Before discussing the actual nuts and bolts of our gale and storm survival gear and strategy on Morgan’s Cloud, I’m going to write a bit about the goals we keep in mind when we are putting together gear and thinking about strategy for dealing with heavy weather at sea.
Storm Tactics, Indepth-Heavy Weather Tactics
Introduction
Several questions from readers got me (John) thinking about heavy weather generally; that and the fact that we have just changed and completely re-engineered our storm survival system on Morgan’s Cloud.
Most of the questions we get are about avoiding storms, but if you sail offshore long enough, sooner or later heavy weather will find you, so the following series of posts are about the strategies we use and the way Morgan’s Cloud is set up to cope with various possible gale and storm scenarios at sea.
We certainly don’t have all the answers, but after 25 years of setting boats up to go offshore we have learned some things that will be useful to others.
Since we firmly believe that no one piece of gear or technique is a silver bullet for all heavy weather conditions, this is a series of posts each dealing with one heavy weather situation that we might face while sailing offshore and our strategy and the gear we carry to deal with it.
While writing this series, the chance to discuss heavy weather strategies with experienced voyagers like Lin Pardey, Hal Roth, and Evans Starzinger was an unexpected benefit and a real privilege.
For me, the takeaway from these interactions is that there are a lot of right ways to do things at sea. The point being that it is not really important whether you do things our way, or Hal’s way, or Evan’s way, or Lin’s way. Rather, the key to safety offshore in heavy weather is that you look at the available information, critically evaluate it in the light of your capabilities and boat, and then come up with and test your way.
