When that nice anchorage goes south

[sanibel sailor]

Was that big hail at the very beginning of the storm or just bad chop from the seawall. Hard to see. I imagine getting pelted by golfball sized hail might promptly change my thoughts about being on deck

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by sanibel sailor

We get kickass thunderstorms frequently here in Florida. They are not readily predictable, but not unexpected. An eye on the sky and on the weather radar (as shown at the beginning of that scary video), gives some warning.

Of course we hardly have rocks here. I about put NURDLE on the beach in a bad thunderstorm. Furling line chafed thru, engine crapped out. Too choppy to drop anchor. Was inside the swim buoys before I got her turned around. Very educational.

I guess that’s kind of what I’m saying. Between Florida and the northeast US, I’m used to these things happen continuously. Every day almost.

all you have to do is keep an eye on the weather. And every few hours. The old eyeball can spot it most of the time, but you can also see fronts coming on the radar just like you said in the beginning video. I look at that radar every few hours when it’s summer. I also keep my boat in a state that’s ready for that type of thing, not quite as strong as that one, but ready anyway for something huge to blow up. for me, there is no Fairweather anchoring. I anchor ready for the storm. That way I don’t have to mess around with anything when it does come. I'm too lazy to worry about changing things as a storm is coming

and that’s a cool app. I will have to check that out. Sounds very nice to get an alert. Sometimes my phone gives an alert automatically over the United States networks, however, the alert is usually about five minutes before the storm hits. Not enough time to get ready or get back to the boat or whatever.

and wow, Sanabel Sailor That is one close call inside the swim floats. Yikes. That must have really been stressful.

[sanibel sailor]

https://www.sailmagazine.com/cruisin...on-a-lee-shore

[pbmaise]

Take notice of the woman who jumped off the cat in the OP video. She was almost sucked back under the cat which would have pounded her into the sand. Lucky for her someone grabbed her. Never jump off a vessel heaving up and down like that. Instead of the stern, she should have jumped from the bow and swam clear before heading to the beach.

[carlosproa]

I am not sure if these last two days qualify as a similar experience, but here it is:
I have been dodging going out in this hell temperature summer in Miami with hopes and fantasies of going out there on a day with weather cooler than 90 degrees. So since it was the long Labor Day weekend, I bit the bullet and convinced my wife to just go out there to One of the first keys in the chain; destination Elliot Key for just one night. As some of you know, tides flow in some parts of these atolls can be quite dramatic, and Biscayne bay is the receiving end of any marine debris from the Atlantic or just the gulf stream.
Anyways, the bay was just full of sargasso that would slowed down any progress we were doing with a 5 a 10 knot breeze, and at that time I had my 15HP Yamaha 2 cycle engine on just to put some hours on it since I hardly use it. It is the main engine in this 33 catamaran.
So half way to Elliot key we hit a huge batch of sargasso and the engine must have got clogged, impeller must have blocked and engine overheated and died all while I was on the bow sorting thru some line arrangement. By the time I noticed, the engine is dead, will not start, etc. At that time I decided that without an engine, best to aim for Boca Chita key where the entrance thru the shoals in not quite as narrow or long as the feather banks section of Elliot key. Although catamarans are not as responsive to the helm as monohulls, I know how this one behave without the aid of an engine. The goal was to anchor close to Boca Chita and hide from the choppy waters. Great opportunity to practice anchoring with sails.
All went fairly well until I failed to realize the outgoing tide which if taking into account should flip your anchoring manouver 180 degrees as the wind was opposite to the ebbing tide.
The result was the anchor set well but the chain rode was under the boat and the tide kept pushing the boat so there was no way in hell to make the bow point into the wind. Since it was late and we were in 8 ft of water, I figure we were safe with no risk of grounding.
Of course I forgot to bring the small $100 wall air condition with me ( yes I use a small portable generator and yes it cools the cabin like you are in Norway) and the wind just dropped, the hatches were facing the wrong way, and no night relief in temperature ever came - it was a solid 88F and one of the must I comfortable nights to sleep. the good news is we did not encounter the famous no-see-hum (jejenes in Spanish) that have a vicious byte, making you wish for a mosquito byte.
Next day(today) revealed an overheated engine that will require a longer repair. With light winds in the menu, we decided to go home, used the mast winch to help me retrieve the anchor slowly until it was no longer underneath the boat, and began the painful trip to our mooring ball at ghosting to extreme light winds. All went well but a good reminder to practice your sailing skills on hitting the channel markers while avoiding all my friendly power boaters and jet ski friends in Miami that on a long weekend is like a scene of Mad Max movie.

[NorthPacific]

FRANKLY as an experienced cruiser, I can not imagine trying to do much once it hit .It is too late, then it is luck and less to good judgement. Too many boats too many charter fleets with too few anchorages.

