Sudden summer thunder storm... go or turn

[Paul Akers]

The point being made is...

...to be prepared and keep an eye to the skies. When you see a squall approaching, act immediately and prepare for it. That means dropping sail and get ready for the blow (if you cannot avoid it) rather than letting it hit you first (that's when all hell breaks loose). The article that I referred to identifies what to watch for.

 

[tom]

Don't drop the sails

You may want to reef but sails give you the power to manuver. If it is rough the best thing is to go down wind!!!! we had that pointed out to us this past Monday. Winds out of the south and we were heading out to the seabuoy off of panama City. A bearing of about 240. Well it was fun with a few waves managing to wet the jib. But as we had to drive home after the sail we had to turn back before getting to the buoy. When we turned and rigged the preventer we were broad reaching and suddenly the sea seemed calm!!!! Instead of every wave trying to stop us they gave us a gentle boost home. If it is rough and there is open water turning downwind immediately makes things better. I guess if it was really rough with breaking waves a smaller boat might broach. Fortunately our Pearson 323 has never tried to broach. Even with bare poles going downwind is always the smoother ride with a broad reach being smoother than dead downwind. With the premise that this is a summer thunderstorm a reefed sail broad reaching out of the path of the storm would seem far safer than motoring against the wind and waves so that you can get close to the rocks that will smash your boat. Even modest waves can destroy a boat when they have rocks to do the chewing. Reminds me of flying with my wife. She was mad that I wanted to get too high. She said that she felt safer down low closer to the ground!!! Then I explained that the ground was what the plane needed to avoid. that the higher we were up in the sky the more options we had in case of engine failure. same thing in a boat. The farther away from a lee shore the more options!!! We have stayed rather close to the shore to avoid wave action when the depth was OK. That way you have the wind and the waves haven't the fetch to develope. One last thing about sails. They stabilize the boat!!!! Rolling is always less when you have sails up and the sea is lumpy.

 

[Scotian]

Scotian caught in storm

Thanks for the many responses re the experience. Couple of extra comments. First was my resistance to register my situation with the coast guard. I think on one hand was so mad the weather channel gave a good weather forecast and there was no small craft warnings being mentioned while in the midst of it all. The other was, as silly as it sounds now, I was embarased to admit to the "system" that I was in what I considered a serious situation. Keep in mind I was alone so the comments on reefing the sails etc was not a real option as could not leave the tiller for a moment.  Good I had GPS with me as no way could see the shore and there was a sandbar not far from where I got in trouble. To add to the excitement one of the clips holding anchor to pulpit let go and within 5 minutes the other one came off. The hook under the cap that holds chain in place held fast. The anchor just went over toe rail and held. It did some cosmetic damage to the side but gel coat repair is another question to be investigated later. I was in storm for about 2+ hours and had a bit of hypothermia as rain was cold. Ocean water felt warm when waves came over bow. Finally I called local fishermen on radio and they in turn contacted the local fisherman who is Coast Guard volunteer and he came out to be with me. At that point I was worried about anchor, the house on shore did not seem to be moving, I was soaked to the core, worried that I was not thinking clear, and realizing that if anything happened to the Atomic 4 I was in real trouble. Coast Guard (fisherman) motered in front of me to break waves and finally made it into port. Called wife who had been trying to reach me on cell that I could not answer. It took about 2 weeks before she stoped insisting I sell the boat and retire from sailing. I now sum it up as an expereience and the knowledge that my 30 year old Northstar 500 is a very solid seaworthy boat.Thanks for all of the comments

 

[Franklin]

Lessions Learned

"I was embarased to admit to the "system" that I was in what I considered a serious situation."Better to be embarased then dead."Keep in mind I was alone so the comments on reefing the sails etc was not a real option as could not leave the tiller for a moment."Rig some kind of reefing system where you don't have to leave the cockpit. This is very necessary with single handlers. "To add to the excitement one of the clips holding anchor to pulpit let go and within 5 minutes the other one came off."Everything seems to go wrong in bad weather...and that's why you need something to steer while you take care of the problems. This would have been a great time to heave-to, so you can fix it. Heaving-to is easy and you don't need an auto-pilot...read up on it."The hook under the cap that holds chain in place held fast. The anchor just went over toe rail and held."Now you know that you have to work on securing the anchor better. I keep mine strapped down very tight but it's easy with mine because of the anchor roller and windlass pulling the anchor tight against the roller."It did some cosmetic damage to the side but gel coat repair is another question to be investigated later."Easy to do...just get some repair material from the local store and apply it...but pay attention to the colors and don't be afraid to mix things to get the right color."I now sum it up as an expereience and the knowledge that my 30 year old Northstar 500 is a very solid seaworthy boat."COASTAL SEAWORTHY... but now I think you've learned that your boat needs some work to be out of protected waters by yourself. Not being able to leave the helm at all is dangerous. Look into some kind of mechanical autopilot like a sheet to tiller. Need to have good bad weather gear and that's not just for comfort either. Getting a dragging device like a drogue would be good so you can run downwind safely...or anything to provide resistance to the aft of the boat to prevent broaching."Thanks for all of the comments"Thanks for posting this. It's openned up a lot of great dialog for all to learn.

