Cutting a sail free in a surprise squall

[BlueMoonDerecho]

Hi Matt, we have a little Pearson 26 and were taking her out for our first overnighter on Jun29. Left Poquoson and headed to Cape Charles, great sail across, good wind and purpoises following us about half the trip. I had checked the weather and gotten the usual afternoon/ nightly sporadic thunderstorm predictions so we anchored off shore about 2 mi in 17 ft of water. After dinner around 1130 my wife called me on deck after seeing the heat lightening. We noticed black fingers of clouds down near the water. By the time I removed the stern anchor and took it up front, tied it off, the storm was on us. No little waves for a build up, not a strong breeze of wind for a warning, it was all out hell from the onslaught. The first waves hit us spinning the boat around almost 360. I think thats when we lost the rudder, so for the next 4 hrs I sat in the cockpit holding a tiller with no rudder, but because of the situation I didnt realize it, I only knew the boat would never point into the wind for me. So we rode the storm out sideways. My mast light would reflect the tops of the waves as we came down in the troughs with the lifelines in the water. More than a few times we talked about how we would respond to capsizing. 3 times I had to go forward and lash down sails because they were taking a beating and pulling the boat over on her side. We had the Coast Guard on the phone standing by to launch in case we went in the water. Motion sickness set in after about an hour and made it that much worse. Finally around 430 in the morning we felt the waves getting smaller and passed out from complete exhaustion, when we woke up the Blue Moon was bobbing off Kiptopeke and the Concrete Ships about 5 miles down the Eastern Shore. Lost the rudder, dodger, swim ladder, starboard bow light and flag and pole. Since she has an outboard we were able to motor back in six hours on Saturday. I was glad we didnt run out of fuel!
Learned many lessons and are thankful we werent number 14 and 15 on the fatality list. Our prayers go out for the others and their families. We are very grateful to the big guy upstairs and our little boat for getting us through that mean freak storm.
All the best, Nate

 

[cbsailor]

This storm caught many of us by surprise. Our club was on a cruise to Warwick Yacht Club at the time. Nine of our boats were in WYC docks on Friday evening with many members already retired for the night. Someone watching the TV late news saw the warnings and started alerting everyone. Thanks to their warning, everyone put on extra lines, lashed down sails and squared away for the blow.
The only indication of trouble was the approaching lightning. There was little to no wind until the storm hit. It was like a wall of wind slammed us. Loose dock gear went flying, but the boats survived with just heavy heeling despite the recorded 65 mph wind. After it was over, one of the members turned on a handheld and we were surprised to hear chatter on 16 between the CG and a boat named Drifter III, one of our members.

Drifter, who was going to sail up on Saturday, had decided to sail up late Friday evening. Being unsure of navigating the unlighted, very shallow Deep Creek entrance, the skipper decided to anchor outside the entrance in the James River for the evening. This normally would have been the thing to do, but not this time. Drifter had been anchored for about two hours when approaching lightning alerted them. A second anchor was barely set when the wind hit hard. We are still unsure of how it happened, but Drifter, a 30’ catamaran, started taking on water fast in one pontoon. VA Marine Police got the skipper and his wife off and brought theme ashore. Bottom line, everyone is ok, but only Drifter’s mast and very top of the cabin were visible by late Saturday.

In this case a seasoned skipper with many off and in-shore trips to FL and back was caught at the wrong place at the wrong time.

 

[purcellr]

Wow what a story-
Bravo Zulu to you. It sounds like you did everything spot-on to minimize the effects of a freak occurrence.
I would humbly propose a few generalizations to the situation:

First, planning 3 steps ahead and continuously re-planning those steps while on the water can minimize the chance of getting into trouble.
Second, when (not if) you do get into trouble, work your plan (see first point) to minimize damage or injury.
Third, if your plan goes to pieces, panic can kill you. Being able to make and execute tough decisions (e.g. cutting up a perfectly good mainsail) quickly can save your boat and your life.

Even the most careful and seasoned sailor gets into a mess on occasion but not all of them have a happy story at the end. That you were able to stay calm, focused, and work the problem is probably the most important lesson to take from this. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Douglast]

good thread...i picked up a few very good pointers...thanx..and im glad all ended up ok considering..

 

[faithd]

Experiences to learn from - invaluable

Yes, we had thunderstorm predictions Friday evening here in NoVa, but in the 16 years we have lived here, I've seen nothing like that wind Friday night. I was at work in the ER and we even closed off the one room in the ER that has a window.
The moment the wind hit, I immediately thought about sailors out on the water. We have twice gone to sleep at anchor in glassy water in the lower Potomac, only to wake in gale force wind dragging anchor. Not fun. Good job, so glad you are safe!
We learn so much every time something similar happens to us.

 

[Ross]

Re: Experiences to learn from - invaluable

I don't believe that I have read a single post indicating that the crew payed out additional scope. I have done that in emergencies and snubed and payed and snubed and payed until the anchor set and held.

 

[MLampner]

You did great, we tried about a month back to come into Betterton with 30 mph winds. We landed a member of the crew but then the wind kept pushing us to the sea wall. We motored arround to the other side picked up the crew member and headed for home as a night sail.

