What to do when a storm hits on the open water?

D

Dave S

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Oct 3, 2006
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Upstate South Carolina
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I am looking for some opinions here.

We are normally fair weather boaters but yesterday we got caught in a pretty bad downpour with wind, lightning, and heavy rain. Because of where we were on our lake there was no way to outrun this storm. I elected to head back to our Marina in the storm. We boat on an inland lake so waves are not an issue even though the lake was as rough as I have ever seen it. I noticed a number of people sitting out the storm while others were underway just as we were. While I was heading back I questioned the "wisdom" of my decision as the lightning was flashing around us. :smt100

What would you have done in this scenario? We could have stayed put in the cabin as the anchor was holding fast in spite of the winds. I just don't like lightning and thunder on the open water but even while I was underway I couldn't get away from it.
 
Had a similar situation once.
Lowered the VHF antenna, and got to the marina as quickly as possible.
Not sure if there's any good way to boat in a storm.
 
If you had good holding on the anchor, I would have stayed put and went down in the cabin below/near the water line if possible (below the RF ground). I can handle waves and wind but lightning scares me. I've been making way in a storm with lighting hitting around me so close you could smell it in the air... I hate that.

If you are anchored, one of the problems you end up with when a storm goes over is the high winds turning your boat into a big pendulum swinging on the anchor and causing the anchor to drag. I've found it helpful to toss a second anchor off the back of the boat to stop the swinging. If you can anchor and get below, that should be choice #1.

If you are making way, there are other things to worry about. One of them I have found with my 480 is that if you are going slow into the wind and the wind gets over 40 knots or so, it is very hard to keep it pointed into the wind without more throttle. At 60 knots, my boat is very hard (impossible?) to keep into the wind as the thing wants to become a weather vane and there is just not enough thrust at displacement hull speeds to keep it pointed where you want. Summer squalls on the bay do produce 60 knot winds and turn the water into foam... 30 minutes of hell (I've only dealt with one of these 60 knot variety). I would venture to say that most squalls are 35-45 knot winds (I usually get in 2 or 3 per season). With reduced visability, you really have to worry about rogue boats hitting you also. Keep as best lookout as you can and minimal power to maintain control.

The science on lightning is limited. The basic belief is that the better an RF ground your boat is, the more likely you are to take a hit (it's not the highest object all the time). However, power boats in general can't handle lightning as well as a sailboat as you don't have the cone of protection offered by a grounded mast. Also, if you have a SSB antenna grounded, you are a sitting duck. VHF antennas are not good RF grounds...

It's NOT a good idea to try and get into a marina/channel with a storm in full force. If you can't beat it into a marina, then option 2 should be to anchor in a cove somewhere and option 3 is to ride it out and pray.... the deeper the water you are in, the shorter the waves will be.

My 2 cents.
 
The boat was swinging pretty good in a pendulum fashion but just the same she was holding. While we were underway I had one tab fully down and the boat still would not level off. I am not sure what the wind speeds were.......maybe 25-30mph......... but they were hitting us broadside. We also noticed one of the big tourist houseboats with a couple of dozen people on board out in the storm too. They were underway but at a crawl and I imagine with the wind they were having a big problem getting it to track straight. Since that is an all metal craft , I wonder what their risks were with the lightning?
 
Actually, being inside of an all-metal skin is the perfect place to be as lighting travels on the surface of what it hits. That's what I meant about a "good RF ground". A regular ground means nothing to lightning. Every wonder why being in your car is good? It's because you have a big metal skin around you and if lightning hits, it should not come inside..... it's not the fact the tires have you off the ground... Your Sea Ray on the other hand... well... it's plastic... and if it hits, it will go through something till it gets to the water surface.
 
Anchor..

I would have stayed anchored. In those type of winds there would be no way for me to safely dock at my marina anyway. I would have deployed my second anchor, probably off the bow, in what I believe they call "Bohemian style sp?". I would bunker down in the cabin, reflecting on the fact that I messed up getting caught in the storm. I am not busting on anyones seamanship skills here, because I have been in a similiar situation. A situation I could have avoided if I listened to my gut and simply gone home....
 
I would argue that getting caught in storms is just part of boating. If you don't go out because there might be a storm, you'll sit at the dock all the time and be stressed out. I don't think anyone should go out looking for trouble and if there is bad weather you are not comfortable with, stay at the dock. However, staying at the dock because there "might be a summer squall" can leave you at the dock all summer.

I think people should always look for days to go out and practice there weather skills from time to time... If you have never been in 20 knot winds, take your boat out with someone who has on a day that you control and not the weather. If you have never been in 25 knot winds... etc.. I grew up sailing though.. and that's common in that arena. :grin:
 
Four Suns said:
Actually, being inside of an all-metal skin is the perfect place to be as lighting travels on the surface of what it hits..
Click to expand...

