HURRICANE STORM PREP: Before and After

In early September I was facing a serious dilemma. Hurricane Hermaine was heading up the coast. This meant I would have to try and prep BIANKA in advance of the storm. But, I also had booked passage on a Cruise ship leaving New York and heading to Bermuda during the same week the storm was expected to hit. Due to a number of SNAFU's and personal travel plans I had decided to give up on sailing this season and just hung out of BIANKA at the mooring. This decision was fortuitous because I did not have a need to put the sail on the boat. This made storm preparation a little easier since I did not have to remove and store BIANKA's 540 square feet of sail to reduce windage.

I did have to do a few other things to give me some piece of mind in case the Hurricane hit the area. One thing I needed to do is remove the 33 pound Bruce anchor off the bow roller.

 The flukes of which can cut easily cut through the mooring line like a knife and set the boat adrift. It's not a difficult job but, it is awkward handling the anchor while leaning over the bowsprite. An extra line helps make sure you won't accidentally drop the anchor while handling it. I was also glad I had previously coated the shackle pin threads with Tef Gel . This made for a quick and easy removal of the shackle holding the anchor to the chain. I wish the neighboring boats would do the same but, I have not seen anyone else come out and start to prep their boats.

Once the anchor was removed and the mooring pennant lines set in the bow rollers. I used several large Ty Wraps through holes in the rollers:

These will prevent the mooring lines from popping off the  rollers and start chaffing as the bow pitches up and down in a storm. This could possibly set the boat adrift.

I also made up some spare mooring lines I planned to add to the existing mooring line as extra insurance. I got the last two 3/8" thimbles at the local West Marine and sliced them into some Tenex line I had on board:

I used a hot knife to cut out the bad section of the line before installing the thimble:

 The hot knife really helps to make quick neat cuts in some of these new high tech lines.

I also used some Parachute cord to secure the BIANKA"S Solar Bimini. The bimini had survived the 95 MPH winds of super storm Sandy but a little more security never hurts when expecting a blow:

My plans to add two additional lines to the mooring did not work out since the attachment point on the mooring ring did not allow room for two shackles so I was only able to add one line:

This was better than nothing. Though it would have been better to find this out before a storm approaches. I may see if the boatyard can increase the size of the mooring ring next year so I can fit two additional storm shackles instead of just one.

A LESSON LEARNED: Hermaine did not hit the area full strength which I was glad to learn of while on the cruise ship. There were some strong gusts but, nothing near Hurricane strength. However, after I returned and was rowing out to the boat for the first time since returning from the cruise. I saw that my spare storm mooring line was dangling in the water. I thought at first it had broken even though it was rated at over 5,000 pounds. When I inspected it this is what I found:

Apparently, I had secured the shackle pin to the thimble with a Ty Wrap to but, I had forgotten to do the same to the shackle that attached to the mooring ring. As a result of the pitching up and down the pin loosened up and eventually fell out make my spare storm mooring line useless. When this happened is anyone's guess. But, it is a lesson learned to make an inspection list before leaving the boat when prepping for a storm.

HURRICANE JOAQUIN

BLOG UPDATE 10/2/15 10:46 PM

On board and waiting for the winds to stop. Thankful that Joaquin looks like it will be heading out to sea and not hitting this area.  The current Gale warnings are exciting enough. Clocked a 30 knot gust on the mooring today. Winds have been relentless since yesterday afternoon:

"..STRONG WINDS AND ROUGH SEAS INTO THIS WEEKEND...

ANZ335-031000-
/O.CON.KOKX.GL.W.0022.000000T0000Z-151004T2200Z/
LONG ISLAND SOUND WEST OF NEW HAVEN CT/PORT JEFFERSON NY-
339 PM EDT FRI OCT 2 2015

...GALE WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 6 PM EDT SUNDAY...

* WINDS AND WAVES...NORTHEAST 15 TO 25 KT WITH GUSTS UP TO 40 KT.
  WAVES 3 TO 5 FT.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

A GALE WARNING MEANS SUSTAINED WINDS OR FREQUENT GUSTS OF 34 TO
47 KT ARE EXPECTED OR OCCURRING. OPERATING A VESSEL IN GALE
CONDITIONS REQUIRES EXPERIENCE AND PROPERLY EQUIPPED VESSELS. IT
IS HIGHLY RECOMMENDED THAT MARINERS WITHOUT THE PROPER EXPERIENCE
SEEK SAFE HARBOR PRIOR TO THE ONSET OF GALE CONDITIONS."

BLOG UPDATE 10/1/15 12:14PM

Just got this email from the Town:

"Dear Mooring Holder,

The National Weather Service is forecasting heavy rains, high winds and coastal flooding over the next several days, with the possibility of Tropical Storm Joaquin making landfall in the area early next week.

 Because of this, we strongly recommend that all boat owners take necessary precautions to secure their vessels or remove them from the harbor in advance of this severe weather."

