Cyclone Rene photos - 130 K winds - Tonga direct hit

[yachtwork]

Cyclone Rene made a direct hit over Vava'u Tonga on 14-15 February 2010. The eye was over us for 1.5 hours before the winds reversed direction and came from the other direction. The full set of photos are here-

Cyclone Rene, Vava'u Tonga Feb 2010









Everyone who took precautions with there boat did just fine. The few who did not prepare ended up breaking free. I guess this is normal in any event.

Scott

[theartfuldodger]

would be interesting to see more and see how everyone fared.

[smackdaddy]

Wow! Thanks for the pics yacht!

What kind of moorings were the survivors on? And what was their prep?

[imagine2frolic]

I believe the small cat in from is from Southern Ca. A 33ft CSK named Aita Pe'ape'a.......i2f
Adventures of Aita Pe'ape'a: July 3, 2009 Huahine, Taha’a and Bora Bora

[yachtwork]

Thanks for the replys.

The moorings that held were big cement blocks with chain through the center let to a 1.25" poly line up to a big spliced eye that the boats tie to.

That is inedeed Aita Pe ape a. Good call. They did fine.



I just posted another collection of photos and a few more collections coming.

Scott

[soulfinger]

Did you ride out the storm on your boat?

[yachtwork]

Originally Posted by soulfinger

Did you ride out the storm on your boat?

Funny you should ask. This was the first time I have ever gotten off a boat in over 20 years. We went and stayed in a cement hotel onshore. The things that make me not want to stay onboard were-

• The broken down 200ft ferry pulled into the anchorage just outside the yachts right before the storm started and began motoring around in a figure 8 pattern.
• The winds were forecast to be be 110k. I was kind of using 80 knots as the max that I could be effective at helping the boat.
• I was thinking of staying on board to motor into the seas if the mooring began to drag, but my Tongan crew told me last cyclone the whole bay filled with corrugated roofing sheets that had blown off roofs. They dove patterns to pick up the pieces and rebuild the roofs. The helm on the cat I'm driving is very exposed and the thought of being cut in half seemed real.

The thing that made me want to stay aboard was the boat directly next to us I thought would break loose (it did) and I wanted to be onboard to try and get it free from our wide (30ft) bow.

Luckly when the eye came through we were able to launch the dingy and go check the boats. There was no chafe and the mooring system was holding well. Still it was good to check.

One more thing, notice the photo of the roof blown off. It broke three trees off before it landed on the cement house. That is a lot of force.



Scott