prep for hurricane Matthew

[Herschel]

Just got back to Orlando from a short vacation in my travel trailer and now have hurricane Matthew to deal with. Thought it might be helpful for us to share what our plans are. Some of us have done this before, so I'll share what I am doing. My 26X is in a slip in Sanford, Florida. At this point, since I am not expecting a direct hit inland, I am not planning on taking it out of the slip but I will go up tomorrow and strip it down. For me that means taking the boom and mainsail off and storing it in the cabin in the transport position. I'll wrap additional lines around my furled jib, not relying only on the furler cleat. I'll lower and stow the Bimini and dodger, double up all lines and add a fourth mooring line. As we say in the mental health field, "four point restraints"! I have a canvas cover for the pedestal that has my chart plotter attached. That will be tied on with line to reinforce Velcro fasteners. Three fenders down on both sides. I'll make sure everything below is stowed and secure and tied down if necessary. Engine bracket for the stowed up position in place. Rudders in up position and control lines jammed tight in to the jam cleats. Same with centerboard control lines. If expected track takes in farther inland, I will have to think about a haul out to the trailer, but I'll make that call in the morning. Anybody see any holes here?

[vizwhiz]

Beer. I definitely see it as an essential part of your many preparations, which includes preparing for the hurricane party.

Might be worth posting your name/number on the boat somewhere obvious in case somebody checking things out at the marina needs to get in touch with you quickly.

[Catigale]

Drop the mast and secure it.

1 Reduce windage and cross section from FOD

2 Makes it much quicker to haul out if you have to - haul and go.

[Seapup]

I spent yesterday doing similar, although the track is changing from lastnight. Best wishes.

I do rudders down so they don't bang around and less exposed to other moving objects if there is enough depth.

[Herschel]

Drop the mast and secure it.

1 Reduce windage and cross section from FOD

2 Makes it much quicker to haul out if you have to - haul and go.

No arguing with your thinking, but I have gone through this drill with numerous threats over the years and have dutifully ended up with overkill effort so many times as things turned out, I approached this threat with as carefully moderated effort as I could. Since I tweaked a muscle in my back yesterday and was solo on this effort, I decided not to go the mast lowering route. I have 7 ft. cement retaining walls on 355 degrees and I am in a middle slip on my pier. I have a two story motel due north, the main direction of much of the 75+ winds expected. As this eye moves slowly more westward toward mainland Florida, this may have been a questionable decision. I think at this point my main vulnerability will be my furled jib. I have it wrapped well with the furling line, plus tied off at two other places and the jib sheets in both jam cleats and horn cleats.

I was glad to get a 4th mooring line attached to the post between slips.

And I do have all 1/2 inch mooring lines "doubled up".
Would love to hear from other Mac sailors in this thing's path...after they get their boat secured, that is. Good luck folks.

[Sumner]

Seeing how close the boat is to the coast and the current predicted storm path, I'd get it out on the trailer and moved west. I'd for sure get the mast down if for no other reason than the one you fear and that is the genoa coming loose.

Not too sure about how much the surrounding structures will block wind. Just the other day we had gusts in the 40-50 mph range and we have had 80+ mph winds go through town, though not sustained like what Florida is going to get and it seems the wind can be really high just next to a structure or down in a narrow box canyon.

The best of luck and we will be hoping for the best for all of you down there. My Endeavour is over on the other coast so pretty much out of harms way for this storm but I now watch them all,

Sumner

============================
1300 miles to the Bahamas and back -- 2015

The MacGregor 26-S

The Endeavour 37

Trips to Utah, Idaho, Canada, Florida

Mac-Venture Links

[Ponaldpe]

Drop the mast and secure it.

1 Reduce windage and cross section from FOD

2 Makes it much quicker to haul out if you have to - haul and go.

No arguing with your thinking, but I have gone through this drill with numerous threats over the years and have dutifully ended up with overkill effort so many times as things turned out, I approached this threat with as carefully moderated effort as I could. Since I tweaked a muscle in my back yesterday and was solo on this effort, I decided not to go the mast lowering route. I have 7 ft. cement retaining walls on 355 degrees and I am in a middle slip on my pier. I have a two story motel due north, the main direction of much of the 75+ winds expected. As this eye moves slowly more westward toward mainland Florida, this may have been a questionable decision. I think at this point my main vulnerability will be my furled jib. I have it wrapped well with the furling line, plus tied off at two other places and the jib sheets in both jam cleats and horn cleats.

I was glad to get a 4th mooring line attached to the post between slips.

And I do have all 1/2 inch mooring lines "doubled up".
Would love to hear from other Mac sailors in this thing's path...after they get their boat secured, that is. Good luck folks.

