Hurricane Season 2006

[Mike Smith]

OK, Gulf Coast Catalina 34 owners, here we go!

[captran]

Good luck Mike!
As much as we miss the beautiful waters of the Bahamas, I sure don't miss the summer storms.  The NW again experienced the warmest summer on record.  We were anchored in squirrel Cove BC and it was 90 degrees during the day and high 70's at night!  No bugs, no thunderstorms, no humidity and beautiful scenery...but no lobster, conch, warm water (altho some of the anchorages did get up to 70 degrees) walking long stretches of white sand beaches...  We'll hope for the best for you.

[Joe Kern]

Looks like the Gulf Coast will get a break.  Those of us with boats on the Florida east coast are getting nervous.  Cautious optimism with those of us up near Cape Canaveral, but south of here does not look so great.  Hoepfully Ernesto will break up over Cuba and not gain any strength before it hits the Keys and South Florida.  Otherwise Tuesday afternoon will be spent getting the Jenny Jewel ready for the first time this season.  Trade-off for year round sailing I guess.

Joe

[Joe Kern]

Any thoughts from folks on leaving the roller furling main in the mast during the 60-80 mph winds we are expecting?   The only exposed part will be the small clew triangle which will be easy to tie to the mast.  Seems nearly impossible for the main to become unfurled or get blown around since it is protected in the mast and all the furling lines will be locked down in the rope clutches.  Jib always comes off for these storms as the wind can get in the folds even when furled tightly and then it is all over.

Headed over to the coast later today to take down the canvas, add more lines etc.  Time permitting I am sure I will be cautious and remove the main as well, but if I run out of time or weather it would have to be left up.  Anyone heard of how these roller furling mains do in these kinds of blows?

[Stephen Butler]

Asked this question last year, of our marina and a local loft...both were quick to say that whatever can be removed from the boat, in order to reduce windage, should be...including in-mast mains if they are in any way exposed.  This seemed extreme to me, until I remembered the damage that came out of Wilma, when just an incredibly small about of canvas was exposed.  Hope this helps.

[Mike Smith]

Don't lnow anything about removing an in-mast main for a storm - although John Sheehan, Sea Shell, might.  For a projected hit or a hit close to the west, I take all the canvas down, bimini, dodger, mainsail, and jenny - with the exception of the pedestal cover.  For a projected near hit (why do they call it a near miss???), to the east, I fold the bimini back and lash it closed, leave the dodger on, sausage-tie the main, and wrap as many turns of furling line on the jenny as I can, then tie it off with sail ties.  Since we always evacuate for a few days, I always go a little overboard, so the old cost/ benefit ratio is accepatable and I sleep better!

Mike

[Terry Forshier]

Boat US magazine showed a Florida boat that weathered several hurricanes in the l;ast 2 years. All the canvas and sails were removed and the boat was tied across a canal with a minimum of 8 spiderwebed lines with chafe guard. My motto is take it off, take it all off.
After Wilma hit it was obvious at the city dock and around the neighborhood which boaters properly prepared their boats. Many roller furler sails left on were shredded and flopping in the wind. Of these several had broken masts from Mainsails not taken off were also unfurled and shredded.

[Mike Smith]

Terry -

He's in our canal system (Mike Smith, Breezer, John Sheehan, Sea Shell, Jere Allen, Trilogy).  We do it right down here!

Mike

[captran]

We were always on the hard for the 5 years we were in Florida from late August on.  We took everything off- bimini, dodger, all sails...to reduce windage.  With all the prep Francis still knocked her over.  It is amazing how much windage is created with anything, it hardly seems worth the risk, but that's just our experience.  When they post pics of boats it seems there are often tattered sails in the rigging.

[Joe Kern]

Appears like Ernesto is pretty much going to be a non-event but I am glad we went over to the boat yesterday and got her ready.  From arrival to completion it only took 2 hours (in 95 degree heat) for my wife and I to take off all the canvas and everything else above decks that could fly (Lifesling, line bags etc).  The bimini and dodger were pretty easy to get off and it gave me a good excuse to lubricate all the zippers and snaps.  Jib came down easy for the first time although I was surprised how big it was all piled on the deck compared to my old 270.  Extra lines on the corners and springs with most ties to pilings and dock structure instead of dock cleats.  We will know for sure how she did tmw. but I am feeling a lot calmer today about it than I would have if we had not made the trip.

Hopefully the storm won't reform on its way to the Carolinas.

All the shrimp boats from the Port of Canveral had come through the lock inland to the barge canal.  If an ounce of prevention made sense for them I don't feel too bad about being oevrcautious.

[John Sheehan]

On Sea Shell I have been removing the jib but leave the furling main tightly tucked in the mast.  However, I also tie a line around the mast through the clew to keep it in place.  Then I secure the main furling line through the line clutch, wrap it around the winch and tie it off to be sure there is no chance of the line getting loose.  To minimize chances of anything getting loose I also cleat of the traveler lines.  One slight concern with leaving the main in the mast is it gives you a higher center of gravity than without the sail in place.  Like Mike I also remove anything I can, but leave the framework for the Bimini in place but tied off.  

One side issue is to cover the exhaust with duct tape.  The boat pictured in the Boat US article is one of our neighbors and even though he was tied off well, he had water forced back into his engine and had to have it rebuilt.  I have always taped the exhaust but leave a small hole for ventilation.  With Dennis we had the eyewall come through our canal with 100 mph winds on our stern.  To help remember to remove the tape I put a piece of tape on the key.

Our canal is only 80' wide but with docks and boathouses extending out into it is much less.  When securing for Ivan, Dennis and the various other storms I have been using 5 lines on each side and bow and stern anchors set out for and aft.  With narrow canals consider the stretch of the line you use.  They will stretch a lot and you may find yourself hitting the shore or other boats.  If not using nylon lines or going too large in line size you loose the shock absorbing benefits.  I also try to have each line tied to something different so if one tree or piling gives way or the line chafes through or breaks you have the others as backup.

Lets all hope for an mild hurricane season for a change.

John

[Joe Kern]

John - I did the same with the roller furling main but think in any strong storm I will remove it entirelry due to the weight problem you raised.

Great point about the engine exhaust and one I will do next time.  Hoepfully not something I will have to worry about this year but odds are......