catamaran sailing in bad weather

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Storm Tactics for Heavy Weather Sailing

• By Bill Gladstone
• Updated: November 15, 2021

Storm tactics can be roughly defined as the ways to handle a storm once you’re in it. There are several proven choices, all of which intend to keep either the bow or stern pointing toward the waves. No one tactic will work best for all sailboats in all conditions. As skipper, it will be up to you to consider the best approach for your vessel, procure the right equipment, and practice with it before it’s needed.

Here we look at some active storm options that might work when conditions are still manageable and you want to actively control and steer the boat. Crew fatigue is a serious consideration when using active tactics.

Forereaching

Although not often mentioned as a tactic, it can be highly effective for combating brief squalls or moderate-duration storms. Here’s how to set up your boat for forereaching: Roll the jib away (especially if you have a large roller-furler genoa set); reef the main down to the second or third reef position; and sail on a closehauled course, concentrating on keeping the boat flat. It will be a comfortable ride, everyone will be relatively happy, and you will be making 2 to 3 knots on a close reach. Check your course over ground because increased leeway will cause your track to be much lower. This is a possibly useful tactic to claw off a lee shore. Note that not all boats will be at ease forereaching, so you’d better experiment with it ahead of time. Catamarans in particular will lurch and demonstrate much-increased leeway.

Motorsailing

Sometimes it’s necessary from a time or safety perspective to stow the jib and fire up the iron genny instead. Motorsailing lets you point high and make progress to windward. Motoring with no sails will not work well (or at all, in some cases), particularly in big seas, but a reefed mainsail will provide lateral stability and extra power. Trim the main, head up high enough to control your angle of heel, set the autopilot, and keep a lookout. Fuel consumption makes this a short-term option.

Here’s a tip: Make sure cooling water is pumping through the engine. On some sailboats, the water intake lifts out of the water when heeled. A further difficulty is that the pitching boat might stir sediment off the bottom of the fuel tank, which can, in turn, clog the fuel filter.

Running off and drogues

Sailing under storm jib and a deeply reefed mainsail or storm trysail provides the most control. If you don’t have storm sails, a reefed jib will give you the power to steer and control your boat in the waves. The boat must be steered actively to maintain control because no autopilot will be able to do this.

If excessive speed is a problem and steering becomes difficult, towing a drogue will slow the boat. A retrieval line should be set from the head of the drogue for when it is time to bring it back on board. If you don’t have a drogue, trailing warps might help slow the boat.

In a storm of longer duration, or when conditions become otherwise unmanageable, the situation might call for a skipper to consider passive storm tactics. When you are exhausted and you just want to quiet down the boat and maybe get some rest, there are other boathandling options available, depending on the sea state and the ­equipment you have onboard.

Heaving to can be an excellent heavy-weather tactic, though some boats fare better than others. Wouldn’t it be great if during a heavy-weather episode you could just slow everything way down? Imagine a short respite with a reduced amount of motion from the relentless pitching and pounding. A chance to regroup, make a meal, or check over the boat. Well, you can.

Heaving to allows you to “park” in open water. Hove-to trim has the jib trimmed aback (that is, to the wrong side), the reefed main eased, and the helm lashed down to leeward. The easiest way to do this is to trim the jib sheet hard and then tack the boat, leaving the sheet in place. Trimmed this way, the jib pushes the bow down. As the bow turns off the wind, the main fills and the boat moves forward. With the helm lashed down, the rudder turns the boat toward the wind. As the main goes soft, the jib once again takes over, pushing the bow down. The main refills, and the rudder pushes the bow into the wind again.

RELATED: Safety at Sea: Mental Preparations Contribute to Positive Outcomes

Achieving this balance will require some fine-­tuning, depending on the wind strength, your boat design and the sails you have. You might, for example, need to furl the jib most of the way in to match the wind strength. Trimming the main will ensure that the bow is at an angle to the waves, ideally pointing 40 to 60 degrees off. Modern fin-keeled boats do not heave to as well as more-traditional full-keel designs.

When hove to, the boat won’t actually stop. It will lie, as noted, about 40 to 60 degrees off the wind, sailing at 1 or 2 knots, and making leeway (sliding to leeward). Beware of chafe. When hove to, the jib’s clew or sheet will be up against the shroud and might experience wear damage. Monitor this regularly, and change the position of the sheet occasionally. You might not want to heave to for an extended time.

Deploying a sea anchor

A sea anchor is a small parachute deployed on a line off the bow. A sea anchor helps keep the bow pointed up into the waves so the boat won’t end up beam to the seas. Light displacement boats will pitch violently in high seas, and chafe and damage might occur to the bow, so setting up a bridle and leading it aft through a snatch block will allow the boat to lie at an angle to the waves, providing a more comfortable ride. A big concern when using a sea anchor is the load on the rudder as the waves slam the boat backward. Chafe on the sea-anchor bridle is another big factor, so the bridle must be tended regularly.

Remember, if you and your vessel are caught out in heavy-weather conditions, as a skipper, you must show leadership by setting an example, watching over your crew, offering relief and help to those who need it, and giving encouragement. Remember too, discomfort and fear can lead to fatigue, diminished performance, and poor decision-making. Don’t compromise the safety of the boat and crew to escape discomfort.

Few people get to ­experience the full fury of a storm. Advances in weather forecasting, routing and communications greatly improve your odds of avoiding heavy weather at sea, but you’re likely to experience it at some point, so think ahead of time about the tactics and tools available to keep your crew and vessel safe.

Heavy weather might not be pleasant, but it is certainly memorable, and it will make you a better sailor. Take the time to marvel at the forces of nature; realize that the boat is stronger than you think.

Happy sailing, and may all your storms be little ones!

This story is an edited excerpt from the American Sailing Association’s recently released manual, Advanced Cruising & Seamanship , by Bill Gladstone, produced in collaboration with North U. It has been edited for design purposes and style. You can find out more at asa.com.

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How to handle heavy weather

• Andy Schell
• March 23, 2022

Heavy weather is not always avoidable. Andy Schell has expert advice on how to prepare for and handle the big stuff

On Tuesday 15 June 2021 our Swan 48 Isbjorn was positioned near 51° North, some 350 miles south-west of Fastnet Rock. She was in deep North Atlantic waters, charging north on the fringes of a strong depression in sustained gale force south-westerlies and heavy seas.

“ Isbjorn is handling the conditions like a champion!” her skipper wrote to me from the sat comms. During the strongest conditions that the boat had ever experienced under the 59° North flag, I was ashore at my farmhouse in Sweden, nervously watching the progression of the GRIB forecasts overlaid on Isbjorn ’s track.

”The seas are impressive and we are taking on some green water when the breaking crests catch up with us. Making great speed under triple-reefed mainsail and just a scrap of headsail.”

Isbjorn ’s skipper, Norwegian August Sandberg – who is every bit the long-haired, bearded Viking – was in command, bound from Horta towards Oban, Scotland, and ultimately Bergen, Norway. “Winds are touching 45 knots true in the largest gusts, but we are under full control. Steering is going to be more scary and challenging for the watch at night, but we are up for it,” he added.

Relative experience

I knew the storm was coming. Sandberg and his five-person crew knew the storm was coming. Weather Routing Inc (WRI), the professional weather routing service we use, knew it was coming. “Routing is expected to be exceptionally difficult due to the active pattern in place with several fronts and gales,” WRI had briefed us. “There are several features we will have to monitor in the coming days to minimise lengthy periods of extreme weather.”

Isbjorn’s position relative to the approaching depression when skipper Sandberg began running off east-north-east

We knew all this while Isbjorn was still in Horta, yet Sandberg elected to head offshore on the 1,200-mile passage anyway. I agreed with his decision. As a team, 59° North had developed a solid heavy-weather strategy and with Sandberg’s crew, which included several repeat customers who’d sailed with us before and whom we trusted, he was confident they’d be able to implement a variety of tactics in order to make the experience not only manageable but a unique ‘teachable moment’ to see what heavy weather is really all about.

The passage to Oban was an outlier in that the weather got gnarlier than it usually does. Regardless, every trip we sail, whether we encounter heavy weather or not, shares two core fundamentals: a solid heavy-weather strategy to plan for the weather; and flexible, practised and reliable tactics to execute once it hits.

Storms are experienced differently by different skippers, crews, and boats. The storm August Sandberg encountered in the North Atlantic was a big one, but nothing he hadn’t seen before. Prior to joining 59° North, Sandberg had spent much of his career skippering expeditions in Arctic Norway and Svalbard, with multiple crossings of the Barents Sea, excursions to 80° North, and winter passages above the Arctic Circle in 24-hour darkness. During that June storm, he was in his element.

Conversely, a 25-knot beat into 6ft seas can be overwhelming for a first-time ocean skipper.

“I define heavy weather as when the normal running of the ship gets disrupted,” says my friend and Golden Globe skipper ,Susie Goodall, who is intimately familiar with the kind of heavy weather most of us pray we’ll never encounter.

Photo: 59 North Sailing

“The whole routine that you’ve got set up when you are offshore gets suspended. Heavy weather means that you are no longer operating under your normal day-to-day pattern offshore.”

Heavy weather strategies

While the terms are often used interchangeably, there is a clear distinction between strategy and tactics.

‘Strategy is the overarching plan or set of goals,’ writes Shane Parrish on the excellent blog Farnam Street (a must-read for anyone interested in leadership and decision-making), ‘Tactics are the specific actions or steps you undertake to accomplish your strategy.’

A heavy weather strategy is devised at the preparation stage of a voyage, and will be different depending on the type of boat, the size of the crew, experience of the crew, and other factors.

For our boats I have a very specific sail plan and equipment list that I like to carry for the range of expected weather conditions and the way we like to sail (specifically, fast offshore cruising).

We outsource the creation of a safety equipment strategy given that we are Cat 0 coded (and so should you — World Cruising Club’s safety equipment guidelines, derived from World Sailing’s Offshore Special Regulations, are ideal for recreational ocean cruising), so that part of the strategy is taken care of. Where we have some choice is in the sailplan, forecasting tools and heavy weather equipment.

well found boat and crew can cope with whatever the weather and sea conditions have to throw at them. Photo: Mike Delamore

I’ve optimised our sailplan for simplicity, robustness and redundancy. We opted to forego a trysail in favour of a deep-reefed mainsail simply because it’s far easier to set. I insist on a second stay for attaching the staysail and storm jib rather than the type that wrap around a furled headsail – far too much to go wrong there. An inner forestay (or Solent stay) adds another bit of support for the mast in really gnarly conditions.

Deck layout

The most important part of my heavy weather strategy is to avoid cascading problems resulting from too much complexity. A single green water, deck-sweeping wave can do a lot of damage if not planned for.

All three of our boats have nearly flush decks, allowing green water to harmlessly flow out the lee scuppers, and we deliberately don’t keep anything lashed to them at sea. No dinghy on the foredeck, no jerry cans of fuel on the side decks, no big davits aft. The less stuff you have on deck during the worst weather – including crew – the less stuff the ocean can grab and wash overboard.

As far as equipment goes, I’m a big fan of mounting liferafts on a stainless bracket on the pushpit and keeping the drogue, if carried, on top of the lazarette and ready to deploy.

Heavy weather equipment

We carry a Jordan Series Drogue on our smaller boat Isbjorn, an S&S Swan 48. Despite the failure of Susie’s drogue on DHL Starlight in the Golden Globe Race, to me the series drogue is still the only choice for serious heavy weather. While I’ve never had to deploy one in anger, there seems to be consensus among the folk I’ve talked to and the articles I’ve read that when it comes to survival conditions, the series drogue is the obvious choice.

