More About Hurricanes....Preparing for Tomas!

Well, just after the celebrations for the end of Hurricane Season (29th October) we have Hurricane Shary just leaving Bermuda, and Tropical Storm Tomas headed for the Windward Islands - including Grenada where I'm on IBIS - and with a 75% chance of becoming a hurricane over the next 48 hours!

After the weather forecast yesterday, there was a steady stream of yachts heading into Port Louis Marina (and others) here in Grenada and the previously busy St George's Bay is now a ghost town.  There's barely a space to be had in Port Louis and every berth is a cats cradle of mooring ropes.  The water this morning is like a millpond, with barely a breath of wind, but everyone knows it's the calm before the storm!  Winds are expected to reach 75 knots or more in Grenada, and waves of 12 feet, although the eye of the storm is predicted to pass about 100 miles North of us, with St Vincent & St Lucia in the firing line.  The effects of Tomas cover a diameter of around 200 nautical miles from the eye.

From NOAA Hurricane Forecast Centre

Preparing for Strong Winds

My Italian friends on Micamale are veterans of 2 hurricanes here in Grenada.  During the first one the boat was in the yard and they were in a hotel!  The row of boats that included theirs was toppled like a line of dominos and they suffered a broken mast, along with many other yachts that were badly damaged.  During the second one, Hurricane Emily, they were anchored to the South of the Island in a protected anchorage and they laid 4 anchors out.  Whilst they were pretty safe and sound, the biggest danger is other boats that haven't taken the same precautions, who drag their anchors or break lines and come crashing into your boat, swept by hurricane force winds.  Other unavoidable dangers are flying objects travelling at 50 miles an hour!

It's perhaps no surprise then, that Micamale show impeccable preparations this time around in Port Louis Marina!

Micamale Ready for the Storm!

1. The boat is securely held at all four points of the compass at least 6 feet from any solid object, tied to the dock and to bouys in the harbour
   
2. The genoa has been taken down and stowed
   
3. The boom has been lowered to the deck and lashed, and the mainsail has been trussed up with ropes
   
4. All canvas has been taken down and stowed
   
5. All the fenders are out

Not everyone in the marina was lucky enough to have the space to do this; they had a great berth!

Hurricane Hunters

NOAA, the American Government funded body for predicting hurricanes, has two planes that it uses to fly directly into storms where they deploy instruments to measure various aspects of it.  Here's a video about it:



For more information about how hurricanes are formed, you can visit my other blog post, thanks!

Yacht Ibis offers sailing holidays with relaxed tuition in the Leeward & Windward Islands of the Caribbean....we try and avoid hurricanes!