As Bill tells it, in a short e-mail sent on Thursday, September 6 -

“We were on our sailboat in Lake Superior (ten miles south of Marathon, Ontario) when we got word of the flood via 40 m CW. [Ham radio comes through again! – Ed.] It took 2 days of sailing and a day of driving to get home. It took a week to empty the rubble out of the basement and get it sanitized. The back yard is still full of stuff we are hoping to clean up and save. We will put it back after the foundation contractor finishes repairs - probably in another ten days or so. More when I get home - It's time to hit the road to Sault Ste Marie where the boat has been docked. It is about 4 long days of sailing to get back to our home port.”

Bill is uncertain how long it will take to assess the damage and decide on a future course of action. But, as you can tell from the photos, he has already made a considerable effort to get things back in order. For the present, he says that he will soon be able to take orders for DK9SQ masts (which were safe in the garage), but other orders will have to wait.

Watch for a more complete article in an upcoming QRP Quarterly issue!