Tarpon Bar Has Link to 'No Name' Storm

A March 13, 1993, storm that pummeled Tarpon Springs as it crawled along the Florida coast is being recalled this week for its ferocity.

But bar owner Mike Dawson remembers that storm for another reason, reports The Tampa Bay Times.

According to The Tampa Bay Times:

The 144-mph winds from that super storm lifted 16-foot skiff like it was a kite and blew it into an old oak in front of the Boat Club, his aptly named bar at 1751 Beckett Way.

The boat that got stuck in the tree, 10 feet up in the air, also stuck as an icon for the Boat Club bar. It rests in that old oak today, its scratches and scuffs authentic reminders of a storm 20 years ago.

Dawson told The Tampa Bay Times: "It came in the middle of the night," Dawson said. "It came out of nowhere."

The storm left much greater destruction in its path, killed 270 people as it traveled to Canada.

According to writer Erin Sullivan of The Tampa Bay Times:

(Dawson) decided to keep the boat in the tree, but had someone climb up and "jam it in there" so it would stay put. The person painted "HIGH WATER LINE" on the boat and "NO NAME STORM" with the date, "MARCH 13, 93" on the side. The boat would be a tourist draw if the bar was visible from a major road, but it's not..
 

"This is without a doubt the dumpiest bar in the world," a TripAdvisor review states, "and the patrons like it that way."

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