Hobie Cat Forums

I was sitting in my living room on Monday afternoon when the sky turned pitch black. The trees out back were bent over at 45 degrees and my house was being peppered with pine cones. WTF! This extreme micro-burst of wind lasted all of about 30 seconds. After the thunderstorm I walked down to the beach to check on my boat. I keep it anchored fore and aft with buried cinder blocks. My boat was okay but the H-16 next to me was on its side with its mast separated. Fortunately it blew over in the opposite direction and missed my boat. That boat was anchored but only by the front beam.

I decided to walk the beach (about 2 miles) and found the same destruction I saw after Hurricane Isabel in '03. At least a half dozen boats were turned over and most others askew. I saw three bent masts, one with a cockeyed bob. Another mast was snapped right in two. That same boat also had the starboard rudder casting twisted by the gudgeons right out of the transom. I recognized it as one of a neighbor's boat who picked it up over the winter and had it on the water only once so far this season. The tiller crossbar had also been separated by force. Next to that boat was a Prindle 18 with a two foot square chunk of fiberglass ripped fright out of the starboard hull where an adjacent boat had been lifted and slammed into it. I saw another H-16 up in the dunes with the bows toeing in about three feet. No idea what happened there.

All of this carnage from a thirty second burst of wind! I don't mind if people don't care about their own boats but when they crash into mine I have a real issue with that. If you leave your boat on the beach...secure it for God's sake!! Or at least put your phone number on the tramp with a Sharpie so I'll know who to contact for spare parts.

I know what you mean. I store my boat at the local dealer here and there are probably 20+ boats back there with mine. With the potential of Debby coming our way, I started to think about what would happen if we got hit by high winds and storm surge.

I went out and bought some ground auger anchors to tie the boat and trailer down separately. If it was forecasted to be really bad, I would take off the trampoline to reduced windage.

But what is it worth if the rest of the people around me don't prepare their boats? Seems like 3/4 of the people never sail their boats and just store them there. I think my best option would be to take the boat over to my apartment and tie it down in my own backyard. That would at least prevent other boats from crashing into it.

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-Zach
West Lafayette, IN (school)
Melbourne, FL (summer)

Yes, me too. Lost a mast and front cross bar to a wind burst on the front edge of a storm and I watched it happen. I had it teathered to the trailer so it didn't go cartwheeling down the beach. I was glad to have insurance to cover the $2500.00 in damages.

That was actually a waterspout that came ashore according to the bayfront home owners I talked to on the beach Tuesday AM. They said the watched it tear down the beach for just a few moments. Mine was tied down but it did not make a difference. Your boat must have been out of the path. My boat is totalled. The hulls are destroyed cracked around all 4 pylons, and a 3' crushed lip on the deck and my mast is bent in half.
Looks like the orange hulled 16 took it pretty bad too.

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H16

Sorry to hear this Turtle.

Yeah the orange crusher was the one I was talking about with the snapped mast, ripped transom and broken crossbar. Don't know that my boat was out of the path since the 16 next to me went over. Add another bent mast. When it went over the pin at the shroud adjuster sheared and the mast came down against the pylon or beam. He's got a deep dent about four inches wide in the side of the mast. There are five boats in our little fleet. Four of them were anchored fore and aft with no problems. The one that went over was tied at the front beam only. When it pitch poled into the dune it pulled the anchor right out of the ground. Wasn't buried deep enough.

Yeah I used two large helix anchors but the lines snapped and off she went.
I don't know if I will try to get another boat or not. I saw a few 16's come up in the last couple of days locally but I can't get any response back. My friend knows someone who needs to get rid of a Nacra 18 but that is too much boat for me.
The worst part of the whole thing is I opened up a brand new hobie righting bag that morning so I could solo and go out more often. That may end up in the classifieds

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H16

Well, last night we had another thunderstorm worse than the first one. 70 MPH gusts with trees and power lines down everywhere. I suspect whatever boats escaped damage before have now been destroyed as most of the earlier carnage had just been left lying on the beach untouched. I went to check my boat this morning and a lady walked up to tell me their jib came unfurled and shredded itself. Guess I'll be keeping an eye on Craigslist for spare parts.

My Getaway also flipped over last night in a thunderstorm...no damage other than a bent bob but that was quickly fixed up.

OK so last week we had this huge wind storm at my lake (Crystal Lake, Saskatchewan) well ok its not really my lake but it is my principle sailing location. I just have this stand with rollers that the Getaway sits on when I'm not there, and all I do is to tie it to my breakwater so it can't slide down into the water and float away. Anyway winds were measured at over 100 kilometers per hr., I went out there expecting to see my poor cat rolled into a ball. Much to my surprise it was still sitting on its stand just as nice as can be....whew. I don't understand why it didn't blow over, it is kind on nestled beside a tree but not much else. Here's what the location looks like with no wind.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/81789944@N06/7491767864/

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06 getaway -- always remember, man with both feet in mouth have no leg to stand on.

Well I decided to look for a new boat.
I have looked at just about every boat I can find locally and they are all in bad shape. (Shoft hulls, or bad repairs)
I really just want good hulls. I can get the other parts, except my mast which I can find locally, from my other boat.
If anyone knows of a complete boat or good hulls within a relatively close distance please let me know. I am not looking to break the bank but I will spend $$ on a good boat.
I have a trailer if needed.

Thanks

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H16

This could happen if you do not tie down your Hobie.

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Tim
82' H16
Sail # 88863
Panama City Beach, FL

Now that's flying a hull, uh, make that hulls.

Call the Fire Dept.They get cats outta trees all the time.

Holy crap! That would suck!

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1980 H16
1997 Wave