Golden Globe Race - storm tactics

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dunedin

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For those of us who actually buy the site sponsors’ magazine, an interesting series of articles in the current Yachting Monthly about the experiences in the recent southern ocean storms, which capsized and dismasted a number of boats.
Interestingly these seemed to support the experience of storm hit races like the Sydney Hobart, that (to a degree) speed can be your friend if got sea room, and slowing the boat down can make things worse.

Not all boats and not all storms are the same, but the quotes from the sailors included:

- Mark Slats - “Speed for Survival. He broached and was knocked down more times than he could recall. It was time to change tactic. I decided halfway through the storm to pull the 200m lines back on board. I trimmed the storm job and maintained good speed. I really do think that it saved me. I will never again drag lines behind the boat whilst being in a storm. The best thing is to go fast forward in the same direction as the waves, as then the force is less powerful.”

- Are Wig - “It was a mistake to heave to. .... one which cost his race and almost his life”

- Gregor McGuckin - “i was strugging to keep the boat pointing downwind, with our without warps. I don’t know if I agree with these techniques any more. There is a lot to be said for surfing the waves”

Source Yachting Monthly - but your copy for the full article.
 
The Vendee Globe racers clearly use speed to their advantage in these waters to have a better survival rate - partly by spending less time in the path of the storms, partly by keeping sailing with more sophisticated autopilots instead of wind vanes (which lose the wind in the trough of huge waves).

But building on the GGR experiences, I wonder if hull shape is also a factor - and not in the way some might assume.
Could a long keel actually be a disadvantage in extreme survival conditions?

Assume the engineering is done to ensure sufficient strength #
- is a blade rudder (or better two) superior to one attached to the back of the keel, as it is much closer to the back of the boat, and therefore has better grip and leverage to try to keep the boat pointing in the right direction (aided by the gyro stabilised autopilot to keep giving it accurate and urgent instructions)?
- does a long keel actually give too much lateral resistance in extremis? A very narrow chord keel, with dagger boards retracted, will give little sideways resistance when stalled - allowing the hull to rapidly slip sideways rather than trip over the keel when pushed from the side by a wave. (Sideways slippage also recently considered to be a good thing for catamaran stability).

#. Whilst the long keel format was easiest to build strongly in wood, all modern commercial aeroplanes now use a narrow chord fin (wing), generally using composites and glued on - they have worked out how to avoid failure in extreme weather
 
Agreed, the heavy long keel Colin Archer trailing warps approach has been proven not to work - speed is the answer.

Now lets have an autopilot capable and affordable for normal husband and wife sailors, in the meantime the heavy boat and warps / drogue is the only hope; fatigue is the real killer.
 
This is probably the most informative thing to come from the GGR for me. My life goal is a solo Transat (well I would love to do it with my lad when he's older, but if he doesn't want to) and JSD drouge seems to be the the plan B going from the Jester guys who I follow and respect greatly. I know the Southern Ocean is a totally different kettle of fish but it does make me wonder if a JSD is really needed and if warps, a cone drogue or nothing will be better.

I imagine it's a case of last resorts, throw it out, go below and get somd kip.
 
If you run with the waves, aren't you travelling with the bad weather? Slowing down might allow it to pass over more quickly.

Waves of southern ocean are well beyond my ken, but I just had an experience where I ran downwind when caught out - 61 nm at 10.5 knots average in an 11 m boat (I didn't believe the plotter at first either). Was I running with some kind of wind cell, I now wonder. Forecast was F4 gusting 6, but I had mucho, mucho wind and only a scrap of sail up.
 
Well there are experiences in the souther ocean with JSDs that have worked very well to make a boat safe and secure. When I read trialing warps, I cant believe that was their tactic, compelled by the rules, I assume as the JSD was not invented then. The JSD has received many reviews from experience if you go digging about, so it appears to work. I would not reject a JSD based on these reports. Reading the literature on heavy weather survival it is clear there comes a point that heave to is not a good idea either. Never the less, interesting comments.