Charter boats are usually equipped down to the minimum when it comes to anchoring gear. many boats still use anchors designed in the early 1900's and honestly with so many boats packed in how the hell did anyone survive. No wonder insurance rates are sky high.

The video scared me. The speed it hit. the sight of multiple boats dragging. Next year I will be doing a get out of Shengen run thousands of miles in a limited time. Usually I stay at anchor for months but times have changed. Now offshore with Marina stops at infrequent intervals.

The car park mentality of many new cruisers has been increasing in recent years all over the globe. Charter fleets are set up to make money. Bottom line the more out there the more profit. Maybe its time for governments to do the same as in French Polynesia. Severely limit the number of boats that can anchor in one spot.

All the talk about anchoring scope ,type of anchor, chain, means nothing until something like this happens. There are still someplaces where you can cruise in company of others who know what they are doing but they are getting fewer and harder to find.

I am not easily scared, concerned yes, but that was brutal. Thanks for the poster. I have taken note and plans changing.

[Wideocean7]

I preface this by saying that I have and will always do what I reasonably can for a vessel in distress.

I don’t think this scenario has been raised yet. In such violent winds as these, let’s say your anchor miraculously holds. But a boat to windward drags onto you with the high and probable risk of you starting to drag. So you either drag or cut their anchor warp/chain. Bear in mind it’s a survival choice. But if you cut their cable to keep your vessel safe, will there be legal consequences?

[HeinSdL]

Originally Posted by Wideocean7

I preface this by saying that I have and will always do what I reasonably can for a vessel in distress.

I don’t think this scenario has been raised yet. In such violent winds as these, let’s say your anchor miraculously holds. But a boat to windward drags onto you with the high and probable risk of you starting to drag. So you either drag or cut their anchor warp/chain. Bear in mind it’s a survival choice. But if you cut their cable to keep your vessel safe, will there be legal consequences?

I think your legal position would be very weak if you were to cut another boat's anchor warp/chain due to a perceived risk to your own boat. But I am no expert on these matters. The more pressing question to consider is, how do you get to the other boat's bow in the first place? At this point the dinghy is airborne behind you, holding on for dear life by its painter and swimming is also out of the question (as I mentioned earlier, speaking from a fairly similar experience in Sardinia last year). Stepping on the other boat to carry out this task... hhhmmm, I would imagine that that would certainly reduce your legal standing further, apart from risking not being able to get back on your own boat. Best to accept damage to yourself and hope the other boat will slide past. Or have the ability to jettison your own anchor in a hurry (together with a buoy to mark it, prepared earlier), and try and leave.

And while on the topic of the dinghy, there is also a strong case for emptying it of all gear and taking off the outboard (not in preparation for such an event when imminent, but probably as a general rule). It will almost certainly be blown over (a couple of times!).

Must be said though that the typical Med anchorage during high season in any case turns into a circus with boats packed like sardines in a can, often anchored poorly. It is always a spectacle to observe 1. charter boats/fleets come in to anchor and 2. come in to the marina on a windy day. On the first topic it is not unusual for a boat to enter the anchorage, albeit slowly, and while still moving forward at a clip with a following breeze simply drop the anchor and a whole bunch of chain and voilà! Bob's your uncle. Until a squall hits.

On the second, watching the boats come in to the marina at the end of a windy day is a lesson in material destruction. Almost every other attempt to reverse moor leads to bent stanchions & pulpits, dents in gel coat, cracked sterns, etc. Not too many hands & feet caught in between though, luckily.

Some/most of the topics discussed here re anchoring, mooring, seamanship are simply alien to many cruisers in the Med. So there should be some hope, that with plenty of forethought it is possible to sit out a violent squall successfully.

[HeinSdL]

Must say I am very pleased with the discovery of the blitzortung app with many many thanks to Franziska. The website is also very interesting having stored historical data, so also for the Corsica event.

18.08.2022 03:40



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So with this lightning tracker one potentially has access to an early warning system (and that storm, 4 hours before it struck, already looked pretty massive. Massive enough to not want to be 50m from the shore surrounded by boats). Of course internet is required, but given that an important use-case is when anchored close to shore, not to bad.

What I would have done at 5 in the morning? Don't know given what I would have known then. Given what I know now? Probably raise anchor and move well away either anchoring again or stay mobile away from land.

[SaltyMetals]

A lot of guys here are talking about their anchor, length of rode, snubber, etc but the UTube clearly shows it was a buoy field so if you also dropped an anchor it would most likely get caught on the mooring blocks or the chain to the mooring blocks. Making a real mess. Think i would have added a third line from the bow to the buoy, put out all fenders , started the engine and hoped for the best. If i am wrong, and it was not a buoy field and the yellow buoy weas just a single buoy then extra rode would sure help if there was space.
Andrew