Scary night

[Dean Abramson]

Last weekend we got back from an excellent 18-day cruise. I will probably make some other posts, and put up a few pix. But I mainly want to discuss one evening.

On July 20th, we had anchored in Maple Juice Cove (Muscongus Bay; Maine) in early afternoon. The forecast for the evening was for scattered thunderstorms, followed by light and variable. It was shortly after low tide when we arrived, with a high coming up at 7:15pm. My depth-sounder is kaput, but the chart and the chart-plotter showed about 10 feet at low, which seemed to be confirmed by how the chain felt when I let it out. I let out my 40 feet of chain and then 50 feet of nylon. There was slight breeze from the SE, and we anchored facing that way.

My plan was that if t-storms seemed to be coming, I would wait until the wind started, then, if necessary, re-set the anchor in the new wind direction, and let out more scope, as the tide was rising (we have 10-foot tides here). I put on my foulie bottoms, in case this would be a wet proposition.

NOAA issued a Severe Thunderstorm Watch for a huge area of coastal Maine. We were checking the forecast about once an hour. Later, we began to hear of Severe Thunderstorm Warnings for particular places, but heard of none near us.

We were in the company of two large moored sailboats, and a CD (or Robinhood) 36 who came in late and anchored. We all had plenty of room; no one was close. We have a 22 lb. Bruce, 5/16" chain, and 1/2" three strand. The riding sail was not up.

Thunder and lightning approached from WNW at about 6:30pm. Then it engulfed us, and rain came down in torrents. (Eventually, it almost filled our inflatable.) The lightning was non-stop, and a few strikes were very close. I am pretty fatalistic about lightning; it's either your day or not; we stayed away from metal parts. Oddly, there was zero wind! After about fifteen minutes of watching the show, I got back into the novel I was reading. I love the sound of rain, and I was pretty content. This continued like this for another hour. I don't know meteorology, so I concluded that the sucker was taking so long because it did not have much wind.

Then, in a split second, that theory went out the porthole, as we got clobbered by a massive gust. Right away, I guessed at about 50 mph. I say this because I have been in 35, and this was much higher. The boat heeled way over, and stuff jumped off the table, etc. Our alert level went way up!

We put on our inflatable PFD/harnesses, and put our cat Maggie in her carrier. I started the engine, initially just to make sure that it was warmed up (this engine has glow plugs, and will not start stone cold). I turned on the plotter, and was somewhat surprised and (relieved) to see that I got a fix in the normal amount of time. I stayed in the cockpit behind the dodger while Marvo kept handing me up towels to dry my glasses with. I expected this strong part to end soon, but it was to go on for at least an hour. It was howling. I had never been in wind like this. It shifted some, so we got heeled over from time to time. Somewhere in there, Maggie decided that her bladder was not made for such excitement, and fragranced the carrier and port side settee.

It was now getting dark. I contemplated whether to go let out scope. At this point we were at about 4.5 to 1. Marvo did not want me going forward, and frankly, I wasn't that wild about the idea myself. We were in a great cove, there was very little fetch, and the waves were no big deal. When the wind showed no sign of easing, I put the engine in forward gear, and brought the revs to about 1200 rpm. And I decided that if we had not dragged yet, maybe we would be okay. We turned on the running lights and the steaming light.

I kept track of the other boats' positions, and occasionally I could see lights on shore. The two big boats seemed well planted, but at some point, the Cape Dory seemed to move. I say "seemed" because it was actually fairly obvious, but I did not want to believe it at that point. Luckily, he moved further away. It was now night, but the lightning was so constant, that the brief moments when it was fully dark actually seemed scarier, because then it was hard to see my references (other than the Cape Dory, which then turned on his lights too.)

I beat myself up mentally about the short scope, which gave me something productive to do to distract myself from the fear. Seriously, I told myself that I had to be calm, that that was non-negotiable. It took effort. I knew that if we were to drag, I would need my wits. Marvo did pretty good, I thought, but she later told me, "no, that is just the quiet, subdued way that I panic!"

Finally, the windy bastard went elsewhere to terrorize someone else.

The next morning, the CD skipper (I never caught his or the boat's name) told me that he recorded a gust of 52 knots. And he confirmed that they had dragged a ways, but then the anchor caught again. The owner of one of the moored boats dinghied out to check on things and he told me that his wind gauge at his house right there on the shore had shown a gust of 66 knots! And that his gravel driveway was "gone." Then I decided to quit asking people.

All's well that ends well, but...

I should have just figured that any t-storm wind would likely be from the west, and re-set facing W. (The wind seemed to be more NW when it did show up, but it seemed shifty over about 30 degrees.) And I should have then let out more scope.

