It is said that black clouds sometimes have a silver lining. If there is any lining at all, yet alone a silver one in the last three hurricanes that have struck eastern Carolina, it is that we have learned that there is much more that Members can do to protect their vessels than was previously believed. You should do what you think best... but this, in essence, is the webmaster's personal Hurricane Plan. It draws heavily upon notes posted to this sites' bulletin board following the recent unpleasantness (storm season). Will I always follow it? Who knows... the best laid plans of mice and men, etc.

Anchoring Versus Docks

In some areas of the country, professional surveyors and insurance companies alike estimate of the survival rate of boats at anchor to be only 5-10% because of uncertainties regarding holding ground, crowded mooring fields, neighbors dragging down on the prepared, and the likelihood that unstuck vessels will end up against a concrete dock, sea wall or rocky shoreline.

Certainly, Blackbeard Sailing Club members anchoring in Upper Broad Creek have the opportunity to be exceptions to this. As determined by coring taken during the installation of the breakwater, our bottom is a layer of 5 to 10 feet of soft muck over a pebbly clay of medium density going down another 10 to 15 feet. With the exception of our steel sea wall (which I certainly wouldn't want my boat to hit) the shores of our creek are gently sloping and damage from a grounding would be moderate if not minimal. Unlike many commercial marinas where people come and go, our members tend to stay for a lifetime so they have years to build and share anchoring skills.

At the Docks

Its no longer legal for marina owners to force boat owners to leave in the event of a storm. However, many of the marinas on the east coast are quite vulnerable, including Blackbeard. Given our creek's superior holding ground, and my unfavorable beam to slip width ratio, I'd prefer my boat to be away from the docks with her three anchors out; each with about 200 feet of rode and chain. For more information on anchoring technique, refer to Ted Clark's page.

Contingency Plan: Hurricane at Dock

It is imaginable that an owner could find himself unable to move the boat.  We lived in Kentucky for three years and driving to NC for every warning was impractical. Perhaps you might be out of town when a storm comes too. Or maybe your engine (or starting battery) will be dead and a tow is unavailable; or the water might already be out and your boat is in the mud.

When our home was in the midwest, every time we left the boat we tied it as if we were expecting the lines to be severely strained. That meant triple cord on each corner, and bow and stern springs to port and starboard. While that alone isn't ideal hurricane preparation, with our old boat (less beam and length than our current one) we got lucky and didn't have damage at dock in any of four storms. Today, if for some reason we were unable to move Pelican, but I could be at the dock in time to prepare her, I would cross-tie the boat across to my neighbor's empty slips, then moor her off the dock using a pair of stern anchors. My heaviest lines would be on the eastern side.

Also, be mindful that if your neighbor stays and that boat is not as well tied as yours, his boat may wreck yours. If you are concerned about his preparation... and you can contact him... ask permission to re-tie his boat. If you can't reach him, well, use your best judgment. Personally, I'd probably call the Dockmaster and try to get agreement before messing with someone else's rig immediately before a storm. Obviously, a better bet is to look over things way before the crisis and encourage your neighbor to make repairs before all heck breaks loose.

By the way, as to cross-tying or stern anchors at dock.... one can't do it too early because you block escape for other boats. I know people berthed at other marinas who've tied across 36 hours in advance and had their lines cut by angry neighbors. Be considerate: the generally accepted practice is not to cross-tie more than 12 hours in advance. Be neighborly and consult with other boat owners on your dock and make sure that at least those who you inconvenience have your name and phone number so that they can reach you, especially if you're not a local homeowner.

Wind Direction

The unique geography of our estuarial region provides certain complications for boat owners. This illustration shows the hurricane direction wind zones relative to the eye. By understanding wind directions relative to storm direction, knowing where your boat will be relative to the storm helps determine the direction of hurricane force winds that it will be subject to, as well as how much storm surge to expect. Relative to the eye, there are three major wind zones in a hurricane, north, center and south. The north zone will experience winds mainly from the east. In the central zone, the eye, the winds can be from all directions. In the south, the worst winds will be westerly. The north zone of a hurricane usually has winds of longest duration.

