The Typhoon Survives

Tim Mertinooke · Post by **Tim Mertinooke** » May 24th, '05, 19:49

The North Shore of Massachusetts is getting a pretty good Nor'easter right now. The winds topped 60mph late last night in Newburyport and were steady at 35 gusting to 50mph today. Tonights forecast looks worse. So far there are three brave (or stupid) souls who have put their boat in the water this year. I am one of those souls. Out of the three right now there are two floating. A Pearson 36 broke from its mooring and hit a local landmark called half-tide rocks. With the keel wedged in between the rocks the beating began. These rocks have proven time and time again that they score higher on the Mohs scale than fiberglass, wood, and metal. The boats hull was breached and she took on water. That happened this morning and I'm told by the owner that the boat has already been deemed a total loss by the insurance company. Needless to say upon hearing this via a phonecall at work I started to worry about my 18.5' Ty riding the storm. I live two hours from the boat so I quickly hopped in the car after picking up the family and headed to the yacht club. Upon arrival I was sad to see my friends pride and joy kissing the ancient granite rocks, but thrilled to see my little Ty pitching and rolling the way a 3-year old would ride a hobby horse. I witnessed this little beauty ride the wind and waves like a boat twice her size and displacement. People at the club were joking saying that they know what boat they are going to buy next as they watched her do everything Alberg intended her to do in those type of conditions. She must still ride through tonight before the worry leaves my mind, but knowing she made it through near hurricane gusts will help me sleep a little more sound tonight. Thank you Carl Alberg wherever you are. To see some action as well as the submerged Pearson check out this link.

http://www.saillesson.com/Typhoon.html

John in CT · Post by **John in CT** » May 25th, '05, 01:52

The boat is certainly doing what Mr. Alberg had in mind. A friend lost his Greenwich 24 a few years back in similar seas, the failure point was actually the roof beam, due to hours of violent hobbyhorsing. When that failed it allowed the mast to fall which then proceeded to hole the bottom! The boat was in shallow water. It must have been a 1 in a million shot but the hole near the turn of the bilge amidships matched the mast section exactly, as if done by a punch. Once it sank all bets were off as far as the mooring integrity was concerned.

Hope everything works out, from the NOAA bouys it looks like the worst winds are past

John in CT

robert brown · Post by **robert brown** » May 25th, '05, 06:55

I am one too that put my Ty in early. Boat sits off West Beach in Beverly Farms, Ma. It too is handling the waves really well. It sits close to shore, so low tide is my real worry. I took the rowboat off the wall yesterday before the high tide, good thing cause the beach looked like a dingy salvage yard this am. Hope we are thru the worst... This is my first boat and new to the mooring as well. I think I will have it moved out a bit next year. I have been checking the boat often and dread driving in every time wondering if she will still be hooked up. Good luck to all on the North Shore Coast. It is stll honking

Tim Mertinooke · Post by **Tim Mertinooke** » May 25th, '05, 07:52

Unfortunately for me my mooring is on the wrong side of the river during these type of storms. I have a clear shot to the northeast with 2 miles of room for the seas to build in the river whereas the moorings on the other side of the river close to shore have trees to windward. Between my boat and Neptunes fury is Plum Island which is to be blunt one big sand dune dotted with houses. This provides very little protection from the wind for the boats in our yacht club. I contemplated moving the boat to the other side of the river, but the thought of crossing the river to check on her in this weather honestly scares me. I prefer the status quo which is to sit in the warm clubhouse next to the fire 100 feet from my boat watching it dance. I swear she smiled at me this morning.

BuscaBrisas · Post by **BuscaBrisas** » May 25th, '05, 08:13

....to be hard on a rig.

I used to own a little 9' JY and one night I left it tied to a dock where it was exposed to about 6" waves through the night. By morning, the free-standing mast had broken it's socket out and had fallen over.

Great pics, Tim. I don't think I would sleep very well knowing my boat was moored in such an exposed place!

Tod Mills

rtbates · Post by **rtbates** » May 25th, '05, 08:49

I'll be hoping your TY remains safe. So most boats are NOT in the water yet?

randy 25D Serpah #161

Tim Mertinooke · Post by **Tim Mertinooke** » May 25th, '05, 08:57

Sleep is for the next life my friend. My insomnia is both a blessing and a curse. I'm in the process now of updating my standing rigging (hopefully by the end of June). I chose to go up one size to 5/32" instead of the original 1/8". I closely inspected and rebedded all of the hardware this spring so I'm not worried about the bow cleat and chock which are taking the brunt of the energy being transferred to the boat. I am worried about the standing rigging though and that has been on my mind more than the boat breaking free from its mooring. As a precaution I attached my jib halyard to another shackle on the bow chock and attached my main halyard to another shackle on the stearn chainplate in case the forestay or the backstay should decide they no longer want to be friends with the deck or mast. There is a good possibility that I will take the boat out of the water this weekend and do a decent inspection before I start sailing again. A friend of mine had his Ty at the same club and about ten years ago during a storm similar to this one had his forestay break causing the mast to fall backwards onto the deck. The boom went through the inspection port on the back of the cockpit behind the tiller. Threaded it like a needle with little fiberglass damage, that was something to see. Since then I have that image in my head and during times like this I play it over and over again in my mind.

Tim Mertinooke · Post by **Tim Mertinooke** » May 25th, '05, 09:04

[quote="rtbates"]So most boats are NOT in the water yet?

No, most boats are not in the water yet. This May has been aweful when it comes to weekend weather. If you drive through Newburyport and look at the boatyards more than half still have their winter covers on.

dasein668 · Post by **dasein668** » May 25th, '05, 09:42

It's the same up here in Maine—it seems that no more than a quarter of the boats are in yet. Probably less.

