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An Alternate Storm Sailing Technique

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Steve Milby
Past Commodore

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USA
5902 Posts

Initially Posted - 07/21/2010 : 07:15:01

We all worry about getting caught in a storm, and, since I began sailing on the Chesapeake Bay, I have been thinking about the problem.

A couple years ago, I was caught in a serious, survival storm on the Bay on a friend's boat, when he sailed into the leading edge of a storm and got nailed by a microburst, generating extraordinarily high winds and big seas. In that case, the storm was moving south toward the Bay Bridge. We were north of the bridge, approaching the storm from the east, and I suggested we sail north of the storm for awhile, and let the leading edge (which is the most violent part of the storm) pass south of us. After the worst of the storm passed by, we could follow it down the Bay. My friend declined, and, instead, sailed the boat into the worst part of the storm, where a 40' trawler sank, and we were fortunate to make it.

Last weekend, I was helping another friend, who is a complete newbie to sailing, rig and sail his 43' Hunter. A late-afternoon storm developed in the general area of the West River. It was fairly localized, covering about 10-15 miles of the shoreline, and it moved slowly ENE. We were sailing approximately due east of it, in the main body of the Bay. We were on the fringe of it, and the windspeed indicator was showing windspeeds in excess of 30 kts, but the windspeeds would have undoubtedly been much higher at the leading edge of the storm. To get to my friend’s marina, which was up the South River, we would have to sail into the worst part of the storm. Instead, we furled all sails, turned 180 degrees and motored south of the storm. Then we did another 180 degree turn and fell in behind the storm and followed it until it passed to the northeast of the South River. Then we motored into the South River to my friend’s marina, in the moderate conditions that existed at the tail end of the squall.

Those little summer storms are often very localized, and short-lived, but they often pack a punch at the leading edge. I have noticed that, when they pop up, boaters often head straight into the worst part of the storm, to get to their marina. Power boats can often make enough speed to beat the storm, but sailboats can’t. My suggestion is that, when you see a localized storm of that type, you consider positioning your boat behind it, and following it, instead of trying to race ahead of it.

By comparison with my experience of a couple years ago, we completely avoided the high winds and the cold, driving rain, and the boat was never even marginally in jeopardy. We were only delayed in getting back to the marina by about 90 minutes.

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

Edited by - on

Stinkpotter
Master Marine Consultant

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Djibouti
9081 Posts

Response Posted - 07/21/2010 : 07:43:01

90 minutes well spent! (Toss up another beer, thanks!)

We made an unscheduled trip from Long Island Sound up the Connecticut River and into a cove just before a squall line hit, blowing 50 and gusting to 70. We had barely grabbed a mooring pennant when tree branches started flying by us. If we'd been out there, it would've been my wife's last as well as our first trip on Passage!

Edited by - Stinkpotter on 07/21/2010 07:52:21

jerlim
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1484 Posts

Response Posted - 07/21/2010 : 07:53:49

Good advice...I find it difficult to determine the direction the storm is heading - it's easy enough to see them on the horizon, but determining which way it's heading is a challenge...they don't seem to always follow along the prevailing wind direction...

Edited by - jerlim on 07/21/2010 07:54:45

Renzo
Admiral

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USA
621 Posts

Response Posted - 07/21/2010 : 07:54:54

Makes sense Steve. I've been caught in squalls few times and didn't always have the opportunity (or foresight) to get behind them but it seems it would be a much better place to be. Although, a friend of mine did relate the experience of comming in after a storm had passed and getting hit by a "white squall" (micro burst) out of a clear sky, that was violent enough to lay his C-30 on it's beam and hold it there for a minuite, filling the cockpit with enough water to slosh over the companionway sill and partially flood the cabin. He was motoring with all sails furled at the time. So I guess you're never completely safe when there is unsettled air about.

Edited by - on

windsong
Captain

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USA
318 Posts

Response Posted - 07/21/2010 : 07:58:02

Excellent point. Stupidly, I sailed into a dangerous squall last year when I was offshore, and I have since come to the same conclusion as you - I could have altered course or simply stayed offshore and and avoided the harrowing leading-edge of that system.
When the sky turns purple, it's hard to fight that instinct to race for home.

Edited by - on

Voyager
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
5378 Posts

Response Posted - 07/21/2010 : 19:23:34

My issues are that I don't have radar on the boat, and I'm too cheap to get a smart phone to download NOAA/NWS radar images, so I'm essentially blind to the storm until it is very nearby.

