HANDLING STORMS AT SEA Overleaf: What is blue-water sailing really like when it’s stormy and big seas are running? Here’s my Santa Cruz 50 hurrying eastward near Marion Island in the Southern Ocean. The ever-faithful windvane is steering nicely while I play with the mainsail reefs and adjust the sails as the boat races through the water and makes great whooshing sounds as she surfs forward on a wave. You know that the yacht will rise up as the next crest comes, but sometimes you wonder if she is buoyant enough. You take a deep breath and say a silent prayer. ALSO BY HAL ROTH Pathway in the Sky (1965) Two on a Big Ocean (1972) After 50,000 Miles (1977) Two Against Cape Horn (1978) The Longest Race (1983) Always a Distant Anchorage (1988) Chasing the Long Rainbow (1990) Chasing the Wind (1994) We Followed Odysseus (1999) How to Sail Around the World (2004) The Hal Roth Seafaring Trilogy (2006) HANDLING STORMS AT SEA The 5 Secrets of Heavy Weather Sailing Hal Roth INTERNATIONAL MARINE / MCGRAW-HILL CAMDEN, MAINE • NEW YORK • CHICAGO • SAN FRANCISCO • LISBON • LONDON • MADRID • MEXICO CITY • MILAN • NEW DELHI • SAN JUAN • SEOUL • SINGAPORE • SYDNEY • TORONTO Copyright © 2009 by Hal Roth. All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher. ISBN: 978-0-07-164345-0 MHID: 0-07-164345-1 The material in this eBook also appears in the print version of this title: ISBN: 978-0-07-149648-3, MHID: 0-07-149648-3. All trademarks are trademarks of their respective owners. Rather than put a trademark symbol after every occurrence of a trademarked name, we use names in an editorial fashion only, and to the benefit of the trademark owner, with no intention of infringement of the trade- mark. Where such designations appear in this book, they have been printed with initial caps. McGraw-Hill eBooks are available at special quantity discounts to use as premiums and sales promotions, or for usein corporate training programs. To contact a representative please visit the Contact Us page at www.mhprofessional.com. Photograph and illustration credits may be found on page 260. Title page photo: Heading north and banging away to windward in the Kuroshio Current south of Japan. 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THE WORK IS PROVIDED “AS IS.” McGRAW-HILL AND ITS LICENSORS MAKE NO GUARANTEES OR WARRANTIES AS TO THE ACCURACY, ADEQUACY OR COMPLETENESS OF OR RESULTS TO BE OBTAINED FROM USING THE WORK, INCLUD- ING ANY INFORMATION THAT CAN BE ACCESSED THROUGH THE WORK VIA HYPERLINK OR OTHERWISE, AND EXPRESSLY DISCLAIM ANY WARRANTY, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO IMPLIED WAR- RANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. McGraw-Hill and its licensors do not warrant or guarantee that the functions contained in the work will meet your requirements or that its operation will be uninterrupted or error free. Neither McGraw-Hill nor its licensors shall be liable to you or anyone else for any inaccuracy, error or omission, regardless of cause, in the work or for any damages resulting therefrom. McGraw-Hill has no responsibility for the content of any information accessed through the work. Under no circumstances shall McGraw-Hill and/or its licensors be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, punitive, consequential or similar damages that result from the use of or inability to use the work, even if any of them has been advised of the possibility of such damages. This limitation of liability shall apply to any claim or cause whatsoever whether such claim or cause arises in contract, tort or otherwise. Contents Preface . xi PART ONE. A LOOK AT THE OCEAN . 1 Chapter 1. An Overview . 5 Chapter 2. What Is an Ocean Wave? . 9 Chapter 3. More on Big Waves . 21 PART TWO. RESPONDING WITH ONBOARD CONTROLS . 33 Chapter 4. A Few Notes on Reefing the Sails. 37 Chapter 5. The Wind’s Up: Let’s Heave-To . 47 Chapter 6. Let’s Lie A-Hull . 55 Chapter 7. Running Off . 65 PART THREE. RESPONDING WITH OFF-BOAT CONTROLS . 71 Chapter 8. What Is a Sea Anchor? . 