Foul Weather

Sooner or later while out on the water, you are going to be faced with foul weather.  The weather is not what you need to worry about, its how you are going to handle it.  There have been many times when I have had to outrun a storm, but in some cases, this is not always possible.  When I have had to outrun a storm, I have been on a lake and had a covered space that I knew would be open, my marina slip.

When on an unfamiliar body of water, this will most likely not be possible.  Though I have seen some boaters just run to a marina, find an empty slip and hope that no one comes in and owns that slip, this is never a good idea.

If you have time and have kept an eye on the storm, the best place to go would be to quickly load the boat on the trailer and wait it out on the hard in your car.  Though, this takes a lot of planning and a person to always keep an eye to the sky.

If for some reason you are forced to stay on the water, just stopping is not going to safely get you through the storm.  Follow these steps to make sure that you boat and more importantly, your passengers are safe on the water.

• If you are at the dock, add some extra lines and extra fenders.  The front line of the storm is always the most dangerous with the highest winds and the biggest waves.  The more lines the better, but remember to always leave some slack in the lines for the boat to move slightly.  If the lines are too tight, they are likely to break if a big wave comes through.  
• If you are on the water, try to get to a dock before the front line comes through, if you are doing it while the storm is approaching and are successful, you are a 5 star captain.  If you are unable to get through into the dock, find a leeward shore.  The leeward shore is a shore that is under the wind.  The leeward shore is pictured in the diagram below.  The red stars indicate the best place to be while the storm is blowing.  In this area, you would be protected by the shore from the strong winds.  While here, you will notice that the water is rougher as you move away from the land.    

This is a video of a Corsair F37 trimaran being tossed around in the front line of a storm on Lake Ray Hubbard. Remarkably, the boat made it through with just a small stress crack on the port hull. Click here to go to the video.