Rants & Musings, Heavy Weather
Index
Gale and Storm Preparation, at Anchor or on a Mooring
Weather Routing and the Skipper's Responsibility
Liars, Damn Liars and Sailors
Gale and Storm Preparation, at Anchor or on a Mooring (John, 09/2009)
We are on our mooring off our cabin in Nova Scotia with the remnants of tropical storm Danny heading our way. Last weekend it was hurricane Bill* that passed close by giving us winds to 50 knots, even in this sheltered cove.
None of this is new to us since we have spent much of the last 18 years cruising places like Newfoundland and Greenland where riding out a gale a week at anchor is pretty much the norm and where we expect to shelter from at least one full blown storm each season. I can’t claim that we are actually organized enough to have a check list, but here is what we usually do to get ready for a blow, depending on the expected wind speed. Maybe it will be of use to others—it is the season.
A roller furling sail getting loose with the resulting shredding is one of the most common types of damage we see to sailboats on moorings during a blow. These Spinlock clutches are great, but when expecting a blow we always back them up by cleating the furling lines off.
30 to 45 knots:
- Check that roller furling lines are cleated off.
- Secure mainsail with several sail ties over the sailcover.
- Remove outboard and all gear from dinghy.
- Set drag alarm on GPS.
- Check deck for any loose gear and secure.
- Check fluids in engine and that key is in the ignition.
- If on mooring, check for wear on chain and swivel and that all shackles are wired (plastic wire ties are NOT acceptable) either by diving, or by using the windlass to bring the chain to the surface down to the ground chain.
- If on mooring, check chafe gear at bridle and run a light line over loop on cleat. (Actually, we always secure the bridle loop to the cleat.)
- If at anchor, load anchor at 1800 RPM in reverse. In our case with a 115 hp engine and three blade Maxprop this is more load than the boat will exert in storm force winds, assuming sheltered water. In fact, we do this test pretty much every time we anchor. Even in settled weather an unexpected thunder storm can bring gale force winds.
- Remove the locks on the security covers of the navigation equipment in the cockpit, so we are not fumbling with a combo lock if we need, say, the radar in a hurry.
- Pump up the permanent backstays, and set up the runners.
- Take the cockpit cushions below.
We always securely attach the bridle loop to the cleat as shown, gale or no gale.
Detail of Morgan’s Cloud’s port anchor roller which also does the duty of bringing a mooring pennant aboard. The bolt is a simple but very effective way to be sure that the bridle does not jump off the roller.
46 to 60 knots, gusting higher (in addition to above):
- Remove jib and staysail from roller furlers.
- Wrap entire mainsail with main sheet.
- Bring dinghy aboard and lash down on foredeck.
- If on mooring, set up a line from the cockpit winch through loop on bridle and back to windlass. (To be used to facilitate getting the loop off the cleat under load if we need to drop the mooring in a hurry.) Also remove the pick up buoy so that it won’t foul when letting go.
- If at anchor, check the rolling hitches attaching the snubber to the chain (we always use a snubber when anchored) and chafing gear.
- Remove all flags.
> 60 knots (in addition to above):
- If at mooring, back up bridle with chain.
- Remove mainsail.
- Messenger all halyards and run to the top of the mast.
- Deflate dinghy and store below.
- Strip deck of all moveable gear and store below.
- Remove dorade vents and cap off.
One other thing: Except for our own moorings in Bermuda and Nova Scotia, which are massive, we would rather be on our anchor than at a mooring when a blow is coming. See this post for why.
*Last week for Bill we prepared using the top two check lists.
This week for Danny, we are just using the top one.
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Weather Routing and the Skipper's Responsibility (John, 05/2008)
Several times in the last year people have said things to me like “Oh, he lost his boat because the weather router screwed up” and “We got a real dusting and did a lot of damage because the weather forecast was wrong”. At first I just nodded and said, “Sorry to hear that” or something equally profound.
But then I thought about it and realized that these seemingly logical comments are a symptom of a couple of trends that this curmudgeon sees as real problems:
The first is illustrated by a recent incident in which a weather router sent a boat into a piece of ocean with a substantial current in an attempt to avoid bad weather. As I understand it, the weather deteriorated more than expected and the resulting wind-against-current generated breaking waves that rolled the boat and eventually led to her abandonment. Many people blamed the router. In my opinion, this is wrong.
Before going offshore a skipper should understand the conditions and risks in the sea area to be crossed so that he or she can properly decide when to put to sea and how to route the passage. A weather router or forecaster is an adviser only, not a substitute for an experienced and well informed skipper. It is the skipper’s responsibility to act in a safe manner, which would not normally include entering a high current area with heavy weather coming.
