what to do in 60kn wind... rather urgent pls

EugeneR

EugeneR

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Erm, I'm just getting used to this yachting thing... and here I am in a bora that arrived several hours earlier than forecast and being unable to enter my planned haven - shown away due to safety.

Currently anchered in shelter of small island outside Molat. Max chain out. Everything tied down including bimini which broke the holding pins and came loose. What else can or should I do?

Keep engine going? Anchor seems ok now but its down to 30 to 40 now, forecast up to 60.

In a way, quite exciting... but scary. Should I enter harbour if allowed or is that likely to be more dangerous... booked place is alongside harbor wall at Molat.

Thanks
 
2nd anchor out at 70 to 90 degrees to the first. Use the stern kedge?

Engine ready but no point in running it all the time.

Flask of coffee and some sandwiches in case you need a snack and it's too rough to make hot food.

Lifejackets and harnesses used on deck.

Double lashings on the mainsail and make doubly sure that the genoa can't unravel.
 
We once got caught out by 60 knot gusts in the Solent one day:eek: They arrived about 5 minutes after the Coastguards warning:eek:

Scared me s@@tless as I was helming the boat at the time

Mr S then took over and he was also scared s@@tless

Luckily they were gone as quickly as they arrived but when we came down from the fly bridge there was mayhem in the saloon

You will be "dining out" on your adventure next week:D

Keep safe

May
Xx
 
nimbusgb said:
2nd anchor out at 70 to 90 degrees to the first. Use the stern kedge?

Engine ready but no point in running it all the time.

Flask of coffee and some sandwiches in case you need a snack and it's too rough to make hot food.

Lifejackets and harnesses used on deck.

Double lashings on the mainsail and make doubly sure that the genoa can't unravel.
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That's good advice.

Check where your flares are just in case and maybe give the marina a call for weather updates when you can. Locate a dry change of clothes too.

Good luck :)

Just thought, most important, while it's light out get some transits sorted so you will know if you are dragging the anchor. Look for things that might have lights on later, buoys, harbour entrances etc. I'm sure you know the sort of thing.
 
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You've probably considered this already but....
If you're in the lee of the land now and you put two anchors down, just be wary of a sudden wind shift and finding your self anchored off a lee shore. Be prepared to weigh your main and perhaps let the second anchor run, unless you're mob handed and can get them both aboard in good time. You may need to move in a bit of a hurry to find a new lee. Good luck, I hope the wind stays where it is for you. :)
 
If I remember rightly, the harbour wall in Molat lies NE -SW. You would be very much head to wind as you tried to come along side. Must get you bow line on first, before you even think of your stern line. Obvious reasons if the wind was to get the wrong side of your bow.

If the anchor is well set and you are in the lee of the island, I would prefer to stay there but this does depend on so many factors. How strong is your crew, how good is your boat handling, how confident are you in your anchor. What depth of water are you in and how much chain do you have out.

My favoured anchoring technique is to drop 2 anchors down the same chain. I can try to explain this to you in detail, if you want me to. Either PM or post an answer. If the worst comes to the worst, you can recover both anchors up to the stem head. Not pretty but safe and you can always sort the mess out later.

Otherwise have a fender ready, with your name on it, to buoy the anchor chain, if you need to dump it. Final option is to dump the whole lot, if you need to. Anchor and chain are a lot cheaper than your boat and can be readily replaced. you could then lay hove to or drift, as the necessity arose, out into the open water.

Best of luck & let me know.


Do yo
 
Unfortunately the bora can last as much as 4 days, and it's easy to get caught out because you only get about 20' warning.
Trying to row out an anchor in a rubber dinghy is a no go, but I'd certainly have your kedge ready to let go if you start to drag.
If you're in the lee of an island it's OK because one thing you don't get is a wind shift and the wave action should be mitigated.
This time of year they're usually short if sharp.
Double lashings on everything - what usually carry away are the fenders.
If you're going S it can be a very quick ride, I once did from Valbiska in Krk to Bozana on Dugi in 10hrs on the back end of one.
 