As you clearly did you need to know your and your boats limits, once you are not sure its time to do what ever it takes to save crew and the vessel and if a sail is lost it cheaper than a life or a boat.

 

[Dalloway]

I don't believe that I have read a single post indicating that the crew payed out additional scope. I have done that in emergencies and snubed and payed and snubed and payed until the anchor set and held.

I think the line, and even the chain itself played out very fast. From what Matt told me he ran it out to the end of the available line and then put down a second anchor just in case. It wasn't really a problem since that poor anchor is never ever coming back out of that mud.

-- Matt's Screaming Spouse (I was trying to scream anyway, but no sound was coming out)

 

[McZube]

MattObjects, I thought of you (sort of) Friday night. I was in the slip at Herrington Harbor North with my two kids. My wife was at home and I texted her that I felt sorry for anyone who got caught on the water. That would have been you.

Your tale gives lots of useful insight and an opportunity to consider how to be best prepared for the unexpected. My wife, kids and self wear PFD's whenever we're underway. I'm about to rig the main for reefing at two different levels. I'm replacing the shock cord sail ties with 1 1/2" webbing with clips that can be installed quickly and tighten without having to unfasten them. I agree, mostly, about keeping portholes closed. We will probably sail with portholes closed, but keep the two hatches open if we need ventilation. They are higher on the cabin top than the portholes, catch more air, and there are only two of them so they could be closed quickly.

I'm a novice skipper, so I'd be glad for any advice folks can offer based on your experience.

Thanks for posting.

 

[kenn]

Get a weather radio.

My wife and I recall in great detail the day we knew that a front was imminent, and we were racing back to the club, and just as a cloudburst hit us, weather radio broke in with a storm alert. Um, no sh!t, Sherlock... :cussing:

so... weatherradios - sometimes useful, sometimes not.

we have sailing knives in pouches on our PFDs, and pray we never need them.

 

[Scott T-Bird]

Matt, thanks for that post ...

I can imagine how shocking it would be to be faced with that situation when all is calm in advance. We were anchored well into the evening last Friday night after the fireworks display was over. In northern NJ, there wasn't even a hint of this storm.

You didn't mention if you had a sail cover for your main sail or not. When I tie my sail to the boom, I use three very flimsy shock cord ties. I don't worry about this when the sail cover is on. I've never been in a situation when I had to worry about holding down the sail in a blow without the cover on.

For me, it raises the question ... do most sailors secure the mainsail with substantial sail ties in addition to the sail cover when out in the open or is it enough to rely on the cover? We've talked about removing all sails when boats are at the mooring or dock when severe storm conditions are predicted and imminent. Obviously, the consideration is that the covered sail adds windage.

In this situation, is the cover just an added burden, or would it have secured the sail?

 

[Ross]

Re: Matt, thanks for that post ...

When I furl my sails I tie them at two foot intervals with a round turn and a slipped reef knot in one inch wide woven webbing. I have a boom gallows and pull the main sheet tight. I have a hank on jib and I lash it to the rail and lash the halyard shackle to the rail. I pull the sheets back to the winch on the same side as the sail. I don't put the cover back on the sails until I am back in my slip and leaving the boat.

 

[BobM]

I hope your Wife will get back on the boat again...for your sake. If that happened to mine I don't think I could. Cutting the sail was absolutely necessary and your shouldn't give it a second thought. With the rudder gone it is a miracle you came out of it as well as you did. Your story is a reminder to me that I need to roust out my ground tackle, check it and restow it. Just because I have never used it is not excuse to not have it ready in an emergency. Stuff happens...roller furler lines overwrap and jam...engines suddenly take the day off...

I was working on my boat on the hard two years ago and literally watches a squall line cross the harbor like a freight train. I could literally see it coming. I had about two minutes to close up the companionway when it hit. Then the boat started rocking on the stands so hard I figured it might actually fall over. So I bailed out of the boat.

I need to learn more about the weather too. I got too used to the weather approaching from the west. Yesterday the wind was from the east...I was still watching the west purely out of habit! We had a nasty t-storm about ten miles north of Boston that rivaled the fireworks show in Winthrop Harbor.

 

[McZube]

we have sailing knives in pouches on our PFDs, and pray we never need them.

I'll add that one to our list of preparations.

 

[mark_swart]

As others have said, none of us were there, but you did ask for opinions. Not faulting you but I would have had a REAL hard time cutting at $1K + mainsail. I think I'd rather deal with a grounding (on my end of the Chesapeake at least). If nothing else I might have just let it flog, at least then there might have been a shot of having something that could be repaired.
Regardless, you thought on your feet and you and your crew came out safe.
Now you'll have to do some research on how rare that weather condition is so that you can talk your wife into sailing again !!

 

[Ross]

The sail can be patched and repaired. It seemed like a good idea at the time.

 

[AtlanticAl]

We have a sloop-rigged Grampian 26 keelboat that we've been restoring and sailing for the past 3 years.

