October 24, 2003

Hurricane Prep

This week SetSail asked our cruising contributors about what they do for hurricane preparations: What if you're not in a place like Guam with its special hurricane hole? What sort of ground tackle, chafe gear, etc. do you carry aboard? What sort of locations do you look for to ride out the storm? Here is George's response.

It is easy to talk about getting out of the hurricane zone before the season starts, but it has been known for these storms to develop outside of the accepted season. It is important to remember that cyclone statistics are precisely that - statistics - they do not preclude cyclone behaviour outside of the normal distribution, and watching the weather is a part of routine daily life when cruising around the world.

When we have found ourselves potentially in the path of a developing hurricane, our strategy has been to move the boat. When in low latitudes the safest option is to head towards the equator. If it is foolish enough to chase us that way, at least it will lose its power. Of course for this strategy to be safe and successful you must make the decision early - the longer you leave it the less likely you are to go to sea knowing there is a hurricane around. When hurricane Luis hit St. Maarten in 1995, hundreds of boats had headed for St. Maarten's lagoon, preferring a 'hurricane hole' to a sea passage to escape the storm. Hardly a boat was not damaged and dozens were lost. Perhaps worse was the more than a hundred boats that were severely damaged, leaving months or years of repair work. Cruising plans were put on hold, funds depleted, and hearts and spirits broken. We know one couple who repaired their boat but simply didn't have the energy left to go cruising again.

There is understandably a fear of going to sea when a hurricane is forecast. Hurricane paths are statistically predictable, but again it is the exceptions that you have to worry about. However, the quality of forecasting these days means that you have several days advance warning of an approaching storm, its strength, its likely path and the predicted development pattern. And of course you do not need to get very far away from the centre of the storm to experience strong but not severe conditions. This is particularly true in the tropics where the storm tends to be intense but small. When the storm goes sub tropical (as with Isabel) it tends to cover a much larger area.In the tropics, on the days leading up to a hurricane, there tend to be light winds, so we always made sure that when we were in these areas as the season approached we had full fuel tanks and our engine was serviced and in good shape. This is not the time to be taking things apart for maintenance.

No review of hurricane strategy is complete without a comment on what we consider badly named - hurricane holes. There are a few credible hurricane holes around the world - invariably coastlines with deep mangrove-lined inlets - but if you know about them, then be sure that the local boats do too, and finding a space may be harder than you think. Local boats may already have put down hurricane moorings and nominally allocated places. Some harbours (e.g. Cairns in Australia) close 24 hours before a cyclone is due so that local boats can take up their hurricane moorings secure in the knowledge that other boats will not moor close to them.

In addition, there are two big problems with hurricane holes: firstly the problem of other boats. You may secure your boat adequately but if just one boat breaks free (as happened in the recognised 'hurricane hole' English Harbour in Antigua several years ago) it will cause an enormous amount of damage to other yachts. Secondly, if the eye of the storm passes overhead, there is likely to be a huge storm surge, which could negate any attempts you have made to multi anchor and moor the boat.

Finally, remember that if you are on a small island hit by a Hurricane, the population of that island will be in dire straits, lacking food, water, communications - the last thing that they need is the extra demands made by distraught boat owners, possibly in need of medical attention and rescue assistance.

Hurricane holes should be a last resort if for some reason you are not able to sail out of the danger area. It will be too late to buy extra anchors and ropes - they sell out within hours of a hurricane warning - so if you are cruising a potential hurricane area, carrying three anchors and several good quality long lines is essential. Making sure bilge pumps are in good working order should be part of normal maintenance, but is vital if you are going to ride out a hurricane.

Remember, too, that when you have done everything you can for the boat, get off and on to land. You won't be able to do anything when 100+ knots are screaming across the deck, but you could put your life at risk. Friends of ours stayed on their boat in St. Maarten, and when a large barge dragged down on to them they had to dive in the water. They washed up at different points in the lagoon and for several hours neither knew if their partner had made it. However much you love your boat, it's not worth your life.

As we write this, we have not yet seen reports of whether or not there was much damage to small craft on the US East Coast from Hurricane Isabel. Sadly these exceptional storms do occur occasionally and damage is inevitable. At least with boats tied up in marinas there is little threat to life. Fibreglass can be repaired; people cannot always be.