This is not shaping up to be fun weekend on the waters here on the Isle of Long. Hurricane Joaquin may be making it's way up the coast. But, before it even may even arrive we will have gale conditions on Friday into Saturday and coastal flood warnings are already in effect.  Time to prepare and hope BIANKA's luck holds out through another storm.

BLOG UPDATE 10/1/15 : 

I went down to the boatyard to see went to the boat yard to see what the scuttlebutt was about the weather and Hurricane Joaquin. Though the persistent northeasterly winds have kept piling up the water in Long Island Sound. So much so that coastal flooding is already occurring. I had to make a detour to reach my destination because of the flooding. This even before Hurricane Joaquin influences the area.

Remembering Sandy

It was two years ago the superstorm Sandy hit the area.  I went down to the boatyard in the morning before the storm hit but, the winds had already whipped up Long Island Sound into very rough conditions:


In addition water was already flooding over the only access road in or out to the boatyard. So I was only able to catch a quick glimpse of BIANKA still at her original location before I had to hightail it out of the area or be stuck for as the storm hit. I choose to head back and just barely beat the flood waters:


After the storm passed I found BIANKA a thousand feet from where I had left her the day before. Luckily undamaged and still floating. Which was good since I moved back on board since there I had power thanks to the solar and wind turbine and also the Honda 2000 generator. I also had Internet access via the cell phone. While back on land many did without these due to power lines being down for weeks.  The storm also taught me some important lessons.  .

A NEW MOORING

I was working on board the boat yesterday when there was a tap on the hull. It was the boat yard manager asking me what I wanted to do about my mooring since they were starting to set things up for the up coming season. We had talked about increasing the size of the mooring ever since I found BIANKA a thousand feet from it's usual location after Hurricane Sandy. The original mooring that held BIANKA since 1996 was 300 lbs. It did an admiral job until superstorm Sandy came ashore last year. I could have jumped up to 400 lbs but, he mentioned BIANKA's bow mounted mast that maybe 500 pounds might be better. I had to agree. Might as well go BIG and not push my luck this Hurricane Season. I drove out of the boatyard singing the Bob Dylan song  New Morning but, changed the lyrics slightly singing the chorus as "new mooring" instead.

500 FEET OF SEPARATION

With BIANKA stored safely away for the winter I've been wondering what was going on around BIANKA as Sandy hit the area. I wish I knew when she made her move across the harbor.  I know she was still at the same location at 11 AM Monday October 29th the day the storm hit. On Tuesday morning she was located over one thousand feet to the southwest still attached to her mooring and floating thankfully. Looking around on You Tube I found footage of what was going on just two miles down the coast from were BIANKA was moored and what the conditions were like on Long Island Sound which was just across the road from where BIANKA was located:






Watching this footage reminds me how lucky BIANKA was. Just 500 feet of a low lying spit of land separated the mooring field where BIANKA was from these conditions. She was protected from the brute force of Sandy but, could not hold on when the storm surge became too great with the the northeast winds of Sandy continually flooding water into the harbor.  I was thinking that maybe a well protected cove located inside of Port Jefferson Harbor might have been a better place to be as it was protected by high bluffs from the north, east and south as shown here:

But, after looking at this video that might not have be such a good idea after all:



No doubt the coastline has changed and there has been a lot of erosion but, to see what the Sound is like in more normal conditions this flyover video of the area shows how the normally rocky beaches (those that are still there)  have ironically become rather "Sandy". While the video below shows how some areas have no beach at all anymore:

  

Now we wait to see if the winter storms will create further changes.

LESSONS LEARNED FROM HURRICANE SANDY

It's been almost two weeks since Hurricane Sandy came ashore and decimated parts of the northeast United States especially those living near the shore areas. I was pretty lucky despite finding BIANKA over a thousand feet away from where I left her the night before the storm I found her floating and still attached to her 300 pound mooring. Here are some of the lessons I learned from Sandy:

1) Putting an extra line on the mooring works well as a precaution to keep the boat attached to the mooring. I probably don't need to attach the anchor chain on board to the mooring chain as I did when Hurricane Irene threatened last year.




2)  The surge from a storm is going to have a big impact on weather the boat stays put or decides to wander across the harbor. I may need to think about adding additional anchors to the mooring chain to try and keep it in place or close to it when the tidal surge comes in. This will involve some prep and diving before the storm hits. Perhaps a heavier mooring might be in order.  Upon inspection earlier this year the eye of the mooring was showing quite a bit of wear following last years Hurricane Irene.
This yearBIANKA's mooring had a new eye welded on to it at the beginning of the season. I'll be interested to see what it looks like when it is pulled after Sandy.




3)  I need to be more thorough in making sure I have dogged the hatches. I'm still amazed I missed  latching the overhead hatch in the forward cabin. It was closed but, not secure.

