2/3rds of us will be "under the dome" this weekend. Heat Warning: What's your plan?

Ward H

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Nov 7, 2011
3,645
Catalina 30 Mk II Barnegat, NJ
With shore heat indexes approaching 110, bay water around 77 and west winds bringing in hot air, I'll be staying home this weekend.
Good time to work on setting up a window AC to use in the forward hatch on the boat.
 
Dec 28, 2015
1,837
Laser, Hunter H30 Cherubini Tacoma
Headed to the lake cabin. If there is wind then I'll rig out the Laser, if not then I'll rig out the floaty.
 
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Aug 3, 2012
2,542
Performance Cruising Telstar 28 302 Watkins Glen
Seneca had zero breeze yesterday, so we motored. We have a 16’ motorboat. While the sailboat is at the dock, we go out in the lake and swim and wakeboard. The lake was flat and calm yesterday. The water was 81. The temperature in town was supposedly around 95. We had a beautiful day! We are headed up there again, as the humidity and temperature are going to make working outside miserable.
92F82FF2-DFDD-4EB2-88E9-A035E16BBC0B.jpeg
 
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dLj

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Mar 23, 2017
3,373
Belliure 41 Sailing back to the Chesapeake
Weather up on Lake Champlain is considered hot for the locals, but it's very nice from my perspective! Temps approaching 90 but with a lovely breeze off the lake and not too humid. My wife had an appointment today in the city and the temps there are a good 10 degrees higher than here!

Lovin' it here!

dj
 
Sep 24, 2018
2,549
O'Day 25 Chicago
Our bodies typically take a few days or weeks to adjust to hot temps. My body clearly isn't adjusted. This past week I experienced heat related symptoms. My heart was racing, breathing became somewhat difficult, my attitude drastically changed and of course everything was much harder to do. I kept hopping in the car to cool off. After the first cool down session I started to get waves of chills and the hairs on my arms were standing on end. I also noticed my sweating decreased. I would only start sweating in direct sunlight. I'm told that a sure sign of heat exhaustion is lack of sweat. I was dehydrated and lacking food. Normally I love to eat but I was so focused on getting the boat in the water that I just kept pushing forward. I had just launched and had my mast stepped. I ran into engine issues and was pushing myself beyond the limits even though I knew I needed to take a break.The marina staff started checking on me and eventually fed me (great bunch of guys). I was blown away after I got some food in me. I had no idea how badly I needed to eat!

I would recommend setting intervals to review how much you've eaten and drank. I wanted to post this so others know some of the symptoms to look for.
 
Sep 25, 2018
258
Catalina Capri 22 Capri EXPO 14.2 1282 Stony Point
Went out to sail in the oven. My jib jammed with a halyard wrapped around it. All was good as the wind kicked up and I reefed the main for the first time. Came back after 2 hours, still OK with heat as the breeze over the cooler water kept me acceptably hot. When I came in to dock, sweated a gallon and began loosing my vision. Left the boat barely tied up and spent 1/2 hour in the marina office Air conditioning. Then to the bathroom to dunk my head in cold water. Everything came back to normal. If needed, a cold shower was next. Went back to un-jam the jib. Could see no physical way the halyard could wrap around the furling jib but finally fixed it and was again soaked in sweat needing another cooling off. Cold beer in a strong breeze worked almost as well as the cold water with incidental benefits. I won't try sailing in that kind of temperatures unless in Florida where it's always inhumanly hot and humid. I just got back from sailing a Expo 14.2 in Boca Ciega Bay in such conditions with no ill effects. Guess the work on a 22 foot boat is a lot more stressful than in a 14 footer.
 
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TomY

Alden Forum Moderator
Jun 22, 2004
2,758
Alden 38' Challenger yawl Rockport Harbor
Interesting posts. I enjoyed getting a better sense of locales and conditions during this short heat wave.

We sailed a large rough circle over 3 days staying at least 10 degrees cooler than the mainland at any given time thanks to the cooling over the ocean water. Winds were light so we always kept a breeze going over the decks that was really pleasant.

Farther up the bay we found warmer sea water temperatures (pushing 70F) on the falling tide and got in the water quite a bit. Following rushing tidal flows over bars with water from our ankles to above our waists was refreshing in the hot sun and high humidity.

It wasn't until we closed on the mainland yesterday that things turned. A forecast West wind came out of nowhere and sent our lunch platter and all the contents clattering onto the cockpit sole. The sudden wind was like a Scirocco with sustained gusts to near 20 knots. But the memorable part was how HOT that dry wind was.

We tucked into our lee home harbor and while protected by a high treed shoreline 200 yards to the West, we listened to the mooring pendant strain under the gusts.

Dripping sweat, I could only flake the sails before the heat on deck was too uncomfortable (I needed shoes to stand still on the fiberglass decks). I normally like the heat. :)

Mary Ann (Celtic blood,...) does NOT like the heat and was in the water as soon as we hooked the mooring. I could only hang my legs in the icy water, but that did the trick. Weighing about the same as a 12 pack with handles on their PFD's, we dipped the dogs to keep them cool.

The shore was registering 93F with a heat index of 103 at this very moment. Not bad, some had it worse. The water, about 60F degrees in our deep harbor on the flow, gives us an advantage now.

Fire and Ice.
Fire and Ice.jpg
 
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Oct 30, 2017
183
Catalina c 27 Lake Pueblo
https://kiowacountypress.net/conten...ses-north-shore-marina-lake-pueblo-state-park


I was supposed to go down to install a new Bimini... kind of glad I missed this one.

Unfortunately now I am awaiting a call back from the marina to see if our boat survived the damage.

Earlier this year the marina had over 100 mph winds during a bomb cyclone. No damage from that one. I have not heard the wind speeds from this one yet.

No news is good news?
 
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