Cutting a sail free in a surprise squall

[Deadhead]

Here at Georgetown Yacht Basin the storm came up incredibly fast. I awoke to use the head and saw the lightning through the shade on the portlight. I went topsides and grabbed a couple of towels that were drying from the bimini frame and by the time I got back below the wind struck. With a vengeance. Other than the lightning I don't think there was much warning. The storm was moving east at 35 mph.

I rode out the hurricane aboard last summer and this derecho blew it away (pun intended). The rain was pretty minimal compared with the lightning & wind. There were 3' waves breaking over the transoms of the power boats under the shed roof. Lightning continued for an hour or so. Looking at the Accuweather radar images at the time the center of the storm was pink. It doesn't get more severe than that.

I walked the docks at 0500 shortly after first light yesterday. MattObjects is spot as far as boats dragging their moorings. Also had several headsails blown into shreds and numerous biminis knarled into pretzels.

GYB got power back late afternoon yesterday. The marinas across the river this morning at 0400.

 

[Bad Obsession]

Night sailing in the Cheasapeake during the summer can be right dangerous. NOAA forecasts are not the best. Sometimes the warnings aren't quick enough to avoid storms. I keep a watch on the radar by my phone.

These storms were particularly bad. They were the worst non-hurrican damage in Virgina's history. Not much you can do in these situations but pray and hold on for dear life.

 

[MeGeek]

You did good
Same storm here at my house created a heck of a mess ... some still with out power from downed trees.
A good smart phone with a weather map like weather channels radar would have shown the storm was a 100 mile long line of strong storms .... that equals a storm with incredible winds along its face.

 

[RobertLangdirect]

It sounds like you did all you could do to control the danger and minimize your loss.

Fortunate for Quantico and western-shore Potomac River marinas, we were sheltered, for the most part. I was at home watching two guys on Enduro-like motorcycles, "pole vaulting" them over a 47-foot high bar, when I noticed my patio door glass was flexing like a good sci-fi special affect.

As I slid the door open I heard the first of 30 minutes of BOOM, thud, crash ... and ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ noises. The same storm you experienced had, for us, ripped eight-inch limbs off the Sweetgum and Sycamore trees (the boom), dropped them on the surrounding structures (the thud), and eventually onto the ground (with a crash).

But every now and then a branch would hang up on the power lines. Then, the transformers would sing out like the Martian ships in the recent remake "War of the Worlds," as they turned once green branches into ten-foot-long ersatz incandescent lights.

As I noted earlier, I believe you did all you could do to control the danger and minimize your loss. I admire you for that. At home, we could do nothing more than hunker down in the basement and hope the house was intact when the winds left.

 

[draymond]

Once we were hit in the Chesapeake like that and as the wall of rain and wind was coming towards us, I motored into the wind and headed to try to hide behind the lee of the windward shore and was able to get close and just maintain my position by motoring into the wind. I chartered a 35 Island Packet and had a tough time keeping her into the wind. When hail filled the cockpit, my feet got cold! All the wind instruments at the top of the mast were damaged. Those Chesapeake storms are unbelievable. The second time, same kind of boat, I was at anchor so I started the engine and put the transmission in forward with low throttle which I believe took some pressure off the anchor while the storm came roaring through.

 

[Ghaegele]

I heard this storm was classified as a "down burst," which was described as dumping a bucket of water from overhead. When the flow hits the ground it spreads out at amazing speeds. A flapping sail in those conditions can be deadly, and trying to tie it down can be impossible. We all know that cutting a good sail loose is an act of desperation that can only testify to the situation you faced. Thanks for the account. We will all tie our mainsails tighter and snug-up our roller-furled or tied down jibs.

Sailing is the act of collecting knowledge through the lessons of nature.

 

[RalphB]

Under the circumstances you did what you had to do to protect you and your crew. I always sail with a serrated rigging knife close at hand in the event I have to cut something free, and ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS keep your PFD's and emergency gear stash close at hand.

 

[Chris Nowell]

It's so easy to sit in our comfy chairs with our morning tea and spout off about what you should have done or we would have done. I'd say you handled the whole situation in a very seaman like manner. At least you weren't the one on the radio with the "pan pan" or "mayday". What else can you do? Aside from keeping a watchful eye on the barometer and the horizons I suppose we could ALWAYS assume storm conditions when we douse sail and prepare accordingly. The anchors might have been deployed earlier but whatever it was you did saved ship and life. And the most difficult part of situations like yours is when the spouse is freaked and screaming as well. Very well done, my hat's off to you.

