Beaching During a Hurricane

[roger.waite]

Originally Posted by pwratch

I'm not a meteorologist but I suspect that this belief is an example of confusing coincidence with causation.

Always worth checking our own beliefs against other people's beliefs. When I was still winsurfing, one of my friends insisted that the wind blew even harder at high water ...

Whistling for wind. Its only blowing 10 knots here.

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by pwratch

I'm not a meteorologist but I suspect that this belief is an example of confusing coincidence with causation.

Indeed.

[Blue Stocking]

Don't underestimate the strength and resiliency of mangroves.
When Fabian hit us with max gusts of 177mph, Bluestocking, 12 tons, 6ft draft broke her bridles and 3/8" chain and was lifted 9ft above normal high tide onto the tops of the mangroves. We lifted her down with a 35 ton crane. Only damage was a bit of toerail and bent bowrail.

[beau]

Thank you for your comments.

Days before a cyclone the wind conditions are usually zero, and the seas dead flat.
Sailing out of trouble is NOT an option.
Steve Dashew in his book explained that if you can motor 200 miles a day you can escape the cyclones path.
Also as somebody said earlier you can usually predict with some accuracy which way a cyclone will travel.
Here in Queensland you would generally travel North, because cyclones coming towards this coast always head east/west or south, never north.

This is one of the reasons my Trimaran is fitted with 2 X 90 hp outboards and the hull is fast displacement. I can travel at a top speed of 20 knots if I want to.

[Serenity_]

Originally Posted by beau

My plan is to stern in on a high tide and use an electric 4X4 car winch and use round logs placed under the hull and then slowing winching the boat to higher ground out of the influence of the high tide.
I do not see why this cannot be an option.

How the heck do you drag it back down the beach to the water?

Originally Posted by GordMay

See ➥ Latitude 38 - 'Lectronic Latitude

Note the blue Hunter 49, on the left.

Cool picture! Do you stay on your boat during the storm and do you worry about someone elses boat breaking free and causing all sorts of damage?


Thanks for the opinions and thoughts everyone! I think with the storm surge that could present a nasty problem especially with some of the pictures you guys have posted.

[SaucySailoress]

Can't find any mention of it online, but I saw some pictures of a catamaran that had been lifted inland during a storm in France, and was sat on top of a sea wall. I have also heard stories of catamarans being blown into neighbouring fields due to the amount of windage once they're lifted!!!

How heavy is this thing?? Could it be lifted by winds of the force you are expecting? all it takes is for one corner to come up, then I can picture it cartwheeling away!!!

[Pete7]

Originally Posted by Aaza Dana

How heavy is this thing?? Could it be lifted by winds of the force you are expecting? all it takes is for one corner to come up, then I can picture it cartwheeling away!!!

Looking at the 1000L water barrel in my garden this afternoon, I would have thought you could pump 4 tonnes of water into the hulls of a decent sized cat, which should help hold it down a bit.

Pete

[beau]

I did that once.
I was living in Townsville, Australia and a cyclone was expected to hit in 24 hours. I had a beach catamaran (like a hobie) on a trailer at home. I have seen how powerful cyclones can be.
So I took the boat off the trailer and set on the lawn in the back yard and used the hose to half fill it with water.
The cyclone hit, I lost the roof off my house but the catamaran was undamaged.

Quite a number of earlier comments on this post have questioned my comment about cyclones never crossing land at high tide.

We get approx. 3 cyclones a year sometimes more sometimes less in Nth Queensland. In 50 years NOT one has made landfall at high tide. Yes we get tidal surge and it does do damage but no where near as much if it had crossed at high tide. I do not know why and nor do the scientists, to the best of my knowledge.
I don't call that coincedience

[maxingout]

Some areas are not affected much by storm surge. You can go to the Florida keys and see areas that have been through dozens of hurricanes and minimal to no storm surge. The same is true in the Bahamas. The water can't build up because there is no basin to catch the water in many locations. The water or storm surge simply blows by the small islands.

When I had Exit Only built, there was an option for lifting chainplates being placed in the hull so that a crane could pick up Exit Only and set her on dry land in an area where there was little storm surge risk, but there is a massive risk of instant destruction if she gets blown up on the reefs and on to dry land.

Any crane that can lift 20,000 pounds can hook into our lifting chainplates without using a spreader bar and lift Exit Only on to dry land. This was the exact reason I had the chain plates installed. I have had Exit Only lifted four times by her lifting chainplates and they work just fine.

There are hundreds of out of the way places around the world that are not prone to storm surges and are suitable for lifting the yacht on two dry land. If I ever had to be lifted, I would drive a couple of dozen giant rebar stakes into the ground and tie Exit Only firmly to the ground with every line that I have. When I lived in Arabia, I saw the giant bedouin tents staked down to the ground with heavy rebar stakes pounded into the ground with sledge hammers. Their brutal sandstorms in the desert can have hurricane force winds.

There are lots of places in the Bahamas where the holding is extremely poor. There is a thin layer of sand covering impenetrable hard pan. If the anchor lets go in a storm, your boat is history.

Depending where you cruise, lifting your boat out before a hurricane can be the difference be loss of the yacht and zero damage.

I would not use the same strategy on the Gulf Coast where the storm surge can reach 12 feet or more. But out in the islands, it can work well for you.

Every storm situation is different and every destination has different holding, different reefs, different rocks, and different shoreline. Yacht designs are different. Storm surges vary substantially in different locations, and very significantly in the same location depending to the path of the storm.

Don't let anyone tell you that it's crazy to take your boat out of the water before a hurricane. That's why my boat is out of the water on the hard during hurricane season. That's why I have lifting chain plates on Exit Only.

[Bash]

Originally Posted by Blue Stocking

Only damage was a bit of toerail and bent bowrail.

I imagine the mangroves tell a different account of that day's damage.

[Laidback]

Originally Posted by beau

Quite a number of earlier comments on this post have questioned my comment about cyclones never crossing land at high tide.

We get approx. 3 cyclones a year sometimes more sometimes less in Nth Queensland. In 50 years NOT one has made landfall at high tide. Yes we get tidal surge and it does do damage but no where near as much if it had crossed at high tide. I do not know why and nor do the scientists, to the best of my knowledge.
I don't call that coincedience

Maybe Cyclone Ului which struck Airlie Beach in Nth Queensland on the 21st March of this year 2010 at around 2am, decided on setting a new record, it landed on Airlie Beach :- 1/2 an hour later at 2.30 am it was high tide of 2.9m (9ft 5inches) -- low tide was 5 hours later at 7.30am - 1.6m (5ft 2.5inches)
With Tropical Storms history often reminds us that they can be very unpredictable

[Laidback]

Originally Posted by Laidback

Maybe Cyclone Ului which struck Airlie Beach in Nth Queensland on the 21st March of this year 2010 at around 2am, decided on setting a new record, it landed on Airlie Beach :- 1/2 an hour later at 2.30 am it was high tide of 2.9m (9ft 5inches) -- low tide was 5 hours later at 7.30am - 1.6m (5ft 2.5inches)
With Tropical Storms history often reminds us that they can be very unpredictable

Forgot about Cyclone OLGA Which struck Port Douglas on the 24 January 2010
at 2pm -- High tide of 1.7m (5ft 6inches) at 2pm -- low tide of 1m coming at 10.45pm.
BTW. Olga never turned south but continued westward.

[beau]

Thanks guys.
I agree cyclones are unpredictable.
I would still prefer to see my boat on land rather than at sea in those conditions.