Kisses his 50HP

[DaveC426913]

After anticipating an awesome sail all day (only our second time on Sea Saw), we headed out after work into the promise of 12 knot winds. Little did we (or anyone in the GTA) expect to be walloped by a fast-moving heavy thunderstorm wracked with lightning.

I could see the reflection of my 50HP ticking over in the wide doe-like eyes of the Admiral as she watched us and the storm race for home port...

We beat it.

(But not by so much that I didn't sneak the dead-man switch cable onto my belt loop, in case we got hit by a bolt while heading full speed toward shore...)

[pokerrick1]

Good Work

That's one of the things it's for

Plus - - - there's nothing better than getting epared in a sailboat when it's raining

Rick

[Highlander]

So of course the Admiral now knows you have a Misstress !!!

J

[pokerrick1]

The Admiral WAS the mistress

Rick

[Phil M]

After anticipating an awesome sail all day (only our second time on Sea Saw), we headed out after work into the promise of 12 knot winds. Little did we (or anyone in the GTA) expect to be walloped by a fast-moving heavy thunderstorm wracked with lightning.

How quickly did the storm develop from nothing on the horizon to the 'I gotta get the heck outta here' moment? (There was some video on the news about your storms.)

Phil M

[Catigale]

Rough math

Your horizon is about 20 miles away, so if you see squalls you have about 30 minutes warning before they approach. More if you learn to recognize cloud formations and the classic cumulonimbus You get less warning inland of course.

With weather radar for IPhone, it's getting harder to justify getting caught inland without taking a blame for poor situational awareness.

[Highlander]

Gez I don't know !! > ?

They were predicting that weather all week for the hole week & they were pretty much right"for a change", forecast on the radio , tv , internet, the problem is that they "weather people" are so wrong so many times predicting the weather that people become complacent , but if they do not say anything their wrong also , a no win situation
I know people who go out in all kinds of weather power & sail but they are very prepared & confident & very experienced but even that will not be much good to you if you have a "Low Fear Factor" when people panic that all goes for a crap !.
You should not relie on the iron genny if your gonna be out in that kinda stuff , yer better be prepared to ride it out should she fail or when yer get to a port thats got 15-25 footers crashing in on the entrance its bad enough trying to enter one of these under power just try doing it under sail !!
been their done that & it can be alot of fun ! but be prepared to get very wet ! and have a great workout ! end up cold & misserable if it lasts more than 6hrs and have a nice time cleaning up all of the days cocktails if your crew is inexperienced also be prepared to do all the work ! & become the worlds best baby sitter thats why if & when I go out in that stuff its always with the Boy's I can relie on !

pS I hope yer boat is well organized

J just my 1/2 cents worth

[pokerrick1]

Your horizon is about 20 miles away

OK Dad, how do you know your horizon is 20 miles away? - - - when I'm guessing the distance to something, I'm usually off by at least 50%

Rick

[mastreb]

Formula for the horizon (from Navy memory) is d(nm)=1.4 * sqrt(h(ft)). Or, distance in nautical miles is 1.4 times the square root of your eye height off the surface in feet. Presuming standing in the cockpit, that's about 9 feet, so the horizon would be about four nautical miles away. Standing at the mast it would be about 5 miles away. From the top of the mast, the distance to the horizon is about six miles.

You should be able to see storm clouds 20 miles away, however.

[Hamin' X]

I learned it as:

1.17 times the square root of your height of eye = Distance to the horizon in nautical miles. YMMV

~Rich

[pokerrick1]

I learned it too - - - but I chose to completely forget it

Rick

[Catigale]

OK Dad, how do you know your horizon is 20 miles away

Experience, grasshopper....

(just drew pocket aces, check....)

[DaveC426913]

Rough math

Your horizon is about 20 miles away, so if you see squalls you have about 30 minutes warning before they approach. More if you learn to recognize cloud formations and the classic cumulonimbus You get less warning inland of course.

With weather radar for IPhone, it's getting harder to justify getting caught inland without taking a blame for poor situational awareness.

It was pretty hazy, making it difficult to tell they were storm clouds, rather than overcast.

However, I did see it coming, and foolishly chose to think my eyes were wrong and all the weather reports I'd been checking all day were right.

[DaveC426913]

They were predicting that weather all week for the hole week & they were pretty much right"for a change",

Every check I made over the day showed no sign of inclement weather. If there had been, the Admiral would have vetoed the trip.

[Russ]

With weather radar for IPhone, it's getting harder to justify getting caught inland without taking a blame for poor situational awareness.

Generally that's true. However, we have T-Storms the build up out of nowhere and local radar is often blocked by mountains and can't see them. So it's best to use all weather knowledge available and then top it off with some prudent common sense.