The winds from Sandy were able to lift it and fling it wide open damaging the Charlie Noble vent for the water heater. Luckily there was not a lot of rain when Sandy hit the area and I only found about an inch of water in the bilge and a damp bed quilt.

4) The solar bimini with it's solar panelsI built over the cockpit is strong enough to stand up to hurricane force winds and there is no need to take it down before the storm. The design has now been through three hurricanes with Sandy's gusts to 95 MPH being the strongest so far. I do have to secure the clear  Lexan centerpiece better as the two screws holding it to the frame were not enough to hold it in storm conditions but, that was just a temporary install at the time Sandy hit anyway.



5) I should have probably taken the sail down below. I did for Hurricane Irene last year. But, this time I opted not to do it. I was on the boat the day before Sandy and the winds were blowing 30 to 35 knots at times and the boat seemed to be riding well. So I opted to leave them on. Not sure how much of difference it would have made since BIANKA's beam is over 11 feet and there were plenty of other boats that dragged that had there sails stripped off of them. But, in the future I will store it below when another storm threatens.

6) I ran out of propane about two weeks before Sandy. Even though I was heading out on a fall cruise I opted not to refill the propane tank  since it was toward the end of the season. I thought I would refill it in the spring. I would use my backup cooking devices for the few remaining weeks. One of my backups is a butane single burner stove. I bought some additional butane canisters but, when I went to try it I found the butane did not flow to the burner. Some parts looked a little corroded  and I did not think it safe to use it.  I then went to my second backup which was a  Coleman PefectFlow 1-Burner Stove which works very well 

as a backup but, can only be used at an anchorage in calm conditions because cooking pots and pans are not secure from toppling over. Luckily, I bought some extra Propane Fuel Canisters  for it's use before Sandy hit. Because they might have been scarce after the storm knocked out power and some people on land would be using alternate cooking devices like I was.  As it was I was on my last propane canister when power was restored back at home and was beginning to wonder if I would be able to find more if I needed them. So getting the on board propane tank refilled should be a priority if one wants to be able to move on board after a storm without worry.

7) Communications can get spotty after a storm like Sandy hit's. At first things seemed to be ok but, as the days wore on and the batteries and generators of the cell phone towers ran down communications began to get flaky. Cell phone calls dropped out, internet access via the cell phone modem was slow or non existent at times.  It seemed that emails sent from my Blackberry were the most reliable form of communications when the others were not reliable.

8) Having an  Engel Portable Refrigerator - Freezer and a cooler on board was a great asset to have. I made the decision to move on board primarily because I had all my basic needs available there. Including refrigeration with the Engel . I was able to empty the freezer at home and store most of the frozen items in the Engel in freezer mode and use the Coleman cooler for the items that just needed to be refrigerated. So I threw very little of the food at home away and had plenty for a week of meals on board the boat without having to find a supermarket or grocery store. I took frozen items from the Engel and defrosted them in the Coleman cooler as needed where it helped to keep the cooler items cold too. As I emptied the Engel I froze plastic water bottles to use as the ice ran out in the cooler.





9) Since I was just getting back from a 200 mile fall cruise as Sandy approached I did not refill the gasoline jerry jugs I use for the Honda 2000 generator. I was winding down the sailing season so I had less than a gallon left of the six gallons I usually carry when cruising. Again since it was toward the end of the season I saw no need to refill them. But, after Sandy hit a lot of gas stations had no power for several days and then after power was restored there was a run on gasoline and they were soon shut because they no longer had gasoline. Even as I write this two weeks after the storm gasoline is being rationed by a system of odd and even license plate days. So the lesson learned when a storm threatens refill the jerry jugs before it hits. It turns out I did not need to run the Honda 2000 generator that much. I only ran it for a few hours one day out of the seven I was on board. But, if I had to use it more I might have run out of gas before too long. So the lesson is to keep your fuel supply topped up and ready until you are sure you won't need it. The same goes for the water tanks.

10) Having solar and a wind turbine on board is a real plus for after storm living. As I mentioned above I only had to run the Honda 2000 generator one day for a few hours. That was because we had a some cloudy days during and after Sandy and with the ENGEL running in freezer mode it was draw a few more amps than usual. But, after things got charged up I was able to use both the 12 volt house bank and the 10 kilowatt 48 volt propulsion bank efficiently.  During the day when the sun was out I would power the Engel freezer from the 12 house bank as the two 75 solar panels were able to power it and charge the house bank  a little. I used the 48 volt propulsion bank to power my laptop as I checked emails and blogged. In the evening after I was done using the computer I would then power the ENGEL freezer from the 48 volt bank because in addition to some solar I also had the Marine Air X 48 volt wind turbine helpeing to charge things overnight. I needed to use the 12 volt house bank to power some LED lights and a small radio.

In short I found that after a storm reeks havoc on land moving onto ones boat is better way to weather the aftermath until things get back to normal on land. Provided of course you already have the systems and provisions on board to live for an extended time at anchor which I did.