My advice would be to stay anchored.
Sometimes anchoring is safer than a marina berth. I have often anchored in strong wind when many boats nearby in a marina berth or even on the hard suffered damage. Certainly trying to seek shelter at the last minute is the worst option.

Set an anchor alarm.
Get some acuracate transits. Look for lights that may be good transits at night.
Dive and check how your anchor is set.
Reduce windage.
Conserve your energy, set up a watch system.
plan an escape route out of the anchorage.
Conserve your night vision. Dragging and coming on deck from a fully lit cabin it's very hard get orientated.
Boats dragging into you are one of the biggest dangers. How well are the upwind boats anchored?
Be ready to ditch your anchor with a marker on if boats do drag into you.
Make sure your engine is ready to go.
No ropes that can be blown off deck and into the prop.
A very long snubber, protect it rom chafe (ver importantant) With a second ready to go.
Make sure you stay dressed adequately, it will be warm in Croatia, but the spray hurts at this sort of wind speed.
As well as lifejackets have a harness ready. There is a real risk of being thrown overboard, particularly at the bow.

Good luck.
 
Just read this
Thermos of soup, sandwiches if it gets bumpier it may be difficult to cook
Read the windlass instructions you may need to set a brake or tie a rope around the chain and lead it to a cleat to relieve the windlass mechanism? And be prepared to cut same rope away at the chain when/if it is time to go...so wear a harness/rig a lifeline to the foredeck, have a head torch too maybe?60 knots can really tug someone on a foredeck working with one hand on the boat and one on the task...
Gps anchor alarm.
Watch other boats with binoculars make sure you are in the calmest/ least rough spot behind the island and that othes are not dragging down on you.
Establish VHF contact with neighbours/ harbour office/ others in the marina for specific advice on holding ground for anchor, expected waves, etc...
In bad gusts engine ahead can relieve the anchor load, sailboats do this too..
Best of luck.. If the harbour is a better bet and there is a useful lull and you can call up help for docking, then ' maybe' a dash for 'better' shelter would be good but only you can make that decision.
Very best of luck.. Earplugs good too, it's a war of patience and attrition on the body and senses
 
There seem to be two sorts of bora, the one that can be predicted because it is a result of general air pressure patterns and then the sudden, vicious, katabatic ones due to local conditions of the high mountains and warm sea. These are not alway possible to predict, other than to report that conditions could be suitable for them to occur.

I was anchored in Soline bay, Veruda, southern Istria, in late July when the first sort was predicted, for which I delayed my departure as the anchorage is a secure and protected one. It took a couple of days to arrive and lasted four days, reaching 125 km/hr in Trieste - a record for a summer bora.

By the third day so many yachts had been dragging and departed for the local marina so there were not too many of us left by the forth morning. Then the wind was over 50 knots in the anchorage and the wave tops, unusual in such a short fetch, were streaming in lines of spindrift - impressive.

I was firm as a rock in 12m depth, mud/sand bottom, with a 15kg NZ Rocna on 60m of chain ... but you can do everything right and still get shafted. Out of nowhere came a large dragging motor-sailor and a skipper desperately trying to motor away from me - without success. With a stupidly long gangway he raked his stern down my side carrying away all stanchions and guardlines, splitting my cap rail, gouging into the coachroof and leaving my deck strewn with gangway debris. The repair estimate is well over €7'000.

Always respect and prepare for the bora - and try to get to windward of everyone else.
 
AMCD300 said:
I hope he was insured, or at least you were.... :eek:
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We both were but in light of his admitted liability I have claimed directly from his in order not to lose out claiming on mine. They came back quickly with an immediate payment offer - not quite meeting the estimate, but near enough.

I didn't want to spoil a fifty year boat ownership without a claim record.
 
We were in the Hvar area for the last two weeks and had too little wind!

I think Molat is in the vicinity of the Velebit Channel and whenever there are bora warnings the Velebit Channel always seems to get a special mention.