We should have listened to NOAA more, even if hours of NOAA can be a bit mind-numbing. To me, NOAA radio is like baseball; it's so easy slip into a stupor and miss the good parts.

Once the dung hit the fan, I should have clipped on, gone forward, and let out more scope. I'll be honest here: I was kinda looking for excuses not to. I just didn't friggin want to. And that was, I think, my dumbest decision. It would have been a fairly pain-free way to increase our insurance. We had no jacklines run, but the boat has no shortage of places to clip on to.

But anyway, my years of earlier offerings to John Vigor's Black Box must have sufficed, and the sea gods let me pass this time with just a warning.

I would appreciate any comments. And the answer to this question: does thunderstorm wind usually correspond to the direction the storm is coming from? Maybe this is a no-brainer...?

Next time someone rags on Bruce anchors, you tell them that Bruce is a personal friend of mine, and what they ought to do is clam up and go buy one!

And I learned this: if you have a Watch, and all kinds of other folks have Warnings... you might well get invited to the party yourself.

Dean

[Sea Hunt]

Hello Marvo and Dean:

I cannot offer much in the way of constructive comments or suggestions and I am certainly not a meteorologist.

My only layperson's comment is what a GREAT story I am sure there are many more details, etc. to share. Perhaps we can read about them in the next issue of Masthead.

I am also sort of wondering what Maggie's attitude is these days towards the two of you.

[Joe CD MS 300]

Dean,

Since you asked for comments, for what it is worth, my MS 300 is just about the same displacement with more windage due to the pilot house. I'm using a 33lb Rocna and all chain rode. The Rocna replaced a 35lb Delta. IMHO a 22lb Bruce is on the light side for your boat. Feeling the need to put the engine in gear is not a ringing endorsement of the Bruce. Sorry, but I'm not about to get a Bruce. I'm keeping the Rocna but I do have the Delta for sale.

Joe

[bill2]

Not being an expert here - but I won't let that stop me ;- )

My preference is to be on terra firma during lightning/thunderstorms when possible. However in the same situation I think I too would have the engine fired up - cheap insurance by my reckoning iffen something should go wrong and having someone else aboard to help clean eyeglasses is an undervalued bonus .

As to wind direction - well I recall reading about " microbursts ". Not something that occurs all the time but as I recall they basically are a storm that occurs from the " top down " - the winds are driven from on high to the surface ( land/water ) in the center of the storm. Therefore they radiate out a full 360 from the storm center. I believe they can be wet or dry though don't think there's much lightning associated with them. I believe their lack of lightning and wind pattern are different than a thunderstorm or front passing through.

All of which should not discount the fact that a thunderstorm may also generate a serious amount of wind ( maybe in the form of a downdraft also ) to coincide with the heavy rain fall usually occurring with heavy thunderstorms.

Course more knowledgeable people will help get to the nitty gritty .

Fair ( mild ) winds

[tartansailor]

Glad you escaped unscathed, however the fact that you felt
seriously concerned is a telling factor.
I do believe a 22# anchor for your fine boat is a bit on the light side.

In my local mud/sand bottom, there is Delta, then there is everything else.
Respectfully,

Dick

[boogins]

You had good karma that day. The next day, we had three tornadoes touch down in York County. This has been a summer of weather extremes.

[barfwinkle]

s to wind direction - well I recall reading about " microbursts ". Not something that occurs all the time but as I recall they basically are a storm that occurs from the " top down " - the winds are driven from on high to the surface ( land/water ) in the center of the storm. Therefore they radiate out a full 360 from the storm center.

There is a area on the perpherial of a thunderstorm cell called the outflow boundary and if you are in an outflow boundary the wind can come from anywhere (like the microburst) and is in relation to the location of the cell that generated it. I.E. if the cell is west of you you'll get westerlys, if its east easterlys. They can be pretty strong, but most likely nothing to compare with a microburst. Microburst bring down airplanes in a not very pretty way.

Then again some fronts are just strong fronts and pack a bunch of punch. Was there a noticeable weather change before and after the storm? Was the temperature hot and muggy inland and then the storm run up against the cold Maine water. Did the Storm "Anvil" out. The upper atmosphere limits the height of storms and if they build and build until they reach that limit they will start to take on the look of an anvil. These can become supercells which are not pretty nor safe! I got caught in one last year on the Choptank River (Chesapeake Bay). The anvil is obvious if the light conditions permits viewing it.

I could regale you with a story of a storm my wife and I encountered in Minnesota years ago that built up over very warm/muggy land masses and would hit the cold air mass over Lake Superior and they would "bounce back" and hit us again from the east. Never seen anything like it before or since. Anyway, thats another story.