 

[MattObjects]

i would have loosen the main sheet and let it trash

On our boat, the aft end of the boom is clipped to a short wire line hanging from a split backstay in lieu of a seperate topping lift. That wire line only lets the boom travel about 12" to port or starboard. Because there was no way I would have been able to unclip the aft end of the boom in those conditions, loosening the main sheet would not have freed the sail to thrash.

 

[Bill154]

Had you been listening to NOAA weather on your VHF you would have had an early warning of the pending weather. Watching these storms from W VA and they crossed the mountains with little effect on them I knew we were in for a good blow. NOAA always sends out a warning for boater to find safe harbor in plenty of time.

 

[whatever]

we saw what looked like "heat" lightning off in the distance

Just an intersting tidbit about that phrase..we listen to a meteorologist out of Tampa, He is right on predictions when even the National Hurricane center gets it wrong, we trust him!! anyway we have always heard that term and used it ourselves, but Mr. Delgado educated me the other night by saying ther is no such thing as heat lightning, it is the reflection of lightning on lower clouds from a distant thunderstorm. My two cents worth..

IMHO you did GREAT!!!

 

[Dan Johnson]

Hey Rich...

Was at WCM Friday night on my friend's cat, tied up at the northern most T-head, facing south. At about quarter to twelve, it was less than five minutes before the first rumble and the begining of the wind blaster. While tightening up dock lines was nearly blown off the boat by the first really strong blast. Had to be over 60-70 MPH and blew more northward up the creek rather than across the peninsula.

No damage sustained. One club member anchored off Ordinary Point was blown most of the way up to Georgetown while dragging anchor.

Incredible lightning show that kept us up to well past 1am. With no power reported from Betterton to Rock Hall Saturday morning, we left and returned to North East. I found my boat had frayed the furler line, opened the headsail, parted the starboard dock line and was rubbing cheeks with the boat in the next slip and beating on the dock at the stern before one of my dock neighbors could reign it in. Ah, insurance!

 

[letterman]

Got a chuckle out of some of these. I saw a durecho cross Lake Erie in '69. Twas bright and sunny and calm on one side...and hell on the other. Bout the only thing that would work is weather radio and or cell phone that can get radar (or radar if your boat is big enough.) This storm went from Toledo Ohio to the coast, a distance of several hundred feet, at 70 MPH. Good luck guessing that! Best advice? I always use any l;ine, like the excess sheet, to wrap around the boom. You did good...to survive.

 

[Cwoody]

I was not on our boat for this storm but I had been watching it cross the country all afternoon. Weather channel was showing extreme damage in Ohio around 5pm and DC area was being warned that it would hit around 10pm which it did. Storm streached from Harrisburg, PA to Harrisonburg, VA. We saw the "heat" lighting as well about 10 minutes before the storm blew in with a 50-60 mph gust. Power went out at 10:15 Friday night and just came back on. What a mess!

 

[Windependent]

I own property near the Still Pond Coast Guard Station. That was a VERY violent storm. Trees were down all around...and every house but mine on the water had a tree/trees fall on it. My neighbor has FORTY trees down on his 2 and a half acre lot. There is still no power there, and my driveway is covered in fallen trees. I have not been over to see all the damage yet, but a neighbor has given me a report.
You are lucky you did as well as you did. If you sail...things happen. My late husband and I sailed all of our lives and plenty happened....you just have to deal with it as best you can........and always try to be prepared. Jo Ann

 

[Kermit]

And the most difficult part of situations like yours is when the spouse is freaked and screaming as well.

Amen, Brother.

 

[Ken Honeycutt]

Some of the same hit Chicago:

"Chicago police and firefighters rescued more than 60 people, including children, whose kayaks capsized when high winds hit the North Branch of the Chicago River during this afternoon's storms.
The police Marine Unit and Fire Department divers were called to the river near Chicago Avenue about 12:50 p.m. and eventually helped 62 people from the water. No one was injured seriously enough to require hospitalization, but two kayak tour companies were issued municipal citations after allowing people onto the river despite weather advisories."

One of our club members was out on a 22' Catalina..needless to say he was pretty shaken up when he got back to the dock. Said it was the first time he had ever gone backwards with his outboard at WOT.

 

[Ken]

surprising weather

I was not going to post this and didn't earlier, but little more than two weeks ago I suffered something near to what you did on KY Lake. The difference was I was only in 50 mph winds.