Herscel I am in Lakeland Fl. with boat on the trailer , have not done anything other than normal Storm prep. 25 years in this spot so not much to do to get ready just pick up the yard . If path changes or seem like it may get bad I will board up, so far so good. If you do see the need to lower the mast and need a hand just let me know I will come and give you a hand. Dom

[Bilgemaster]

Luckily, here in Virginia just off the Potomac River, I'm well north of what seems as of now (Wednesday evening) to be the likely forecast track of Matthew, and my 26X is on her trailer on the hard, well away and uphill from any storm surges. Still, in the past year or so I've seen a couple of lighter boats in the boatyard who were also "mast up" knocked over sideways or up-ended on their trailers (with the hitch pointing skyward) after storms with even fairly minor winds (with say, 40 or 50 mph gusts). Accordingly, I think I might swing by the lot Saturday, and strap down the boat to her trailer amidships as if for towing on the road (and not just a few hundred feet down to the launch ramps), and maybe stake down the hitch...Just in case we catch some residual or rogue winds as Matthew hopefully heads off to sea. I probably won't drop the mast, but would appreciate any knowledgeable advice on when that might be a good idea windspeed-wise, even if she's "on the hard."

BoatU.S. recently emailed out a link to a fine little web portal feature to members called "Are You Prepared for Hurricane Season?", which included a link to "A Guide to Preparing Marinas and Boats for Hurricanes" particularly appropriate to the present forum discussion thread. The article is based on their analysis of real world insurance claims after Sandy--what worked and what didn't to prevent damage--so is well worth checking out as we barrel into this year's Season of Blow.

[Herschel]

Herschel I am in Lakeland Fl. with boat on the trailer , have not done anything other than normal Storm prep. 25 years in this spot so not much to do to get ready just pick up the yard . If path changes or seem like it may get bad I will board up, so far so good. If you do see the need to lower the mast and need a hand just let me know I will come and give you a hand. Dom

Well, we are looking at 97 mph winds now, so tomorrow morning I am gong to take the mast down. If that jib got even partially unfurled with no ballast in a 90+ wind, it would not be pretty! You guys are right about that. hopefully either my grandson or my brother will be able to assist. Thanks for the offer.

I think I might swing by the lot Saturday, and strap down the boat to her trailer amidships as if for towing on the road (and not just a few hundred feet down to the launch ramps), and maybe stake down the hitch

I think that is a great idea. I'll second that one.

[Catigale]

I think the furled sail has to come off as an absolute minimum. Wind will tear that off otherwise.

Bravo Zulu onthe mast drop. It might be worth storing it on land somewhere ?

[Herschel]

I think the furled sail has to come off as an absolute minimum. Wind will tear that off otherwise.

Bravo Zulu on the mast drop. It might be worth storing it on land somewhere ?

Wind forecast this morning is back to 75 range, but am planning on lowering mast and attaching to boat like we do for trailering. Living under the threat of tropical storms as we do in Florida requires a calibrated level of effort to threat otherwise we would be going to GQ regularly and burning a lot of energy. The "logistic" energy (maintenance, repairs, cleaning, mods) to "operational" energy (sailing or motoring some place nice) ratio can get so high that ownership becomes questionable. At least at 72 y/o. For me! And this is from the only guy in the marina that regularly doubles up his mooring lines!

[Russ]

The mast (and jib) offers a LOT of windage. I'd definitely get it down.

And put the Ballast IN!! These boats are so light and easy to bounce around without.

Fortunately you are well inland and don't have surge to deal with. This is a bad storm. I'd put her on the hard WITH BALLAST IN. If you keep her in the water, put BALLAST IN.

--Russ

[Sumner]

... At least at 72 y/o. For me! And this is from the only guy in the marina that regularly doubles up his mooring lines!

Another reason I'd get the boat out of the water if possible. How often do you hear that the damage isn't from the storm itself but other people's boats not being tied properly and they get away and wreck havoc on the boats near them.

Being 72 myself I'm becoming well aware of the effort to get the boat on and off the trailer but in this case with one of the biggest storms in years and your area predicted to be right in its path I'd move the boat and probably myself inland. Just be safe,

Sumner

============================
1300 miles to the Bahamas and back -- 2015

The MacGregor 26-S

The Endeavour 37

Trips to Utah, Idaho, Canada, Florida

Mac-Venture Links

[Herschel]

My grandson and I got the mast down this morning. Did not get too wet. No real wind, yet, thankfully. Just did not have the energy to do the trailer thing. The latest wind prediction is for 78 mph winds (Sanford/Orlando). That dropped from the 97 last night. Have no idea what the sudden and short term bump in wind predicted was about, but it got me back up to unstep the mast.

Kudos to my grandson, Joseph, for helping me out this morning. Still working on this "selfie" thing!

Thanks for all your advice and encouragement. We'll see how this things works out on the other end.

[ris]

My neighbors just boarded up my house. I will sleep a lot better tonight knowing my house in Frostproof Fl. Will be ok. We will be staying at Joe Wheeler State Park tonight which is in Alabama on the Tennessee River. Heading down the TennTom next week.