You're right, many of the bays in and around the Apostle Islands are rugged and nasty, but some are sandy beaches. I would have gone ashore on a sandy Beach.
Survived one hell of a storm
- Thread starter DannyS
- Start date
Wow! Great write up.
I think I know just how you felt during the storm. On a trip down the Tenn-Tom waterway, I was anchored in a slough off the main river channel.
That evening, I was hit by a huge storm system with a tornado crossing the slough just north of my Cheoy Lee 31 ketch.
The boat was knocked down flat several times, as I lay on the floor. Pots, pans and cans of food became lethal projectiles. I crawled to the hatch and looked out at the anchor line to see if it was holding. The water was blowing everywhere in a real white squall.
The 5/8" nylon rode was stretched so tight, it only looked like a 3/8" rode. The boat did a 360 around the anchor during the storm, but the Danforth 22# anchor held. I had to power the anchor out of the mud, and the shank was bent 90 degrees.
I got off really lucky. Several people in Alabama where killed in that storm. All I had was a bent anchor and a cracked port light.
I think I know just how you felt during the storm. On a trip down the Tenn-Tom waterway, I was anchored in a slough off the main river channel.
That evening, I was hit by a huge storm system with a tornado crossing the slough just north of my Cheoy Lee 31 ketch.
The boat was knocked down flat several times, as I lay on the floor. Pots, pans and cans of food became lethal projectiles. I crawled to the hatch and looked out at the anchor line to see if it was holding. The water was blowing everywhere in a real white squall.
The 5/8" nylon rode was stretched so tight, it only looked like a 3/8" rode. The boat did a 360 around the anchor during the storm, but the Danforth 22# anchor held. I had to power the anchor out of the mud, and the shank was bent 90 degrees.
I got off really lucky. Several people in Alabama where killed in that storm. All I had was a bent anchor and a cracked port light.
Ha! Yes imagine the terror in knowing that your anchor starts dragging in 30 kts of wind and will not hold you and another boat headed your way, if you tangle. Might cause you to make a poor decision to attempt motoring into a 70kt squall.
Jaws has never bothered me while sailing the ocean, probably because it's overly embellished, but Gordon Lightfoot and other stories like this about Lake Superior keep me wondering if I really want to sail The Great Lakes when I finally move to the Midwest.
NotCook
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- Dec 29, 2008
- 806
You are so right! We sailed Lake Erie for the first 13 years before crossing the Atlantic - people don't realize just how tough it can get on the Great Lakes. How are they to know that we had 22 foot waves crashing into the banks of Lake Erie during hurricane Sandy, for example? Two of the big hazard differences between the Great Lakes and the oceans are the proximity of land to get blown into, and the shallow waters in many cases. Those are generally not issues on the oceans. On the other hand, on the oceans you may have 8-10 foot waves, plus 10-20 foot swells, and, of course, those pesky shipping containers floating just level with the surface...
Interesting side note... the maximum recorded wave height on Lake Superior is 51 feet!
Heck of a story, they would have found me days later still bug eyed and white knuckled hanging on. Out of curiosity what size/type anchor rope do you use
I felt like I was writing a "What I did right/What I did wrong" article. To answer your question, no, I didn't have jacklines run or a harness on. Probably should have but I have to say that at the time I was prepping the boat, I didn't think of it. Who thinks of harnessing in when at anchor? Also, if I was thrown from the boat, it would only have been a matter of minutes before I would have washed up on the sandy beach. Although, with all of the trees dropping on land, I might have been safer in the water!
Nothing fancy, 1/2" three-strand, but I've been thinking of replacing it lately. It came with the boat and I have no idea how old it is. It got abraded pretty badly with the anchor scraping up the line. I'll probably upsize to 5/8".
That's what I was thinking of going to, mine came with a 3/4 braid, no doubt super strong but once you tie a bowline there's a monster ball of rope there and doesn't wanna roll thru the anchor pulleys