battening-down for Hurricane Isabel

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elizabeth white

We have a 22' in a slip in Selby Bay (across the South River from the south side of Annapolis). With Hurricane Isabel scheduled to make landfall somewhere between North Carolina & New Jersey on Thursday, what is the safest place for the boat--in the slip with a boathouse to port and another boat to starboard, or on its trailer? Should we take down the mast?--I presume it depends upon how much wind is predicted. Anything else we should do to weather the storm? Thanx....
 
J

Joseph Washburn

battening down

I prefer to put the boat on its trailer with the mast down. While I do not have experience keeping the boat in the water during a hurricane, it seems there are too many variables involved. We have gone through three previous hurricanes and several tropical storms with no damage. I usually park the trailer in a field clear of any trees and secure the mast and roller furling headsail with rope and duct tape. So far no problem except some water blowing into the interior. Looks like those of us in Wilmington, NC might have doged the bullet this time. Hope things don't get too bad up your way. Good luck.
 
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Herb

we do not have Hurricane but we have wind

My worry when it blows around here (80 to 100 mph) that the boat will be lifted with the trailer and rolled. I would take the mast down and secure that to the boat well and look to put some anchor points down around the boat like concrete pads with eyes and then secure the boat to them by running lines over the top of the entire boat and trailer and then back down to a tie down on the other side much like you see in small plane airports they tie the plane to the airstrip. Again I would try to be away from everything else to protect from having a tree fal on it also. good luck Herb
 
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Rick

What to do?

I was going to post a question to those sailors who are finding out that their sailboats are in the path of hurricane Isabel. Exactly what is a sailor to do under those circumstances? Should one leave the boat tied up at the marina with triple dock lines? Or maybe take the boat to a few miles inland through a river or channel and tie up there? For the fortunate sailors who own a trailer, should the boat be taken on its trailer to a safe place? I was thinking that one could take the boat on a trailer to a warehouse, like U-Store-It and lock it away. Or would it be safer at one’s house in the carport or the leeward side of the house? I do not have a trailer for my boat, and if a hurricane was closing in on my location I would have the choice of: (1) Leaving it at the marina tied up very well and making the sign of the cross over it before I left. (2) Bringing it a few miles inland through a river and tying it up there. What are the options for such a situation? Maybe go down to the marina and see what your neighbors are doing to prepare for a possible tragic end to a fine sailing vessel. Us down on the bayou have also dodged this one. But unfortunately it looks like the east coast will be the recipient of Isabel’s wrath. I hope all goes well for the people involved in this impending crisis. Best wishes and good luck my fellow sailors. 73’ #2113 Rick
 
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Rick

One more thing

For all of us not expecting Isabel’s landfall, here is a link to the Cape Hatteras lighthouse web cam. If Isabel comes ashore during the day we can watch the arrival. http://www.witntv.com/lightcam2.html
 
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Rick

and one more link

Here is a link to other hurricane web cams that may be interesting. http://www.hurricanealley.net/hurricanecam.htm
 
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Steve

My thoughts

While I do not now live in an area where this is a threat, I did live in Corpus Christi, TX for a few years. Putting the boat on the trailer is the last thing I think I would do. It is just going to blow over onto it's side and get damaged that wak. If I were to put it on land, I would put it in some sort of inside storage. The other method that I have heard used (although not personally seen) depends on having the resources. I have heard that somme have dug large holes in the ground enough to set the boat in up to the deck. Theoretically this makes sense but assumes the means to do so and is much more exotic that other methods. If left in the water I would moor it with many lines. Definitely take the mast down and take it home. Leaving it on the boat increases windage and becomes a potential projectile. Hopefully your marina has pilings opposit the dock soide so that you can place lines all around the boat to keep it away from the dock. Good luck to you. Steve
 
D

David Williams

Check the article out on Sailnet.com

There is an interesting article at www.sailnet.com on Hurricane Anchoring. The articles links are on the right side of the home page.
 