Also, you might want to find a National Geographic Article on lightning. It is a great read and explains in great detail who lightning works (or how scientist think it works). Its an older article, but very good. I am thinking late 70s or 80s but dont recall for sure.

I believe I would have let out more scope.

Fair Winds and see quote below.

[chase]

Hi Dean, that is a great story, glad you guys stayed put. What is the bottom like there? A couple of thoughts:

The Bruce does seem light to me, perhaps that's purposeful depending on whether you have a windlass or not. Sounds like it has served you well in your typical cruising conditions. Anne Freeman carries a CQR 25 with 40' chain then 5/8 rode, so we are similarly outfitted. It has never dragged inT'storms, sustained gales or even tropical storm Alberto, although I had a second anchor deployed.

I understand the paralysis from a sudden change in conditions. I have been reluctant to set a second anchor before when conditions called for it, I also have had good fortune. Given confidence in your anchorage and holding, I would make it a policy to use 7:1 scope whenever there are severe thunderstorms forecasted. Going on a pitching foredeck in a storm is dangerous business and without thoughtful planning, so is letting out a rode under heavy load.

Do you carry a storm anchor? I bought a Fortress FX-37 used for $125 or so and keep it stowed -- it is a huge anchor when assembled. I can put it together in three minutes, which in your case would have been time to assemble and deploy, although recommend that storm anchor is ready to go with warnings present. I would consider having something like this and an action plan to follow should this happen again. That way you just go down your list and don't have to think about it when conditions deteriorate. If you spend enough time at anchor, it is cheap insurance and could mean the difference between a good story and a news story!

Thanks for posting, looking forward to pics-

Chase

[Cathy Monaghan]

....On July 20th, we had anchored in Maple Juice Cove (Muscongus Bay; Maine) in early afternoon. The forecast for the evening was for scattered thunderstorms, followed by light and variable. It was shortly after low tide when we arrived, with a high coming up at 7:15pm. My depth-sounder is kaput, but the chart and the chart-plotter showed about 10 feet at low, which seemed to be confirmed by how the chain felt when I let it out. I let out my 40 feet of chain and then 50 feet of nylon. There was slight breeze from the SE, and we anchored facing that way......

At low the charted water depth is 10 ft, but at high it's over 20 feet in that area. When you determine scope, always use the depth of the water at HIGH tide (PLUS the length from the water line to the bow roller), not the depth at low, or the depth it is when you get there. And never anchor using less than 5:1 scope. 5:1 is the minimum, even with an all chain rode. If you're planning on anchoring overnight, especially if the weather may get bad, you should plan to use a least 7:1 scope and 10:1 for really bad conditions. [Sometimes, especially in a crowded anchorage, it's impossible to use more than 5:1 scope, you may even have to use 4:1. So if the weather is supposed to turn sour, your only other choice would be to find a different anchorage.]

It's at least 5 feet from the water to your bow roller, so add that to the depth of the water at high tide (at least 20 feet in this case), so that 25' times 5' for a minimum scope of 125'. That's the minimum. With blustery thunderstorms in the forecast, should have used at least 175'.

Upper level winds seldom blow in the same direction as the lower level winds. That's why, when you look up, clouds often appear to be moving in a different direction than the wind that you feel on your body. And with summer heating the hot air rises, cools, then falls, causing a rotation. And during severe storms, the direction of the winds can suddenly change and there's always the possibility of downdrafts, downbursts and microbursts as well -- wind blasting straight down. Once the wind from one of these bursts hits the ground, it spreads out in all directions. So the horizontal wind created after a downdraft hits the ground will come from where it hit. If it hits the ground west of you, its wind will come from the west, if it hits the gound north of you, its wind will come from the north. This will make the winds seem very shifty. Also, if there are tall mountains around, the mountains can cause what appear to be a windshift as well, since the wind rushes down their faces towards the sea rather than from the direction of the prevailing winds. This phenomenon is called a williwaw.

Here's a link to NOAA's web site which describes some different types of winds:

http://www.nssl.noaa.gov/primer/wind/wind_basics.html

And here's a NOAA link about thunderstorms:

http://www.nssl.noaa.gov/primer/tstorm/tst_basics.html

Hope this helps,
Cathy
CD32 Realization, #3
Rahway, NJ
Raritan Bay

[Dean Abramson]

Yes, I do know about proper scope, and for figuring it for high tide. I was planning to let out more later, when the water would be deeper, and hopefully, I had a better fix on wind direction. When winds are light and variable (like when we arrived), I do not like having so much rode out that I run the risk of lassoing the anchor with a limp rode as the boat drifts around with the wind and current. I did not intend to stay at 90 feet of rode when the tide rose.

