Tortola BVI hit with 206 MPH wind gusts

[arsenelupiga]

from last couple of cyclones 5 cat, one can see that cats can be flipped by wind only.

This are my estimates.

Lagoon, the heaviest needs around 150 kn.

Lighter/faster cats should expect flip at around 100 kn.

Flip in my opinion happens because of space between hulls. Wave raises bows, if strong enough wind, boat will get airborne and flip.

Not much one can do, except get off the boat. Or be prepared for flip scenario.

[cliffdykes]

Originally Posted by pbmaise

No I think the better idea is head South. There was plenty time to motor far enough away to save millions upon millions of dollars of yachts. Most of these vessels were more than capable of motoring 200 miles south of the storm within two days. Good luck on being able to afford boat insurance after Irma is finished.

Yes, agreed that these boats had plenty of time to get out of the danger zone. But these are all charter boats - who exactly would have crewed them all to do this?

Just not practical, and charter employees would rightly be more concerned about their and their families safety than saving some expensive lumps of plastic.

Cheers
Cliff

[weavis]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-WDrsX-OTc

[Tricolor]

Originally Posted by cliffdykes

Yes, agreed that these boats had plenty of time to get out of the danger zone. But these are all charter boats - who exactly would have crewed them all to do this?

Just not practical, and charter employees would rightly be more concerned about their and their families safety than saving some expensive lumps of plastic.

Cheers
Cliff

Offer the last 3 weeks holidays of the season for free to bring them to....

[El Pinguino]

Originally Posted by JPA Cate

FYI,

The "normal" cyclone in Australia isn't a hurricane. Atlantic hurricanes tend to be bigger storms, and with the population density in America, far more destructive.

Good hopes going out to all those affected. Water and rations and medical attention first. Setting broken limbs, etc.

Ann

The sad thing in Oz is that they are called 'cyclones' rather than 'hurricanes' or 'typhoons'... this leads people to underestimate them.

Most come ashore in sparsely settled areas.... some don't .... Tracy being a fine example.

And then there was Cyclone Mahini

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyclone_Mahina

Do not think 'strayan cyclones can't kill.....

Thus far the death toll from Irma is light..... ok lots of sunken boats.... but boats are just 'stuff'... nada mas ....

[littleships]

Originally Posted by Cotemar

Tortola BVI hit with 206 MPH wind gusts.

Hurricane Irma hit them REAL HARD.

Boats sunk and de-masted in the MOORINGS Marina.

A favorite Hurricane hole in Paraquita Bay Tortola BVI has boats sunk and stacked.
.
.

Morning world: fr info on St MArtin please check my website for pix I will update as and when I get internet.
It is unspeakable here
Jesus Wept.

The Little Ship Company

[atoll]

Originally Posted by littleships

Morning world: fr info on St MArtin please check my website for pix I will update as and when I get internet.
It is unspeakable here
Jesus Wept.

The Little Ship Company

looks like you are going to miss the worst of jose which is good news

i expect the rescue operation will swing into full force shortly afterwards.

looks like clean drinking water is getting in short supply,and diesel for generators,the AUC medical university in Cupecoy north of the airport running a makeshift hospital expressed some concern as they were getting low on diesel to run essential equipment.

[atoll]

FYI latest weather for SXM

us and canadian citizens should all be evacuated by the end of the weekend from juliana,2 flights so far today

KNMI Weather forecast for St Martin
(Issued from Saturday 9 September 2017 8:25 AST 12:25 UTC)
The eye of hurricane Jose at 09:00 AM AST is at a distance of 250 km of St Martin.
The hurricane is expected to pass the Island this afternoon around 02:00 PM AST.
The shortest distance from St Martin will be around 140 km. The most likely wind speed will be gale force (75 km/h) and wind gust upto 100 km/h. The risk of hurricane wind speed is practical zero. The hurricane will move northwesterly with the speed of 20 km/h. After Sunday evening the influence of the hurricane will disappear.
From Saturday afternoon until Sunday afternoon periods of heavy precipitation are expected: 1-2 inches ( 25 -50mm) and chance of 20% of the amount of 4-6 inches (100-150 mm) .

Frans Debie
(Forecaster KNMI)

[JPA Cate]

Originally Posted by arsenelupiga

from last couple of cyclones 5 cat, one can see that cats can be flipped by wind only.

This are my estimates.