The quote below is lifted directly form Attainable Adventure Cruising, The Offshore Voyaging Reference Site. The site is a subscription site but some of the eBooks are free, this one might be. If not you will have to join to read. I have no association with the owners, except as a subscriber.

https://www.morganscloud.com/2018/10/13/just-get-a-series-drogue-designed-by-don-jordan-dammit/


Still not convinced? Well, I saved the best for last. Not only have series drogues brought hundreds of yachts through storms over the years, but we have three accounts in this Online Book of survival with a series drogue.

One from Paul Kirby who was knocked down before deploying, and then rode out the rest of a storm south of New Zealand that overwhelmed a nearby boat and killed her crew.


And then two accounts, each with multiple Southern Ocean deployments, from Trevor Robertson, one of the most experienced offshore sailors of our time.


And then there’s Tony Gooch, who quietly circumnavigated singlehanded in the Southern Ocean and swears by the series drogue.


And, as if that was not enough, we just got an email from Susanne Huber-Curphey, one of the few people on the planet whose offshore heavy weather experience rivals that of Trevor and Tony.


She is currently in the Southern Indian Ocean on her Longue Route 2018 circumnavigation, and was caught in the same storm that rolled two of the GG 2018 competitors, and severely injured one of them. I will let Susanne speak for herself:


…At last daylight revealed what was really going on and I felt alarmingly scared. All surface of the sea was streaked in white. Enormous breakers were visible all around and when one of them wanted to overrun Nehaj, water spit over the transom and the spray was carried forward till well ahead of the bow. Then the 22 mm ropes of ‘the bridle’ and of ‘the leader’ got under tension and were visible for 20 meters. The actual cones and the end weight stayed way down in deep water, acting like a huge bungee stopping us softly from pitch poling. Our speed never exceeded 4 knots and the rudder will always have positive flow through the water…


…The drogue was perfect, Nehaj being in absolute safety and not harmed at all. Yes, it was a force 11 which I had seen only once before when So Long [Suzanne’s previous boat, she now sails a self-built aluminum Koopmans 39] rolled through and nearly sunk in the South Atlantic, only then did we deploy the drogue which saved our lives.
Click to expand...
 
One really MUST keep in mind the unchallenged conclusions from the Wolfson Institute research ( in here ) and those of A R Cloughton, explained in 'Heavy Weather Sailing'....

"......one must avoid being caught abeam by a 'large breaking sea'......" - ( breaking crest upwards of 20% of LOA )

That imperative lead to the development of the Jordan Series Drogue, parachute drogues, and others, with the objective of keeping the ends of the boat meeting the breaking seas, being 'pulled through' by the resistance of the drag device, and thus avoiding the boat being rolled.

It seems this ploy is effective in conditions where the advancing seas' direction is relatively regular. Where the violent winds creating the seas shift radically in direction then build another set of large breaking seas before the first lot have subsided, such drag devices cannot ensure the ends of the boat are optimally presented. Thus a 'large breaking - rogue - sea' is likely to strike the boat on the beam and induce a roll-capsize or knockdown.

These are the chaotic violent conditions that caused several capsizes during the GGR, and are amply described in 'Heavy Weather Sailimg'.

Where one is able to run off at speed and steer sufficiently well and swiftly to present the stern to the breakers rearing up from various directions - and one has sufficient stamina to do this for a long enough period, like Moitessier - then there is perceived to be some merit is that tactic.

Unless, when surfing downwind/downslope, the bows are buried into a trough, the boat almost stops, and the advancing wave behindjust 'pitchpoles' the craft forward. This would appear to be what happened to Jean-Luc VDH in the Southern Pacific Ocean, seriously damaging but not destroying his mast.

There appears to be no 'golden rule'. Different circumstances on different boats require different tactics. However, a very good understanding of the problems and possible tactics does seem necessary.


Edit: The experience reflected in the previous 'crossing' post by BoB certainly ( pre ) echoes this here.
 
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People look for a certain solution, but I'm reminded of Peter Hayward's comment in 'All seasons yachtsman'. "Despite sensible design and all the techniques open to the seaman, a yacht up to about 40' in length, will have to rely too much on luck if voyaging in our roughest ocean regions."
Too often I believe we forget that we're reading the accounts of the lucky survivors and not those from the unlucky ones who employed possibly similar tactics.
I agree though that the biggest common successful technique seems to be steerage speed with control. How this is achieved will vary due to conditions and boat type.
 
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