Gustav

[shinkoiwanojay]

Being that my whole town just left and I'm staying I'm just wondering what I would do if I had a boat.

I live in Nederland TX and I stayed for Rita and I think it was a 3 or 4 category and it sounded like a freight train coming though my house. It felt like my house was breathing almost. It was like being in a balloon, probably because of the tornadoes.

What do y'all Live aboards do if there is a hurricane?

[SurfNRG]

Really depends on the intensity of the storm and your location to it. I usually set up multiple lines to our dock making sure that there's plenty of compenstation for rising water. And tie to healthy pilings. Oftentimes, dock cleats aren't as secured as a solid piling. If it's gonna be a major Cat 4 or 5 I would seriously consider anchoring out and using the Hurricane Mooring system by Colligo Engineering. You use three anchors set 120 degrees apart along with a bridle setup to the cross beam (I'm on a cat) along with a centerpoint up through the anchor roller. Gotta make sure you have plenty of chaving gear in place as well. Then three Hail Mary's and four Our Fathers usually help as well.., Oh, and make sure that the boats around you are secured as well cause you're only as safe as the guy anchored up wind of you. Some people like to stay onboard during the hurricane but not me. I'm out of there.

I just chased Hurricane Gustav up here to Panama City, Florida (Gulf Coast). I'm a staff photographer for SURFER Magazine so it's part of my job. I'm sitting in the RV as we speak waiting for the sun to come up. Surf should be Huge! Good thing about the RV compared to the boat is that you're more mobile and can just fire it up and drive away if the storm decides to change track and come at you. I'm also keeping an eye on T.S. Hanna which is forecasted to parallel the East Coast of Florida. As soon as I'm done here with Gustav I'm heading back home to Melbourne to make sure she doesn't change her mind and head at us. I still have my lines and sails secured to my boat so I'd have to just re-tune a few things if she decides to make a run at us.

[bmartinsen]

I've been on board for 7 yrs. For hurricanes I try up with about 16 1in lines, take everything off deck, close seacocks and go to a friends inland. I tried staying on the boat once for Charlie and although it missed us the stress wasn't worth it. The boat is replaceable, people aren't. Having said that when Ivan went thru, the boat was fine but the condo I was in had a 4ft wave come thru. Anyway, I'm spending the next few days putting things back after Gustav. It went about 50 miles north of us, no problems just 70kts of wind.
Good luck up north.