Ever since last year’s destructive hurricane season, hedge funds have been bulking up on investments in reinsurance, especially the property-catastrophe variety, and especially in Florida and around the Gulf of Mexico. In fact, from out of nowhere, hedge funds and even private equity firms have contributed a major chunk of the capital raised by reinsurers, old and new, The New York Times reports. Since Katrina, some $23 billion has poured into the industry, according to the Reinsurance Association of America, with about one-third of it, $7.3 billion, coming from alternative investment firms, and an additional $3.6 billion in so-called sidecars, which HFs use to add a little more financial oomph to reinsurers. So far this year, despite early predictions, there hasn’t been a single hurricane, and if the season, which ends in the fall, goes out without a big bang, the winds of good fortune will be at funds’ back. If not, they could find their investments blow out, as the money would be used to pay out claims, as it did last year, when reinsurers shelled out $80 billion. Standard & Poor’s says hedge funds buy the most catastrophe bonds, and if they can sit out the season with little damage, they will enjoy returns on the coupons of between 5% and 15% when they mature, according to the Times.