Storm Prep.

[Mark Hegreness]

Hey MSSA,

I have had the silly habit of hanging out at the harbor on my boat for most of the major storms of the past 20 years.  In light of the upcoming bad weather, I thought I would share a few tips for storm prep.  This storm is potentially going to blow sustained 30 for 2+ days and the repetitive stress on your gear can cause real problems.

The number one thing that happens on sailboats is the roller furler opening up.  Make sure that at the bare minimum (if you are not going to take you sail down) that you roll it up tight and tie off both the furler lines and the jib sheets.  The need to be pulling against each other with opposing force.  If you have an extra halyard it is a good idea to wrap it around the furler and pull it tight.  You can also put a sail tie on the sail at the crew and tie it tightly.  

You should also either wrap lines around or put sail ties on your main cover.

Fold up or remove all dodgers and Biminis.  

If on a mooring, go out right before the big wind starts and make sure your pendants are not twisted.  Every storm I see boats where the twisted lines saw through each other.  I would be surprised if we don't see a few boats break loose in this storm.

Check all chafing gear.

Check shore power cord and consider if they may get pulled out if your boat jumps around or heals in the slip.  In a gust of 40kts, my boat can heal over enough that my shrouds will tap the top of my filings!

Pull your dock lines tighter, especially the ones on the North side.  However, if you have a mid ship line that is short, they frequently break because they shock load and won't stretch.  You should put a backup midship line on the north side to take over if the primary fails.

Good luck!

Mark

[ROBERT WOZOWCZYK]

Very good advice. Thanks Mark. Stay safe. 

Robert 

Rode Trip

Sent from my iPhone

On Oct 11, 2025, at 12:41 PM, Mark Hegreness <mhegr...@gmail.com> wrote:



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[MSSA Commodore]

Mark, 

Thank you for sending this email to our MSSA members. All good advice. Stay safe everyone. 

Marianne Waterbury

MSSA Commodore

s/v Harvest Moon

comm...@mssa.org

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