However, on Icebear, a Swan 59 and soon Falken, our new-to-us Farr 65, we don’t carry any type of heavy weather drogue. It’s pretty well documented that big boats are exponentially at far less risk of capsize in serious heavy weather, so we’ve forgone a drag device.

Make sail changes early before heavy weather arrives to minimise time spent on deck. Photo: 59 North Sailing

Just as important is our watch schedule and daily routine. We keep a standard three-watch rotation of four hours on/eight hours off, with the skipper and mate floating. In heavy weather this changes to four on/four-off with skipper and mate included, so one of us is always on deck to manage the situation.

Then we have an emergency action plan to hand at all times should things get out of control. These routines are baked into our SOPs (standard operating procedures) and require no thinking in the moment to activate them.

Tactical choices

A heavy weather strategy is predetermined at the planning stage and difficult, if not impossible, to change once offshore (your strategy will have dictated what choices you made at the planning stage regarding boat type, sailplan, equipment list, etc). Tactics, however, are flexible and adaptable as the situation changes.

In that North Atlantic storm, August Sandberg was able to employ a rerouting tactic that allowed him to mitigate the worst of the weather. Isbjorn wasn’t fast enough to avoid the storm altogether, so he aimed to position her as far away from the worst of it as possible.

But to minimise the conditions, it meant running off at best speed to the east-north-east, towards Ireland as the storm centre was forecast to pass to the north and follow a similar track. The problem was that if the storm tracked just a bit south of its forecast, Isbjorn would wind up in the worst of it anyway, while also on a lee shore on Ireland’s formidable west coast.

Learn to read GRIBs and understand how to route away from the worst weather. Photo: 59 North Sailing

So he split the difference. Knowing they’d be sailing into stronger conditions they reefed down, changed up the watch schedule and sailed a course to keep the wind just aft of the beam, heading more north-north-east and parallel to Ireland’s west coast, thereby leaving them much more sea room should they ultimately need to run with the storm.

Anticipation

My first heavy weather tactic begins just before any given passage when we’re analysing the weather and looking for our departure window. At this point I’m looking for trends in the weather regarding wind strength and direction, with two goals in mind:

1. Can I find a window to depart either in a relative calm or at least off the wind? 2. What sailplan am I going to start the passage with?

If we’ve a high likelihood of heavy weather and/or a lot of beating in the forecast, I’ll opt to bend on the smaller genoa to the headstay furler, pre-rig the removable inner forestay and hank-on the staysail before we ever leave port.

I know that an initial beat will feel like heavy weather to a lot of the crew who sail with us, even in moderate conditions, and consequently will wear them down much more quickly in those first 48 hours. Conservatively anticipating the weather is a tactic that allows me to easily transition into heavy weather mode once offshore; it’s simply a matter of changing into the predetermined new watch rotation and hoisting the staysail.

Heading downwind while towing a drogue. Photo: Helen Nicholls

I’ll make this transition well in advance. On a recent November passage between Lanzarote and Horta on Icebear, we had a well-forecasted cold front set to overtake us as we approached the Azores. We’d have some heavy south-westerly conditions ahead of the front, and we wouldn’t make it to Horta before a north-westerly wind shift which would leave us beating the final 18 hours into port up the channel between Pico and São Miguel.

In bright afternoon sunshine the crew assembled on deck and, despite the moderate conditions at the time, bent on the smaller genoa and hoisted the staysail. Before nightfall we tucked two reefs into the mainsail. By midnight, winds were touching 30 knots and all that was left to do was partially furl the genoa. Icebear raced through the night with her small sails up and little drama.

At dawn the wind shifted and we switched into upwind mode, shaking the reefs in the main and re-setting the 105% genoa, making landfall in Horta a few hours later, a textbook application of anticipating the weather and executing good tactics to contend with it.

Active vs passive tactics

Active tactics apply to situations where you’ve had to change your daily routine, adjust your routing, or both, but continue actively sailing the boat, even if it’s an autopilot doing the actual steering. Active tactics require someone on deck, which requires energy, your most precious resource in heavy weather. Eventually, if the weather sustains for long enough, you will run out of this resource, especially with a short-handed crew, and you’ll need to change tactics.

Staying active on the helm in heavy weather can give a sense of purpose, easing stress. Photo: Paul Wyeth

Passive tactics are when we’re no longer in control of sailing the boat, but rather its tending to itself. Passive tactics are about holding position to let the weather pass and re-energising the crew. The most important part of any good active tactic is knowing when to give it up and switch to a passive tactic before you’re exhausted.

Eventually, if the weather gets gnarly enough, some boats require active tactics to remain seaworthy – ie deep fin-keeled monohulls that are reluctant to heave-to may require fore-reaching, while most multihulls will need to run-off sooner than a displacement hull to avoid capsize risk – and this is where that crew energy is crucial.

Fifty years ago Don Street observed in The Ocean Sailing Yacht, that: ‘It must be remembered that on long offshore passages a well-built and well-equipped boat will stand up to much more rough weather than will the crew.’ The same holds true today.

Adapt your approach

Good execution of heavy weather tactics during a sustained storm means staying flexible. Your tactics will change as the storm evolves:

• Anticipate: Understand the forecast and set the boat up for the expected conditions long before they deteriorate
• Active: continue sailing and progressively reefing deeper and deeper, aiming to route as far away from the worst of the storm as possible in the time before it hits
• Passive: heave-to before it gets truly gnarly to give the crew needed rest
• Active: fore-reach (easier to helm, but wetter) or run-off (more dangerous, harder to control) once the sea-state gets too large to safely heave-to
• Passive: douse all sails, secure the companionway and set a Jordan Series Drogue to ride out the worst of the storm with all crew below decks. Lying ahull is no longer considered a safe option unless it’s a very short-lived storm that doesn’t build up a significant sea state
• Active: as the weather eases, transition back into actively sailing the boat. Eventually, once everyone is rested, you’ll be able to revert back to your normal at-sea routines and continue towards your destination

Assume you will need to hand-steer, and make sure at a minimum one other crew is capable of hand-steering in all weather on all points. Again, autopilot reliance is a great tactic, poor strategy. Photo: 59 North Sailing

You won’t always progress through that entire sequence. In fact, in the nearly 100,000 miles I’ve sailed offshore, I’ve yet to do so myself. But I sleep easier knowing all the tactics I have available to me when the weather gets really bad.

Every time we hold a crew debrief after we’ve seen some heavy weather, people always talk about how surprised they were at the long build-up to the actual weather event. Sandberg’s crew from June 2021 were no exception: “They’d imagined that heavy weather just hits you quickly and randomly, and that coping with it is like putting out a fire. They had not imagined that it was something you’d plan for, discuss and prepare for, often days in advance.”

If there’s one takeaway that’s most important here it’s the concept of anticipation. With anticipation at the root of all heavy weather tactics, you’ll never get caught out without a plan. Thanks to a well found boat, her well found skipper and a sound heavy-weather strategy that was executed well, Isbjorn made it through that North Atlantic storm drama free and not only unscathed, but with an exhilarated crew who learned a bit of good seamanship.

Coping strategies

Don’t believe the myth – all boats will heave-to, even modern flat-bottomed, fin-keeled performance boats. Some just require more patience and practice.

Heaving-to is the art of stalling a boat at about 60º off the wind by backing the headsail, sheeting the main in tight and locking the helm ‘down.’ Just like balancing a boat under sail, heaving-to, especially on more modern hull shapes, requires a careful balance of headsail size, mainsail trim and rudder trim. Once dialled in, the boat takes care of herself, allowing the crew time to recharge. It’s a useful tactic on any long passage, even in nice weather; stop for a swim, wait for a favourable wind shift, ride out a dark night before entering a new port.

In real heavy weather, there’ll be more setup. Blocks must be rigged such that jib or staysail sheets have a fair lead aft when the sail is backed. When practicing the tactic this is often overlooked, but at sea in a blow, chafe sets in and must be avoided.

When properly hove-to, your world changes: the boat locks in at a steady angle of heel and bobs on the seas while the crew gets needed rest. We find we use this tactic more than any other. It’s easy and effective. But at some point it can become dangerous…

Switch to alternate heavy weather watch rotations early to keep the crew fresh and a leader (skipper or mate) on deck at all times. Photo: 59 North Sailing

Fore-reaching

If the seas are breaking, heaving-to can become dangerous. And despite what I wrote above about all boats being able to heave-to, some are indeed difficult. In either case, consider fore-reaching.

Fore-reaching is basically sailing very slowly to windward. It’s an ‘active’ tactic and will require someone on the helm, or at least monitoring the autopilot, but often staying active in heavy weather can give you a sense of purpose and can ease the mental stress of intense conditions.

All boats can fore-reach. Set your small sails and basically pinch your way to weather. Fore-reaching is quite similar to the ‘feathering’ tactic we often employ during quick squalls when the wind is forward of the beam. Instead of reefing and unreeling for each squall, simply feather-up on the helm to de-power the sails and ride it out. Fore-reaching is similar, but over a longer duration and with smaller sails.

Series drogue

When conditions get too heavy to do anything but hide down below, the series drogue is the go-to tactic. It’s also the only tactic that requires truly modifying your boat before departure – you’ll need stout chainplates on the transom to take the loads from the bridle, a protected companionway that can survive a heavy breaking wave from astern, and a way to stow and deploy the drogue efficiently offshore.

Practicing deployment and retrieval is essential to avoid snags in the 300ft-long line. Modern series drogues are made with Dyneema, making them far easier to carry and stow, but more difficult to retrieve thanks to the slippery line. Randall Reeves used his often when solo sailing around the Americas and Antarctica: his blog has useful observations on how to retrieve a Dyneema drogue when short-handed.

Bluewater Sailing Techniques Part 3: Coping with squalls

Discover the best way to cope with squalls and weather them safely in the latest instalment of our Bluewater Sailing…

Bluewater Sailing Techniques Part 4: sailing downwind with a poled out headsail

Discover how to sail with a poled out headsail in our latest Bluewater Sailing Techniques video

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10 Tips for Sailing In Heavy Weather

They say that calm seas never made a great sailor. Rough seas and heavy wind are just a right of passage for many. I however would argue that the best sailors are those who manage to avoid heavy weather entirely.

Reading a weather report and planning one’s voyage to avoid nasty weather is the best call of them all. But, if you find yourself under gloomy skies and heavy chop unexpectedly, then getting yourself back to shore becomes paramount.

Here are a few tips for bad weather sailing that have helped salty sailors stay safe.

Table of contents

1. An ounce of prep saves a pound of trouble

Whether it’s replacing the impeller before it goes bad or coiling lines properly before you head out, preparation is the name of the game when it comes to sailboats. They say that the average sailor spends 10 hours working on a boat for every hour sailing and that’s just about how it should be. Making sure everything is working and properly cared for is a full time job and if you're not putting in the hours to keep your boat in tip top condition, your boat will fail you just when you need it most.

