Mid-lake anchor for storm survival?

[kpgraci]

How bad an idea is this?
The TS warning got me to thinking (and after looking at post Katrina pictures of a bunch of really nice sailboats all stacked in a neat pile in one corner of the marina), what would be wrong with taking a sailboat out into the middle of the Lake and setting a couple of anchors and letting it ride out the storm (with no one on board)? I can image the CG may have issues with it, but is this a viable strategy for giving a boat a fighting chance to survive a bad storm?

 

[higgs]

How deep is the middle of the lake?
How big can the waves get in 120 mph of wind?

 

[kpgraci]

How deep is the middle of the lake?
How big can the waves get in 120 mph of wind?

14 feet (not accounting for tidal surge, which could be significant)

No idea, but pretty darn rough I would imagine.

I wonder how the insurance company wouild feel about this.

 

[kloudie1]

Ohhhhh.. not a good idea because of the waves, Ken.. The lake is only about 12-16 feet deep and the waves can get REALLY big.. If the boat didn’t swamp, the lines would most likely chafe through.. Best is to get some wind shelter and a place where there is not much fetch for the waves to build.. For Katrina, a friend of mine who had a 53 foot Hatteras in South Shore Harbor, took her across the lake and tied up in the trees in the Tickfaw River. Made it just fine.. That boat is a sedan and has a lot of sail area because of the cabin and flying bridge. Back in ’78 (?) for Hurricane Frederick in Mobile, my brother took his O’Day 25 up the Dog River and anchored with two anchors and a lot of chafe gear in the middle of a narrow section of river.. Made it with no damage at all, unlike his house.. Took us about 3 hours of winching to retrieve the anchors.. they’d been well set by the storm! For Katrina my boat was in a marina in Mandeville, on Bayou Castine. Good wind shelter and no waves .. only problem was rising water .. It is a challenge to secure a boat in a slip such that it can take an additional 6-8 feet of water.. I got a couple of chips in the gel coat where she leaned on the pilings, and a broken life line from it hanging on top of an 8’ piling as the water came down.. I have seen boats scuttled in the slip at Corpus Christi back in the 70’s to avoid damage.. They’d removed all cushions, and the outboard engines and whatever else could be damaged by water..
Best to get her out of the water and secured in a place with some wind shelter.. I have seen pictures of places in the islands that have a trench for keels; they set the boats on the trench and guy off the mast to successfully secure them from the wind.. but must be high enough to be out of the flood surge.

 

[Winkfish]

Katrina brought about 14 feet of storm surge into the lake. Whether you could survive, I'd imagine, would depend upon the size of the boat. I'd think you'd need some heavy duty anchors and a LOT of rode (with chain).

A friend of mine whom I bareboated with recently does a lot of deliveries and other passages, including across the Atlantic. One trick he had learned and told me about when in a storm is to trail a lot of lines from the bow (a lot of people trail them from the stern) to help keep the boat head to wind. Use two sea anchors if you have them trailing from the bow. He found out that trailing the stuff from the bow kept the boat head to wind than trailing them from the stern, as he had learned.

I don't plan to try out his theories!!

 

[kpgraci]

OK. In my case I can put it on a trailer (but my wife is not to keen on having a 22 foot projectile in the front yard). For larger boats it sounds like the up-river technique is the way to go.

Thanks.

 

[Buck420]

OK. In my case I can put it on a trailer (but my wife is not to keen on having a 22 foot projectile in the front yard). For larger boats it sounds like the up-river technique is the way to go.

Thanks.

Put it on a trailer in your insurance agent's front yard...
He should be happy to watch it for you.

 

[Ross]

There is a reason for finding a hurricane hole. You don't want waves and long open fetches. Take the boat up a bayou and tie off to the trees.

 

[Vision36]

On the trailer with some mobile home anchors securing the hull and trailer to the ground to me seems like the best.

 

[Winkfish]

On the trailer with some mobile home anchors securing the hull and trailer to the ground to me seems like the best.