Most tropical storms seem to come to us from the south and proceed somewhat northeast. As the storm approaches, the strong winds of the storm's northeast quadrant blow water up the river and creek, causing surge. Should the storm pass offshore to the east, the water slowly recedes. Should the storm come ashore near Wilmington and work it's way north or northwest of New Bern, the winds of the south quadrant will quickly blow the water back down river as it passes. One member, who observed such a storm from the clubhouse, said the water "flowed (from our property) fast as a toilet flushing" as soon as the winds clocked around.

The spread between storm-fueled high and low wind tides can be significant. In the last hurricane, surge pushed water over all three docks to the point where it was lapping at the front gate. During the "Storm of the Century", a drying mud flat extended all the way to the end of A dock. The bottom line is... most of the damage to boats at dock during the first half of the storm is likely to result from high water. Damage in the second half is most likely to result from low water (with possible complications resulting from the damage incurred during the first half of the storm).

Damage from High Water

Low dock pilings and finger piers are one of the biggest destroyers of boats during the first half of the hurricane. Storm surge lifts the boats above them and wave action drives them down, puncturing the bottom or hull sides. About three hurricanes ago, a Blackbeard member at the end of A Dock fell victim to this particular scenario. In deciding whether the boat is going to stay at the dock, one of the most important considerations is are your dock pilings tall enough. An adequate piling height is six feet above your particular boat's gunwale. Much higher than this is not practical, but if the pilings are only a few feet higher than the gunwale at high tide, then one way or another the boat has to be gotten away from the dock. Long, wide boats in short, narrow slips are another problem. Slip width should be minimum 140% of the beam of your boat. If your boat (like Pelican) has a wide beam and you're in a narrow slip, then there's little chance of keeping it off the finger pier with the rise and fall of storm surge. The boat is also likely to be battered by it's neighbors - particularly if the neighbor is also a long, wide vessel. These boats, even though Blackbeard is now well-sheltered by a breakwater, need to be moved to better locations.

Damage from Low Water

Damage to most boats in the second half of the storm results from cleats pulling out and lines parting because there was insufficient slack to allow for extreme low water. In addition, boats with fin keels drying out on a mud flat in heavy winds don't sit upright like soldiers at attention. They tend to tip into one another, mangling spreaders.

Canal Docks in Fairfield Harbor

Fairfield's canals offer some of the best protection, so long as you have good pilings. The best arrangement is to have one piling each, fore and aft on the water side so that the boat sets between the dock and outer pilings. Pilings like this will not only tend to fend off break away boats, but help keep you off the dock without having to cross-tie on a canal. Never tie to wooden docks without pilings, especially cleats attached to docks; they're guaranteed to come loose. Moreover, pilings that were recently jetted in with water, instead of being driven, have very little holding power. If you have new pilings, cross-tie for safety.

Boats Ashore

Some owners have told me that they feel comfortable when their boat (coincidentally or intentionally) is on jack-stands in a yard during a hurricane. Before you decide to do this, I strongly recommend you consider how close stored boats are to one another. They are up high and offer tremendous wind resistance. If just one were blown over, the rest might follow like dominos. If that isn't enough to scare you, an experienced worker at a local yard shared with me that, years ago, just before a hurricane, an owner distraught about bills he couldn't pay and a project boat he couldn't sell, attempted to sabotage the supports holding his boat, hoping his insurance company would declare the fall an "act of God" and a total loss. Fortunately for adjacent owners, the yard manager saw that the jack-stands on one side of the perpetrators' boat had been removed and reset them before the storm hit. I'd only consider storing my boat on land if she were far away from other boats on jack-stands. Ideally, I'd have a trench dug with a back-hoe for her keel then set her down in the hole and securely brace the hull.

Trailer Boats

By far, the best option for trailer boats is to move them outside the gate facing east, tie them securely to their trailers and anchor the trailers to stakes or hand screws driven into the ground. Otherwise, water or wind might get under the hull and lift it right off, perhaps flipping it over. On average, powerful, fast-moving storms only dump about 5-6" of rain. With my dinghy and other small boats, I put some water in the bilge to weight it down without worrying too much that it will fill up. In any case, fresh water damage is better than it being blown around.