Things to watch out for when prepping for bad weather include:

• Scuppers are clean and free flowing. An errant acorn or a wad of tape can turn an otherwise seaworthy boat into a bathtub. Heavy rain and/or crashing waves have been known to sink a vessel that could not properly ship water overboard. Take the time to make sure your scuppers can save your boat and your life in heavy conditions.
• An orderly boat is a safe boat and that includes properly coiling lines. If you don’t know how to properly coil a line then you should learn asap. You never know when you will need to cast off a line or drop a sail in a hurry. Making sure that all your lines are properly coiled ensures that a line will run freely without kinks or “ass holes” when you need it to.
• Engine maintenance is all too often forgotten on sailboats. In heavy weather, bare poles are sometimes much safer than sails and a good working motor can be the difference between life and death. Changing the oil, checking belt tension and visually inspecting through hull fittings should be part of common practice on your boat. Having back up supplies like an impeller, hoses and belts are also part of good maintenance and you should regularly check your supplies and replace them when they get used.

2. Reef early, reef often

If you read last week’s piece on reefing , you may think I am beating a dead horse. But I can’t stress enough the importance of reefing in heavy weather. A better alternative to reefing is using the right sail for the right conditions. Many a genoa jib has been reduced to shreds in heavy air when a skipper fails to change sails in a timely manner.

Much like reefing, which should be done before you actually need to, so too should you raise your storm jib and douse your main before the heavy weather starts. Making the call to reduce sail or go bare poles can be a life saving call when made at the appropriate time. If you don't know how to reef or have difficulty changing sails, you should refrain from sailing in heavy air until you have had a chance to practice in lighter conditions.

3. File a float plan

In this day and age with cell phones and email, we often think help is just a text message away. At sea, especially in heavy air, sending a text message or making a phone call can be impossible.

‍ Rain, wind and waves can kill a cell phone and if you doubt that, here’s a little virtual experience of sailing in heavy weather.

Put on all your foul weather gear, turn your shower on full blast cold and have your partner bring the garden hose into your bathroom. Then stand in the shower while your partner sprays you with the hose. For an even more real experience, crumple up $100 dollar bills and flush them down the toilet while you're at it. Then you will realize that using a cell phone in heavy weather is nearly impossible.

That is where the float plan comes into play. By leaving a detailed account of your planned voyage in writing with someone who cares about you, you will ensure that when you are late someone will miss you. And I can’t stress that you leave your float plan with someone who cares about you enough to miss you if you don’t show back up.

In the marina office where I currently work, one of our guests left a float plan with our staff saying that if they weren’t heard from by June 30th that we should send out a search and rescue mission. I found that note on the peg board in our office on July 22. I never heard if they made it back but didn’t see them on the news either so I am hoping they are safe.

But who knows, they may be stranded in the back of some canyon and 10 years from now we will hear about their amazing survival story.

4. Avoid glass and label your can goods

In rough seas, the galley becomes a battlefield. The pitch and yaw of rough seas and gusty winds can turn a dutch oven into a scud missile. Things like glass jars and wine glasses soon become shrapnel as objects fling themself out of cupboards and smash on bulkheads and cabin floors.

When I was buying my endeavour 42, I hired a delivery captain to fit out the boat and sail it from Tampa Bay to Marathon Florida. As part of his job, he needed to buy living supplies to stay on the boat for three weeks as we brought the boat north to Beaufort, NC.

He bought all sorts of cool things like new pots and pans and a full set of flatware. He also bought a very nice french press coffee pot with a tempered glass cylinder to maximize flavor and keep coffee steaming hot. That coffee pot cost me $50 and lasted barely a mile and half out of port when a wake launched that glass cylinder against the bulkhead. Glass is tough on a sailboat.

That being said, I do love storing dry goods in mason jars afloat. Sure they break often enough, but they are relatively cheap to replace and ensure a watertight seal for your flour, rice, beans, oats and other dry goods that go bad in salty places in plastic bags.

You can protect them in the cupboard with silicone webbing available at most big box stores and online megamarts. But who is really gonna indict Grandma’s go to for preserving peaches when all it costs you a $1 worth of oats when it crashes to the deck.

Another good alternative for heavy weather life aboard ship is can goods. They are battle tested and virtually impermeable, even when stored in dank old dark holds of a sailboat. The drawback with can goods is you have to open them to see what’s inside when the humidity and seawater peel off the labels and melt them into bilge sludge.

Do yourself a favor and label them before you put them in the galley locker. Three days at sea with water seeping into every uncaulked hole can make even the most astute seaside chef scratch their head when they pull an unmarked can from the hold. Is it creamed corn or is it canned peas? Do you want to have to open five different cans of food to find the canned tomatoes you were looking for? Label everything in advance with a good label maker .

5. Head lamps, batteries, and darkness

The first night you find yourself wedging your bags around your body to keep you in the bunk while you try to sleep, you will realize life aboard ship in foul weather is tough. And it becomes even tougher when the darkness sets in and you are trying to preserve night vision so the on duty crew can keep the boat upright while the winds and waves batter them on deck.

Headlamps and good batteries are a must. One hand is always for you and the other is always for the boat so if you have to carry a flashlight to empty your bladder on a pitching boat deck in the middle of the night, you will likely hurt yourself.

By strapping on a headlamp ( preferably one that has a night vision setting - you know the red light that is used on submarines in the movies), you will keep both hands free to move about the cabin and perform on deck functions. You will get so much use out of a headlamp on a boat that you ought to bring back up batteries for it and for any other battery operated things you might have like fans, radios and other items.

A darkened ship is a different world and to be safe at night especially when it is rough weather requires that everyone respect each other's night vision while underway. A good headlamp with lots of back up power will make your life so much better that you’ll want to go sailing sometime soon again, even if you step off the boat after this storm and say” I’m never doing this ever again.”

6. The ditch bag - your secret weapon

All cruisers who go off shore are familiar with the ditch bag. It’s usually a waterproof bag that holds your important papers, credit cards, passport, medication, cell phone and other important stuff you might need if the boat goes down. But you don't have to be on a cross Atlantic blue water adventure hailing a mayday to enjoy the benefits of a ditch bag. When the weather turns foul, a waterproof ditch bag is a great place to put all your important stuff to keep it from getting saturated.

The nice part about a personal ditch bag is you can put anything you want in it. It will be there if the boat goes down, but it will also be safe even if the boat doesn’t go down and it just gets soaked by an improperly dogged down hatch or porthole. There are all kinds of good ditch bags and ways to protect your stuff, but one I really like and I am happy to call my friends is UGO.

It’s a neoprene carrying case for your cell phone and keys, but now they have an even larger tablet version which can hold even more stuff. But what’s so great about a waterproof carrying case for your phone you ask? Well this one floats just in case your vee birth fills with water and all you stuff get saturated in a pile on the deck.

You can rest assured that your wallet, cell phone and keys will float at the top of the pile and stay safe and dry in a UGO dry pouch. To be totally clear, Mel and Vicky are really great friends of mine, but I would advocate for UGO even if I didn’t know them because it’s just such a cool idea. You can check them out at most of the boat shows to see these things in action or head over to their website .undefined

7. Reach out to someone - from the middle of nowhere

Since I'm talking about great ideas and better deals let me also introduce you to the newest deal in Satellite Phones.

For far too long, Sat phones have been the privilege of the well-to-do who were not so well connected. If you wanted to go where the wild things were, you had to give up your connection to civilization or pay $1000 for a sat phone.

Since moving to Utah, I have found out how hard it is to make a call when service is spotty and quite frankly if I had had one of these phones on a few of my deliveries offshore, I wouldn’t have had so many run ins with bad weather- more on that in the next section.

While a brand new sat phone with data will run you upwards of $2000, Amazon has a refurbished sat phone for just $200 and plans for just $90 per month for Global Star and Nexus Wireless. We found this to be quite affordable and provide us with a ton of peace of mind while we are either on a mountain top in Utah or 50 miles off the coast of Florida.

Now I am not saying this phone will allow me to live stream to Facebook from the middle of the Gulf of Mexico, but what it will do is allow me to stay connected with shore, get weather updates and ensure I can reach help if I ever need it.

A Sat Phone should be part of everyone’s heavy weather operational plan and if you have any questions about whether it’s right for sailing in heavy weather or not, I point your attention to SV Delos and their voyage to the Azores last year .

They posted a daily update with conditions and stories to their Facebook page and their huge following 1000 miles from the nearest cell tower and always stayed in touch. Now that there are affordable sat phone solutions and even more affordable plans with Nexus Wireless,  no one should head offshore or into heavy weather without one.

8. Know your weather before it hits you

The biggest thing about heavy weather sailing is the heavy weather. If you can avoid the nasties then why don’t you?

There are lots of tricks to tell where the wind is going to go next, but the best bet for weather prognostication I have found is satellite weather from Sirius XM. It’s not that expensive and you do have to buy some gear for your boat, but once I was hooked up, I got live weather updates laid over my gps screen and live lightning and winds warnings too. It really changed my world and after my experience on a 36 lagoon off the coast of Florida, I will never sail without XM weather ever again.

We were sailing out of Tampa once again on our way to do a delivery to Beaufort. We had been out for a week and the winds were light and variable the whole time. This meant that we had to motor most of the way and that caused us to blow a gasket on our starboard motor just outside Port St. Lucie.

When we put in, and because most of the trip was hot and boring and now a motor was dead, most of my crew decided to fly home and that left me and my buddy Jay to take this boat the rest of the way back to North Carolina, on one motor.

We decided to go at 6pm on a Tuesday.

We sailed through the first night without incident and by the time the sun rose the next morning, the wind had freshened just a bit and we were making a cool 5 knots some twenty miles off Melbourne. By midday we had reached Daytona Beach and off in the distance we could see dark clouds building.

By 3pm, we found ourselves darting between downpours and lightning strikes but it was until we eyed St. Augustine that the roll cloud appeared. With no cell phone and no weather info, we decided to make a bee-line for St. Austine and hoped to make it inside before the roll cloud reached us. We didn’t make it.

I could see the wall of wind rolling towards us from at least 10 miles off. The calm blue green seas turned in foam streaked torrents as the 75 mile an hour breeze streaked towards us. I told Jay to take the helm and I darted up to the mast to drop the main. It came down with a loud thump into the stack pack and then I turned my interests to the roller furled jib.

We had noted that it was incredibly difficult to turn due to a worn out bearing in the base, but failed to fix it while we were in the safety of the Gulf. Now that we were on blue water and all hell was about to break loose I regretted that, as I struggled to furl the jib.

When I got the jib half way in, the wall of wind reached us. The catamaran leaned hard to starboard as the wind hit us broadside and I begged Jay to head the boat to wind. The one motor groaned under the load but begrudgingly turned the bows of the pontoons to wind and allowed the jib to whip violently in the vicious wind. Just then rain began falling like boxes of hand grenades being poured onto a dance floor and echoed through the deck of the limping boat.

The sky seemed to become night within seconds with only the lightning to light our way. In the flashes I could see what was left of the jib whipping the jib sheets into a 18 inch knot. When the wall of wind passed us, a steady 20 knots followed and stirred the Atlantic waters into a washing machine.

For 6 more hours we plodded our way into port and slammed the stricken vessel into the first open slip we could find and walked away. I called my wife when I finally got cell service again and she sounded terrified when she picked up. “MY GOD ARE YOU STILL ALIVE?” I laughed weakly and said “yes, why?”

She then told me that the storm was all over the news and that she had tried to warn me that I was sailing right into it. With no working phone and no early weather warning, I was a sitting duck and so was our boat.

Thankfully we made it to shore, but there but for the grace of God go I. I will never go to sea ever again without satellite weather and a satellite phone.

9. Know your limits

I’m not saying that I was not ready to handle a 36’ lagoon at sea when that roll cloud came through, but I can tell you I was ill prepared. Without the right gear including weather and phones, I should never have tried that. But now I know. And I still get caught by the weather every once and again.