Heck, if it floods, don't tie it down, let if float. Put some LONG lines to hold it in place.

 

[rgscpat]

You should be able to buddy with someone inland who'd watch the boat for you. Or be able to park it at a motel while you and the boat boat escape the danger zone. Even 30 miles inland ought to make a huge difference, especially with the boat anchored. With luck you can find someone who has a place to park the boat without any big tree branches overhead. Tied down, and with maybe some water in the bilge, your boat shouldn't be a threat to go anywhere it shouldn't. And if worst came to worst, your boat might be a way to get back to your house!

 

[Benny]

Put it on the trailer and fill the hull partially with water. A few hundred gallons and the house will fly before the boat does.

 

[Winkfish]

I'm tellin' ya, KP, you don't want the boat to be tied tightly to the ground. Boats float - let it float. You obviously remember Katrina. Find one or two big trees, tie your boat to those trees with long enough lines to let the boat rise with the flood waters (God forbid there should be any). Then at least your boat will be there when you get back, unless someone comandeers it.

 

[higgs]

"Even 30 miles inland ought to make a huge difference"

If you go that trouble, what is another hour of driving to get it 100 miles inland?

 

[FourPoints]

A friend of mine whom I bareboated with recently does a lot of deliveries and other passages, including across the Atlantic. One trick he had learned and told me about when in a storm is to trail a lot of lines from the bow (a lot of people trail them from the stern) to help keep the boat head to wind. Use two sea anchors if you have them trailing from the bow. He found out that trailing the stuff from the bow kept the boat head to wind than trailing them from the stern, as he had learned.

I don't plan to try out his theories!!

this is correct only if you are in open sea. trailing a bunch of lines from the bow or stern would be done if you did not have a drogue of some sort.

As for choosing bow or stern, the boat will almost always ride better when you put your drogue our from the stern. Since the wind will be blowing the boat forward, and the drogue will be slowing the boat down, it will keep the hull moving forward through the water, and the wind from the stern. When the boat rides up the face of a wave and surfs down the other side, it will do so going bow first down the wave and into the trough.

Instead if you put the drogue out off the bow, it will keep the bow into the wind, but the boat will be moving in reverse through the water, and that will cause it to swing like on anchor quite a bit, and when the boat rides up the face of a wave and surfs down the backside, it will do so stern first into the trough (assuming it hadn't swung far to one side first, then it will slide down the face on the beam), and I think we can all agree that most boats handle waves better going forward and bow first!

 

[Winkfish]

FourPoints, I was wondering about that, and maybe I didn't get all the details. I got the impression they were trying to ride out the storm, and yes this was in open sea, and they were trying to keep the bow into the wind. I'll have to get more details from him the next time I speak to him.

As for your last point, assuming your bow is into the wind with a drogue, aren't the waves also going to be from the bow to the stern, as they go the same direction of the wind?

 

[SeaRanch]

Boat US website:

http://www.boatus.com/hurricanes/BoaterPrep.asp

What you need to know about Hurricane preparedness.

Bill

 

[rgranger]

Instead if you put the drogue out off the bow, it will keep the bow into the wind, but the boat will be moving in reverse through the water, and that will cause it to swing like on anchor quite a bit, and when the boat rides up the face of a wave and surfs down the backside, it will do so stern first into the trough

And going stern first can beat the hell out of your rudder as it slides backwards into the trough.

 

[kpgraci]

What you need to know about Hurricane preparedness.l

Good stuff. Thanks.

 

[FourPoints]

As for your last point, assuming your bow is into the wind with a drogue, aren't the waves also going to be from the bow to the stern, as they go the same direction of the wind?

the waves will be from the stern, but the boat will be moving downwind at a couple kts, so it would be like saiing downwind with trailing seas, the boat will bob around a bit, but compared to the alternatives, it is really your best option.

@rgranger, you are absolutly correct, sliding down the face of a 40 foot wave backwards in the middle of the ocean is a good way to damage or completly break off a rudder.