 

[Franklin]

Oh yeah

one more thing...if you can't reef, then it is definately a good idea to feather. Feathering greatly reduces the power of the sails and will keep the boat mostly up right. It really is the safest point of sail when the winds are too strong for your sails and there is nothing in the way that direction. Try it someday.

 

[Tom Monroe]

scotian ...

I think you have a wonderful opportunity here to modify your boat and your skills in the coming sailing season. A few suggestions:1. If the rain soaked you and you were suffering from hypothermia, I would conjecture that you either had no or inadequate foul weather gear. You can buy such gear that is adequate for coasting for $150.00. Also, that's why you heave to and let it blow out, or run slowly before it. As someone else noted, things calm down radically. That's why I would have tried heaving to on a tack away from your sandbar. Lot's of times, once your heaved to, you can go below and watch out of the ports, or pop your head out every five minutes. No need to be soaked.2. So, learn to heave to. Archives will tell you how, as will a web search. Then practice it till you are comfortable with it.3. Equip your sail plan such that you can radically reduce sail area. Double or deep reef point in main. Small headsail. Then follow the old saying ... reef early and often.4. Learn to handle your boat without having to be at the tiller 100% of the time. I use a piece of line wrapped around the tiller, and shockcorded to each side of the boat. Puts some tension on it and holds it where you set it. On a broad reach or heaved to, I can leave the cockpit for several minutes at a time. Practice this in 10 knots, then try to extend your skills into higher winds. Learn boat balance.5. Figure out how you want to safely leave the cockpit, cause as a singlehander, you're simply going to have to (to make a sail change, handle your damaged anchor fitting, etc.). PFD's, tethers, etc.My compliments to you as a sailer! You're doing GREAT, cause you're already heading out on 30 mile trips, singlehanding, etc. But now you need to develop some new skills that let you do all that without causing heartburn.Tom

 

[Roland "sole mate"]

practice gives confidence

If I may quote you "an experience I hope to never have to do again" believe me you will! but the next time you will have more experience and you will have a greater sence of acomplishment, if you have'nt yet learned to heave too, do so it will be very useful, I sail solo myself, I know, living not far from you I wish you a early spring, I sail a 29 Mirage"sole mate"

 

[David11054]

Heaving to...

When we heave to, we secure the tiller with the tail of the mainsheet, tied to leeward on the jib sheet cleats on either side of the cockpit.You will be amazed how much things calm down when hove to. We have reefed the main a couple of times on heavy (25 to 35 knot gusts) while hove to. I have also done it singlehanded.Keep learning,DavidLady Lillie

 

[henkmeuzelaar]

Getting caught in tight quarters

Having more or less started the argument for keeping some sail up I feel compelled to point out that there are situations where taking all sails down on the double (and securing them REAL GOOD) may be the only possible action. Offshore there usually exists no black and white; only varying shades of blue, green and grey. However, one memorable midsummer day on the Chesapeake Bay in 1991 we were sailing our chartered Legend 31.5 "Windtryst" back to Havre de Grace close to sunset when the heavily clouded skies ahead of us turned completely black in less than 15 minutes flat. Although the thought of shortening sail must have briefly flashed through my mind I found myself starting the Yanmar while mechanically dropping and securing the sails (and even tying down the boom) as fast as I could.Within minutes the storm front hit, nearly putting "Windtryst" over on her beam ends (without a stitch of sail flying......).Stinging hail and massive lightning all around put the fear of God in us. Within moments the water around us churned up so badly that the depth meter only showed 1 or 2 feet. Without radar and with only low-accuracy Loran readings I realized that there was preciously little I could do to prevent us from running aground as visibility was reduced to less than 100 ft or so and we were already well within the confines of the dredged channels and surrounding muddy flats festooning the home stretch to Havre de Grace. Moreover, soft as the bottom tends to be there, I had few illusions about the consequences of running aground in these pounding, breaking seas.In view of the lightning and hail I decided to send the 2 crew members (wife Nelleke and a non-sailing preacher friend who had joined us for a nice sail on the bay) down below and told them to start praying. Alone at the helm, I remember thinking that it seemed like a very bad idea to keep holding on to this big piece of metal with earsplitting lightning bolts flying everywhere around me. Fortunately, all the praying down below in the cabin got the job done.... Suddenly, I spotted a lighted channel buoy nearby. Not knowing anymore whether we were inside or outside the channel at that point I headed straight for the buoy and held Windtryst on station some 20 ft downwind of the buoy using approximately half-throttle. Some 20-30 minutes later the storm subsided as fast as it had hit us.Safely back in the city marina that evening we heard on the radio that a powerboating couple caught in the same storm had tried to run their boat up on a beach but were both killed by lightning as they tried to seek shelter ashore. If I would find myself in the same situation today, I would try to reach the nearest buoy in sight before the storm hit. If that was not possible but I could get better than 30ft-accuracy GPS readings I would set a MOB waypoint, blow up my track on the screen and try to keep on station just downwind of the waypoint.Fair winds,Flying Dutchman