I wish I could say it gets better and that it isn’t as scary the second or third time, but I’d be lying. Anytime you're in bad weather in a boat, a little piece of you should be terrified. If it isn’t then you don't have enough experience to be out there and should have headed home way before the grey clouds roll in.

And that’s it. Know what you know and don’t do things that you don’t know. If you have never sailed in 30 knots of wind, don't start sailing in 50 knots. Read the forecast and sail to your experience level and to the readiness level of your boat.

Lots of people ask, I have a 26’ sailboat, can I sail offshore? You sure as hell can but why would you want to? If you have to ask the question if you should, then assume you should not. Because the fact that you even asked is evidence that you don’t know. So don’t do what you don’t know.

And here’s the big finish!

10. Consider your guests

No one likes to be scared or nervous or feel ill or worst of all be cold and wet. If you boldly go out, your first consideration should always be the comfort of your family and guests. If the weather turns foul, odds are the seas will build, the temps will drop and winds will freshen.

These factors make an otherwise pleasant day on the water, very unpleasant.  And while it may just get your juices flowing to have a boat healed 45 degrees and 35 knots whipping across your deck, there is a very good chance that not everyone would agree with you that that is ideal sailing conditions .

Condescending, domineering skippers often find themselves single handing their boats because no one wants to sail with them. If you get a reputation as a skipper who always finds the heavy breeze and the nasty conditions, you will soon be short of guests to sail with. So always check the weather and plan your trip with a top consideration for your guests.

So that's it, my ten best tips for sailing in heavy weather. I have spent more than my share of time sailing in weather I would rather not have sailed in and I like to think that I am old enough and smart enough to avoid the nasties whenever I can. I wish I could.

Mother Nature is a fickle old girl and can turn on a dime. Prep yourself and your boat for the nasties well in advance and never leave the dock without the assumption that bad weather could and will hit. If you get back to shore afterwards and all was fine then you lucked out. But don't ever rely on luck to keep you safe in a sailboat.

Thanks for reading, and remember to do good, have fun and sail far.

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Capt Chris German

Capt Chris German is a life long sailor and licensed captain who has taught thousands to sail over the last 20 years. In 2007, he founded a US Sailing-based community sailing school in Bridgeport, CT for inner city youth and families. When Hurricane Sandy forced him to abandon those efforts, he moved to North Carolina where he set out to share this love for broadcasting and sailing with a growing web-based television audience through The Charted Life Television Network.

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Heavy Weather Tactics

Scores of books have been written about heavy weather sailing, but few of them address the particulars of multihulls and their individual considerations. Monohulls have more commonalities as a group, therefore there are more general guidelines. Storm tactics for multihulls will depend more on the capabilities of crew and vessel than any other factors.

Barreling along at 18 knots in strong winds can be thrilling and is a highlight of multihull sailing. Making no seamanship errors will be as important as the simplest rules of keeping all lines neatly organized and kink free. Often tangled lines have gotten sailors into more trouble than anything else. Keeping a neat cockpit and thinking ahead are the cheapest insurances against mishaps.

In heavy weather the boat should be set up with appropriate safety lines and attaching yourself to them must be mandatory, even if one only ventures briefly into the cockpit. All crew should wear full gear and always have their life jackets at the ready. Each member should have a strobe, knife and whistle permanently attached and there always should be a big knife with a serrated edge mounted in the cockpit to quickly cut a jammed line, if necessary. Basic safety drills, location of life saving equipment, rafts and throw-able MOB devices must be known to each crewmember. Everyone on board must understand the crucial function of EPIRBs, VHFs, firefighting equipment, as well as engine operation and bilge-pump system. It is all really common sense.

If in the highly unlikely event that you capsize, stay with the boat at all costs. Rig one life raft or dinghy to the underside of the bridge deck, fly a kite and wait for help. Never, ever separate from the mother ship as your chances of being spotted will be close to zero in a raft. Staying warm, hydrated, and clear headed will be as important as keeping crew morale up. Salvage as much food and water as you can and secure them, as waves in the interior will wash them out any opening. It has been suggested to await help in the upturned vessel, but unless it is a perfect calm, it will be impossible. Wave surges in the cabins will be violent and there will be leaking battery acid, foul smells and floating objects that will force you onto the upturned platform of the bridge deck.

Storm strategies will depend on the sea state. The shorter and higher the wave faces, the more critical correct seamanship will be. It is my opinion that the use of sea anchors should be carefully weighed and avoided if one can actively deal with the conditions. In theory, they work well if conditions do not change. The crew can rest and the multihull will make nominal drift downwind, provided there is minimal searoom. But the sea is a chaotic environment and waves do not always remain in one and the same pattern, direction, and period. The forces and loads on the boat when tied to a parachute type device can be huge.

True and Apparent Wave Height

Imagine your boat hanging off a sea anchor and suddenly a wave from a different direction slams into the boat from the side. As the boat is not moving, actually drifting slightly backwards, it will not have any possibility to handle this odd rogue wave. The catamaran might be overwhelmed and rotate around its longitudinal axis and flip. Most cruising catamarans that have capsized were constricted by sea anchors. In one well-documented incident, the parachute's lines caught under the rudders and turned the boat.

A sea anchor might lull you into a false sense of security and your vigilance will be reduced. Being caught with your guard down is the most dangerous situation, and I feel it is better to actively deal with storm conditions, rather than letting the boat drift off a sea anchor. Besides, retrieval and deployment are risky, and if not done properly the first time, they can subject crew and boat to more risks.

This is not to say that a parachute anchor does not work. On the contrary, many multihulls have ridden out hurricanes with these devices. Personally, I would want to position the boat to sail with the seas if there is sea room. The vessel's speed should be adjusted to the wave period and therefore would reduce the relative impact of waves. If one's cat sails too fast, even without sails up, a drogue or warps could be dragged behind the boat. Streaming warps off a stern bridle will also be helpful if the boat has lost steerage. It will keep the bows pointing downwind. Ideally, seas should be taken off the rear quarter in order to present the longest diagonal axis to them. This will be the most stable attitude, and a good multihull will be able to handle the most severe conditions. A well-working autopilot, an alert crew, and a strong boat will get you through anything. Concentration will deteriorate as the conditions worsen and any mistake will be very difficult to rectify. Your margin for error will be minimal and advance thinking and anticipation will be key. Approaching a safe harbor during heavy weather can be nerve-wracking and should be carefully weighed with the risk of running aground and encountering much rougher than usual inlets. Often standing off will take discipline but be safer.

Again it should be mentioned that everyone manages differently with storm conditions and there is not necessarily only one right or wrong way to do it. Making the vessel's speed work for you and being able to

Wave heights make great subjects for sea tales, but the altitude of seas are often overestimated. Especially on smaller vessels, when the horizon is hidden, one feels that the seas are steeper than they actually are. The apparent gravitational pull makes one think that the boat is sailing parallel on the horizontal plane. Usually however, the boat is already ascending the next wave, leading to estimation errors as high as 50% in judging wave heights.

Safely slowing the multihull is accomplished by streaming warps or trailing a special drogue. A large bridle is either fastened to the windward hull or to the sterns.

Streaming Warps or a Drogue to Slow Down

Streaming Warps or a Drogue to Slow Down outrun a system will reduce your exposure time. Drifting slowly downwind tied to a sea anchor will expose you to bad weather longer. The advantage of a fast catamaran should be used to get you out of trouble, or even better, by using today's advanced meteorological forecasts, you might be able to avoid it entirely. Yet, once you are in storm conditions, slowing down the boat to retain full control will be challenging.

If there is no sea room, or one is forced to claw upwind, reducing speed to minimize wave impact is imperative to the comfort of the crew and safety of the boat. Finding the right groove between stalling and too much speed is important. You do not want to be caught by a wave slamming into you, bringing you to a halt. This could end up in a lack of steerage and, in the worst case, you could be flipped backwards. Always keep on sailing at a manageable speed and if your boat has daggerboards, both boards should be down one third only. Head closer to the wind towards the top of the wave, and fall off as the boat sails down the slope. This will aid in keeping the sails drawing and boat speed in check. Structural shocks upwind in very strong winds can be very tough, so find the right speed. Reducing your main to 3 or even 4 reefs and furling your headsail for balance will drive you to weather. We all know that this will not be comfortable, but if there is no choice other than to windward, one will manage until conditions have abated. Flatten sails as much as you can to depower the boat. If you need to tack, plan ahead, do it decisively, and with plenty of momentum. You do not want to be caught in irons while drifting backwards. Loads on the rudders with the boat going in reverse can damage the steering, leaving you crippled.

Running off at a controllable speed is the safest way to handle a storm. If you are deep reaching or sailing downwind with the storm, retract both boards if your boat has daggerboards. In the event that the catamaran is skittish and hard to steer, lower one foot of daggerboard on both sides. Long, well balanced, high-aspect-ratio hulls, especially ones equipped with skegs far aft, will track well, even without boards. A tiny amount of jib sheeted hard amidships might be all that is needed to point the boat downwind. Reduce the boat to a speed where you are just a fraction slower than the waves.

Keep in mind that the term "slow" is relative as this could still mean that you are traveling at well over 15 knots!

Sailing with the beam to the storm and seas should be avoided at any cost. If, because of say navigational issues, one has no choice, both daggerboards must be lifted to assure sideways slippage.

Heaving-to is a tactic which lets the boat sail controlled, almost stationary, and should be used only if one has no more alternatives.

This could be caused by crew exhaustion or mechanical issues with the boat. When heaving-to, the helm is locked to windward, a tiny scrap of jib sheeted to weather, and/or a heavily reefed mainsail can be set. The traveler should be let off to leeward and, theoretically, the multihull will steadily work herself to windward. At 40 degrees, she will either be stationary or slightly fore-reach. This does not work on all multihulls and different mainsail and jib combinations should be tested. Also letting the main or jib luff slightly will take speed off the boat, if

far right Boarding via the transom platform, any guest will easily find his/her way to the spacious cockpit by walking down wide, teak-covered steps. Notice the lack of any sail controls or helm station - they are all located out of the way, on the flybridge above.

so desired. Catamarans with daggerboards should only have very little windward board down to avoid tripping.

Similar to "heaving-to" lying-a-hull differs from boat to boat. In this attitude the boat will carry no sails at all and fend for herself. In case of daggerboards, retract them. Most boats will take the seas on their beams (not my favorite) and let the waves pass under them by surfing sideways. Just as trying to avoid the use of sea anchors, this tactic should only be reverted to if one has exhausted every other possibility.

There are a few generalities that will help you learn about heavy weather sailing tactics. Fine-tuning the sails will help depower the boat. As the wind increases, move the mainsail sheeting point to leeward. This is one of the best features of multihull sailing. Multihulls have wide travelers and an extensive sheeting base which allows for more choices for sail trim than narrow boats. Ease off the traveler to move the main to leeward and use a strong outside rail attachment point, such as a cleat or toe rail track to move the jib to leeward. As the wind strengthens, reduce camber and flatten the sails. Double up preventers and reef lines to create backups and divide the loads. In the end, knowing when to reef and how to control your cat is the most important skill to develop to prepare for heavy weather sailing. Practicing maneuvers in strong conditions will raise your level of confidence and prepare you for the worst Mother Nature might have in store for us.

Heaving-to is an important "parking" technique that should be practiced by every catamaran owner. One tacks from a close-hauled position and either luffs the mainsail or furls it completely. Once on the other tack, the jib is left on the "wrong" side and the helm is turned hard to windward. Every multihull will behave differently, and one has to experiment how hard the headsail must be sheeted in or how far the rudders must be turned. Keel catamarans will behave slightly differently than daggerboard cats. The headsail will keep the bows turned away from the seas, while the rudders will prevent the boat from presenting her beams to the waves. In the heave-to attitude, the catamaran will fore-reach and slightly drift to leeward.