Now to the story; I was and had been listening to NOAA weather it had been on all day, as well as a local radio station that was continually giving weather reports. There reports were very close, light rain after dark with occasional lightning. With everything coming from the south. I chose a cove that would offer protection from all sides but the north. Yes there were plenty of coves on the north shore but why would I want to be there?
I'd finished coming into the cove under motor and main sail a very gentle rain began to fall with little or no wind. Anchor was dropped then set, I was just about to drop and secure the main when all hell broke loose! No warning what so ever, and from the north!! The boat was violently slung around, so violently that it ripped the Bimini off. I along with with the bimini were tossed off I was then covered with the mainsail. Yeah boat was completely knocked down and being held there,

Things were tossed off the boat with ease, everything inside was dumped to the starboard side, every port hold was emptied. I swam into the cockpit released the main sheet letting the boat right itself. The main was then dropped and gathered, (the difference between 50 and 80 mph winds I'm thinking) Being in this cove was the worse place I could be as the gust came they couldn't get out easily so they swirled, causing the boat to spin like a top. I could only hope the anchor held, it was set for any wind to come from the south. With the main secured it was safest for me to go below and ride it out being on the boat was the definitely the most dangerous place.

Rain was horizontal most of the things inside the boat was wet. The dinghy was flying though the air like a kite, oars were ripped off with ease though they had ring dings holding them in the sockets. Later after it had passed I retrieved the oars more than three feet up on shore the SS ring dings were straightened and flattened like they were made of copper.

I posted this because even listening to weather reports sometimes mean nothing. There was absolutely no reports of this cell from either of the weather stations I'd been monitoring all day. It lasted more than an hour wave after wave of high wind gusts. Oh they had plenty to say after the fact...

I think you did great! you saved the most important things your wife and yourself.... Boats and parts can be replaced...

 

[MattObjects]

Had you been listening to NOAA weather on your VHF you would have had an early warning of the pending weather.

We had the VHF tuned to channel 16. In my experience, the Coast Guard typically announces weather advisories on channel 16 and we can then tune to the weather station to hear the detailed advisories. We did not hear any such announcements on channel 16 prior to this storm. I do not know if we would have had more warning from listening directly to the weather station but with calm water, little wind, and the clear overnight forecast we'd heard earlier in the evening, we had no reason to leave the VHF tuned to the weather station instead of channel 16.

Friends who were home that night told us afterward that they had seen the storm advancing on the radar images on their iphones. If we had been at home, we would have been able to see the radar images on our phones as well-- unfortunately, cell/data coverage is much less reliable out on the water, which is why we didn't receive a warning a friend sent by text message until hours after the storm had passed.

The ultimate lesson for us is that storms sometimes hit without warning or without adequate warning, so we always need to be prepared. If our mainsail had been lashed to the boom every 6-8", we still would have had a rough ride but I think we would have kept the sail and gotten the anchors down sooner. In the future, we will also keep our PFDs on if we are sailing after dark, which is probably a good idea even in the absence of a surprise storm.

Thank you all for the great advice and support. I am still so grateful we made it through.

 

[SVCarolena]

If we had been at home, we would have been able to see the radar images on our phones as well-- unfortunately, cell/data coverage is much less reliable out on the water, which is why we didn't receive a warning a friend sent by text message until hours after the storm had passed.
quote]

Maybe or maybe not - we live in DC, so the front hit us first. Cell networks were down all over the area. when I went to check on the boat Saturday, which is about 20 miles south of us, cell service was still spotty. It took three tries of "all circuits busy" before I was able to call my wife. And for what it is worth, I agree that even the best forecasts sometimes don't help. We and friends were hit by what we believe was a microburst last 4th of July weekend. Both boat wound up washed onto shore, with lots of repairs after the fact, although everyone was professional and came through fine. I had checked radar on my phone and listened to the NOAA forecase less than 30 mins before it hit, and there was nothing to suggest anything was coming. Summer here in the mid-Atlantic can be very unpredictable. You did everything right and should be proud of yourselves. As for us, since that experience, we are less likely to anchor out this time of year. I always tell friends from outside the area that we have two great sailing seasons here, spring and fall. WInter is cold, and summer is too hot and humid with too many storms. Anyway, at least you have a great story now and I'm sure you learned alot and are probably even more confident in your boat having come through it in relatively good shape.