While NOAA radio will provide 'short term updates' on severe weather, their descriptions such as "the storm will be near East Nosepick at 3:25, South Hobbershober at 3:30 and at the mouth of the Shennuntunkett River at 3:45" either come too late, or are not precise enough to allow me to dodge the storm.

In the past two cases, we got back to the marina and narrowly escaped the rain and lightning, but a few years back got hit with a 40 kt wind associated with the gust front (fortunately with sails down & furled).

My problem is due to CT's rolling hills and short horizons, I cannot see the storm off in the distance until it is almost literally right up on top of me. I guess I should simply take my best guess at evasive action, then drop anchor in a protected spot until the threat is ended. Only problem, you never know what wind direction to protect yourself from until the storm is at full force. If I should anchor within a 1/2 mile of what turns out to be a lee shore, and the anchor drags, then I'm in a heap o' trouble.

Edited by - on

Stinkpotter
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Djibouti
9081 Posts

Response Posted - 07/21/2010 : 20:08:24

Bruce, radar on the boat won't tell you much... You might be able to see the leading edge of rain 10 miles away on open water, but you won't see the shape or severity of a cell, and you won't see it at all over land. You need a phone or PC that can hook up to a Doppler site.

Something I did since that harrowing first trip down the Sound was to set a GPS waypoint for the entrance to every refuge along the CT and LI shore, including places where I can get into the lee of an island like Falkner or Duck. Once I sense there's trouble ahead, I can pick a hiding place that's at roughly a right angle to the storm, or slightly in the other direction. I can quickly pick a waypoint and go directly to it--no delays needed to evaluate the chart.

It turned out in that first trip that we had two unscheduled overnight stops due to weather... A planned two-day trip turned into four shortened days. But we need to allow for that possibility any time we're planning a real trip on a sailboat.

Edited by - Stinkpotter on 07/21/2010 20:14:37

britinusa
Web Editor

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USA
5404 Posts

Response Posted - 07/21/2010 : 22:59:33

Funny how subjects turn up.

I was reading about fronts this weekend.

The reference read that the center of the Low would be on your Right if you faced the wind in the northern hemisphere. Makes sense,

I know that the front will extend from the center of the low most of the times, but how do you tell where the edge of the front/storm is located? Just visuals?

Paul

Paul

Edited by - on

aeckhart
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1709 Posts

Response Posted - 07/22/2010 : 06:55:13

I once read an article discussing severe weather tactics during the Newport to Bermuda race and how to avoid the severest part of a storm cell. The premise was that since storm cells rotate counter clockwise in the nortern hemisphere the severest weather, the side of the storm where the wind would be the greatest, is on the counter clockwise (12 to 6 if you will)side with 12 being the leading edge. As the wind rotates outward from the eye, its force lessons on the 6 to 12 side of the storm. So if a squal is moving west to east and you are facing the leading edge from the east, the safest route around is to the south. The premise is based on large storm cells on the ocean but may have some relevance on large lakes like the Great Lakes and others, and seems to support Steves observation to a degree.

Edited by - on

Steve Milby
Past Commodore

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USA
5902 Posts

Response Posted - 07/22/2010 : 07:09:30

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by britinusa
 ...how do you tell where the edge of the front/storm is located? Just visuals?

Paul<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
With the two storms I discussed, visual observations were very helpful. On the Bay, you can often see the whole structure of these small, localized storms, from beginning-to-end, as they form over the shoreline. You can see clear, blue sky at the edges of it, you can see the clouds piled high at the leading edge, and the sky beneath them become progressively darker and grayer as the rainfall becomes increasingly dense, and an anvil-shaped thunderhead might be apparent. As the storm nears, or as you sail closer to the storm, the rain and wind increase. We watched the storm for a few minutes and, we weren’t absolutely certain, but it appeared to be moving either northeast or ENE. That’s when we decided to head south, to get behind the storm. A couple of times, the boat’s owner wandered a little too far to the west, and the increasing rain told us we were getting under the edge of the storm.

I’m beginning to think our biggest challenge, with regard to storm sailing, is in suppressing our fear of it, so that we can make the best use of our human intelligence, to observe the conditions and devise a storm avoidance plan. We should also suppress our natural tendency to stubbornly persist in our efforts to reach our original destination, when that will take us into the heart of the storm.

When we talk about storm sailing techniques, most of our discussion is focussed on how and when to tuck in a reef, how to rig the boat and trim the sails for heavy weather, heavy weather helmsmanship and similar issues. In short, we talk about how to persist through storm conditions toward our intended destination, instead of storm avoidance, which I am beginning to believe is a much better way of avoiding the risk of damage to the boat and harm to the crew.

