Drew and Sarah Moore wrote:
“I just wanted to thank you for your Storm Tactics Handbook!! I never expected to have to use these tactics in our little Cape Dory 25 this past May (2011). This wonderful boat was our first sailboat. I fell in love with sailing immediately! The previous season, we had practiced reefing our main and heaving-to so we wouldn’t have to think if the time came where we had to. I won’t draw out the story, but we did end up finding ourselves in an unexpected situation.
It was late May in Maine. We were sailing our boat to a new harbor for the new season. We were leaving from Sebasco Harbor and headed toward Rockland Harbor. Our plan was to sail for Monhegan Island, anchor for the night and explore the island, then set sail in the morning for Rockland. We had a 3 hour dead calm early in the morning with thick fog on the first day. Once the wind returned and we rounded Cape Small/Bald Head Cove we were fighting a head wind (North East) and the current from the Kennebec River near Popham Beach. This slowed our progress dramatically so we changed our course for a backup plan which was a safe anchorage near Boothbay. It was about 7 PM and we were probably 4 hours from Boothbay when thick fog rolled in. The seas were also starting to build which told me the heavy northeast winds forecast for that night were on their way. We had to make the call to go offshore.
We were nervous since we haven’t had an overnight on our boat or any other! We followed your advice immediately. We got as much sea room as we could since we couldn’t see anything with the fog. Thankfully, we didn’t have a lee shore. When the winds built to the point where we had to furl the head sail and double-reef the main, the seas were the biggest we’d ever sailed in and we hove-to. She parked herself beautifully with the tiller lashed down and double reefed main sheeted flat.
Even with our low free-board, we never took on water. She sat rocking gently through the night. The slick protected us from waves that crashed in front and behind our boat but not a one came aboard. By 5am, the winds eased enough that we were able to start sailing again.
Thank you for your direction! You turned a scary night into an adventure that boosted our confidence greatly!! We are in our early to mid 30’s and plan to take off on our own adventure next year. We recently purchased a Pacific Seacraft Mariah31 and named her “Ronan”. We are spending the winter simplifying some of her systems and setting her up for cruising. We plan to take off next year for our first extended cruise.”
When Larry and I are approaching landfalls or new ports after dark, or in less than ideal conditions we remind ourselves that we spent almost 7800 hours, plus many thousands of dollars building Taleisin. We can afford to wait five or even twelve hours to insure we get her safely into port. As Drew and Sarah wrote, heaving-to with plenty of searoom makes the wait far more comfortable.
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Drew and Sarah
just after the fog began lifting
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