Knots and Lines

Making the proper attachment to a cleat or a piling is far more important than one might imagine. What's okay for normal use often fails during the violence of a hurricane. You should have an extra set of new, and slightly oversized storm lines - about 1/4" larger than normal size. By all means, do not depend on aged cordage. Remember that, although an older line may look okay, it may be seriously weakened by ultraviolet or fungicidal degradation that may not be visible. Use new lines for primaries and the normal dock lines as backups or doubles.

When doubling up lines, try to reduce dependency on a particular tie up point. In the last years, a couple boats have been tied well, but lost it all when their windward pilings cracked off at the waterline. Any time you can double a line to a different point, do it. Two lines tied to one piling or cleat are of no help if the piling or cleat fails. Spread lines to as many different tie points as possible. Consider that under high water conditions, your lines will be angling downward as the water level rises.

Never tie to cleats on pilings or stringers. Lines tied to pilings should have a fair lead off the curve of the piling (tangential) and should not be cinched by the knot so that the line is pinched or pulled by the knot. Take only two wraps around the piling, making sure that they do not overlap. Cinch knots or hitches around the piling should not be used as this pinches the rope. Remember that it is the friction of the line around the piling that provides 98% of the holding power. There will be very little pressure on the knot which merely keeps the line from slipping. Do not use bowlines; instead, three simple half-hitches around the standing end are more than adequate and will minimize chafing. Then wrap the free end back around the piling with hitches to keep it in place.

Cleats, Chocks and Pulpits

There is a right way and a wrong way to attach a line to a cleat. Cleats can be troublesome because rope can get pinched and abraded if not tied right. On Pelican, we use only lines with properly made eye splices attached to cleats. We put the eye through the center hole of the cleat and fold it over. We then adjust lines from the dock. Getting on a bucking boat during a storm is difficult if not dangerous. If you have to use hitches, make sure the line leads off the base as fair as possible with minimal potential for chaffing against the hitches.

The rule for cleats is, the larger the better; the smaller the cleat, the more it pinches. Nowadays, mooring cleats seem to be getting smaller and more poorly installed. Now is the time to take a look at how they're attached. Do they have adequate back up plates on the underside? Aluminum or fiberglass blanks make for the best back up plates. Plywood doublers may crush and allow the cleat go loose. Back up plates should be as large as practical, preferably 1.5x the length of the cleat and 1x length wide. If your bow cleats are too small, and don't have adequate back ups, seriously consider replacing them.

My observation over the last few years has indicated that a large numbers of boats break loose from anchorages and docks because of lines cutting on various areas of bow pulpits. A lot of pulpits have a sharp edges on the underside that can very quickly slice through a line. The motion of a boat in a storm is far more violent than one might imagine. A pitching pulpit can snag a dock line or anchor rode. If the bottom edges of your pulpit are sharp, its a good idea to take a file and round over the edges as much as possible.

For chafe protection, I recommend that old garden hose or double-wall fire hose be slid over the end of the line. Plastic hose is slippery and resists abrasion better, but may not accommodate larger lines. The hose should not be slit down the middle because the chances of it coming off are very high. Drill a hole in each end of the hose and tie it to the mooring lines with nylon string, running the string through the laid line to prevent movement. Don't use rags or duct tape for chafe protection, they won't do the job.

Tophamper

Anything that increases the windage above the superstructure is called tophamper. Virtually all canvass, tops and sails and enclosures should be removed from the vessel. If you can get these off the boat completely, so much the better. Cabins stuffed full of sails and canvass have hampered many a salvage operation. If a very serious hurricane is forecast, don't hesitate to cut antenna wires, if necessary, to get them off. For sailboats like Pelican with a lot of external halyards, I recommend that you tie the bitter end to a light string leader and pull them down; they dramatically increase wind resistance aloft. Even if you get lucky and the resistance doesn't cause you anchor to drag, your halyards will beat themselves to death on your mast, stripping any paint off the aluminum in the process. Its also a good idea to remove the boom, if you can, and lash it down ashore or below.