Edited by - on

Stinkpotter
Master Marine Consultant

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Djibouti
9081 Posts

Response Posted - 07/22/2010 : 07:16:08

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by britinusa
 The reference read that the center of the Low would be on your Right if you faced the wind in the northern hemisphere...<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">That's for a sailor trying to avoid a large low-pressure weather system on the open ocean, perhaps between you and the Azores. If it's two days away, which way do I go to let it pass? For one of those, most of us just stay home on the rainy day when it has arrived. The squall lines we worry about aren't necessarily associated with big lows--they often pop up as a result of heat and humidity. Any of us coastal and lake sailors who gets caught out in a big front created by a major low pressure system hasn't been doing our due diligence as a skipper.

Some years back when I lived in western CT, on about a Wednesday I was aware of a big front that was due to arrive that Saturday. Sure enough--about Saturday noon the NW sky was greenish-black. I went down to the boat club to check and secure things... By the time I left the boat, I was being sand-blasted by the wind coming across the nearby beach. The local yacht club had a race that day--a very experienced skipper died out there (luckily his crew survived), and several boats were dismasted. This was not something you sailed around or away from (except several days in advance)--it was something you stayed home to watch in awe. I felt for the skipper's family, but both he and the yacht club screwed up big-time! I've never understood how they looked at that forecast, and then later looked at that sky (an hour+ before it hit) and were out there!

Edited by - Stinkpotter on 07/22/2010 07:27:38

windsong
Captain

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USA
318 Posts

Response Posted - 07/22/2010 : 07:30:05

Paul<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">We should also suppress our natural tendency to stubbornly persist in our efforts to reach our original destination, when that will take us into the heart of the storm. <hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Amen. As a coastal sailor in the summer, my best winds are afternoon seabreezes, which unfortunately coincide with afternoon squalls. I have learned that my eyes are my best weather sensor for these cells, and 9 times out of 10, I can alter my course to 90 degrees away from the storm's direction and sail around them. I returned to the dock once last summer to find people shocked that I was "out there." I never saw a drop of rain. Just be wary of the fast-moving system or multiple systems that can box you in. That's what gets my blood pumping (and my foulies out of their locker).

Edited by - windsong on 07/22/2010 07:35:03

PCP777
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1225 Posts

Response Posted - 07/22/2010 : 09:48:28

Great topic and advice. I do use the animated Doppler on my blackberry (accuweather.com) all the time on our lake, very handy. In fact a couple of our club's races have been canceled based on this. I just showed the other skippers the Doppler. I'm always watching forecasts etc before I go out.

Edited by - on

aeckhart
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1709 Posts

Response Posted - 07/22/2010 : 11:40:18

I'm sure that those of us who sail the Great Lakes, particularly Lake Superior as I do, large low-pressure cells are infrequent but do occur, often with devastating effects. Witness the Edmond Fitgerald sinking. The technique I mentioned may have some application here. When faced with a storm emergency, many contingencies must be considered to ensure survival given the situation at the time.

Edited by - on

jbkayaker
Captain

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USA
299 Posts

Response Posted - 07/25/2010 : 09:04:43

Radar images on
http://www.intellicast.com/Local/WxMap.aspx?location=USNC0121&weather=hdRadarSmoothPaletteA
seem to have less lag time than other commonly used websites.

For our inland lake Summer races one guy at home keeps an eye on the Internet radar and calls the race director via cell phone when storms threaten the race location. So far this Summer one has been canceled on his advice. Good thing too !!!

Edited by - jbkayaker on 07/25/2010 09:07:31

piseas
Former Treasurer

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USA
2017 Posts

Response Posted - 07/25/2010 : 09:23:56

[quote]Originally posted by Steve Milby
I'm a racer, and I can tell you that racers know how to make a boat go fast, but they do not generally practice good seamanship.

Steve, I am glad to hear your racing skills did not come into play on these days and I will bet you are the type of sailor who DOES practice good seamanship. I have always been impressed by your posts exemplifying safety first. Good man. Great story.

Steve A
PS There is a pretty good article on how to read the sky in current BoatUS magazine.

Edited by - piseas on 07/25/2010 17:26:15

Steve Milby
Past Commodore

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USA
5902 Posts

Response Posted - 07/27/2010 : 08:08:21

Thanks Steve.

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