The Great Wander

Hurricanes!

Every day, from the beginning of June until the middle of November, I wake up and as I am making my coffee, I go to the National Hurricane Center website.  It’s the go to place to see about upcoming tropical cyclone activity.  After that, I jump over to PredictWind so that I can see what a couple of the different models are showing for the track of any potential storms.  I do this, obviously to see what we need to be ready for in terms of organized cyclone activity.  Sometimes, with PredictWind, I’ve spotted a couple of possibilities for tropical storm activity that is beyond the seven day forecast from the NHC. 

As I have written before, there’s a few things that go into riding out a hurricane on a boat.  There are limits to what you can do, but there are things  that you can do.  And we try to do everything we can to be ready.

We’ve been on the boat now when four different hurricanes have hit Florida.  Fortunately, for all four, we’ve been on the outside edges of the storm, but we have still had to prepare for the storm and we’ve ridden the storm out on board.  Each time we learn something new and each time is just a little bit different.

When Idalia came through, it was our first hurricane.  We were tied to the dock, decided we’d watch the storm in shifts through the night in case something happened, we’d have some at the ready to handle it…what we learned was, first, if something’s going to happen, unless you are doing some minor fender adjustments, there’s not a lot you can do.  Major events, well, if you’re awake for them, all you can do is watch them happen.  You might be able to tighten a few lines, but beyond that, when you’re at the dock there’s not much you are going to do.

The other big thing we learned is that where we have been is a pretty solid place to be for hurricanes.  Things still get a little spicy in terms of wind, but overall, where we are seems to avoid a good chunk of the major wind and damage.  There are always some downed tree branches, but we have yet to lose power because of a hurricane.  

When Helene rolled through earlier this year, we lowered the boom, tightened up a few lines on the boom and then tightened up dock lines.  I did write more about the preparations for the storm in a previous post, but really, it was about dock lines and easing tension on the boom.  For Helene we chose to leave the bimini on.  We found out that might have been a mistake because the wind caught a few snags in the zipper and proceeded to tear those stitches out.  I caught it before it did too much damage and rolled it up, so the wind couldn’t catch those stitches anymore.

When Milton rolled through, we just took the bimini off, which, while a pain, gives us a chance to really repair the minimal damage from Helene.  It could be hand stitched, but with a machine, you just get a tighter binding.  We are also going to have to do some repairs to our sail bag. I wrapped a line around it to keep it down, but during Helene, again, I just didn’t get enough wraps on there.  

People do ride out hurricanes at anchor.  In fact a few dockmates have suggested that they would prefer to be at anchor, it’s just a bit easier once you’re tied to the dock not to move.  But because the boat swings with the wind and tide, you are a bit better off being at anchor.  I don’t know, since I’ve never experienced one at anchor.  We have had one squall roll through at anchor  and we hit 55 mph winds for a bit during that storm.  The hard thing about that was just hearing the new creaks and groans of the boat, but everything held.  

This part of the river is a pretty good hurricane hole.  Things do seem to roll by us, which is why we have remained here through hurricane season.  You are relatively safe from hurricanes in this location.  I know that as we start to move, we are going to have to deal with extreme weather in other places, but for now, as we are getting our feet wet, being in a safe place is the right course of action.  

Hurricane season is coming to a close, and my morning won’t start with a visit to the NHC website.  I will be checking the weather regularly, just to see what’s coming our way.  But when you’re not in hurricane season, tropical cyclone activity isn’t as much of a concern.  If we are loving this lifestyle and have decided to keep the boat, we have a couple of decisions to make.  Do we find a place to haul out and put her on the hard, strapped down?  Do we move north to the Chesapeake or Maine?  Do we move south to Grenada, or further south?

We don’t have to make those decisions today, first we need to decide if living on a boat is what we really want.  For now, especially because insurance is coming due, we are starting to have some of those discussions.  Having a hurricane plan, a place to hole up during those intense storms is something that all boaters need to do.