A

Aldo

You're not the only one

Elizabeth: Your not the only one watching the hurricane. I actually wrote a response to you last night, but took it back off the forum, to think about it some more. I can't tell you what to do, but I think that I know what I'm going to do now. I did get a call from my marina this afternoon. I keep my boat on Middle River, north of Baltimore. The woman at the marina had a list of things to do if I were to keep my boat in the water. It included having good docklines, removing all canvas from the boat, and any carpeting that was around it. My main concern was storm surge, which she said was predicted to be from 4 to 12 feet. I have seen photos of my boat with the dock submerged during a previous hurricane, but that was probably only a 3 or 4 foot surge. She said that the wind was actually their biggest concern. (A 12 foot surge is my biggest concern). There are several of us who have boats on the bay, including my Manager, so there was plenty of discussion about this issue around where I work today. I have decided to pull my boat out of the water on Wednesday morning and bring it to my house in Harrisburg, PA. As I said, I can't tell you what to do, who knows what will happen? I have been through this many times before over the last 25 years, and never really had a problem. What we did last time a hurricane was suppose to come up the bay was check with the marina where we normally pull our boat out. We asked if we could keep it there on the trailer. They said that it was probably better protected at our regular marina. Our marina is all the way up Middle River, and very protected. So we did leave it in the slip. We put extra lines on the boat and removed the rudder and the sails. It was fine. Your dock lines should be adjusted so that your boat can still rise, but not hit the dock, of course. This will end the season for us, I'm not going to bring the boat back to the bay this season, if we bring it home. This makes me sad, because fall is really my favorite time of the year to sail on the Chesapeake. The temperature is much cooler, and every sail is like a gift. I wish you the best whatever you decide to do. Elizabeth: You should check out Catalina 22 Fleet 10. We were in South River this summer, during on our weeklong cruise. Some of the fleet members actually keep their boats in the South River. It's fun to sail with other 22s, and it's a very nice group of people. Contact me at aa.camacci@comcast.net if your interested, and I send you some photos, or forward your name to some of the leaders of the fleet. Aldo
 
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UnBelizeable

Hauling mine out

Well...looks like it's time to act folks...I'm otw tomorrow to pull mine back to the house. Aldo...I feel your pain!!! I will lose my slip most likely due to this storm. 90 boats are planning on going to the hard. Several others have shared their past dealings with high tides and winds and have highly suggested pulling her out. They are more worried about other boats breaking lose and hitting them. Best of luck to all of you...Pray and prepare...
 
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Garry @ S/V TASHTEGO

Hurricane Prep

My advice to TASHTEGO's new owner was to add spring lines from the winches forward and aft. In addition, switch the mooring lines that run to the dock (the two bow lines and the two forward springs) so that the spliced loop is on the boat and carefully tie off the lines on the dock. At our marina (Herrington Harbor North) the marina staff will adjust lines as long as they don't have to get on the boat so leave the dock ends adjustable. The stern lines and the after springs can be left as is and any need to slacken can be done at the dock. Make sure the lines are long enough to accomodate the expected surge. I lived through hurricane Andrew in Miami and a major cause of damage to boats moored in the marinas was the surge which lifted the boats above the tops of the pilings and then let them pound on the pilings until they were holed. If the storm surge is 12 feet (which I doubt) in Herring Bay virtually all of the boats will be at or above the tops of the pilings! Rig your lines to stay between the pilings and finger piers. One of the maintenance workers at the U of Miami Marine Lab where I worked bought a 36 footer from the insurance adjuster for $50. All he had to do was get it out of the middle of the outbound lanes of the Rickenbacker Causeway!! It had been in dry storage at the marina by the Rusty Pelican and just floated away. It is also a good idea to stuff rags into the engine room ventilators, if you have them, then tape them over with helicopter tape. All other openings should be closed tight. I'd even tape over the ventilation slits in the washboards. Don't leave a stitch of canvas on deck. If you have a Bimini, take it off and take it home. Sails should all be below decks of course. The new TASHTEGO (a Newport 41 fixerupper) is, fortunately, still up on the hard. She just needs to be taped up and all the gear on deck moved below.
 
M

Mike

A few thoughts and a question

Please note that I actually have a question, which appears at the end of the following opinionated rant: I envy Aldo, who apparently owns a trailer. There's no question that the best approach is to move your boat as far inland as possible. However, I don't own a trailer. I had the option to have the marina haul my boat and cradle it somewhere in the yard. I'm electing to keep my boat in its slip. While I imagine there's a wide range of opinions on this issue, I feel that my boat is more likely to suffer severe damage on land as a result of other boats or trees falling on it. I can imagine a heavy old Pearson being blown (or floated in the 12 foot storm surge) off its jackstands and flattening my C-22 like a pancake. My storm prep basically includes (1) removing sails, all topside canvas, the rudder and tiller, the boom and the outboard; (2) securing the battery away from the scupper drains and keel thru-hull (imagine if the battery got loose and hit one of the fiberglass mounds surrounding one of those thru-hulls); (3) replacing all docklines with new, double docklines; (4) adding springlines; (5) securing the anchor below deck; (6) deploying every possible fender; and (7) generally checking to make sure all gear and compartment covers are lashed/secured. This list probably isn't comprehensive, but it's the highlights. One other thing, which is really a general safety item: If you haven't already done so, install something to keep the two lazarette hatches closed. I use a small spring clip that, when clipped to the shackle on the hatch, prevents the hasp from coming open. This is probably a more important precaution for routine sailing, but it could prevent your boat from being swamped in a heavy storm if the hatch were to open and allow the boat to fill with water. And to answer your specific question -- I am not taking my mast down. While it seems like a nice idea, you'll be stuck the problem of what to do with it once it's down. I suppose you could dump it somewhere in your boatyard. Here's my question: What's the best thing to do with the C-22 swing keel if you leave the boat in the water during a hurricane? Keep it up? Put it down (assuming you've got sufficient draft to do so)? If down, how far? Should the lock bolt be tightened (and does the answer differ if the keel is up or down)?
 