74 Chapter 9. Parachutes in the Sea . 84 Chapter 10. Parachutes in Action . 99 Chapter 11. What Is a Drogue? . 110 Chapter 12. A New Idea . 116 Chapter 13. Do Drogues Really Work? . 130 Chapter 14. Bow or Stern: Which Scheme Is Better? . 142 PART FOUR. PLANNING, CHARTWORK, HURRICANES, AND FEAR . 151 Chapter 15. Passage Planning: The Best Time to Go . 155 Chapter 16. The Chart Game, or Where Am I?. 167 ix x Contents Chapter 17. Is a Storm Coming? . 173 Chapter 18. A Hurricane: The Evil Eye . 179 Chapter 19. Fear and Uncertainty . 195 Glossary: A Sailor’s Words . 203 References and Notes. 225 Appendix 1. Addresses for Equipment and Organizations . 229 Appendix 2. A Sailor’s Log for a Stormy Day in the South Atlantic . 231 Appendix 3. FitzRoy’s Meteorological Pamphlet . 234 Acknowledgments and Photo Credits . 260 Index . 261 Preface ’ve never seen a book that suggested a step-by-step approach to storm management. I Isuppose it’s because until recently there were so few sailing boats making long sea pas- sages. Yet today the yacht manufacturers turn out thousands of vessels every year. Most of these boats never go anywhere and sit idle in marinas while their owners buy gadgets and perfect the varnish. A few vessels, however, head out, and each year there are more. On our first trip to Tahiti in 1967, Margaret and I counted ten yachts tied up along the Papeete waterfront. Today there are hundreds, so many in fact that most are sent else- where on the island. With world-cruising vessels numbering in the thousands—perhaps as many as 10,000 or more—a few get into trouble each year during heavy weather. In an attempt to help these boats, I have written this little guide about storm tactics. It seems to me that these procedures fall into five categories. If your boat is semi out of control and you’re confused about what to do, I suggest step 1. If the yacht continues to have problems with the weather you go to step 2, and so on. Most storms are modest and short-lived, but occasionally there’s a whopper. Then you consider categories 4 and 5. I certainly don’t claim to know it all. After 40 years of knocking around the oceans of the world, however, I think I can pass along a few tips about dealing with strong winds and big waves. This book is a slim volume because the business of storm tactics is not big and complicated; it’s small and focused on essentials. You do one thing. If it works, OK. If it fails to work, or when it stops working, you move on to something else. There’s a good deal of gossip and rumor floating around about what to do in storms. I’ve attempted to sort out what is helpful from what is merely conflicting or confusing. I can think of only one or two technical papers on storm management prepared by engineers, but there have been hundreds of magazine articles written by sailors with varying levels of experience. Another source is information put out by commercial companies that sell parachutes and drogues. I’m sure all this is well- intentioned, but when does a brochure become sales hype? I hope these pages will give you some ideas about how to proceed on those scary days when the wind howls, the boat heels, and a bit of unease flickers through your mind. I’m sure that a few readers will disagree with some of the things I say in this book, but it’s a beginning and I’ve done my best. As knowledge grows about storm management for small sailboats, I hope others will write their books and we can all learn. xi xii Preface ∗∗∗ While I’ve worked on these recipes for hanging on, I’ve often thought of Joseph Conrad’s story about when he took his oral examination for his captain’s papers. (I think it was in Mirror of the Sea, but I am unable to find the reference.) In any case, my recollection of the yarn is as follows: A very nervous First Officer Conrad appeared before a panel of hard-boiled vet- eran captains, who sat scowling from behind a long oaken table. The master mariners fired question after question at the trembling candidate.