Continue reading here: Atlantic

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Readers' Questions

What size waves can a caramaran handle?

The size of waves that a catamaran can handle depends on various factors, including the design and build quality of the specific catamaran, the experience and skill of the captain and crew, and the conditions of the sea and weather. In general, catamarans are known for their stability and ability to handle moderate to large waves. Some larger, more robust catamarans are designed for offshore sailing and can handle rough open ocean conditions, including large waves of several meters in height. However, smaller or lighter catamarans may be more suitable for calmer or sheltered waters and may have limitations in handling very large waves. It is important to consult the manufacturer's recommendations and consider the specific characteristics of a catamaran before taking it into rough seas. Additionally, it is essential to have proper training and experience to safely handle a catamaran in challenging wave conditions.

Are catamarans good in rough water?

Yes, catamarans are generally considered to be good in rough water. The design of a catamaran with two hulls provides better stability and maneuverability compared to a monohull. The wide beam and low center of gravity of a catamaran make it less prone to capsizing in rough conditions. Additionally, the dual hulls help reduce the wave impact, making catamarans more comfortable in rough seas. However, it's important to note that extreme weather conditions can still pose challenges for any type of boat, including catamarans.

How to sail in a storm?

Secure all loose items in and around the cockpit. Reef main sail if possible. Lower the jib, or furl it tightly if possible. If a storm jib is aboard, hoist it. If single handed, rig a preventer to hold the boom in place if a sudden gust should cause an accidental jibe. Double up all sail sheets, halyards, and control lines. Reduce windage by dropping the mainsail traveler and vang. Keep an eye out for squalls. Wear your life jacket and a wet suit or dry suit if the weather is cold enough. Trim the helm to keep the bow into the waves. Try to maintain a consistent speed and course to avoid broaching. Monitor the boat, keeping it free of water and heeling as little as possible. Be prepared to take evasive action, such as dousing the sails, heaving to, or running off.

Can catamarans handle rough seas?

Yes, catamarans can handle rough seas. They are designed with a shallow draft and wide beam that make them more stable, allowing them to handle the waves better than a traditional monohull boat. Additionally, modern catamarans have been designed to be more resistant to adverse weather conditions, which helps them perform better in rough seas.

Are catamarans safe in heavy weather?

It depends on the type of catamaran, its size and design, but generally catamarans are considered to be very safe in heavy weather. They have a wide beam, low center of gravity and are relatively stable in rough seas. A good quality catamaran will have also good deck drainage and self-draining cockpits, adding to their safety in bad weather.

How well are catamarans in heavy waves?

Catamarans usually have good stability in heavy waves, as their wide, shallow hulls help to provide good lift and reduce rolling. However, the size and weight of a catamaran will determine how well it handles in heavier waves, with larger catamarans generally being more stable in larger waves. It is also important to note that catamarans may not perform as well as monohulls in heavy waves as they often have less grip in the water due to their shallow draft. Therefore, it is important to consider the size and weight of the catamaran when planning to take it out in heavier seas.

How to park a catamaran heavy weather?

Ensure that the sea state is suitable for anchoring and that the area is suitable for your catamaran. Set the anchor and let out chain or rope depending on the type of anchor you are using. Monitor the anchor and the mooring lines for any signs of distress. If possible, secure more anchors or mooring buoys to the sea floor away from the catamaran to increase the overall stability and security. Use fenders to protect your catamaran from the sea swell. Make sure that the crew is off deck and has safety lines in place if they are on deck. Aim to park the catamaran in a sheltered area and away from the prevailing winds. Check regularly to make sure the anchor stays in place and that the mooring lines and fenders remain secure.

Why catamaran rotate beam on wave?

Catamarans rotate their beam on waves in order to remain stable and reduce drag. When a catamaran is moving through the water, its hulls can act like wings, causing the boat to tip sideways. By rotating the beam, the catamaran can counter the sideways motion, allowing it to remain relatively level and cut through the water more effectively. Rotating the beam also helps to reduce drag, helping the catamaran to move faster and more efficiently.

Yachting Monthly

• Digital edition

Heavy weather sailing: preparing for extreme conditions

• Katy Stickland
• September 30, 2020

Alastair Buchan and other expert ocean cruisers explain how best to prepare when you’ve been ‘caught out’ and end up heavy weather sailing

Sometimes you simply can't avoid bad weather. When that happens, you're going to have to understand how to set up for heavy weather sailing Credit: Alamy

Heavy weather sailing

Prolonged heavy weather at sea generates fear and uncertainty, saps morale and leads to poor decision making.

But it doesn’t need to.

As Roger Taylor , a highly regarded ocean sailor and author, points out, this is when preparing the boat properly and having a clear, well thought-out strategy allows you to see the storm not as an ordeal demanding superhuman strength, skill and endurance, but as just a different type of weather.

Well-found and strongly-crewed yachts survive most weather unscathed.

Are we likely to find ourselves at sea in a storm?

Probably not. Accurate forecasts are readily available these days so there’s less likelihood of finding yourself out of reach of land with bad weather closing in, but still it happens.

Perhaps it’s the temptation to sail on a marginal forecast to make sure you’re home for work on Monday.

Maybe on longer passages, crossing the North Sea or the Bay of Biscay, after three or four days at sea the latest weather forecast can warn of storms undreamt of when you sailed.

It could be that the forecast is just plain wrong. More likely still, a combination of the above.

It’s not always a good idea to run for shelter as onshore gales can shut every harbour within reach – the Portuguese coast is a good example.

On the Dutch, German and Danish North Sea coasts, the ten-metre contour is around five miles offshore – a surfer’s paradise.

The Scheldt, Ems and Elbe estuaries are dangerous and the Seegats between the islands impassable.

My 1975 edition of the DHI’s Nordsee-Handbuch warns that in stormy weather small ships should not enter or leave the Elbe as they will suffer Strandung und Totalverlust or ‘stranding and total loss’.

We spoke to several shorthanded or solo offshore sailors with experience of weathering storms in waters most of us avoid.

Their advice is hard-won and extremely valuable, but those of us who sail in home waters may not have the same priorities.

In the middle of the Atlantic, losing 100 miles of sea room is inconvenient but unimportant.

In the Channel or the North Sea, it could be disastrous.

This lack of time and space means that, if we are to cope comfortably, our preparation must be better, and execution smoother.

We’ve broken the advice down into four sections; three for those who find themselves in heavy weather, and the fourth looks at modifications our experts have made to their boats.

Continues below…

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Our expert panel of seasoned heavy weather sailors

Alastair Buchan

During two Atlantic circuits, Alastair Buchan weathered an eleven-day gale with winds rarely below 45 knots, a three-day Gulf Stream storm and played dodgeball with 135-knot Hurricane Lenny

Jeanne Socrates

The oldest woman to sail solo and non-stop around the world, on her third attempt, aboard her Najad 380, Nereida . Jeanne has survived knockdowns, rig failures and worse

Bob Shepton

An ex-Royal Marine who has sailed thousands of miles in Arctic and Antarctic waters, and sailed through the Northwest Passage in both directions in his 33ft Westerly Discus, Dodo’s Delight.

Roger Taylor

A solo sailor and author with a passion for high-latitude ocean voyaging, most famously aboard his 20ft junk-rigged Corribee Mingming and now in Mingming II , a junk-rigged Achilles 24

Ewen Southby-Tailyour

An ex-Royal Marine and ocean sailing legend, whose exploits in his gaff cutter Black Velvet have won awards for adventurous voyaging from the Royal Cruising Club and the Ocean Cruising Club.

Plan and prepare for heavy weather sailing

Plan ahead. All your preparation should be done before you slip your lines

The message from our experts was clear: prepare well in advance.

Is there any equipment you need, from an EPIRB to an emergency VHF antenna?

Is there anything your boat needs, like stout lee cloths or a bolt lock on the chart table?

A storm jib sets much better on a removable inner stay, can you fit one to your boat?

Do you or your crew need additional training, such as sea survival?

What would you do if the plotter went down?

Does your passage plan identify all dangers such as shipping lanes, headlands with the overfalls, shallow banks with breaking seas, rocks and reefs?

Do you know your position in relation to each hazard?

How strong are the tides, and is it wind against tide?

The sea state in the Bristol Channel can approach that of a full gale in a mere Force 5.

Look for boltholes. On the west coast of Scotland you may find shelter deep in a sea loch.

Once, when fishing boats filled every free space in Mallaig, we hid deep in Loch Nevis.

We spent a few tranquil days while outside the weather went berserk.

The pilot books’ local knowledge is invaluable.

Stay weather aware

Each forecast states how fast a system is moving, and the barometer’s rate of drop gives you an idea how hard you’ll be hit

There is no excuse for not having the latest forecast, and the sooner you know heavy weather sailing is coming, the longer you have to prepare for it.

Forecasts often give the rate of movement of a pressure system.

Knowing this in knots can help you calculate how long you have before it hits.

The humble barometer can tell you a lot about future conditions

It’s important we don’t lose our own forecasting skills either.

Watch the clouds, because cyclonic systems follow a predictable sequence with each step having its own cloud formation, windshifts and weather.

Check the rate of change in air pressure.

For years I logged barometer readings every hour with an arrow to tell me at a glance if the pressure was rising or falling.

The rate of change in a falling barometer gives a good indication of wind strength to come.

On deck preparation

heck the liferaft is secure and its painter attached. Check taffrail safety kit

Check everything above deck is ready for the worst before the seas and winds build up.

Jeanne Scorates speaks for all our experts when she advises that ‘there should be nothing on deck to worry about, except a well-strapped down dinghy and liferaft stowed somewhere that’s accessible in any kind of emergency’.

Many believe that is the transom or pushpit. Dinghies on davits are a problem in big seas.

If possible, they are best removed for offshore passages, or lashed down on the foredeck.

If you are towing an inflatable dinghy, bring it aboard, deflate it and stow it securely.

Rig extra lifelines on deck and reduce windage where practical.

Stow securely or lash down all loose ropes, warps and halyards.

Secure the anchor and the chain locker lid, it will escape given a chance

Reduce sail well ahead of the storm.

If you are using storm sails hoist them early while working on deck is safe and easy.

‘In strong conditions, I regularly furl the genoa away and sail under reefed staysail and deep-reefed main,’ says Jeanne.

If you plan to stream warps or set a sea anchor make sure everything for this is on deck, secure and ready for deployment.

Rig jackstays as soon as you know the weather’s going to cut up rough

It’s advisable to disable the wind generator early as it can overheat, and consider heaving-to with storm sails rather than using furling headsails.

These don’t set properly and may unfurl if the clutch gives or the line snaps.

If a furler is your only option, consider lashing the furler or the tack to the pulpit so it can’t unfurl.

Identify anchor points you can tether to so you stay on the boat

On deck checklist

• Lifejacket and harness on
• Rig jackstays
• Clear deck of anything not well secured
• Blank all dorade vents, drop sprayhood, remove dodgers
• Reef deep and early
• Check all rig fittings are secure
• Lash down anchor, or remove and lash below, and secure anchor locker lid
• Make sure cockpit drains are working
• Check cockpit manual bilge pump is working
• Check liferaft lashings and taffrail safety kit are secure and operational
• Prepare any drag devices, sea anchor, drogue, warps etc
• Check cockpit lockers to make sure heavy items are secure, then lock lids

Ewen Southby-Tailyour’s storm briefing

Share your plans with the crew. Make sure everyone knows what’s expected, and what’s expected of them

Once you have decided on your best course of action, Ewen Southby-Tailyour advises: ‘Brief your crew, making sure you cover all eventualities from man overboard to a knockdown or even an inversion, from losing a mast or spar, to serious leaks and fire.

