just as Ron Valiquette came steaming down the coast in a brand new 59-foot yacht. Accompanying Valiquette on the shakedown cruise of the boat, Fantasy Isle, were Leonard and Roy, two experienced seamen, and a couple on their honeymoon.
Valiquette and company were just north of Eureka, Calif., about 70 or 80 miles off the beach, when the hurricane hit. They spent 55 hours fighting 40-foot seas and at least 130 knot winds.
Celia’s winds shattered all the windows on the yacht, blew the antennas, gin pole and dinghy away. The boat was taking on water, and the four bilge pumps couldn’t keep up.
“Leonard saved my life twice, and Roy saved me once,” Valiquette said. They grabbed him so he wouldn’t wash overboard.
Valiquette, his passengers and crew decided to head for the Tillamook, Ore., bar, defined by Nauticed.org as a large mass of sand or earth formed by the surge of the sea, a safe haven once a boat is inside. The Tillamook bar was narrow, so Valiquette headed south straight into the storm for about eight to 10 hours so he could turn north to get a straight shot at the bar. They took a vote, too.
“If I couldn’t get it across the bar,” Valiquette said, “I’d run it up into the beach (just north of Tillamook.”
Modeled after a Chinese fishing boat, with a big high prow, the Fantasy Isle was designed so any water the boat took on drained out through the salon or went in the bilge.
“I don’t know of a boat that could take the abuse that boat took,” Valiquette said.
Coast Guard cutters came to their rescue, despite the vile conditions and huge waves, rescuing everybody.
It was a horrifying, traumatic time, Valiquette said; but although people approached him to write a book, he “couldn’t maintain his composure.”
Valiquette’s daughter Renee, who was editor of “Seattle” magazine, was “after me and after me,” he said.
Valiquette waited for years before he told his daughter, who took all the information down in shorthand and shaped it into book form.
In the meantime, the Coast Guard awarded 11 “Coasties” medals of honor for heroism above and beyond the call of duty during Hurricane Celia.
As an additional honor, Valiquette and his family donated a 22-ton obelisk engraved with the names of the honored Coasties at the Coast Guard station in Tillamook.
Valiquette is working on five other books, ranging from his and his wife’s true-life love story, trips they’ve made, his naval career, insurance companies being bandits and the story of his daughter’s life.
Valiquette’s book was published by Port Hole Publications. Ellen Traylor, who lives in Polson and in Oregon, owns Port Hole Publications.
“Ron’s books has been quite popular and has gotten a good respose on the Oregon Coast,” Traylor said. The Tillamook Coast Guard Station is located in Garibaldi, Ore., and the Garibaldi Maritime Museum’s board is enthralled, Traylor said.
Vallequette’s books is available at www.PortHolePublications.com, Ingram Distribution and on Amazon and Barnes and Noble..
As opposed to the movie, “The Perfect Storm,” Valiquette said, “My book is for real. Everything in it happened.”