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UnBelizeable

Gerry, Hope you Fair Well...

Got mine to the house with no issues. Hope your boat does ok...looks like the storm may slack off.
 
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Aldo

How did eveyone do?

I humbly ask how everyone came through the hurricane, Elizabeth, Joseph, UnBelizeable, Garry, and Mike. My two sons and I sailed our boat on Wednesday for a few hours. It was a beautiful breezy day, and we had a great sail. My son, Danny steered, and got the rub rail into the water, (something he probably wouldn't have been able to do if his mother had been on the boat). We tried to get the weather on the boat's VHF, but the radio wouldn't work. Danny checked the radio while I steered, and determined that it was getting power, and that the fuse to it was OK. This will be the subject of another fourm article, but we couldn't get an up-to-the-minute forecast on the hurricane. So we sailed the boat to Maryland Marina, and unloaded it and took it apart. We usually have it unloaded weeks before we take it home, but this year we had to do it all in the same day. We still had food and drinks and all the little things on the boat from our summer cruise. We did take the boat home, and parked the trailer behind our garage. I didn't think that things would really be as bad as the weather people were predicting. I know TV people like to hype everything, but this evening while watching the news, they showed flooding of Bowley's Quarters, and it didn't look good. This is right at the mouth of Middle River, where it meets the Chesapeake Bay, probably about 2 miles from Maryland Marina, and about 6 miles from our marina. So, I humbly ask how everyone came through Hurricane Isabel, those of you I mentioned above, and others of you on the East Coast. I hope all of your boats are fine. Aldo
 
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Ben

minor damage, but we're ok

Coyote rode it out at the slip, as we hoped for a surge of less than 6-7 feet. Any more than that would have put us above the pilings where real damage could have been done. But we got lucky, the surge seems to have been around 5-6 ft., and our only damage is some scratches to the starboard hull from a nail sticking out of a piling (wish I'd noticed that before). One line came untied, and we snapped a rotten piling, but the other 7 lines held her secure. The docks are damaged, some pilings were pulled out of the mud, and electricity hasn't been restored yet. But it could have been worse, and I learned a lot of lessons that will help me ride out the next storm.
 
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Garry @ S/V TASHTEGO

Herrington Harbor North Damage

We were out of town for Isabel and my new boat was up on the hard so I wasn't worried although I spent a frenzied Wednesday night getting everything below decks that was moveable. We came back on Saturday night to no electricity. Hauled out the generator I bought to get through the aftermath of Andrew in Florida but the power came back on by 5 PM Sunday. We went out to Herrington Harbor Nort on Sunday and there was substantial damage to the piers facing directly our toward the bay. The marina is in an inlet (Tracy's Creek) off an embayment (Herring Bay) shielded by a shallow sand bar (3-5 feet). Nevertheless there was severe damage to the docks due, apparently, being lifted off their pilings by the storm surge which was around 8 feet. Several of the low docks (Docks A-D) were damages and I could see two boats up on the ned of D dock. My old TASHTEGO was not in her slip but the nearby boats were undamaged. We were told that some of the smaller boats were moved up Tracy's Creek to more protected locations. Either that or the new owner was out sailing Sunday which was a beautiful day. We didn't see any really damaged boats but if there were any they had probably been hauled away by Sunday afternoon. The boats moored at the outer ends of the damaged piers were gone and I have no idea how much damage was done to them. Most folks appear to have gotten by with minor or no damage.
 
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UnBelizeable

I brought mine home....She's spanking clean now...

Folks...all I can say is..whew...I WAS on C Dock and pulled her out. The good new is friends from the end put their boat in my old slip and came out OK. I'm thankful I listened to my friends and pulled her out. While the power was out I put my new rigging on and cleaned her up. Only problem now is friggin ANTS. They have found my boat a PERFECT home...NOT...can you say RAID!!! Hope everyone did ok... Aldo..you have no idea how bad I wanted to sail on Tuesday...weather was perfect...had to be smart and get her out. Cap'n Mark.
 
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