This gives everyone the same picture and it’s an opportunity for crew to seek clarification, ask questions and make suggestions.

The briefing should cover:

• The present weather
• Likely future weather
• Your strategy for dealing with the weather to come
• Revised watchkeeping system including use of AIS and radar
• Allocation of responsibilities, tasks and the timings for carrying them out
• Safety procedures
• Damage control measures
• Communications (ship to ship and ship to shore), including Mayday calls

Below deck preparation

Check every one of your hatches is closed and locked

Make sure that everything below decks gets stowed and stays that way.

Paper or clothing can find its way into the bilges and block the strum box (bilge pump strainer).

‘I suffered a knockdown off Cape Horn,’ says Jeanne Socrates.

‘Heavy books flew across the cabin and the chart table opened, throwing its valuable and sharp contents everywhere.’

Make a grab bag of everything you’ll need if you abandon – and keep it accessible

In the 1998 Sydney Hobart Race, 51 per cent of injuries reported were broken or cracked ribs.

Roger Taylor himself says: ‘I broke ribs during an inversion in the Davis Strait, between Canada and Greenland.’

Ewen Southby-Tailyour advises rigging lifelines below as well as above decks.

Fitting the strong points for this might be part of your pre-sail refit.

Make sure all your seacocks, barring the engine raw water intake and cockpit drains, are closed

If you can, contact someone and let them know your position and plans.

Mark your position on a chart, bring and keep the log up to date and check the barometer regularly.

Is warm clothing in a waterproof bag handy?

Where are the distress flares, or the rigging cutters?

Check the EPIRB and make sure everyone knows how to use it.

Check everyone is properly kitted-up, warm and waterproof.

Clear the strum box and pump out the bilge so any new water ingress shows up

Make sure everyone eats a hot meal.

If you have time, prepare a big, thick stew in a pressure cooker as hot food is an important morale booster, but make sure the lid is locked and the cooker stowed securely.

Have hot drinks in unbreakable flasks and plenty of snacks to hand.

Below deck checklist

• Take anti-seasickness measures that work for you
• Make a meal or flask of soup, fill pockets with snack packs and put bottles of water in secure places on deck
• Close and lock all hatches
• Clear everything from surfaces and lock all lockers
• Close all seacocks
• Empty bilge and check strum box is clear
• Charge handheld VHF and run engine to charge house batteries for auto bilge pump operation
• Prepare grab bag and move to readily accessible position

Strategic preparation

There are certain to be a few more knots under this squall, best reef now

Ewen Southby-Tailyour recommends a flexible watch system with shorter hours: ‘Self-steering systems can’t ‘see’ sea state, which often means helming by hand throughout.

‘This is tiring, especially at night, and a tired helmsman in a storm is dangerous. Regular breaks are needed.’

Make sure your plan considers your boat, crew, experience and sea room.

Be ready to modify the plan as circumstances change.

You will probably start by heaving-to or sailing under storm canvas.

If the windspeed increases some other tactic such as deploying a sea anchor may be more appropriate.

Most of us meet bad weather without venturing beyond the continental shelf, so our seas are likely to be short and steep.

Upwind progress is slow or non-existent, even if motor-sailing.

Mid-ocean wavelengths will be longer but watch out for cross seas that can throw your boat sideways.

Squalls can easily double windspeed briefly but the torrential rain they often bring can flatten the seas.

Remember too that, when there is a choice of directions to sail, in the northern hemisphere, steering south helps shorten the onslaught.

Heavy weather tactics

The one golden rule is to avoid breaking waves.

A crest the height of your beam or higher can capsize you.

Smaller ones can fill the cockpit or smash hatches.

Consider tides or currents too, as wind over tide will kick up a steeper sea.

There is no one technique guaranteed to keep you safe so you must choose the best option for the current situation.

We can’t deal with this subject in detail here, but we will look briefly at some coping strategies.

Sail upwind

The 1998 Sydney-Hobart Race report concluded: ‘Yachts that continued to ‘actively sail’ and had sufficient speed and power to negotiate the waves and avoid the breaking crests, generally fared better.’

Three-quarters of the skippers said their boats handled the conditions best when beating, fetching or reaching.

It requires skill, it’s tiring because it demands the helm’s total concentration, it’s frustrating because you will fall off some of the waves with a bang that could pop a bulkhead, and the motion is dangerously uncomfortable.

For shorthanded cruisers , it’s an option if you’re on a lee shore but best avoided otherwise.

Sail downwind

Running almost dead downwind has worked on many occasions – but you need the sea room

The best angle to take the wave is 15 degrees, as this allows the helm to surf away from breaking crests and avoid pitchpoling.

You need steerage way to position the boat so keep a scrap of headsail up unless you can make enough way under bare poles.

It also demands lots of sea room and your course may take you deeper into the storm or into shipping lanes.

It’s more comfortable and very exhilarating, but tiring because of the concentration involved, so is ill-suited to shorthanded cruising.

Bob Shepton has found that it’s nearly always necessary to heave to at some point while on passage in the North Atlantic

We covered this in our August 2014 issue and found that the longer the keel, the better she will heave to.

Gaff-rigged pilot cutters heave to immaculately, but most fin-keel boats heave to poorly in a big sea because there’s nothing below the bow to prevent wind and waves pushing her beam on.

Jeanne Socrates says, ‘My Najad 380’s long fin-keel hove to well under deep-reefed main alone in 30-40 knots winds.’

It’s an excellent tactic but try it beforehand to find the balance of sails and helm position.

This involves nothing more than dropping all sail and lashing the helm in such a position that the bow is kept to windward of the beam, then going below and dropping in the washboards.

It can work well provided there are no breaking crests.

Deploy a drag device

A drogue, deployed off the stern limits speed to 3-6 knots, preventing surfing down waves while allowing the boat to steer away from breaking crests

When running off or lying a’hull are too dangerous, you can deploy long warps or a drogue off the stern.

This slows the boat down to 3-6 knots, so you can still steer to avoid breaking crests, without surfing down waves.

Roger Taylor has deployed his Jordan series drogue twice. ‘It immediately defused any threat, keeping the yacht riding easily and elastically, stern-on with little yaw.’

A sea anchor, deployed off the bow, limits drift to under 1 knot – important if sea room is an issue. It needs to be big otherwise the boat will surf backwards down waves and damage her rudder.

The rode needs to be long enough for the sea anchor to be one wavelength away, so if the boat is at a crest, so is the sea anchor. Otherwise the rode will suffer snatch-loading.

Once it’s passed

As the winds begin to drop, Jeanne Socrates recommends establishing where you are first. Note her nav seat lee cloth

Once the weather begins to ease Jeanne Socrates warns not to relax.

Check your position, wind, tides and update your passage plan.

‘This is when you should inform your shore contact of your current position and future intentions, that you’re safe,’ says Ewen Southby-Tailyour.

Once it’s past, first find out where you are, then check the boat from truck to keel

Next, check all hull fittings, hatches, standing and running rigging, the bilges and bilge pumps.

Check the engine, electrics, battery and fuel state.

Clear up the mess on deck, aloft and below that comes with bad weather.

Dry wet clothing and kit.

Return to normal watch-keeping routines, get proper rest and have a hot meal.

Discuss events with the crew. What worked? What didn’t? What will you do differently next time?

Prepare for heavy weather

Practice heaving to. Find out how much foresail she needs and which rudder angle

How does your boat heave to? Do you have suitable warps for streaming astern, or for a drogue system?

Have you practised deploying and recovering them?

It is not easy even in a flat calm. How long does it take you to bend on storm canvas?

What sail plan is best for your boat?

Ewen Southby-Tailyour recommends: ‘Practice when the going is easy. In a blow, it can be the difference between success and failure.’

Can you use a storm sail as a sea anchor? Is the moment you need it most the right time to find out you can’t?

Do you have a sea anchor?

Caught in a southerly Force 11 off the south coast of Iceland, Ewen tried making one out of a storm jib but conditions were so bad, he was unable to get the three rigging lines to the correct length.

Once it was deployed, he discovered that he was dragging a collapsed sail at two knots with sea room fast decreasing.

Try using a drogue or towing warps. How much do they slow you down?

There is no substitute for a proper sea anchor.

They can cut drift to less than half a knot.

Clean your fuel

Rough weather stirs up tank sludge and can block fuel filters. Keep your tank and fuel clean

In foul weather, many of us rely on the engine to go upwind.

Dirty fuel stops engines so, as Ewen stresses, clean fuel is vital.

Ideally have the tanks emptied, cleaned and filled with new, clean fuel at the start of each season.

Failing that, make sure that all fuel going in your tanks is filtered and treated and have spare fuel filters and the tools to fit them to hand.

Offshore modifications

The message from our experts was that their storm preparations begin well before leaving port, with boat modifications.

Storm sails

Bob Shepton has a dedicated trysail track, so it’s ready to go when needed

Bob Shepton’s 33ft Westerly Dodo’s Delight has a furling genoa, but he added a furling staysail, perfect for storms and heaving to.

To avoid unbending the main then bending on the trysail in less-than-ideal conditions, he fitted a separate trysail track so it’s always bagged up and ready to go.

All Bob needs to do is douse the main, attach halyard and sheet and his trysail is as good as set.

The sheet runs through a block on the boom end, so he can trim both clew and boom

Traditionally, trysails are loose footed with the clew led to a cleat aft.

Bob found this fine for heaving to, but it lacked drive when he wanted to claw to windward so he devised a system that lets him flatten the trysail, and ease the sail in gusts.

He runs the sheet through a block on the boom end, then runs it forward to a purchase at the mast, which also doubles as the pole downhaul.

The sheet is adjusted using a purchase at the mast

Hull integrity

The sole is fixed and the coachroof ports reduced in size to make them less vulnerable to stoving in

Roger Taylor conceived Mingming and Mingming II for extended sea-keeping in Arctic latitudes and does much of his storm preparation at the design and build stage.

His first priority is a totally watertight yacht.

‘I replaced the sliding hatches and washboards with proper hatches and solid timber and all ports are reduced in size,’ he says.

‘The hull has ben made unsinkable with large foam-filled compartments behind watertight bulkheads fore and aft.’

The companionway is replaced with a watertight hatch from which Roger can control the boat

Ewen Southby-Tailyour recommends heavy ‘blanks’ to protect windows.

Can you strengthen hatches and skylights?

Could your washboards survive a wave coming up astern and smashing into them?

Can the companionway hatch be locked and unlocked from both sides?

If it has washboards, is there a lanyard to prevent the washboards sliding out and floating away if inverted?

Can the lanyard be released from both the cockpit and the cabin?

Secure below

With the Crash Test Boat inverted, the chart table empties, sole panels crash around and only the gas pipe stops the stove from breaking loose

Is everything secured against inversion, from sole to salad bowl?

Anything can become a missile during a knockdown.

Read YM’s Crash Test Boat report on capsize for ideas (or buy the Crash Test iPad app for £1.49).

Bob Shepton lashes himself into his berth to stop himself falling across the cabin during an inversion

It is important that everyone stays warm and rested.

