Publish Date: Sunday, August 28, 2011
Location: Greenwich Bay, Rhode Island
Coordinates: 41° 40.216′ N 71° 25.964′ W
As the remnants of Hurricane Irene track across New England, we are very thankful aboard Three@Sea that we weathered the storm safely. We are still at anchor in Greenwich Bay, and the winds are dying down: now about 20 knots with gusts in the 30s. Our experience with the storm was not as severe as we expected and prepared for, which is just the way you want it. We experienced sustained winds in the 40-knot range, with maximum gusts in the 60-knot range. Don’t get me wrong — winds in that range are no picnic — but it doesn’t compare to hurricane-force winds. Here is some video footage that we took during the storm:
As we look back at the experience, we realize that the hardest part was making decisions in the face of uncertainty. Some of the questions we had to answer for ourselves were:
- Should we haul the boat out of the water and put it on blocks?
- If we stay in the water, should we stay in the marina or move out to anchor?
- If we move out to anchor, where should we go that will give us adequate protection from the storm?
- Should we deploy one anchor or two, and how should they be deployed?
- Once we have the boat securely anchored, should we stay aboard or evacuate?
We had to answer these questions carefully and deliberately, and we had to get comfortable that whatever happened during the storm, we would not second-guess (or regret) our decisions. After studying the storm carefully using multiple sources, evaluating our situation at the marina, and assessing the capabilities of our ship, we decided to move out of the marina and anchor during the storm. We’re glad we did, and probably just as important, had the storm delivered the hurricane-force winds that were possible we think we would have weathered it just as safely.
We chose an anchorage in the southwest corner of Greenwich Bay, which is near our marina. The storm was going to pass to the west of us, which meant we would experience east winds, clocking to strong south winds, followed by west winds. The anchorage had good overall protection from all of these directions, and it had a mud-over-clay bottom, which would be good holding for the anchors. We deployed two anchors at about 30-degrees from one another: the stronger anchor set for south winds, and the second anchor set for more southeast winds. We set the anchors hard by backing down on them, and we had high confidence that the anchors would hold, so our main concern was breakage. We put long nylon snubbers on each rode to provide good elasticity, and also to provide redundancy. We also attached rugged chafe protection to all possible wear points. Earlier this summer I had received Earl Hinz’s “The Complete Book of Anchoring and Mooring” for my birthday, and I had read it cover-to-cover. The information I learned from this book was invaluable for this situation, and I highly recommend it to anybody who plans to spend more than a few nights swinging on a hook.
Once the anchors were set we went about securing the boat. We removed everything from the outside that would either increase our wind profile, or might not stand up to hurricane-force winds. It took us a full two days to strip and secure the outside of the boat — antennas, grill, dingy, kayak, fenders, flags, etc. — and another half day to secure the inside for the expected tossing and rolling. We felt we were ready for whatever came our way.
On Saturday afternoon we made our final decision: should we stay on the boat or evacuate? This was the most difficult decision we made, and we had made a hotel reservation in case we decided to evacuate. We spoke with each of the six boats anchored around us, all experienced captains or cruisers, and all were staying aboard during the storm. We spoke with the sheriff, police, and harbormaster, each of whom stopped by our boat to see if we planned to stay aboard, and all expressed confidence that we were in a good spot to weather the storm. And, most important, we consulted multiple weather sources to assess the storm’s potential at our location. Finally, given what we knew at the time, we decided to stay aboard. This was a very personal decision based on a variety of factors, and we would make the same decision again given similar circumstances.
As we look at Hurricane Irene in the rear-view mirror, we feel fortunate to have been spared her worst. We know there is significant destruction and hardship being experienced by people up and down the coast, and our thoughts are with them as they pick up the pieces. We learned a lot in preparation for the storm, and in experiencing it first hand, both of which will serve us well in our ongoing voyage.
Thank you for this story with its happy ending.
Hi,Good to hear you are safe and well.Best Regards Saunders Family Auckland NZ
Hi 3@sea crew, great to hear that you are safe and well after such a storm. Love reading your blog and one day will we see you out there, maybe the pacific islands. Regards, Mike.
Thanks for the post, we were thinking about you. We knew you would have it under control.
Congratulations, I mean that because I know it took a lot of effort and some very tuff decisions on your parts to “weather the storm”.
Art
Thanks David, Kathryn, Ayla and Dilly. It is a great story with a safe ending. We talked about the situation and in many ways we wanted to be there with you. You know how we like storms.
Glad to hear you are safe and sound. I wondered what y’all would do in this situation and looks like you had it all under conrol
Good to hear that you weathered the storm safely! We knew you would have some tough decisions on how to handle it. Glad to hear that Irene spared you her worst and that you came through safe and sound. Our love to all of you.
I’m curious as to more of what techniques you learned from the book and applied in this circumstance. For example, what line to depth ratio did you use? Again, such a relief to know you are safe. Good job!
Jackie
So happy to hear of your happy ending! You’ve been in our thoughts and prayers!
Reminds me of years ago (ca 1980) when three of us sailed from Darien, CT, to Block Island to meet friends and family. Along the north shore of Long Island Sound we ran into high seas and heavy winds; finally made it to anchorage off Shelter Island. After anchoring and sleeping soundly overnight we waked to a gentle bumping against pilings across the harbor (Sure have read your book on anchoring). Made it to Block Island in good shape for great experience.
Great luck and good fortune on your continuing saga.
Do you have to deploy your stabilizers or are they effective only when you are underway?
Wow! You are awesome. That took nerve and being well prepeared to stay on the boat and weather the storm. I am in awe as I am a big chicken and am not sure I could have done it. Your anchoring was terrific and I will get that book for us to read. Having dragged twice in our boating career of 22 years,I can well remember resetting an anchor in storm conditions in both Culebra and Anagada. Not fun!!! You rule! Arlene and Patrick
Awaiting your return to Puerto Rico!!!!
Well Done David and crew. Tough decisions, well thought out and executed. I’m certain if it had been a Cat 3 or higher you would have left the boat, but a 1 is just a long thunderstorm, often overblown by the media. Take care and enjoy the cruising life, sure beats being on land! Hugs, Scott and Marian
Thank God eveything is well. Keep living the Dream