Hurricane Avoidance

[owly]

It seems that everybody heads for shore when a hurricane threatens, but in a crowded anchorage or marina your chances of serious damage are very high. For many live aboards, your boat is everything you have, and no matter how carefully you secure it, you have no way of preventing a "loose cannon" from careening into it. Moorings are often questionable, and many people do not know how to anchor properly, or have poor anchor rode, etc.

Does anybody head offshore? If so what is your strategy? Can you use the winds generated by the hurricane... presumably a hundred or more miles off to avoid it. In an Atlantic hurricane it seems that the winds in the SW quadrant would tend to push you away from the path.... Most sailboats don't move very fast, but neither do hurricanes. How far out from the eye are sea conditions dangerous?

[Breaking Waves]

Originally Posted by owly

Does anybody head offshore?

The US Navy does. But their ships have speed and size.

Essentially no yachts do as hurricanes can move quickly, they are large, and the track is uncertain.

Haul the boat, tie it down well - the worst that can happen is a property/insurance loss - offshore you can die.

[jimbunyard]

Originally Posted by owly

It seems that everybody heads for shore when a hurricane threatens, but in a crowded anchorage or marina your chances of serious damage are very high. For many live aboards, your boat is everything you have, and no matter how carefully you secure it, you have no way of preventing a "loose cannon" from careening into it. Moorings are often questionable, and many people do not know how to anchor properly, or have poor anchor rode, etc.

Does anybody head offshore? If so what is your strategy? Can you use the winds generated by the hurricane... presumably a hundred or more miles off to avoid it. In an Atlantic hurricane it seems that the winds in the SW quadrant would tend to push you away from the path.... Most sailboats don't move very fast, but neither do hurricanes. How far out from the eye are sea conditions dangerous?

See https://www.cruisersforum.com/forums...re-238205.html

[Lepke]

If you leave early enough, you can dodge a hurricane. What was the weather 5 days ago? You know it's coming, weather has a predicted cone. There's no excuse for being caught in a hurricane. And some people's lack of preparation, cost all of us higher insurance rates.

[Reefmagnet]

Heading offshore is risky in a slow boat. Hurricane track forecasting is way better than it used to be, but there is still an element of uncertainty. The last place I'd head, given choices is open water. Lower categories of storm aren't overly scary and decent marinas are as good as anywhere to hunker down. In more severe storms, the absolute best place to be is tied to mangroves in a creek if you have such in your vicinity.

[wingssail]

Originally Posted by Reefmagnet

Heading offshore is risky in a slow boat. Hurricane track forecasting is way better than it used to be, but there is still an element of uncertainty. The last place I'd head, given choices is open water. Lower categories of storm aren't overly scary and decent marinas are as good as anywhere to hunker down. In more severe storms, the absolute best place to be is tied to mangroves in a creek if you have such in your vicinity.

I haven't seen that many mangrove creeks with depth for my boat and where do you tie?

The best place is in a good marina in a protected cove, river, or estuary or behind other land based topography.

Yesterday Hurricane Nora blew past us in Banderas Bay, Mexico. The topography around this Bay protects us from hurricanes. Places on the coast where it could touch got winds over 80kts, (maybe more) but we saw max winds of about 50.

For me, this marina is better than a mangrove creek and I would be real hesitant to head to sea when a hurricane is coming.

[Reefmagnet]

Originally Posted by wingssail

I haven't seen that many mangrove creeks with depth for my boat and where do you tie?

The best place is in a good marina in a protected cove, river, or estuary or behind other land based topography.

Yesterday Hurricane Nora blew past us in Banderas Bay, Mexico. The topography around this Bay protects us from hurricanes. Places on the coast where it could touch got winds over 80kts, (maybe more) but we saw max winds of about 50.

For me, this marina is better than a mangrove creek and I would be real hesitant to head to sea when a hurricane is coming.

I've weathered all my cyclones inside marinas. However, the big problem with marina's is when storm surge lifts the fingers off the pylons. When this happens, destruction ensues on a massive scale. Boat's breaking away from there mooring lines is also an issue inside a marina, though you're usually shielded by your neighbours.


You need to get into the creek at high tide. It's usually only the mouth that is shallow. Once inside there's plenty of deep holes.


Riding out a cyclone in a mangrove creek..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7_YE6gtDE8

Marina mayhem...