Engine Protection

Some yachts sink because they heel over so far that the hull side ventilators went underwater. Reducing tophamper can minimize that risk. But also remember that 150 MPH winds eliminate any distinction between sea and sky. Wind-driven water is going to go right into the engine vents. If the engine compartment hull side vents are small enough, they can be taped up with duct tape. If the vent is larger, use a thin piece of plywood and screw it directly into the vent cowl or even the hull side if that's all that is available, and then tape over the edges.

Don't forget that on the reverse side of the storm, the boat may be hit by winds from astern (briefly if at anchor, for a long while if at dock). If you don't want to take the chance of water being driven up the exhaust and into your engines, then plugging the pipes is the thing to do. Sailboat owners absolutely should plug their exhaust lines with wood plugs and close the sea water intake sea cocks. For larger diesel exhausts, the inflatable balls available at most marine stores are the best solution. If you have a generator under an open cockpit deck, cover it with sheet plastic so it won't get wet. Close the water intake sea cock. If you have the proper size bungs, stop up the exhaust outlet. Duct tape over the fuel and water tank vents and fill caps on deck and on the side of the hull.

Electronics

It should go without saying that all external electronics should be removed. That includes those mounted in covered boxes. After one hurricane, we found shredded leaves inside our closed, locked electronics box. The wind force was so great that it bent the plastic doors, creating gaps. Again, don't hesitate to cut wires and cables for removal. The cost of reinstallation is far less than having to replace costly electronics. If electronics inside boxes cannot be removed, completely tape around the cabinet doors with duct tape to help keep water out. Tape tightly over all instrument faces that can't be removed, as well as switches and the like.

Securing the Interior

Imagine hosing down the interior of your boat and then letting it sit for a couple days. Unless you prepare, that's what the inside of your boat might look like when you finally get to it, many days later. Your boat will leak in ways you never imagined possible.

Take up all carpets in lower quarters and place on berths. Roll back or take up carpet in way of exterior doors, then duct tape the door jambs when leaving the boat to keep wind driven water out. Mattresses on berths in forward cabins in way of port holes and hatches should be wedged up on end so that leaking won't soak them. Strip, pillows, sheets and spreads and store in a safer place.

In the galley clear out all elevated cabinets where doors will open and contents spill out. Even tape probably won't hold the doors shut. Put breakables in boxes down low. Remove all heavy objects that will force doors open during extreme rolling. Anything loose like televisions, bric-a-brac, lamps and the like should be secured on the sole. All that stuff packed into lockers needs to be removed. The easiest way to deal with it is to stow it all in heavy trash bags and seal the ends tight. Then stow them tightly in a high corner somewhere.

Don't forget the refrigerator. Clean out all perishables and glass bottles that will slide around and break. Make sure the door is firmly latched. If you have an AC/DC reefer, make sure that is turned OFF so that it won't drain the batteries. Find the sea cocks for the heads and close them. Close or plug all sink drains. Shut off all other sea cocks except for the main engines.

Securing the Exterior

Owners often strip off all sails and canvass and stuff it all down below. Unfortunately, if a boat fills partly up with water, this creates a terrible problem getting these materials out of a flooded cabin. If you can, get all loose sails off the boat. If you take the furling genoa down, again, don't stuff it in the cabin. Tie it to a tree or something, or take it home. The cabin areas should be kept as free as possible to tend to an emergency if necessary.

Remove vent cowls and heavily tape over the openings. Check to be sure that cockpit scuppers are clear. Lock the wheel or lash tiller in the centered position, not to one side. The bimini top should be removed from the boat, frame and all. Don't try to lash it down because the wind will tear it free. Lash it down ashore.

Remove all equipment attached to the lifelines or pulpits. Duct tape over all windows, ports and hatches around the base. When leaving the boat, tape over the companionway hatch joints

If still at dock, disconnect and stow shore power cords away. Electrical power will be lost anyway and leaving it plugged in will only result in the loss of the cord as brine floods the electrical box. Turn off all DC circuit breakers except the main and bilge pumps. Then make sure that all pumps are working and the batteries are fully charged. Double check your battery box to insure it's bracket is secure. One of the last things you'd want to see when you return is a cracked battery case and acid all over the cabin sole.