"Is everybody on the boat?"

[Sublime]

Sail trim? Bah! That was all about surviving. Screw sail trim. Screw the sails. Hunker down and try to stay on the boat!
I've nearly been knocked off a boat with a 50 knt gust and in much better conditions. I can't even begin to wrap my mind around what those people went through.
Winds of 100 knts can uproot large trees, tear fences down, rip shingles off the roof.
This was a situation where if you and the boat and the mast make it out okay, then you did damned good.
I listened to an interview of one of the participants who said that it was stronger than their typical storms and lasted much longer which caught a bunch of people off guard. Usually they would get a burst lasting only a few minutes but this was much longer and much stronger.



The lessons here are to hope for the best, prepare for the worst.
Sometimes risks pay off and sometimes they bite you in the ass...hard.
And don't tempt mother nature.

[rgscpat]

Also, although the squalls were forecast, what I'd heard was that the wind speeds were far greater than forecast. Sailors who are expecting 30-kt winds may make one set of plans -- and when they get 50- or 60-kt winds, well, so much for the plan.

[WDS123]

With the tack gone, the ayso appeared to be flogging at the quarter stern, it looks like they tried to blow the ayso halyard, but the sail is still dragging the boat around.

It this situation cutting the chute free might be the only way.

[CalebD]

Originally Posted by Sublime

Sail trim? We don't need no stinkin' sail trim!!

The lessons here are to hope for the best, prepare for the worst.
Sometimes risks pay off and sometimes they bite you in the ass...hard.
And don't tempt mother nature.

Hope for the best and expect the worst.
I experienced a nice micro burst on Long Island back in the 1980's from the shore. We could hear the thunder approaching and see the gray circular cloud (as it was daylight). It only took moments for the wind to kick up from 5 - 15 to 50 - 60 knots. My body was getting sand blasted by some particles that may have come from over a mile away. Upper tree limbs were breaking and falling all around me as the wind escalated.
The sailboats I saw in the harbor (Hempstead) were mostly caught with their sails up and I could hear some of the sails flogging from shore. I'm sure Sea Tow or whoever was in business at the time got plenty of calls to help rescue boats that were caught unawares. The weather was scary on land and must have been horrific on the water. The 14' day sailor I had 'moored' nearby was swamped when I paddled out to it after the conflagration.
I can't imagine what it would be like to try and weather a storm like that, at night, with all that canvas up. My inner voice would be telling me to reduce sail once I heard the first thunder.
Arm chair sailing at it's finest!

[TQA]

I am an ocean sailor rather than a lake sailor and a cruiser not a racer. I do have a spi and it gets some use but only in the most benign blue sky conditions. My boat is a 44 footer and there is NO WAY I want to have to wretle that thing down inything more than about 10 knots.

I usually get advance notice of a squall so step one is to reef then roll away 3/4s of the genny. I would then carry on maintaining my course if conditions were more severe I expected I might run with it with the wind on the aft 1/4.

If I had no or little searoom then start the engine, head into wind drop the main and tie with at least 3 sail ties roll the headsail away and head into wind at the lowest speed that maintains steering.

You do all of this BEFORE the squall hits you.

It is in conditions like this you wish for a ketch, at the first sign of excess wind you drop the main and still have a balanced boat under 1/4 Jib and mizzen. My first cruising boat was a ketch.

[puddinlegs]

Originally Posted by TQA

I am an ocean sailor rather than a lake sailor and a cruiser not a racer. I do have a spi and it gets some use but only in the most benign blue sky conditions. My boat is a 44 footer and there is NO WAY I want to have to wretle that thing down inything more than about 10 knots.

I usually get advance notice of a squall so step one is to reef then roll away 3/4s of the genny. I would then carry on maintaining my course if conditions were more severe I expected I might run with it with the wind on the aft 1/4.

If I had no or little searoom then start the engine, head into wind drop the main and tie with at least 3 sail ties roll the headsail away and head into wind at the lowest speed that maintains steering.

You do all of this BEFORE the squall hits you.

It is in conditions like this you wish for a ketch, at the first sign of excess wind you drop the main and still have a balanced boat under 1/4 Jib and mizzen. My first cruising boat was a ketch.

Just a quick interesting story. My father was on a full displacement double ender on Lake Michigan in the mid 60's. Daytime squall, visible approach with waterspouts and the works, dropped ALL sail, squall hit, boat was rolled on it's side. After the initial hit, they sailed at hull speed for the duration under bare poles.

[OtterGreen]

just last night i was sitting at the dock with the boat packed up for an overnighter in a cove about 3 miles away. i checked the rader from my phone and it showed minimal precip. i decided to hang around a little longer and putter around doing minor maintanance for another hour or so and check the radar on my phone again. a little more precip to the north but still didnt show anything i hadnt been through. i head out the slip just to get a better idea of the cloud situation and saw one of the nastiest cloud anvils in a long time. back to the dock. head for the car casually when crack! lightning hits the island at the end of my slip. headed over the bridge i saw power boats running wide open for shelter and a few straggling sailboats preparing for the apacolypse that was coming. man was i glad i wasnt out there. it came up so fast from a minimal shower or light thunderstorm into winds packing enough punch that houses in the area had the roofs blown off. my boat is around 2400 lbs with the ballast filled and i cant imagine being out in a storm that heavy in it. talking to a guy with a boat next to me ( 28 ft oday ) he had dozed off in his cabin while at anchor and woke up to it! now, this guy was in UBoats with the German navy, and has sailed his entire life. when he told me the story with his thick Bavarian accent it sounded harrowing. with all his experiences and him telling me it was a nightmare that said alot! all in all the storm lasted about 5 hours start to finish. at 6 pm it turned day into night. very scary and im sure very similiar to the storm above.

[OtterGreen]

Originally Posted by puddinlegs

Just a quick interesting story. My father was on a full displacement double ender on Lake Michigan in the mid 60's. Daytime squall, visible approach with waterspouts and the works, dropped ALL sail, squall hit, boat was rolled on it's side. After the initial hit, they sailed at hull speed for the duration under bare poles.

i was on a friends 30' pearson and the same thing happened, he was down below on the radio and securing items as we were healing excessivly and he screams to me and the other person on board " i said drop the effing sails you idiots ! " they had ben dropped for about 5 mins but with 70 mph winds it still healed us.

[hellosailor]

overdrive-
"I've read in the Mackinac thread that people were tracking the storm from Wisconsin. Others are saying it was so sudden and severe,"
it's a funny thing about weather and situational awareness overall. Some folks are weatherwise and have SA, others never will. If you plan to sail and enjoy it, it pays to focus on developing those skills. If you've ever felt the air temperature drop as a weather front is crossing you--literally--you are less likely to be one of the folks who say "But it came out of nowhere!"
There's almost always a clue before heavy wx. Change in cloud type, color, pattern, motion. Change in winds, temp, water. Barometric pressure, if you're one of those folks who senses it, or has a barometer. (Or watch with a baro alarm on it.)

But if you're born and raised in the big city where "shelter" is always around and "rain" just means a slower morning commute, you tend not to focus on these things. Not to worry, the skills can be acquired! (G)