Repowering New Orleans
Emily Hauser
In August 2005, the Gulf Coast was overwhelmed by the destructive power of Hurricane Katrina. Horrifying days followed, as people scrambled desperately to save their own lives and those of loved ones. The area’s infrastructure collapsed, entire neighborhoods were wiped off the map, and many thousands lost everything they had. The famously resilient nature of the area’s residents was strained to its limit, but within days, the people of New Orleans and all along the coast returned to what remained of their homes, businesses and schools, and tried to rebuild a life once marked by music and good food, historical resonance and welcoming neighbors.
The great city continues to rebuild, with the help of many across the nation for whom the struggles of their fellow citizens felt like a call to arms. Among the most complicated issues for the city of new Orleans has been the question of tourism. One-third of the city’s operating budget comes from the tourism industry — how could streets be re-paved or hospitals rebuild if tourism came to a complete halt?
There is, then, a palpable gratitude among New Orleanians toward those who have recognized that need, and then spread the word: The Big Easy is open for business.
Lyle St. Romain, general manager of the Charles Marine and Industrial group, currently works outside Chicago, but is a New Orleans native. Like many, he watched the August 2005 news reports with horror; in fact, his own parents’ home was flooded out in the storm surge.
“It was tough to see,” he recalled. You grow up somewhere, and places that you loved are devastated. People know it was bad, but then when you go down there, it’s like a small nuclear bomb went off.”
Charles Industries’ first efforts at helping the region came immediately after the hurricane. With electrical outages across much of the Gulf Coast, Charles stepped up to the plate and provided power pedestals to bring electricity to the area. But beyond initial recovery, Lyle realized that he had a perfect opportunity to make a lasting difference in his childhood city.
With the International Workboat Show returning to New Orleans last fall, Lyle hatched a plan to do good for New Orleans while introducing new Charles Industries products.
Charles invited 15 recreational boating editors down to the show to be wined and dined and shown a new product demo out on Lake Pontchartrain From November 30 to December 1, 2006. Overwhelmingly, the editors jumped at the chance for a night’s stay at the luxe Omni Royal Orleans hotel, and to get their hands on some fancy new gear, while enjoying the hospitality for which New Orleans has always been known. “These editors know that, pretty quickly, whatever’s happening in commercial boating works its way down to recreational boats,” Lyle said.
The weekend began with an elegant dinner at Antoine’s. Established in 1840, the restaurant is the original home of Oysters Rockefeller, with which the group started their evening, ending it with flaming Baked Alaska as the grand finale.
The guests were greeted by Mary Beth Romig, director of communications and public relations at the New Orleans Metropolitan Convention and Visitors Bureau, who was moved by Charles’ efforts. “Every single meeting and event in the city brings so many things,” she said. “First, it’s a boost to the economy. The people who come, offer a vote of confidence in the city. And there’s just such a deep sense of appreciation for every visitor. The New Orleans experience is very much alive!”
The next day, Charles teamed with the city’s own Mayer Yachts, which provided a gorgeous 31 Luhrs Sportfish Hardtop for a tour of the lake. Though Mayer suffered its own damage at the hands of the storm, the company is now fully up and running, a part of the boating community’s ongoing efforts to rebuild and restart.
The group launched from the historic Southern Yacht Club where, in spite of losing their facilities in the hurricane, the staff welcomed Charles Industries and their guests graciously, providing a location for breakfast, lunch and meetings in the lovely modular unit that houses the club while it’s being rebuilt. The group enjoyed local delights such as turtle soup, muffuletta and fried shrimp po’boys.
After filling their tanks, all set out for a cold, clear day on Lake Pontchartrain. “It was one of the roughest days I’ve ever seen on the lake,” Lyle reported, but the ride was smooth and the demos were a great success.
Ben Ellison, editor of Power & Motoryacht, was impressed by the quality of the presentation as well as by the products on display. “They obviously really care about New Orleans,” he said. Having spent a winter in the Big Easy in 1972 working on oil field supply boats, Ben was happy to join the Charles outing. “I really love this city,” he said. He was stirred by the dramatic contrast between those businesses that have managed to get on their feet, such as the Yacht Club, and the destruction still surrounding them.
Among the products Charles brought out for the event was SmartBoost, a new AC voltage booster that adds boosting capability to any existing 50-amp marine transformer. When dockside power drops below 210 VAC, SmartBoost provide a 15 percent AC voltage boost. Easy to install and use, SmartBoost provides fully automatic operation with manual 1:1 override.
Also ready for its close-up was StartNow, Charles’ microprocessor-controlled back-up starter unit. StartNow is designed to provide guaranteed back-up battery charging while the boat’s engine is turned off, allowing electronics to run off the main battery system, and automatically switching batteries if it detects a lack of cranking power.
What grabbed Ben’s eye most, though, was the new isolation transformer, the ISO-G2, a deceptively simple-looking plain white box that serves to protect boats from shore-power problems. “You’ll never know it’s on your boat,” he reviewed, “except perhaps because of all the bad things that don’t happen.”
The ISO-G2 allows a shore ground to terminate to a shield between the transformer’s windings, separated from the yacht’s AC ground. “It makes a boat into a bird on a wire,” says Larry Budd, an engineer at Charles Industries, referring to the same kind of electrical isolation that allows birds to land safely on high-voltage wires.
For Anne Giovingo, a Charles Industries sales representative in New Orleans’ Waters & David, the entire event met a need that was both municipal and personal.
“Charles took the leap of faith and invested time and money to bring people here,” she said. “It goes to so many levels, so many layers where one event spreads out and helps in so many ways. As a local, I won’t forget that. It was a very stand-up thing to do.”
Of course, the irony is that, after all the loss, the commercial marine business is actually now booming in the Gulf region. Donovan Marine, Charles’ distributor in the area and the second largest marine products distributor in the country, is experiencing a rise in business as recovery continues. Big supply vessels are being built, and the Workboat Show has made a commitment to return to New Orleans every year. Charles will also return, and whenever they have something new to debut, Lyle said, they will certainly consider adding another full-scale presentation.
Anne Giovingo for one is quite pleased with that plan. “We are all very sensitive now to who sticks with us,” she said. “And conventions, as a general rule, bring in high caliber people — the kind that any city would want to have visit.”
Bill Parlatore, publisher and editor of PassageMaker Magazine, was also among Charles’ guests that weekend, and he says that his hosts went out of their way to showcase New Orleans at its best. “This was a story that I needed to write,” he said.
Lyle is thrilled to be part of the greater story of recovery in New Orleans. “The people were blown away by everything,” he said, “by the resiliency of the people of New Orleans, by the new products and by the show we put on.”
Like all those who have helped with the recovery efforts, Charles Industries is a testament to the true power of people.
(C) amped 2007