It looks like the worst of the winds last night didn't get here, though they are predicting more for this afternoon/tonight. But there was a ton of carnage on Monday night when we did have 40 knot winds. The Portland Yacht Club floats were torn apart, a coast guard vessel went up on the rocks, 9 boats from Falmouth were on the beaches, one boat tore through a set of docks at the boat yard next to the yacht club. Another friend had his boat hit by one of the boats that broke loose. My boat, thankfully, stayed on her mooring but the anchor platform got ripped off and the bow got beat pretty badly by a swinging anchor.

The Falmouth "anchorage" is a joke in terms of protection from the two directions that we get storms from—NE and SW. In either direction we have about 6 or more miles of fetch.

Yuch. This is winter weather we are having up here, but its almost June. What gives?

Image removed by dasein668.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » May 25th, '05, 14:45

Oh, my Lord! What a terrifying sight to see the little Ty fighting it out and the pictures of Glissando in such ugly weather. For all of you up along the Northeast, I hope your boats can come through unscathed and be able to enjoy a happy sailing season.. if you ever get one this year! We in Miami will be facing the real things -full blown hurricanes - come August through November.

Even though hurricane season starts June 6, we hope to get to the end of July with no major storm. They usually happen after August. I'm getting Bandolera ready for a 2 wk. cruise in July, if weather permits. Good luck to all.

dasein668 · Post by **dasein668** » May 25th, '05, 14:54

Anonymous wrote:We in Miami will be facing the real things -full blown hurricanes - come August through November

Yeah, it does seem somewhat silly for those of us up here to be whining about 40 to 50 knots considering what Florida and the rest of the southeast weathered last year! But it's surprising, too, how much havoc 40 knots can wreck when you have a nice long fetch for it to blow across...

Steve-O · Post by **Steve-O** » May 25th, '05, 15:33

http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/station_page.php?station=44013

robert brown · Post by **robert brown** » May 25th, '05, 17:05

Wow what a great little boat design.. Alot has to do with mooring and preparedness, but lesser boats would have been on the beach by now. She is just bobbing around, Smiling as well. NE winds and swells are somewhat blocked where we are. The kids were surfing right in front of her today with the newspaper reporters doing thier photo opt. Good luck to all. Tim your advice on the halyards fore and aft make alot of sense. I worry just cause we only had a day to rig and tune her. I know one shroud was a little loose when we left her. needed another vice grip to tighten up that one. My main sail and cover are on as well and seem to be doing great.. You must just support your boom via the rear stay? I attached the main halyard to the boom as a better precaution than haning from the rear stay. We all learn alot from this sight.

Misery loves company....

winthrop fisher · Post by **winthrop fisher** » May 25th, '05, 19:32

Hi Tim

.
you see she can take it from the wind and the waves,
but chang the waves to 26/30 footers and you stay in the boat.
then you will see what i have been through.
take care.
winthrop

Tim Mertinooke wrote:The North Shore of Massachusetts is getting a pretty good Nor'easter right now. The winds topped 60mph late last night in Newburyport and were steady at 35 gusting to 50mph today. Tonights forecast looks worse. So far there are three brave (or stupid) souls who have put their boat in the water this year. I am one of those souls. Out of the three right now there are two floating. A Pearson 36 broke from its mooring and hit a local landmark called half-tide rocks. With the keel wedged in between the rocks the beating began. These rocks have proven time and time again that they score higher on the Mohs scale than fiberglass, wood, and metal. The boats hull was breached and she took on water. That happened this morning and I'm told by the owner that the boat has already been deemed a total loss by the insurance company. Needless to say upon hearing this via a phonecall at work I started to worry about my 18.5' Ty riding the storm. I live two hours from the boat so I quickly hopped in the car after picking up the family and headed to the yacht club. Upon arrival I was sad to see my friends pride and joy kissing the ancient granite rocks, but thrilled to see my little Ty pitching and rolling the way a 3-year old would ride a hobby horse. I witnessed this little beauty ride the wind and waves like a boat twice her size and displacement. People at the club were joking saying that they know what boat they are going to buy next as they watched her do everything Alberg intended her to do in those type of conditions. She must still ride through tonight before the worry leaves my mind, but knowing she made it through near hurricane gusts will help me sleep a little more sound tonight. Thank you Carl Alberg wherever you are. To see some action as well as the submerged Pearson check out this link.

http://www.saillesson.com/Typhoon.html

winthrop fisher · Post by **winthrop fisher** » May 25th, '05, 19:43

Hey, its is a bad storm, but your boats will be fine as long as you were using 1/2 or larger line and an anchor out.
i am sure your boats are having some fun...
tim keep on smiling.
winthrop

Tim Mertinooke wrote:Unfortunately for me my mooring is on the wrong side of the river during these type of storms. I have a clear shot to the northeast with 2 miles of room for the seas to build in the river whereas the moorings on the other side of the river close to shore have trees to windward. Between my boat and Neptunes fury is Plum Island which is to be blunt one big sand dune dotted with houses. This provides very little protection from the wind for the boats in our yacht club. I contemplated moving the boat to the other side of the river, but the thought of crossing the river to check on her in this weather honestly scares me. I prefer the status quo which is to sit in the warm clubhouse next to the fire 100 feet from my boat watching it dance. I swear she smiled at me this morning.

The Cape Dory Board

The Typhoon Survives

The Typhoon Survives

great photos

my ty is riding the waves too

Smiling Ty

that rocking and rolling sure seems...

best wishes

Rigging is a worry

Re: best wishes

latest report from the Boston Buoy

one more night ??? Wind & tide

Re: The Typhoon Survives

Re: Smiling Ty