The best rest is found in bed and the best chance of staying there is to fit leecloths or leeboards.

Bob Shepton goes one further: ‘I have a ‘seatbelt’ to keep me in my berth in the event of a knockdown.’

Ewen Southby-Tailyour suggests that ‘you should have at least one manual bilge pump in the cockpit and another below, both of which can be operated with all hatches and lockers shut.’

Every pump should have its own strum box to prevent it clogging.

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Heavy weather sailing techniques

If you think you need to reef, you should have already reefed. reef early and reef often..

By Marcin Wojtyczka

Heavy weather sailing preparation and tactics.

With modern forecasting, a true storm will rarely arrive unannounced, but as you venture further offshore the chances of being caught out increase.

Heavy or bad weather is a situation in which navigation for both the boat and its crew is hard. However, there is no strict definition of which conditions heavy weather occurs. It depends on the wind and wave conditions, sailing area (coast upwind, leeward), type of boat and people on board. As an example, heavy weather for small boats could start already at force 6 or 7, for larger boats this might be 8 or 9.

Many sailors fear storms as the greatest danger on the water, even though more emergencies and fatalities occur during times of relative calm . Nonetheless, strong winds and high waves can wreak havoc on a sailboat and any sailor should know how to stay safe in heavy weather.

How to avoid heavy weather

In today’s world of satellite communication and more accurate weather forecasts, it is certainly easier to avoid heavy weather than before. Sailing up a sea storm is very hard, sometimes impossible. That is why it is important to plan, execute and monitor passages properly , with a good weather forecast in your hands and an alternative strategy in your mind.

You should generally stay in the harbour if bad weather is predicted. But once you are out on the sea, far from a harbour, and the forecast predicts a deep low in your vicinity, you might not have enough time to avoid the system. You can attempt to escape as far away from the low as possible, and ensure that you are some distance away from any shelving seabed which could increase the likelihood of breaking waves . Breaking seas present a risk to all yachts no matter how good their stability rating is. This is due to the rotational power of the waves. This also applies to a following sea with breaking waves. In this case, the yacht can be flipped over end to end (pitchpoled).

Other than that, you should plan passages to avoid unfavourable seasons, e.g. hurricane season that can create Tropical Revolving Storms (TRS) that must be avoided at all costs (North Atlantic and North Pacific: July - November; Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea: June - November; South Pacific and South Indian Ocean: November - April).

Do not head out to sea if bad weather is predicted.

How to prepare for heavy weather

You should prepare the boat and the crew before the bad weather hits.

Assess your situation and make a plan for how you want to ride the storm. Can you afford to run 200 NM downwind? Are you on a lee shore? Are there any shallows? Will this area be prone to breaking waves? Two classic storm strategies are to try to keep away from land, so you are not blown up on shore, and to sail away from the storm’s path - especially its dangerous semicircle . If you are near a lee shore or shallows, you need to get away from it as fast as possible and work out a tactic that will keep you off until the sea state has calmed down. You should also try to get away from a high concentration of traffic and shipping lanes.

Once you are caught by the heavy weather you should try to minimize your exposure to potential breaking wave conditions by exercising prudent routing and sailing efficiently to minimize time at sea. If you are caught in breaking waves, you should minimize the chance of being caught beam-on (you need to orient the boat bow into the waves or stern to the waves).

Ports of refuge

Check if there is a suitable port which you can pull into to escape or avoid heavy weather conditions. In most situations, making landfall in strong offshore winds (blowing toward shore) should be avoided as it might put you and the yacht at risk. But a large, sheltered harbour might be approachable before it gets too bad.

Brief the crew

Inform the crew that harder conditions are expected but do not frighten anyone. Adjust the watch rota if needed. The crew should take seasickness tables, prepare warm clothes and stow their gear.

Clear everything on and below deck

Take everything below (including the dinghy) and stow it well. Make sure all running rigging is well stowed, so no lines are going to go overboard and foul the propeller. Make sure that all furling sails cannot unfurl by themselves (wrap sheets around the sail 3 or 4 times, cleat off the furling line, and secure the drum, so the sail cannot come unwrapped). Remove the bimini and deflate the dinghy. Ensure that all hatches and lockers are closed. Put away extra clothing, books and so on. Put away all dishes, pots, pans and so on. Leave nothing on the gimballed stove. Make sure all knives are in an enclosed drawer. Leave the stove gimballed, but if it can swing far enough to hit the safety bar in front of it, wrap the bar with a towel to protect the glass in the oven door.

Rest well, cook and eat a decent meal

Make sure that everyone is well rested, fed and watered and that you have some food prepared for the expected duration of the heavy weather (e.g. sandwiches, tea in a thermos). This is critical to prevent fatigue (especially if the crew is shorthanded) and be able to steer the boat relative to the waves throughout the storm.

Charge the batteries

You should have batteries charged in case you have to start the engine or use water pumps.

Double-check all safety gear

Ensure that the safety equipment is ready (EPIRB, PLB, PFDS and harness, VHF, Grab Bag , first aid kit etc.). This should generally be already checked as part of the passage prep, but it will not harm double-checking.

Reduce sails early and hoist storm sails (if you have one) whilst you still can, and certainly before dark. The force on a sail varies directly with air density and the square of the wind speed. Cold air is denser than warm air and so creates a greater force (could be up to 30% or so). It’s important to appreciate that wind force does not increase in direct proportion to the wind speed, but rather in proportion to the square of the wind speed. A 40kt wind has 4 times the force of a 20kt wind (since 40 40 is 4 times larger than 20 20). Therefore, it does not push on the boat 2 times harder; it pushes 4 times harder.

Prepare storm devices and hank on storm sails

Be ready to fly the storm sails. Put warps, drogue, sea anchor, chafe gear, or other devices for storm tactics on the top of the cockpit locker or on the cabin sole in a place where they can be easily reached.

Make the boat watertight

Secure all hatches and ports, and put hatchboards in. Check the main bilge pump and emergency pumps. Pump the bilge dry. Cover any air vents.

You can also find this video by Skip Novak very informative.

How to cope with heavy weather

There are several proven storm tactics, all of which aim to reduce the strain and motion by pointing one of the boat’s ends (either bow or stern) toward the waves. No one tactic will work best for all boats in all conditions, so you have to practice and work out a strategy that works best for you and your boat and be ready to implement a variety of tactics.

Don’t go especially if you expect breaking wave conditions

If conditions are wrong or are forecast to worsen, don’t go. If you can avoid the storm, then do so. Stay in the harbour and enjoy time with your shipmates. Make sure your anchor or mooring lines are secure, read a book or brush up on some sailing knowledge with your crew (e.g. COLREGs, navigation).

If your boat is threatened by a hurricane, strip all excess gear from the deck, double up or redouble all docking or mooring lines, protect those lines from chafing, and get off. Do not risk your life to save your boat.

Head for safe harbour

When the heavy weather begins or is predicted, the first impulse is often to drop the sails, start up the motor and head for land. If you can safely reach a harbour, this may be your safest option. The danger lies in being caught in the storm, close to shore, with no room to manoeuvre or run off. The wind and waves can rapidly turn shallow areas or narrow channels into a more dangerous place than open water, especially if the storm will be short-lived, and it’s mostly a matter of waiting it out. Waves become steeper and more likely to break in shallow areas, making it difficult to control the boat. Also, consider the risks if your engine were to die and the wind rapidly blow you onto the shore. You may have better options staying in open water and riding out the storm.

Keep the bow or stern oriented toward the seas

In heavy weather, the most common reason for a capsize is a breaking wave on the beam. Don’t beam reach when wave heights equal or exceed the beam of the boat and don’t lie beam-to the seas in breaking waves. Try to balance the boat for the wind angle you want to maintain, e.g. use mainsail for going to windward, and headsail when running off.

Steer downwind course (running off)

Active steering downwind course is probably the best technique for a modern lightweight boat as long as you have plenty of sea room and a competent helmsman. If the stern is not kept perpendicular to approaching waves, a wave can push the stern around to one side, causing a broach and capsize.

Advantages of running off:

• Reduction in apparent wind speed eases the strain on the boat’s equipment
• Steerageway is maintained, so the helmsman can avoid a particularly bad wave
• If the crew is not able to steer manually the boat is likely to manage on her own with autopilot able to handle the steering as long as the waves are not breaking

Disadvantages of running off:

• Lots of strain on the boat. Big ships and long keel boats like fisherman boats prefer to take big waves on the bow, but there are serious forces in play and modern lightweight performance yachts are better off going with the wind and waves rather than fighting against the nature
• The yacht might pitchpole as it accelerates down the waves and hit the waves in front. Streaming warps or a drogue with bridle might be necessary
• Useful if it sends you in the right direction, but perhaps not very good if it puts you far from your destination
• You will also stay in bad weather for longer, rather than letting it pass over you
• Having someone on deck helming puts them in a vulnerable position with potential waves landing on the deck
• Need a lot of sea room. Most depressions are fast-moving and usually wind down after 1-2 days. With an average boat speed of 5 knots, you will need a minimum of 120 nautical miles of sea room

When surfing the waves at some point you might have to slow the boat down to be able to control it. The sail plan would mainly depend on your boat and available sails on board. For a typical cruiser, this could mean a main sail with a second or third reef and reduced headsail (rolled or storm jib). You can also drop the main sail or use a fourth reef .

When running it is necessary to keep the yacht at right angles to the seas. Therefore, it is advantageous to set the sails as far ahead as possible and to take off the main thus improving the capability of steering because the distance between “centre of effort of the sails” and “centre of effort of the rudder” is enlarged.

In extreme cases, where even a scrap of a sail is too much, you may need to drop all the sails and simply run under bare poles. In true storm conditions, the resistance of the mast, hull, and rigging will drive most boats at 4 to 5 knots. A staysail sheeted flat amidships can help keep the boat tracking downwind.

Be wary though that if you run free and the boat starts surfing regularly, you may be knockdown. In the Queen’s Birthday Storm, three boats ran free. One was rolled and dismasted, one was knocked down past 90 degrees and dismasted, and the third deployed a speed-limiting drogue off the stern and was fine. Some sort of drag device can help keep the boat upright in survival storms. Drag devices can slow the boat down and orient its bow or stern into the waves reducing the chances of getting knocked down and rolled. That being said, some very experienced sailors have found that the boat did better when they got rid of the drogues they were towing and ran free. In the classical text passage, this is how Bernhard Moitessier described it: “Now she is running bare poles, free, heeling, when the sea is running up at an angle of 15 to 20 degrees, is accelerating like a surfer … and is responding to the helm when I bring her back downwind”.

Beat possibly by the assistance of the engine

If you lose too much ground to leeward you can try to beat to windward with a reefed mainsail and the engine. Relying on the engine in an offshore storm will probably not be sustainable in the long run because of:

• fuel limitations
• stress on the engine itself from operating at extreme angles of the heel (engine not lubricating correctly and overheating)
• rough seas can stir debris in the fuel tank, clogging fuel filters, and stopping the engine at a potentially very unsuitable time
• in a following sea, water can back-fill the exhaust and flood the engine if the exhaust is not high enough.
• accidental flooding can also occur if the engine cooling water anit-syphon becomes blocked

Nevertheless, this remains a viable option in coastal conditions when dealing with a passing squall.

Heave-to (if your boat can, practically suitable only for traditional voyagers)

Heave-to under reduced sails with a staysail or jib sheeted to windward and the helm lashed over to maintain a heading of approximately 45 degrees off the wind.

