Heaving to- Fore reaching- Lying Ahull

[fxykty]

Originally Posted by BBill

I was crew on a 500' freighter (SS Steel Scientist) in the late 1960s and we skirted a cat 2 hurricane in route from NY to New Orleans to Vietnam. The waves were so high and crests so far apart the troughs WERE smooth in hurricane force winds.The crests were breaking so large and thick it would have made it impossible for any 60' yacht to survive, much less be controlled or stay on her feet. It's already been said, if you haven't experienced these conditions its all theory...but nobody in their right mind would take a 60' yacht offshore into a hurricane or any storm close to one for safety.

Yachting Mag had an article in the 1960s about Rudy Choy sailing one of his 40' cats across the ocean and getting caught in severe conditions. It was the Krispy Kreme boat and identified with KK on the sails. They surfed downwind and were able to control the boat in severe conditions. This is a good read if anyone can find it. It was in the early days of cats when few knew anything about multihulls in storm conditions.

There’s the famous footage of ENZA finishing their Jules Verne Trophy challenge in a strong gale, with up to 70 knot winds off of Brittany and through the finish line at Ushant - they crossed with two storm jibs and dragging hawsers to control surfing and bow stuffs. The story at http://www.tropheejulesverne.org/en/...a-new-zealand/.



Of course, they were racing and only wanted to prevent out of control surfs, while maintaining high average speed.

[BrotherT]

Hi
Had the experience of a large Hurricane 65+ knots pass over a 42'yacht offshore, and plenty of big winds and seas in cross ocean voyaging. The accepted wisdom is to find the navigable quadrant on the hurricane track so you can run with the wind and seas to minimise the force impacting the boat. Read the sailor's bible "Heavy Weather Sailing" originally by Adlard Coles and revised by Bruce and others. Likewise with the fisherman's trick of "dodging" or slowly motoring so you bob up and down like a cork, letting the waves pass under you, and ditto with heaving to - but these both depend on the actual sea-state. When the waves are steep enough to fall over and break they are usually also huge, and tons of water falling on a boat will smash it - so minimising this impact by running so that you are giving way to the wind and waves is the best survival tactic. Freak waves are likely, and you just have to manage as best you can with those monsters. Bernard Moitessier and Dumas (who sailed around the world in the latitudes of the Roaring Forties) both advocate sailing sufficiently fast when running downwind and minimising the drag just enough to prevent pitch-poling or broaching. So far my experience is running with bare poles in the complete spray to the mast height in a proper blow and quartering the waves worked the best. I agree with the advice that each boat will react differently, and it will very much depend on the conditions. For your life, avoid the quarter of the hurricane track where wind is against wave...and move in the eye if possible so when the other wind direction hits you are positioned to give way when running downwind to wind with waves.

[Hiva Oa]

Originally Posted by MicHughV

remember this:

On Oct. 1, 2015, the 790-foot cargo ship El Faro sank near the Bahamas during Hurricane Joaquin. All 33 crew members died in the tragedy. The ship was equipped with a voyage data recorder, or VDR, that could reveal clues to understand what happened, but it was lost in the depths.

I've only experienced 60 knots plus one time and it would be fair to say I had my arse handed to me in no uncertain terms...

The VDR was recovered off the El Faro.

[Hasbeen]

I was skippering one of a number of boats involved in rescuing 3 multi hulls which capsized in heavy weather just east of the Whitsunday Islands one night. This was not open water, but inside the great barrier reef, & the wind did not exceed 40 knots, while we were involved or earlier at the islands.



The area does have moderately strong tides, not exceptional, but in view of all boats succumbing in a smallish area, some local sea condition may have had an effect. The boats were involved in a multi hull race of some hundreds of miles to Cairns, from Gladstone I believe. One try pitch-polled, & 2 cats capsized after broaching. None of the boats had major structural damage when recovered. I don't think running fast is a suitable answer, particularly in the dark, when you can't really see to help the boat.


I was caught on the edge of a cyclone in the Solomon sea in 1976, in my 40 ft Morgan Giles yacht Alyth. I did not see anything above 50 knots sustained, the strong winds lasted only 26 hours & were continually shifting from SE through W to NW throughout so perhaps produced less bad seas. The really big waves appeared to pass either in front of or behind me as I lay ahull. The slow leeward drift of the yacht may have helped with this.



My main worry was sea room. Poor yachties could not afford sat nav in the 70, or radar for that matter. After 3 days with the seas down, but no position sight I slowly headed for where a 7000Ft high island should be, & luckily I was right enough to find it before hitting anything. Once I had a position I worked out the yacht had made just over a knot basically sideways, with a little fore reaching.



My suggestion, avoid being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Not much help I know.