I've never been that far North - and might not be going any time soon. :eek:

Richard
 
We have had lots of sensible ideas, i would do all the above get that special whisky out and start passing around the bottle telling stories from the good ol days.

We were caught out at sea in 60 knots that was great 400 miles off of New York city in 2008!!
 
The whisky is essential, but only after the storm has passed. When the wind drops to 35 knots it will seem like a mill pond and at that stage a toast to Neptune is appropriate.
 
fisherman said:
Definitely two anchors 'backed up'. ie on the same chain. If you use two anchors spread apart you may veer from one to the other dragging each in turn.
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I have experienced exactly this effect with the V configuration. In a full gale the yacht sheered from one side to the other so that it was hanging on only one anchor at any one time.

I agree that two in tandem is preferable, however .... The yacht that hit me last month (post #10) explained to me that due to the intensifying wind strength he was attempting to do just that - add a second anchor to the existing one. I suspect he shortened chain to do so and reduced his effective length, thus breaking out the one that had held well enough up to then.

The previous three days had been a theatre of anchoring disasters - boats skidding around all over, tangling chains and panic-stricken, half-dressed skippers frantically setting second anchors. One Italian sailing yacht motored close to me towing a motorboat that he had hooked the chain of with his own, imploring me to take a line until they could sort it all out. In the absence of a life-threatening situation (the bay was practically a closed one) I refused, saying that I was not prepared to jeopardize my own boat by hanging three boats on my anchor in 40 knots of wind (as it then was), that he should set a second anchor, which he did and successfully untangled everything.

I believe the majority of dragging boats were purely because so many were not deploying sufficient rode. It is a deep anchorage - up to 16m in the centre - and with a bottom surface of very soft mud that needs a parallel pull to set deeper into the harder silt.
 
I would not mess with two anchors. If you're in the lee of the land, one good anchor well set, all the chain out, double snubbers plus chain lock or third line ahead of the windlass, knife and fender in the anchor locker in case you have to dump the ground tackle.

Sharp anchor watch and perhaps with the engine running to take some strain off (I've done that before).

If your boat sheers a lot at anchor, this is a problem, as in high winds this will create snatch loads. You can experiment with taking a long snubber to a midships cleat and pull the boat over at an angle to the wing - some boats lie more stably that way.

If you are not in the lee of the land, get the he'll out of there, or off the boat. With your insurance policy in hand, as someone said.

If it were me and I had any doubt about the anchorage, I would bugger off out to sea. With plenty of sea room, 60 knots of wind is not really a problem unless it's been blowing long enough to create an untenable sea state.
 
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We were lucky in that we found a bare patch to drop anchor. Others were not so lucky and gave up after an hour of trying. Wind reached 50s with lots of rain and some thunder. Not ideal situations to take out a 2nd anchor but we prepared plans for re anchoring if necessary. As

On the funny side, I asked the kids (4 and 7) to pack survival bag for if we got stranded on island... they packed souveneers, knife for hunting, etc. Then swmbo started adding stuff too :eek:

Coffee was good suggestion.

Wind then turned which exposed us but made Molat harbour more protected. Got a space there with stern to wind. Some damage to local boats that seems to have come loose at one end. Our friends who got stuck further north had to tow a boat with brokwn down engine that anchored using storm sail alone. Then wind changed but they could not get back to anchor to pull up.

Lessons learnt for me:
- engine not able to maintain speed in such conditions. At most, gives some degree of steering.
- anchor held beyond expectations. Both our delta and danforth on boat next door. In weed.
- no straps to clip on, on boats here. We used rigging and sheets secured on winches at back.
- keep radio on. We knew about impending bora so did not raise sails when wind started to go up. Lots of boats started sailing thinking, "finally, some wind!" not realising it was to go up to over 30 in less than ten minutes.
- make sure your safe haven will be safe. In our case it was closed despite being on opposite side from where bora was supposed to come from. Of course it started from a direction.

Overall a great experience builder for me
 
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