I was not really trying to start Anchor Wars 2010. It was just a way of saying that I have been impressed with my Bruce. (It came with the boat.) I thought it seemed small myself, but in the mud bottoms here, that sucker seemingly does pretty well. We had to make a few attempts at motoring it out the next morning, and when it did come up, the amount of mud on it and a lot of the chain was the most I have ever seen. I assume it dug in quite well, after having re-set itself, which I have heard Bruces are good at.

I know someone who just got rid of his Delta because he dragged with it. (I cannot remember what he then bought.) I am confident that this subject will be debated as long as there are boats.

In the amount of wind we were experiencing, even with proper scope, I think I would have run the engine regardless of the size/type of the anchor. It just seemed like good insurance. But I get the idea that some of you think that it was not wise/warranted? It seems to me that the only downside would be if you forgot you were doing it after the storm passed, and then accidentally motored on to your rode and caught it in the prop. That, and fuel consumption, and unwanted noise which might prevent you from hearing something important (like a holler from another boat).

But now having had the experience, (and having the anchor not drag for the fifteen minutes before I started powering forward, even while having been at just 4.5:1 scope), I would say that in a similar situation in the future, IF I had adequate scope out, I might be content to just make sure I warmed the engine up periodically.

I have long thought about moving to a 33 lb. Bruce, but it would be a bear to get it up, particularly if it is deep (more chain dangling at once.) We have a manual vertical-axis windlass. But as I say, I actually feel better now about my current Bruce than I ever have. In five years, it has never dragged, or failed to set on the first try.

To be honest, I think that there will always be some luck involved in the anchoring game. And we had some.

If there had been much wave action, I might be telling a different tale. Maple Juice Cove (http://www.mainecoastguide.com/r3/3.91chrt.html)
is a great anchorage, with good protection from three sides. (It also, incidentally, is where the Wyeth "Christina's World" house is located.) Highly recommended.

Thanks for all of the input. Here is a photo of the calm before the storm.

[img]http://www.mainephoto.com/folios/MplJui ... 720-29.jpg[/img]

[Maine Sail]

Dean,

Just count your 9 cat lives that you were not hit by lightning. Last Saturday when you passed me in Falmouth I had just discovered my boat had been hit during Wed nights storms. About 18k worth of damage... Wind I don't mind, but when everything electronic on your boat is wiped out, in a split second......

Glad you made it through...

[Michael Heintz]

Dean,

Regardless of anchor wars ...... I think your rig may be lite......I have a 35lb CQR with lots of chain, of course I do have windless..

But my real comment is on running your engine, I think that IS the RIGHT thing to do. I have been in your situation and have always gone on deck and started the engine, it's just a no brainer, be prepared, this is more often the case in a crowded anchorage, Like Block Island, my fellow NE fleet members will attest to this. Shi_ can and will happen fast....

Great story, reminds us all to be vigilant and brave

[David van den Burgh]

Dean,

Thunderstorms are quite frequent here on Lake Michigan (at least one per week since we've been on this trip). In fact, we were just in Northport on Grand Traverse Bay a couple of days ago and had a storm blow through. My observations about the storms here are that 1) many of the storms work up from downwind, 2) there is often a 180 degree wind shift at the beginning (wind clocks around as the storm passes), 3) when at anchor, be prepared to swing through 360 degrees, 4) setting more scope is like reefing: if you're thinking about it, you probably should have done it already, and 5) lightning sucks.

During our recent experience at Northport, we had been on the hook for two days with a 7:1 scope before the storm arrived. A few hours before the storm we decided to up-anchor and re-anchor a bit farther off shore. Turns out it was a good move since the storm put us on a lee shore. Fortunately, we were well dug in with plenty of rode. We've also been using a kellett this season, which seems to work well and provides more peace of mind.

Those are just my observations. Glad things turned out well for you.

David

[Brian2]

For video of a storm at Maple Juice we experienced in 2007, click on the following link.

I apologoze for the whine of the camera motor for the first minute. I usually clean up the sound a little better.I have since bought a new camera.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rW0YvkStr2I

[Joe CD MS 300]

Dean,

Just count your 9 cat lives that you were not hit by lightning. Last Saturday when you passed me in Falmouth I had just discovered my boat had been hit during Wed nights storms. About 18k worth of damage... Wind I don't mind, but when everything electronic on your boat is wiped out, in a split second......

Glad you made it through...

Mainesail,

Sorry to hear about the lightning strike. That has to be incredible bad luck considering that (at least as far as I know) lightning is less frequent on Maine's coast as compared with other areas such as the Chesapeake. Did anything electronic survive, such as engine gauges, stereo, depth or wind instruments, etc.? Was there significant physical damage also? I've heard that lightning can blow a hole in the hull but have never heard any first hand accounts.

Joe