[Nicholson58]

The answer to this depends on where you are and the storm details. Tough to outrun if you are on the US coast. In the Caribbean the cone of bad stuff is pretty well defined and the storms often well organized. Get 50 or more miles south of the track given the usual 5 days warning. Most if not all eastern Caribbean islands will let you anchor and shelter on your boat for named storms. You don’t need to check in or out. Just make radio contact.

[C420sailor]

Originally Posted by Breaking Waves

The US Navy does. But their ships have speed and size.

Essentially no yachts do as hurricanes can move quickly, they are large, and the track is uncertain.

Haul the boat, tie it down well - the worst that can happen is a property/insurance loss - offshore you can die.

Lol, I think it was Sandy that was coming up the coast. They were getting the ships underway for it. I drunkenly got on the ship (carrier) the night before, passed out. Ship was supposed to get underway at 0600.

Woke up at 1300, and we were still at the pier. Weird. Went down to the hangar bay and we were at a pier...but a different pier.

The captain took the ship to sea, then turned around and came back. Not sure if the storm changed track, or the conditions were worse out there than expected, but I slept through all of it!

[VChild]

Originally Posted by owly

It seems that everybody heads for shore when a hurricane threatens, but in a crowded anchorage or marina your chances of serious damage are very high. For many live aboards, your boat is everything you have, and no matter how carefully you secure it, you have no way of preventing a "loose cannon" from careening into it. Moorings are often questionable, and many people do not know how to anchor properly, or have poor anchor rode, etc.

Does anybody head offshore? If so what is your strategy? Can you use the winds generated by the hurricane... presumably a hundred or more miles off to avoid it. In an Atlantic hurricane it seems that the winds in the SW quadrant would tend to push you away from the path.... Most sailboats don't move very fast, but neither do hurricanes. How far out from the eye are sea conditions dangerous?

Heading offshore in a sailboat with an approaching hurricane sounds like a death wish. But, Setsail (Steve and Linda Dashew) describe suggested hurricane tactics if caught out in the open ocean with an approaching hurricane. It specifies maintaining various starboard tacks (port tacks below the equator) to try to avoid the center of the storm. An interesting read:
https://setsail.com/wp-content/uploa..._avoidance.pdf

[GordMay]

Cyclone evasion in the SOUTHERN Hemisphere
➥ https://www.cruisersforum.com/galler...r&imageuser=79

Locating Low Pressure Systems [Buys-Ballots Law]
➥ https://www.cruisersforum.com/galler...r&imageuser=79

[Group9]

The best thing, is to be tied up to trees. It's a lot harder to pull up a tree than it is to drag an anchor. Coincidentally, our boat is tied up in it's hurricane hole right now, hiding from Ida. This picture doesn't show it but we've got 200 ft lines fore and aft, so that we can rise up with the surge. And the expected wind direction here is always from the southeast which is blocked by those trees next to us. We've been using this spot for years and have never had any damage while tied up here in a hurricane.

[owly]

VChild's PDF was a great link everybody should read. I agree that heading out to sea when a hurricane is approaching might seem like a death wish...... but that all depends on what your strategy is and how far away the storm is. If you are in an area of mangroves and small rivers, sloughs, etc, it would be foolish NOT to tie up with a spiderweb of ropes to the mangroves........I have mixed feelings about trees, particularly along river banks.... they tend to be shallow rooted and I've seen a lot of trees fall over in storms, but they are probably a reasonable gamble....... I'd rather be tied to a down tree (big and solid) than a standing one I think.



Sailing out to sea in the face of an approaching hurricane sounds mad, but the ocean is huge and hurricanes are pretty small intense storms.......not a huge target to dodge considering their size and speed. The winds may be well in excess of 100 kts close to the storm, but the storm itself will be moving 10-15 kts. We often know they are approaching a week or more in advance, and we have a pretty good idea of their track with modern forecasting, and making real time wind, cloud, and sea state observations as well as barometric readings, it should be possible to avoid on in the open ocean. The best strategy obviously is to be someplace like the Canary Islands, or French Guyana, or south of the equator during the season. No place on the Atlantic or Gulf coast of the US is "safe" during the hurricane season. A great time to be exploring the approaches to the NW Passage and visiting Greenland ;-)

[Group9]

Hurricane Larry is moving at 20 mph right now. Make the wrong choice, and he could definitely catch you from behind if you tried running for it.

[Chris31415]

At the Mercy of the Sea, by John Kretschmer, is a book about several sailboats that got caught in hurricane Lenny in 1999. If I remember correctly, at least one sailed out to avoid the storm.