The definitive guide to a critical, hotlydebated topic How should a sailor cope with storms at sea?Some advocate heaving-to, others running off.Some say trail a sea anchor over the bow, others adrogue astern. The stakes in the discussion couldn’t behigher, or the consensus lower. Finally, preeminentsailor/author Hal Roth offers a practical strategy thatcan evolve and respond as storms grow stronger. Hal Roth has sailed twice around the world single-handed. He has crossed the Pacific five times, the Atlantic 11 times, and has rounded Cape Horn three times, logging more than 200,000 miles under sail. He is the author of 10 books of high adventure and some 400 articles for sailing magazines. Hal Roth has sailed twice around theworld single-handed. He has crossed the Pacific five times, theAtlantic 11 times, and has rounded Cape Horn three times,logging more than 200,000 miles under sail. He is the authorof 10 books of high adventure and some 400 articles forsailing magazines. Handling Storms at Sea The 5 Secrets of Heavy Weather Sailing By Hal Roth The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Copyright © 2009 Hal Roth All right reserved. ISBN: 978-0-07-149648-3 Contents Chapter One An Overview Before we begin, let's put this storm business in perspective. I know my own experiences best, so let me talk about them. During the past 40 years I've sailed some 200,000 miles on the world's oceans either alone or with my wife. These voyages include eleven trips across the Atlantic, five voyages across the Pacific, and three trips around the world—including two via the Southern Ocean when I sailed to 58° south. I've gone around Cape Horn three times, anchored in the outer Aleutian Islands, circled the big island of Newfoundland twice, and had a hard look at the long coast of Labrador. Impressive, huh? A wonderful or a foolish way to spend one's life? Yet in all those seagoing passages—some up to 52 days in length—I've never seen prolonged winds of hurricane strength and only one violent storm of Force 11. If I close my eyes and think hard (and refer to my old logbooks), I remember a strong gale (Force 9) in the Gulf of Alaska during the summer of 1968. There was a Force 10 problem in 1970 off the Oregon coast west of the mouth of the Columbia River. In August 1974, while passing through the Strait of Le Maire between Tierra del Fuego and Isla de los Estados near Cape Horn, Margaret and I ran off under bare pole before a severe Force 10 storm from the southwest. On that same run north to Mar del Plata, Argentina, we sailed mostly in gale conditions (Force 8) and flew a storm trysail for seven out of eleven days. The strongest storm I've been in was a sustained Force 10 to 11 wind of 55 knots and extraordinary seas about 1,200 miles south-southwest of Perth, Australia, in the Southern Ocean in January 1991, during one of my solo trips. A month later I ran off to the north in front of a turbulent Force 9 strong gale a little northeast of the southern tip of New Zealand's South Island. In March 1992, a strong gale (46 knots from the northwest) stopped me while sailing northward between the Argentine mainland and West Falkland Island. My choice was the scary lee shore of Jason West Cay to the east or being pushed off to the southwest (see Appendix 2 for the log of this account). More recently, Margaret and I sailed from the east coast of the U.S. to Turkey in the eastern Mediterranean and back. Except for short-lived blasts from local winds at the entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar and in one place in the Aegean for a few hours, we had no winds over 35 knots during the 18,132 miles of the voyage. My point in this wind recital (six strong storms in 40 years) is that violent weather is infrequent, and that with care in planning, bad days can be avoided or certainly minimized. When a storm does appear, I've worked out a system of five steps to follow. We do one thing, and if that doesn't handle the situation we do the next. I suggest the following: Step 1. Deep reefs in the mainsail; a smaller headsail. Step 2. Heave-to. Step 3. Lie a-hull. Step 4. Run off. Step 5. Employ a parachute sea anchor from the bow or a drogue or drag device from the stern. The first four actions are what I propose to call onboard control methods , steps that you can take on the boat to keep the sailing under control. Number 5 involves off-boat control methods , which require special equipment and techniques. In the chapters that follow I will do my best to detail these steps, sort the good from the bad, and explain my thinking and reasoning. Let me speak plainly. Over the years I've come to know that many small-boat sailors grossly exaggerate wind speeds. They throw around words like "gales" and "hurricanes" and "50-knot winds" when what they really mean are strong breezes, near gales, passing squalls, and 30-knot winds. The emphasis is always on peak gusts, not the minimums when the wind drops.