And..... if you have a can boat.....open the hatch and climb in one of the tubes...... :grin:


Actually, Gary has it pretty much covered. All good advise. Unless you have a medical emergency, and you are safe where you are, stay put and ride it out. Most summer squals pass quickly.


quick story;

I ran into one about a half hour south of the Verranzano bridge in the ocean. At first I thought my radar screen was broke, because I saw this big wall of green coming at us. (had a Sitex back then). I knew the bridge was in the other direction, so something else was out there. Well, once I realized what we were about to get into, my wife and I immediately doned our life jackets, (my daughter and her friend already had theirs on) and of course..... we got out the camcorder.... :grin: I made lite of the HUGE waves and DRIVING rain in an effort to keep the girls from getting scared.......no, make that frantic. I, on the other hand, was "shivering me timbers".....I was running about a mile and half off shore, and the ocean turned mean....real mean, realfast......Plan B for me, if it had gotten much worse, was to just run the boat up on the beach.

We still watch that video every year...usually in the winter months. About a half lhour after the storm, the sun was bright and it was a beautiful calm day. When I show the video to other people they can't believe that it was taken in the same day, let alone only a half hour apart.
 
Four Suns said:
I would argue that getting caught in storms is just part of boating. If you don't go out because there might be a storm, you'll sit at the dock all the time and be stressed out.
Click to expand...

Yesterday was a "20 percent chance of showers" day. Unfortunately we happened to be where one of these storms popped up. A mile from the lake, things were bone dry. That is typical of a summer's day here.
 
You are basically in the same part of the world as me and see the same weather... I agree... If you stayed home everyday there was a 20% chance of showers, you would be boating about 4 days all summer.
 
Dom,

I have one of those "don't want to do that again things" as well. When I was in the storm where NOAA was blasting out on the weather radio about 60 knot winds, I watched in disbelief as 2 sailboats in front of me with their sails down and motoring heeled over 90 degrees and their mast tops went into the water as the rain/wind engulfed them and then I lost visibility and could not see them. That was my "OH SH!T" moment. I don't have a video though... wish I did. 30 minutes later it was sunny skies...
 
I have a flying friend who says:

"I like to use top-notch decision making skills so that I don't have to use top-notch flying skills"

I have been in summer squalls before. . .and it ain't pretty. Especially if you cannot point your bow into the wind.

I agree that "getting wet" is pretty much inevitable on a boat. I have not been in a situation yet where a single anchor was inadequate -> and if I was, then I think I would be really concerned because the issue of how to best set a second anchor would be an issue. Especially since that decision would invariably be made in BAD WEATHER when being on the bow would be quite problematic. T
 
Like mentioned before if we waited for ideal weather we'd never leave the dock. Luckily we don't have too many thunderstorms(maybe 3 a year). The wind will kick up though, but those type of storms that come out of nowhere we tend to ride out. I think on the hook and a thunderstorm rolls through, I'd just ride it out :cool:
 
I agree with all of the above advice... the only possible counter argument to the "stay anchored" approach hinges on the wind direction of the squall, you don't want to be 20 yards off a lee shore with a 35 knot squall blowing. Granted, you can't always tell what the wind direction will become in a squall, but on the Chesapeake Bay, squalls almost always blow out of the NW.

Our favorite anchorage is protected from every direction but, you guessed it, the NW. When T-storms are predicted (or look or sound likely) we always high tail it out of there to a more protected anchorage around the corner.

Experienced offshore sailors will head out to sea if they can't reach safe harbor rather than risk a lee shore situation. Of course, that strategy may not apply on a lake!
 
On the hook...

Something else to concider is keeping those engines running. Not only for immediate response if needed but also for assisting the anchor in case of drastic swings caused by wind. Preservers on, everything stowed, throwable ready, radio on channel 16 etc. Anything else I might be missing?
 
Re: On the hook...

RjVA said:
Something else to concider is keeping those engines running. Not only for immediate response if needed but also for assisting the anchor in case of drastic swings caused by wind. Preservers on, everything stowed, throwable ready, radio on channel 16 etc. Anything else I might be missing?
Click to expand...

You forgot Frank's suggestion of saying a prayer. :smt043
 
Being a Florida coastal boater, Gary's thought really hit home for us........we get summer squalls nearly every afternoon. Some are forcast, most are not with even the marine weather forcasting a "chance of afternoon showers". Well sometimes those "showers" have 50-60kt winds on both sides of them. It is better to stay anchored if you are sure you anchor is holding.

And, my thought for the day.....if you have radar learn how to use it for storm avoidance and prediction. When the sky turn black, its too late to get out the book and learn. If you have a plotter, then plot a route in the areas you normally transit to get home or to an open area of decent depth. Some summer squalls completely obscure your vision and horizontal reference so that you are flying IFR (instruments) and you cannot see where you are. Get to a waypoint on your route and you can get home or to an area of open water so you can hold station until the storm passes.

Personally, I wouldn't boat in coastal water without a radar, plotter and an autopilot.
 
Re: On the hook...

RjVA said:
Something else to concider is keeping those engines running. Not only for immediate response if needed but also for assisting the anchor in case of drastic swings caused by wind. Preservers on, everything stowed, throwable ready, radio on channel 16 etc. Anything else I might be missing?
Click to expand...

RjVA,

I thought the rule is to have all the equipment off not to attract lightning?

Alex.
 
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