In case of Hurricane....

[NYSail]

Where is the best place for a sail boat under the following three choices. First of I have a Pearson 36-2.....16,000lb dispalcement. 1) a slip that is wide enough to keep the boat about 3 feet away and centered between pilings, 2) a 450 lb mooring in a well protected but crowded harbor (Mt. Sinai, Long Island, NY) or 3) have the boat pulled and put on hard.

Thanks for the opinions!!

 

[RichH]

Check with your insurance carrier ....

BoatUS prefers to have the boat on the hard ... and will pay 1/2 of the haul charges for 'named' storms.

 

[sailaway78]

Given those choices

Of the three choices you listed, I would have to say put it on the hard. When Katrina hit here, we had a twenty foot surge, and all the floating docks in the area went over the pilings. All boats in the marina ended up in a big pile in one corner. If the docks aren't floating, you would have to leave so much slack in your dock lines as to end up on a dock before it was all over. And I don't think a 450# mooring would do much good with a 16,000# boat in a major storm.

 

[Maine Sail]

On the hard is my vote..

but with the stick DOWN... Don't do docks they can do this...

 

[Maine Sail]

On the hard is my vote..

but with the stick DOWN... Don't do docks they can do this...

 

[kloudie1]

In Case Of Hurricane

I agree, the hard is where they are the least likely to get damaged. BUT, the hard must be above the expected water rise which, in our area of South Louisiana, is pretty tough to find. They also should not be left on poppets but rather laid carefully on one side. I saw this applied successfully in Corpus Christi back in the early 70’s. My boat is about 20 miles west of the marina that Nice N Easy is referencing.. Boat stayed in slip on a bayou for Katrina, but I fully expected that it would be gone when I returned. After much careful pre-storm line tying, the only damage I had was loss of the upper port lifeline where the boat had gone considerably above the tall pilings and hooked the lifeline on the way back down. I was very lucky!

 

[Sailm8]

There are too many variables

I've been through Charley, Ivan, Frances etc here in SW florida. Charley was a direct hit. All of the boats in my canal rode out the storm in their slips and would have all survived if but for one boat that was poorly prepared. It broke loose and made 2 laps of our canal sinking one boat after the other. It did not have a pair of hurricane anchors augered behind the seawall. My boat survived with minimal damage beacuse it was a few feet shorter than the boat next to me when it went by.

We had no surge so that was not an issue but boy did we have wind. On the hard is not enough if there is no way to auger 48 inches and anchor. The wind is unbelievable and very persistant. Who has time to do this? You need to remember that you have other responsiblities beside waiting in line to be hauled.

You do your best with what you have and hope for the best. I would also check the other guys boat and see if he might need some help.

Just my experience

 

[Norton]

Try thiis link

Some articles from a marine surveyor who has seen a lot of Hurricane damaged boats:
http://www.yachtsurvey.com/hurricane_preparation.htm

 

[sailaway78]

Good comments

Lots of good thoughts and ideas so far. But there is no definitive answer that will suit all situations. If you can't get your boat above a tidal surge, being on the hard isn't going to do you much good. In the canals where I live, most anchored their boats in the center of the canal. Tied off to whatever they could find. I anchored mine on one side, and tied to my dock on the other. With enough slack, I thought, to cover any surge. The aft dock lines went over the pilings, allowing the boat to swing around. Luckily there was minimal damnage. The only other boats in my immediate area the suffered were the ones that were just tied to the dock. One sunk and one ended up in the yard. Right around the corner at the marina, the docks floated over the pilings and all were damaged or destroyed. I think your response to a storm will vary, depending on your individual area and circumstances. But no matter what you do, do it in excess. Make sure you have chafe gear that works, and lines that are much stronger than you think will be needed. Consider the impossible to be very possible. The power of mamma nature is awsome.

 

[tommays]

To much time

Most of the places near Northport have to step the masts to move the boats to remote storage areas ,making it take many weeks to haul the fleet

 

[CalebD]

The last hurricane to hit LI was Gloria

Of course Bob took a swipe at eastern LI after that but Gloria seemed to pass right over LI IIRC (there was also Ernesto but that was a tropical storm). I watched Gloria on Hempstead Harbor and the waves coming in from the Sound looked like the ocean after the center had passed and we got some stiff northerly winds. There was a lot of impact on land with trees and branches coming down. Later I drove out to East Hampton where the effects were much worse.
By the time a hurricane gets up here it is usually moving quite fast (60 mph) which is good news in that it will pass by quicker and probably minimize the storm surge effect. The bad news is that the dangerous side of has even stronger winds (eg., NE quadrant).
As Tommays suggests few of the boatyards/marinas up here are equipped to pull out a large number of boats in a day or so. I would buy extra chafing gear to have on hand just in case you can't get your boat hauled. Take off all canvas and sails before anything gets near.
Ernesto kind of stalled over our region and we had strong 40+ kt easterly winds for over 24 hours which really caused some havoc on the Sound's normal tides. Gloria was over and done with in half a day. Our boat survived Ernesto on a mooring in the Hudson with a 3 mile fetch. We needed new chafing gear after that one.
I think it is much worse for the folks down in FL and on the Gulf as these powerful storms are usually moving much slower than they do once they arrive in our neck of the woods. Since they are moving slower they have more time to build up the tidal surge and dump many inches of rain before the worst is over.
That you are thinking about this now is good.

 

[Ariel]

Hurricane Preparation

Greg,

See this link.