Hurricane staying aboard

[lituya1617]

Boating requires education and judgement. Nothing is as simple as a list of dos and don'ts. You can safely tie your boat in a hurricane only if you are in a place where the storm surge will not pull mooring lines loose and direct winds will not fling stuff into your boat like missiles. If you can get thirty miles up a river with sufficient wind cover and moor between large trees with thick lines, you may safely stay on your boat. In any exposed anchorage or where wave and surge action may be anticipated, you had best put your boat on the hard with several lines holding the mast in place and extra hull supports - then get to a safe place. I have been in two hurricanes and the one I rode out still frightens me and it was only a cat 3. It had been a cat 5 and that would have killed me had the storm not weakened. In winds over 110 MPH you cannot do a darn thing to help secure your boat, not even stand up on deck. So why stay with the boat? If you have time, put out a lot of lines and anchors and then it is best to go ashore and live to give advice to younger people.

[Group9]

Riding a hurricane out on a boat is a horrible idea. Really, what would be the point? There is really nothing you can do if things start to go bad. Prep it well, and go find a secure place on land. Then come back when it's over and see how well you got it ready.

Even if nothing went wrong, I think the sheer terror you would probably experience would be unhealthy.

[Group9]

Riding a hurricane out on a boat is a horrible idea. Really, what would be the point? There is really nothing you can do if things start to go bad. Prep it well, and go find a secure place on land. Then come back when it's over and see how well you got it ready.

I've prepped my boat for several hurricanes where it survived. Never, did I think, "I sure wish I had stayed aboard. That would have been fun and exciting."

Even if nothing went wrong, I think the sheer terror you would probably experience would be unhealthy.

[Hudson Force]

My boat was Florida based and my only home for 45 years. I made different choices at different times,- 'never purposefully kept our children aboard in a major tropical storm, but we were surprised and blown aground in Long Key Bight, Florida Keys, by a tropical wave back in the eighties. We were caught in a class 3 in the Bahamas, but we were well up a limestone cut canal around a couple of bends and we stayed ashore. During our last 15 years of cruising my wife and I stayed aboard for a couple of class 1's and a number of tropical storms, but we never stayed south of Jacksonville during hurricane season in those years. We were more often in the Carolinas, the Chesapeake or further north.
This was the plan we used for staying aboard and the Florida Keys never met our standards for safety. We sought our location three days before any potential hit:
Essential criteria-
1- Well inland location,- 20+ miles from the coast
2- Little fetch,- no more than half a mile in any direction
3- Shallow water (6-10'),- insuring a favorable scope for the rode with a tidal surge
4- Good holding substrate,- sand, clay or firm mud for our well-sized Mantus with
200' of all chain rode.
Preferred additional conditions:
5- Elevated surrounding topography,- hills, woodland, high buildings
6- Anchorage free or debris that could become mobile
7- A forgiving shore without rocks or cement seawalls, docks, etc.
8. No other anchored boats

We always found the first four criteria and often some of the others,- 'never perfect; however, we managed numerous tropical storms that were hurricanes at the coast and a little milder at our selected locations.

No bravado,- lots of prep,- we removed our booms at the goosenecks with the sails on them and slid them into our aft cabin along with a pair of kayaks. We always lowered our roller furling headsail. We never "spider-webbed" lines because we always wanted our boat to present the least resistance facing into the wind. I kept a series of three snubbers on the chain rode, each in sequence to take the load if the first chaffed or failed.

Much can be done to diminish risk, but not to this extent in the Keys.

[owly]

The safest place for a boat in a hurricane is on the bottom in deep water...... but that's just a bit impractical ;-)


H.W.

[LadyByrd]

Originally Posted by Capt.Ty

I am new to life aboard a boat and I am going to be riding out storms on the boat I need guidance tips and advice. I am currently anchored in Englewood Florida on a 34 ft morgan. I was thinking about moving down to the keys if anyone knows of any hurricane holes in the areas that would be awesome as well!

Sounds pretty scary and intense if you ask me. I'd get far away as possible.

[owly]

Originally Posted by LadyByrd

Sounds pretty scary and intense if you ask me. I'd get far away as possible.

DITTO THAT !!!!

[Bleemus]

This guy's boat has been sitting on a beach in Boca Grande for a week. He didn't need a hurricane to figure out what his limits are.

[owly]

Perhaps an absurd thought, but it seems that hurricane avoidance under sail should be possible with the right strategy. Hurricanes generate circular winds. There is a "safe side" which just means that the forward speed on the south side of a hurricane in the Northern Hemisphere is subtracted from it's forward speed, on the northern side it is added to it's forward speed.... assuming a directly east to west path. That would seem to mean that in the case of Florence for example, setting out to sea ahead of the storm, and bearing south, gradually curving southeast, the winds influenced by the hurricane itself should allow you to sail safely around behind it........... That assumes that you can stay far enough away to be in sailable wind conditions, and that the seas generated by it in whatever quadrant you are in at any given time are not excessive. I'd be interested in knowing how far away from the core this would be. There was in this case clearly more than adequate warning for someone who does not have a lot of land commitments and can flee on fairly short notice. I'd rather be north of the storm in a safe location, but I would not want to sail north in the face of an approaching hurricane. The Gulf and the Caribbean don't leave you with many options ..... storms can be big, and there are a lot of places to get trapped by land. Harvey offered an "escape hatch" to the south.... Mexican Coastline, but there is always the potential of sailing from the proverbial frying pan into the fire. There was a little brother behind it as I recall that hit the Mexican Coast, and of course Joyce and Helene are behind Florence.... both "tropical storms" at this point. The Northeastern coast of South America seems to be pretty hurricane safe... They don't seem to hit anything in the ITCZ. This time of year those little buggers down in the Cabo Verde Islands seem to be throwing rocks at us ;-)............ Norway looks good to me!!


The best safety is just not to be in the hurricane zone. For example in the Pacific everybody leaves Polynesia for New Zeeland, or the Northern Hemisphere with the southern hurricane season comes along.

Anybody following Mangkhut? A cat 5, it's approaching Luzon, and headed for Hong Kong........ a "super typhoon" Note that current sustained winds are 180 mph!!!

5
(major) 157 mph or higher
137 kt or higher
252 km/h or higher Catastrophic damage will occur: A high percentage of framed homes will be destroyed, with total roof failure and wall collapse. Fallen trees and power poles will isolate residential areas. Power outages will last for weeks to possibly months. Most of the area will be uninhabitable for weeks or months.






H.W.