Last night, we were sailing south from the North East River down the upper Chesapeake Bay in very light winds with the mainsail and a hank-on 140 genoa. Just before midnight, the wind died out altogether. Heavy fog set in. Because we were approaching the shipping channel for the C&D Canal and wanted to keep steerage, we dropped the sails and started the outboard motor. The headsail went into a bag snapped around the forestay and the mainsail was rolled on top of the boom and tied down with 4 lengths of 3/8" line held with reefing knots.

We checked weather predictions again and saw that the wind wasn't expected to pick up until the next day. Although we had planned an overnight sail, given the heavy fog and lack of wind, we decided to go up the Sassafras River to spend the night near Lloyd's Creek. Shortly after entering the mouth of the Sassafras, we saw what looked like "heat" lightning off in the distance. Within minutes, the lightning was flashing all around us and above us in the upper atmosphere without touching down. The barometer held steady and the water was still, as we motored at approximately 2 knots.

Then the boat was hit by what I can only describe as a wall of wind from the stern that heeled us over and spun us to starboard. Even with no sail up we were heeled to 20 degrees so suddenly that I crashed knee-first into the other side of the cockpit. My gut reaction was to steer into the wind. Water that had been flat moments before sent cresting waves crashing over the bow. My wife went below to close the portlights and get our PFDs. Sudden driving rain limited visibility to about 3 feet past the bow, though I could see an illuminated channel marker some distance ahead as we were faced west into the wind but being driven east up the river while I tried to steer us out of the channel, which ran quite close to the lee shore. Within 5 minutes of the first gust hitting us, another gust hit us, spinning us back to port. Wind caught in the folds of the main sail, blowing open one and then two sail ties, creating a parachute of sail in the middle of the boom.

We were instantly heeled so far to port that I was standing on the side of the cockpit bench while fastening my PFD. My wife took the helm and I pulled myself forward to fasten the sail, using the first handy line (the tail of the main halyard) to lash it to the boom. Within moments of my return to relieve my screaming wife in the cockpit, part of the sail blew open again in another gust, this time heeling us so far that the port side toerail was below the water while waves crashed over the cabin house roof. The outboard prop was out of the water and we shut the motor off.

I went to the mast again, but could not pull the sail to the boom given the wind conditions. At one point, I was hanging on to the boom to keep from going over. We had lost sight of all channel markers and knew nothing of our location except that the depth had gone from 15 ft to 7 ft and I feared we'd soon run aground. In desperation, I slashed the sail along the boom and near the mast to cut it free.

Once the sail was off, the boat partially righted, though were still unable to steer. We went aground on shoals and were knocked off into deeper water. Now that I thought I'd be able to stay on the forward deck, I went to the bow and dropped our main anchor. Our wooden dinghy, tied to the stern, had been swamped and flipped. Though it still floated due to the flotation I'd built into it, it was catching the moving water like a scoop and keeping the bigger boat from turning into the wind. Unable to pull it from the water, I set it free.

We dropped a second anchor off of the bow and then rode out the remainder of the storm down below while listening to another nearby boat calling the Coast Guard for help on the VHF radio. Though it felt like a lifetime, only 30 minutes had passed since the first gust hit.

When the sun came up, we realized we were no more than 100 feet from a shore and had blown more than 2 miles up river during the storm before setting our anchors. We learned this morning that boats at a nearby yacht club dragged their permanent moorings hundreds of yards in the storm and that gusts were measured at up to 80 mph. We did not recover our dinghy.

I certainly know now to lash the sail more tightly to the boom before a storm hits, even when dropping it in light air conditions. Aside from sharing that lesson, I'd like to hear advice from other sailors about what we should or could have done differently during the storm to avoid having to cut the mainsail off. Has this ever happened to anybody else?

The attached photos were taken while we were assessing the damage and then sailing home with a jib this morning.

I think you did the right thing. I had a Grampian, exact same as the boat you had, and it was a strudy boat, long keel, they have crossed oceans, very strongly built, and very solid. I am a great fan of them. For that boat to behave like that, you must have been in winds that were extreme. I loved the grampian, cockpit was a bit of confussion, as you had the main sheet half way into the cockpitt, so it restricted the space, then you had the cooler accessed from the cockpitt, which i didnt like, but everything else about the boat was great, they were strong, well built, big keel, fast. I would trade what i have right now for a grampian any day.


I think if you had been in another 26 foot boat, you might have not had such good luck, those boats will last, they can take that weather, and not fall down. I would have done the same thing, but i would have probaby trusted the boat a bit more before doing it.

Its an excellent boat, can take that boat anywhere. Your biggest problem was you were very close to land, had you been out at sea, you would be ok.

 

[BobM]

No it can't...

The sail can be patched and repaired. It seemed like a good idea at the time.

...quiet Ross...at least the poor Guy can get a new main out of this after that experience!

 

[Terry in Naples]

cutting the sail off

Pretty drastic solution considering it was already down and just untied. Not something I would applaud.

 

[Ross]

Pretty drastic solution considering it was already down and just untied. Not something I would applaud.

We weren't there!!!