Heaving-to gives the crew a rest, and it can be a safer means of riding out a storm rather than trying to sail it out, but you need the right boat for this (see below). It is a classic survival technique where you tack the boat through the wind, leaving the sails backed, and the wheel lashed to windward. Locking the rudder with a stretchy line is the best because it holds but also gives slightly to avoid extreme tension. Note that in a strong wind, it might be dangerous or impossible to tack the boat, so you should rather back the headsail to windward by trimming the windward sheet.

Heaving-to stabilizes the boat and slows down the drift to 2-3 knots on average. The leeway a boat makes while hove-to means that you need a sea room. In offshore gale conditions, most boats will drift 20-50 miles to leeward every 24 hours.

You should be able to adjust the sails to sit at about 45-60 degrees off the wind. Finding the right balance­ where a boat will sit comfortably at the correct angle to the wind and not give up too much ground to leeward will require some adjustments. You should lower or deeply reef the main or raise a storm trysail (very small storm mainsail) as well as a small headsail (storm jib) to reduce loads on the rig. Depending on how the boat is pointing to the wind and waves you might need to drop the headsail or the mainsail.

A really cool part of heaving-to is that the boat will leave a wake to windward. Breaking waves hit this “slick” and flatten out, thus reducing the wave action on the vessel.

Modern boats generally do not heave-to very well, and certainly not as well as a solidly built full-keel boat will. The sail plan and hull geometries of modern designs just do not let the boats lie stable to the wind. You need to experiment with your boat and see how the boat behaves. This tactic will be effective in moderate seas. The danger arises when the swell picks up and starts to break. This might leave the yacht beam onto the prevailing seas.

• Back the headsail to windward by trimming the windward sheet. If you have a big headsail, roll it up to handkerchief size or set up a storm jib. Do not gybe because the boat might fly down a wave and tacking might be impossible
• Reef and ease the mainsail until the boat stops all forward motion
• Put your rudder over hard to windward, taking care that the boat does not go head to wind. Lash the helm well, so it can’t work
• Play with the mainsail trim until a balance is struck at a good angle to wind and waves. The ride should be comfortable. It’s all about a balance between what is below the waterline (keel and rudder) and windage above (sails and rig)
• If there is still too much tendency to climb to windward, drop the mainsail. This would probably be the case if you had a third reef, which would be too much sail. A fourth reef (storm trysail size) might work
• Keep a close eye on the boat for some time to make sure it stays in balance during various cycles of wave and swell patterns
• Crew can go below. One watchkeeper is sufficient, booted and suited to go on deck to make any changes

Heave-to earlier rather than later. It is much easier to set up everything in a controlled situation. If the wind is rising, there is no point waiting as you will not lose much distance anyway.

Another technique akin to heaving-to is forereaching. Forereaching essentially keeps a boat moving forward to windward (off the wind at 45 to 60 degrees) at greatly reduced speed and is accomplished by sheeting the jib amidships (not quite backed) or lowering it all together, with the reefed mainsail sheeted in tight and the helm lashed slightly to leeward with stretchy line. Think of it as sailing your boat very inefficiently to windward. Often a boat that is improperly hove-to ends up forereaching unintentionally. Most boats will foreach comfortably into gale-force winds under a double-reefed mainsail. A triple-reefed mainsail or trysail will keep the boat pointed into the wind and moving forward on sloops. A staysail may work better on a cutter.

Forereaching can be a better alternative to heaving-to in certain situations. In tidal areas, for example, forereaching can be used to slow down a boat without losing ground to an outgoing tide or current. Forereaching allows you to continue to make slow miles toward your destination without beating up the boat and yourself. If you are just trying to slow down the boat and cannot afford to make leeway, forereaching makes a lot of sense.

Forereaching is a perfectly acceptable storm tactic as long as the waves are not breaking or dangerously confused. This is because large breaking waves will try to push the bow off and expose the side of the boat to the sea. If the boat is becalmed in the trough, it will fall off the wind before the next wave arrives and could get it beam-on. Because of the slow boat speed, you might not be able to head up fast enough. In a dangerously confused sea, a wave may strike the opposite side and force the boat to tack through. She might also tack inadvertently if the wind increases enough to overpower the rudder and bring her head through the wind. From down below you should be able to assess and tell if you are reaching the limits of forereaching as a storm tactic if the boat tacks or if waves are knocking the bow off repeatedly and interrupting the windward motion.

To effectively and safely forereach in storm conditions you need a boat prepared for offshore sailing. Your boat needs to be able to take waves on the bow and lots of loads. Sturdy boats with long keels will be better for taking big waves on the bow than modern lightweight performance yachts which are generally better off going with the wind and waves.

Lay a drogue astern

Even if running under bare poles you have too much speed, there are several possibilities to decrease the speed to avoid pitch poling or broaching, e.g. using warps (bight of the line will trail behind the boat 300 feet or so), a chain with anchor, or deploying a drogue. You should practice using drogue before in various conditions. These are difficult-to-handle devices and the load generated by them is enormous. Theoretically, speed-limiting drogues should be deployed two waves back to keep it from being jerked out of the face of the wave as the boat accelerates toward the trough. But once you deploy it, the tensions will likely be too big for you to be able to adjust anything.

Studies over the last years have shown that drag devices help stabilize a boat in survival conditions. Waves tend to be steep and break early in the storm. This is because the underlying water is not yet moving at speed with the wind. During that period, drogues or towing other objects like warps stabilize the boat. After the storm winds have been blowing for 48 hours or more, the waves become less steep, but their velocity increases considerably. Drag devices may then slow the boat too much in front of the fast-moving waves. Cutting the drag devices away may allow the boat to rise up and go over the waves more smoothly, but only if the boat is hand steered to avoid breaking seas. This situation is most likely to occur in the Southern Ocean where fully developed seas are more frequent.

If you do plan to use a drogue, deploy it before the bad weather hits. Amongst drogues the Jordan Series Drogue receives a lot of praise from long-distance sailors. A more conventional and solid drogue should do it as well (e.g. Seabrake Drogue ).

If things get very bad, the last resort might be lying ahull: drop all the sails, fix the tiller to leeward and lock oneself inside the boat, allowing the boat to drift, completely at the mercy of the storm. The ride will not be comfortable, and the boat may not make it, but it is an option when there are no others left. This technique is best suited to heavy displacement yachts with excellent stability characteristics. Light, modern boats will often lie abeam big seas which are very prone to roll. Damage to the boat is likely. Of the three boats that lay ahull during the infamous Queen’s Birthday Storm, only one, a catamaran, remained upright. The other two were both rolled and dismasted.

Many experienced ocean sailors are of the belief that once it has got into severe gale conditions the crew should all be below deck, with the boat potentially sitting to a drogue or sea anchor from the bow and the hatches battened down. Indeed, many of the injuries sustained during the 1979 Fastnet race were from people trying to helm or move around the boat.

Drop an anchor

If you have in the vicinity of a shallow water, and you have no other option to escape the lee shore you can drop an anchor as a last resort. Requirement: 30 - 50 m of chain, plus nylon cable of the same length (or both longer). A cable of nylon is elastic, and it is able to absorb the movements back and forth.

My roadmap for cruising on a modern performance boat

Up to Beaufort 4

• Maintain the course
• I reef in the main (or rolled-in)
• 2nd reef in the main (or rolled-in)
• Reduced headsail

Beaufort 7 and up to a wave height which roughly matches the beam of the ship

• 2nd or 3rd reef in the main (or rolled-in)
• Running: further reduced headsail
• Upwind course: storm jib
• Important not to sail beam-on to the seas especially if the sea is confused or breaking, switch to running (vessel oriented with the stern into the waves) or to beating (with the bow into the waves)
• Using the self-steering as long as possible with somebody near the helm, who takes the wheel if necessary or forereaching with a wheel lashed with a stretchy line
• 3rd reef in the main (or rolled-in)
• with additional support from the engine if needed
• main with 3rd reef (or rolled-in) and storm jib
• or storm jib only to avoid broaching

Upwind course

• main only, 3rd reef (or rolled-in) or storm trysail
• steering manually or forereaching
• as long as the sea permits
• under storm jib solely

Beaufort 10 and more

• Running under small storm jib only or bare pole
• Maybe with a drogue or towing warps to reduce speed and keep the stern held down
• Retreat of the crew into the ship, close off the vessel
• Reporting the position on VHF if near a busy area: “Restricted in manoeuvrability”
• Stay with the boat as long as the boat floats

Golden rules of heavy-weather

• If you can, don’t go if heavy-weather is predicted.
• Keep clear of any potential lee shore.
• Avoid areas prone to breaking waves (e.g. shallowing shore, sea mounts, harbour bars on ebb and swell, headlands).
• Prepare the boat and crew before the heavy-weather hits.
• Don’t beam reach when wave heights equal or exceed the beam of the boat, especially in breaking sea.
• Reef early. Don’t be caught over-canvassed.
• Balance the sail plan for the wind angle you want to maintain.
• Don’t leave the boat until the boat leaves you.
• Get underway once conditions moderate.
• There is no one right way of handling storm at sea. There is only what works for different boats and their captains in different storms.
• Don’t lie ahull in a monohull unless there are no other options left. This tactic is most likely to result in knockdowns, rolls, and dismasting.
• Running free is likely to result in a knockdown in survival conditions when the boat starts surfing regularly.
• Some sort of drag device (e.g. drogue, warps, anchor) can help keep the boat a survival storm by making sure the boat is oriented with the bow or stern into the seas.
• Having-to does not seem like a successful strategy for modern performance boats.
• There is no “silver bullet”. Keep trying different tactics until the boat feels “right” in the given conditions.
• Keep the relevant amount of sail area for the conditions. Carrying too little sail means the boat will be sluggish and unresponsive allowing her to end up beam-to the seas. You will also stay longer in the storm.
• Get underway once conditions moderate. Most knockdowns and capsizes happen near the end of a storm, after the wind has shifted causing the waves to become more confused. Getting some sail back up at the end of a storm is the best way to stabilize the boat and deal with the dangerous sea state.
• If the boat speed drops to 50% of the hull speed, the boat is under-canvased and needs more sail area to drive through the waves, even if that means sailing at a higher angle of the heel than normal. Hull speed in knots equals 1.34 times the square root of the waterline length in feet.
• Don’t leave the boat until the boat leaves you. It has been well documented in sailing disasters such as the 1979 Fastnet, the 1998 Sydney-to-Hobart Race, and the 1994 South Pacific Queen’s Birthday Storm that you should not abandon a vessel until it is literally sinking beneath your feet, and you have to step up off the deck to your raft. The boat is the safest place to be almost all the time, and staying with it increases your chances of survival. Case after case, crews have been injured or killed in a liferaft, while their abandoned vessels have been found weeks later floating happily on their own.
• Clip on the harness whenever the conditions deteriorate, or you feel uncomfortable.
• When climbing to the crest of an unusually large, steep wave, head up and then bear away to slide down the boat at an angle of 60-70 degrees to the wave to keep the boat from free-falling or burying its bow in the trough. A similar approach can be used when running off

You and the storm

Few people get to experience the full fury of a storm. Although everyone will remember it differently years later, a long, wet, cold sail through a storm can be miserable. It is memorable but not pleasant so do not dream about it. As a skipper, keep calm and make the best of it. Watch over your crew, offer help to those who need it, and speak a few words of encouragement like “This is miserable, but it will end”.

Additional resources

• Skip Novak's storm sailing techniques.
• Essential boathandling skills in heavy weather.
• Using a drogue.

Happy Sailing!

• Boat Handling

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