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Gustfronts

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Voyager
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
5231 Posts

Initially Posted - 08/05/2018 : 10:23:45

Gustfront is a term I�ve not heard a lot about in the past but here in the northeast I�ve experienced several of them in past 3 weeks.

Many have heard about wind shear and downdrafts, but these are strong winds (30-40kts) that can precede their associated thunderstorms by up to 10 miles and with very little warning.

Not a tornado but straight line winds.

You can go from quiet conditions to destructive winds in the course of 5 minutes, and then, as quickly as it came up, disappears.

For sailors under full sail they can wreak havoc.

I�ve seen their traces on local radar as a very thin blue or green line, almost like a smile or a bow echo. Because there�s little rain associated with them you could easily miss them glancing at the radar image on your phone. Now, the NWS will announce them as a special advisory on NOAA radio, but you have to listen carefully.

I was caught off guard recently when I saw a nimbus cloud heading toward me on the boat. I did not see the curtain of rain underneath the cloud so I reckoned it to be a fair weather cloud.

Whew! Was I wrong!

I had the main under wraps but my 135 genny was up. The gust caught the sail and pushed us hard to port, heeling almost to the gunwales (or so it seemed). I quickly undid the sheet and let her luff, then quickly rolled up the furler, but the expression �hours of boredom punctuated by moments of terror� was pretty accurate.

It blew for another 3-5 minutes then calmed down.

That was enough sailing for that day!

Bruce Ross
Passage ~ SR-FK ~ C25 #5032

Port Captain � Milford, CT

islander
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
3992 Posts

Response Posted - 08/05/2018 : 10:59:59

Oh have I been there, Done that..

Scott-"IMPULSE"87'C25/SR/WK/Din.#5688
Sailing out of Glen Cove,L.I Sound

Steve Milby
Past Commodore

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USA
5851 Posts

Response Posted - 08/05/2018 : 11:04:58

That photo of the desert gust front looks just like a front that passed over Charlotte Harbor about 40 years ago, just after we left Fisherman's Village Marina in a chartered Morgan 38. I had never seen a cloud formation with two very distinct layers, but it looked dangerous. I would estimate the winds at about 40-45 kts. When we saw it coming, we took down the main completely and rolled up all but a very small jib, and reached along parallel to it at about 7.5 kts for about an hour, until it lifted. Being on a smallish body of water, the waves didn't build much, but the rain was so intense that we literally couldn't see past the bow at times. We really should have put down the anchor, but, before it hit we could see that there were no other boats in the harbor, and thought we could sail through it. We made it, of course, but dropping the anchor would have been the smarter action.

Steve Milby J/24 "Captiva Wind"
previously C&C 35, Cal 25, C25 TR/FK, C22
Past Commodore

bigelowp
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1736 Posts

Response Posted - 08/05/2018 : 11:47:03

Very dangerous indeed. About ten years ago such a front came through while a local club had a race going on. Several knockdowns and one experienced sailor drowned. Reminds us all to pay attention to weather and err on the side of caution.

Peter Bigelow
C-25 TR/FK #2092 Limerick
Rowayton, Ct
Port Captain: Rowayton/Norwalk/Darien CT

Stinkpotter
Master Marine Consultant

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Djibouti
9013 Posts

Response Posted - 08/06/2018 : 07:16:02

Cumulous clouds are your "fair weather" puff-balls, sometimes with some rain... Cumulonimbus clouds and dark straight cloud banks are rarely benign. I've narrowly avoided being caught by a green-black straight line that was preceded by 70+ winds reported (but not forecasted) by NOAA while we were out there in our C-25. We got onto a mooring just as branches started flying across the cove... A bigger surprise was in our unballasted O'Day Daysailer, under sort of gray, partly-cloudy skies. It was suddenly as if the wind was blowing from all directions at once--the boom was swinging as if we were doing rapid jibes and tacks--no turning or sheet easing seemed to solve the problem. It was apparently a mini-microburst (downdraft) of sorts. We kept the boat up, but from what I remember, I'm not sure how!

Dave Bristle
Association "Port Captain" for Mystic/Stonington CT
PO of 1985 C-25 SR/FK #5032 Passage, USCG "sixpack" (expired),
Now on Eastern 27 $+!nkp*+ Sarge

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The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.