How Close to Shore Is Too Close While Hove-to ?

[zeehag]

cool both ways are good. tampa to pascagoula is faster and fewer storms--tampa is stormhell..but when front rips across gulf is a serious e ticket ride...

[oldman66]

Your the best.

[oldman66]

I am leaving in about 15 days. Want to come?

[zeehag]

would LOVE to do this trip but i am in mazatlan with my cat and my formosa...let me know how often you wish to rest and i can help plan those rest stops for ye. been there done that, loved it even with the storms. the storms go away fast enough to just sail thru em unless is a severe or extreme front--hide from those. scaary.

[oldman66]

Even if I had a bag of money ? haha.. I mean a large bag.

[oldman66]

I do not know if the boat has pc capabilities.I will know more when I get up there.

[zeehag]

boats only have pc capabilities when in marinas or when ye have a 3g usb thingie for dial up broadband, which does come in well at dauphin island, ingrahams bayou, wolf bay and tampa bay,pensacola, lulus, on icw just before mobile bay--- across mobile bay in spots, and in some places in missisippi sound, when you can seee cell towers,and dependent on service comany.

[oldman66]

How can you remember all this. You great.Thanks

[rebel heart]

30 miles as a ball park? You can eat it up quick if you need to go in that direction for a bit. The more the better but with no real evidence or data to back up my number, I'd go with 30. Hurricanes and stuff like that is a whole different ball of wax but for a low pressure system that's going to pack nasty winds for 6-12 hours and then just be gusty/squally after that you'd have a hard time chewing through 30 miles unless you went exactly in that direction.

Just saw the hove-to part. Maybe chop it down to 10 as a safe number? Again, wild ass guesses. As others have said if you want to be accurate you'd calculate your drift.

[zeehag]

in gulf of mexico you dont wanna heave to. is a norge washer and storms leave fast unless they are from a front or a prefrontal system that is is labelled severe or extreme. severe packs 71 kt winds, extreme packs 80-100 kts we ran inside from extreme after having sailed thru severe.
rebe heart-- what goes for pacific does not go for gulf of mexico. but in pacific i would remain more than 40 miles offshore so in 4 hours time i dont hit the lee shore with my boat. the gulf is a choppy bowl of washing machine seas with frontal systems seeming like every 3-6 days coming across in a sweeping motin. youdont wanna heave to in this situation. you will not have a boat when you are done if within 40 miles of shore--water is very shallow for miles out. 100 miles out is 200 ft depth. you dont hit more than 100 ft depth in many places until you go 60-100 miles from shore. you doNOT want to stay close in a storm--seas are huge n boxy ....ye wnna be out wherre seas are smoother, but is still choppy--or find a hidey hole from the washing machine. i listed a few in my pm.

[oldman66]

I have gotten a large respose on this subject. You are very much close to all the others. I want be erring on the side of caution of course. Some of the post were very exact with there info. It certainly appears they have given much time to their reseach. Yours further validates their input. Thanks.

[zeehag]

oldman--please call the fone number i gave you tomorrow-- if youget a messagemachine,he i s having bad signalz so he will call ye back or try again..is for crew from somewhere west of louisiana to kemah--bribe him and arrange relief. he is a non drinker, btw, so beer wont work anymore.

[zeehag]

Originally Posted by oldman66

How can you remember all this. You great.Thanks

i sailed over 6000miles in gulf of mexico in the year was there--was a gas and i am looking forward to returning in my own boat. we went between slidell and dry tortugas. when we were running in the extreme front, we had to get to slidell by april 30,we didnt make it--- i didnt gt back to slidell until may 10th. whew--was a gas.. lots of gulf sailing and heavy weather practice for pacific ocean. we left ft myers april 19th or 18th.

[David M]

It depends on your rate of drift, how far you are from land or shallow water that you are drifting towards and how long you plan on staying hove to.

[Rakuflames]

Originally Posted by oldman66

I think I understand it be like parking. I am wanting to factor in the drift. The boat is not full keel but a fin. This will make in my mind a less stable drift and somewhat at faster pace. At what difference is there and is it enough to worry about. You seem to hit on that there is some but not enough difference. All input is well taken on my end .Thanks.

Will you have a chart plotter? Does the boat have a functional, reliable engine? How far are you traveling? A functional, reliable engine is important safety gear.