Lagoon, the heaviest needs around 150 kn.

Lighter/faster cats should expect flip at around 100 kn.

Flip in my opinion happens because of space between hulls. Wave raises bows, if strong enough wind, boat will get airborne and flip.

Not much one can do, except get off the boat. Or be prepared for flip scenario.

arsenelupiga,

One was flipped in an 80 knot microburst with a frontal passage in Kettering, Tasmania. It was not a huge cat, and it wrecked the mono it fell on.

Ann

[Dr. Sea]

Originally Posted by Island Time O25

Not to sound callous but it seems like they decided to "sell" the fleet to the insurance companies if that's the extent of their preparations the day before the storm hit.

I don't think the "before" photo of Paraquita Bay that has been widely circulated is actually from this year. It may be true that they didn't remove the sails and trampolines--I don't know--but it's a stretch to conclude that they didn't try to do everything possible to protect the fleet. After all, the fleet and their reputation for maintaining the fleet is their livelihood. Consider the magnitude of moving and securing 300 or so boats in a few days time while making preparations for your own survival.

[Cherod]

" few days " ? I thot this was a regular annual occurrence in the " hurricane zone " , ( albeit not the severity )

[Cherod]

Originally Posted by Dr. Sea

I don't think the "before" photo of Paraquita Bay that has been widely circulated is actually from this year. It may be true that they didn't remove the sails and trampolines--I don't know--but it's a stretch to conclude that they didn't try to do everything possible to protect the fleet. After all, the fleet and their reputation for maintaining the fleet is their livelihood. Consider the magnitude of moving and securing 300 or so boats in a few days time while making preparations for your own survival.

Should they not " consider the magnitude" of NOT moving / securing their boats / assets

[jtsailjt]

Originally Posted by Dr. Sea

I don't think the "before" photo of Paraquita Bay that has been widely circulated is actually from this year. It may be true that they didn't remove the sails and trampolines--I don't know--but it's a stretch to conclude that they didn't try to do everything possible to protect the fleet. After all, the fleet and their reputation for maintaining the fleet is their livelihood. Consider the magnitude of moving and securing 300 or so boats in a few days time while making preparations for your own survival.

And, given the uncertainty of the storms future track when it was a few days or more away, how could they know where to move the boats to, even if they had 300 qualified delivery crews willing to risk their lives available to them? Certainly, nowhere locally was safe whether sails and trampolines, etc. we're removed or not.

About the only thing that could have been done would be to move the whole fleet to an island south of the hurricane belt every summer and don't bring them back until Hurricane season ends. There hadn't been a devastating hurricane like this in the BVI's for quite awhile so it didn't seem like a bad choice to play the odds and keep the boats there year round. It will be interesting to see how future boat insurance rates in this area affect that decision making dynamic. Possibly a mass migration southward for the duration of the season will make sense. Big charter companies like the Moorings or Sunsail could offer drastically lower "migration rates" to qualified customers in order to move their large fleets back and forth. Maybe something like this will occur or maybe not, but I wouldn't be surprised if insurance companies dictate some sort of change from what has been the norm.

[brownoarsman]

Originally Posted by jtsailjt

Possibly a mass migration southward for the duration of the season will make sense. Big charter companies like the Moorings or Sunsail could offer drastically lower "migration rates" to qualified customers in order to move their large fleets back and forth. Maybe something like this will occur or maybe not, but I wouldn't be surprised if insurance companies dictate some sort of change from what has been the norm.

This would be good to see. The utilization rate for the fleet during the summer months has to be very low, so they're essentially leaving high value assets in a dangerous position while getting very little current cash flow from them. Might as well put them somewhere safe. I could even see them offering a 'flotilla' package where you follow the leader (staffed by the base pros) and hop down the island chain to Trinidad, and then again on the way back up. All the major rental car companies in the US manage to reposition their vehicles using customers ...

[Stu Jackson]

Originally Posted by jtsailjt

>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

About the only thing that could have been done would be to move the whole fleet to an island south of the hurricane belt every summer and don't bring them back until Hurricane season ends. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>Big charter companies like the Moorings or Sunsail could offer drastically lower "migration rates" to qualified customers in order to move their large fleets back and forth. >>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>

And once they got "there" where would they put them? Always, also, the question of where "there" is?

Anyone know of an island that could take these fleets?

I wish all the affected people only the best.