got a nasty surprise yesterday

[SycloneDriver]

Yesterday I invited some fiends to go sailing. When we arrive at the marina one of my dock neighbors tells me that we have had some nasty weather and many boats lost dock lines and that his boat lost its backstay. Wow, really?

I go to my boat and discover that the topping lift has failed near the top of the mast. I think someone snugged up my main sheet to prevent the boom from swinging anymore. The topping lift line was only 3 years old. It took a lot of force to break that line or it was slowly cut by something sharp at the top of the mast. Also one of my secondary dock lines was broke.

I checked on a friends boat and sure enough he had a dock line that had failed, turns out two lines failed and someone tied new loops in them and put them back on. These lines were not very old. I replaced one of the lines with a spare from my boat.

An S2 was demasted. How did this happen? All I can figure is that we had lots of waves in the marina causing the boom to swing with such force that the backstay failed. I would not have thought that was even possible.

Now I have to figure out how to replace the topping lift. I'm not sure my friend David wants to go that high, I sure don't! It might be time to call my insurance agent.

We went sailing anyway using the lazyjack as a topping lift.

 

[dlochner]

It always hurts to see a boat damaged in a marina. I've had more than enough damage done during storms while "securely" tied to the dock. Blown out chocks, busted ducklings, gelcoat repairs, bent stanchions. Ugh.

The topping lift shouldn't be a big issue. It is not necessary for sail trim, its main function is to keep the boom from falling in to the cockpit at the dock. For short term (or permanent) fix, use the main halyard. Run it back to the aft end of the boom and clip it on. Then raise the halyard to get the boom out of the way.

Floating docks can be a challenge in a storm. The boat and dock are often moving in different directions which exerts a lot of force on the dock lines. The constant stretching and easing builds up heat internally and the lines start to weaken, melt and fail. If chafe protection is used, it should allow water to get to the line to help cool it. Old garden hose and the like are poor chafe protectors because they allow heat to build up in the line and prevent water from cooling it.

On the S2 one of several things might have happened. If the rig is not tuned properly it can pump, going fore and aft or side to side. This can stress fittings causing them to fail. Something as simple as a cotter pin can allow the clevis to come out and down the mast comes. If the boat had roller furling, there is a lot of weight on the forestay. If the forestay is slack, it will swing back and forth eventually breaking a fitting. The rigging on a mast is a system, if one part fails the other parts can fail quickly.

Unless the marina charges and an arm and leg to unstep the mast or send a rigger up to replace the topping lift, your insurance probably won't cover much of the cost, depending on what your deductible is.

 

[justsomeguy]

Tornado alley?

 

[SycloneDriver]

My marina doesn't do any boat maintenance. I will have to find someone willing to go up the mast, I can work at about 20 feet max. I'm also to heavy (fat) to haul up the mast.

Here is a pix of the S2 I think it's a 29 footer.

 

[SycloneDriver]

Tornado alley = yes!

 

[Whatfiero1]

285 find a nice beach possible wait till spring and pull boat over to repair

 

[JamesG161]

We have had two of these in 3 years and both near ripped off the bimini.
For pictures of the water spout track...
https://forums.sailboatowners.com/index.php?threads/water-spout-track.177335/

Tornadic winds don't have to touch down to cause damage.
Jim...

 

[cb32863]

Lose the topping lift and get a boom kicker. Damn, that's some crazy weather.

http://www.boomkicker.com

 

[shemandr]

One of the worst nights I've spent on a boat was at a floating dock. The dock was in the town docks in New London and there was a strong southerly wind coming up the Thames River. This set up waves athwartship. The floating dock and our boat were in phase, the floating dock causing our boat to act like it was at the end of a whip. When the lines snapped up it was possible to get thrown out of your bunk - and several of us were several times. None of us could sleep and there was some tension about what would happen if any of our lines parted. It was going to be ugly for sure. None of us slept much. The wind quit about 4 am and just about the time I fell asleep the train whistles started for the morning commute to points West. Ugh. A beautiful dawn and with our bleary eyes we started a regatta. It was a brutal drifter. Such is the nature of sailboat racing. Sitting here in January I'm missing the experience. Sick.

 

[SycloneDriver]

I'm almost positive that it was the wave action that did the damage. I leave my bimini up year round and its fine. We are at the end of a long skinny cove and if the winds are right we can get some serious waves in the marina.

A nice beach is going to be hard to find on Grand Lake and I don't see how that will help. The boat would still be in 4ft of water and my tools and truck would be hours away. I have a friend that might be willing to help me. He did help with the installation of the lazy jacks and he helped reinstall a main halyard on another boat. I just hate to ask him.

 

[SycloneDriver]

About the boom kicker. I thought about that, I had one on my last boat and I really liked it. I'm giving it some serious consideration but a 75ft of line is a lot cheaper if can get it installed cheaply. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[shemandr]

Yeah, it might be time for a rigid vang.

 

[dlochner]

Lose the topping lift and get a boom kicker. Damn, that's some crazy weather.

http://www.boomkicker.com

If the topping lift broke at the masthead and the remains are not causing any problems, go with a boom kicker. A much better solution than a topping lift.

It will be interesting and instructive to see what broke on the dismasted S2. A reminder to everyone to check their rigging!

 

[SycloneDriver]

I just priced a boomkicker and I'm pleasantly surprised. Looks like I might be adding one soon.

 

[dlochner]

I just priced a boomkicker and I'm pleasantly surprised. Looks like I might be adding one soon.

There is a HUGE cost difference between a rigid vang and a boom kicker.

 

[NotCook]

some tension about what would happen if any of our lines parted.

Not just the lines. We popped a cleat right out of the concrete pier during a storm on Lake Erie. Sounded like a shotgun blast .

After IrMaria, here in the Virgin Islands, we found the damage in this photo on the boat next to us:

That damage was done against our side, BELOW THE WATERLINE! It’s gunwale was hitting below our waterline. They say the winds was so strong that the boats in the marina were laying over on their sides, with the masts nearly horizontal. We displace nearly 40 tons, and it was doing that with bare poles. They were reporting winds over 225mph, and up in the BVIs, there were reports of 275+. I believe we were seeing tornadic action along the coastlines during the hurricanes. We had 19 lines on the boat, plus 2 anchors Across the fairway with the 5/8” chains stretched tight to keep us off the dock. Several cleats in the marina were pulled out of the concrete, and even more that just broke off. The boat pictured above had single stern lines, the far one of which parted. Storms are indeed a bitch.

 

[Meriachee]

I just priced a boomkicker and I'm pleasantly surprised. Looks like I might be adding one soon.

Have a look at the rigid versions from Garhauer. You might be even more surprised. We got the smallest one for the 270 and never looked back.

 

[DArcy]

We had a nasty storm a year and a half ago with a fair bit of damage. One boat was sunk while sailing, several dock pods were moved, mine about 20 feet which broke my power cord. My boat and the C&C115 I race on both had bent stantions from being blown over into the dock. There was one mast broken (probably upper shroud failure)

And a couple of boats on the hard were blown over.

We don't get winds like that too often, although there was a tornado a couple kilometers away last summer so it seems to be more frequent than in the past.

 

[SycloneDriver]

I had a rigid boom vang on my last boat and loved it. It looked like it cost a small fortune, I assumed that it did. I'll check it out.

 

[SycloneDriver]

A Garhauer rigid vang for my boat is almost $600 according to GarhauerMatine.com. That's a little more than I want to spend, I might have to call them just to make sure.