Over the years, I have had weather routers advise me to:
- leave port as I stood in a telephone booth rocked by 60 knot gusts;
- sail into an area of 5/10 pack ice to get a more favorable wind direction;
- and leave on a crossing with a hurricane tracking up the coast just 400 miles away.
Needless to say, I did none of those things. And, if I had taken their advice and something had gone wrong, it would have been my responsibility alone, not theirs. I’m the master on Morgan’s Cloud, not some meteorologist, who may have never been offshore, sitting in a warm office on dry land looking at a very focused set of data that may miss a vital macro fact or trend.
Second, voyaging sailboat crews are becoming way too reliant on weather forecasts and are assuming a level of accuracy that is just not there, particularly more than 72 hours after forecast time. In fact, even with all the modern aids to weather forecasting, unforecast severe weather can and occasionally does develop just a few hours after the release of a benign forecast. Does this make the meteorologists involved incompetent and worthy of our scorn? Not usually. Such surprises are simply a fundamental limitation of the predictability of complex systems like our world’s atmosphere.
Bottom line, any yacht going offshore should be equipped and prepared for violent weather no matter how good the forecast is.
Having said all that, I frequently consult a weather router before or
during a tricky passage because I know that accessing their professional
knowledge can substantially reduce the chances of getting hammered. However,
I always research the trip, make the final decisions myself and prepare
for the worst—that is what being the skipper is all about.
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Liars, Damn Liars and Sailors (John, 10/2007)
My friend Kevin is tough. Tough enough that I have heard him called Kevlar. A veteran of tens of thousands of ocean miles, both racing and cruising, Kevin has seen some seriously nasty weather. Some time ago we were drinking the last of a post dinner bottle of wine and telling sailing stories, some shared, some not: The Bermuda Race when, as we punched into a 30-knot wind and steep seas in the Gulf Stream, the fuel tanks ruptured pouring 40 gallons of diesel into the boat’s shallow bilges—the only time I have seen Kevin puke, although not as often as I did; the two day motor back to port on a dismasted ocean racer rolling so quickly and heavily that the crew could barely stand up (another pukeathon); and the infamous ‘79 Fastnet. (I did not share either of the last two with Kevin, thank God.)
Finally, another guest asked, “So Kevin, what was the worst?” After a moment’s thought, Kevin told us of a late fall double-handed delivery from Newport to Bermuda. The autopilot went out the first day and the wind built and built leaving no option but to hand steer the big powerful Swan for four days in ever increasing seas. “So how hard did it blow?”, someone asked. “Oh seriously hard, 30 to 35-knots, gusting higher.” I could almost hear the thinking around the table, “That’s all? Doesn’t sound like a big deal to me.”
A few facts: A full gale (sustained 34-knots or Force 8) is a serious blow that can make it difficult to stand on deck. Even a sustained 30-knot wind—sustained is the key word here, I am not talking a few gusts—can build a significant wave height of 20-feet, which means that there are a few monsters around of 30-feet or better; and that’s without the influence of a current like the Gulf Stream, which can turn such seas into truly dangerous breakers. Add to that a short-handed crew and the need to steer in big seas and you have a tough situation that will tax even the strongest sailors.
A few more facts: Our own Morgan’s Cloud is a powerful 56-foot metal cutter designed by Jim McCurdy to sail offshore and take punishment, but she will not sail to windward offshore when the sustained true wind exceeds the high twenties; at least not with me aboard—we heave-to. When sailing off the wind, sustained winds in the high thirties build a sea that makes a broach a real danger. Once again, we park and wait for it to get better.
Yet the reader of many books and articles about offshore sailing or the listener at many cruising gatherings can be forgiven for assuming that any real sailor happily sails his or her boat into gale or even storm force winds and thinks nothing of it. So when new cruisers get caught out by their first gale they are often stunned by the experience and feel secretly diminished, assuming that their struggles and fear in such conditions are a show of inadequacy. I’m thinking that they would feel a lot better if they had listened to an honest offshore sailor like Kevin who does not exaggerate wind speeds.
So let’s be honest: Gale force is a lot of wind and no sane sailor beats to windward offshore when the wind gets above the high twenties. Hell, no sane person ever beats to windward offshore if they can help it. (Chay Blyth and his Challenge sailors just prove my point.)
Here’s some good news: In around 100,000 miles of offshore sailing
over 30 years, much of it in the high latitudes, I have experienced sustained
gale force or worse conditions—we are not talking a few gusts in a squall
here, or a brief frontal passage—less than two dozen times. So be prepared
for the worst, but enjoy offshore sailing knowing that sustained gale force
conditions do not happen that often—at least not to those that check the
weather before going to sea—and that many of the tales you hear have grown
in the telling. Finally, it’s OK to be anxious in a gale at sea; I know
I am.
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