On any long, multi-ocean voyage, a ship needs to be prepared for heavy weather. It’s going to happen. While it makes all kinds of sense to avoid heavy weather as much as possible, and goodness knows we do the best we can, the fact is, on a voyage around the world, not every gale or storm system can be avoided. Such is life at sea. So, the obvious things are to have a very strong, well found, seaworthy ship, have as good of a crew as you can find, recruit, and follow up by training. Have the best equipment, with redundancies, and keep it in good shape, frequently checked for servicablity, and make sure that we are all trained up in all its use. Frequent drills. And you will never get all of this perfect.
Today, we have some much improved and pretty amazing weather forecasting systems available to a ship at sea. And, also a pretty good thing to have, some qualified, weather savvy mariners ashore on their computers looking over our shoulders and keeping an eye on weather forecasting. A second set of eyes. Or third. This we delight in having. Weather forecasting is much improved over what was available a generation ago, or even a decade or two. More on this in due course. We must remember however that any weather forecasting is still attempting to predict the future – and, the future not being yet determined, that is always a fraught affair. Forecasts two to three days out are usually pretty good, five days out getting fuzzy. Eight days? Well, just sort of an idea. Even when all the various computer models agree. But even that’s another story. In the old days you had your barometer, the look of the sky and swells, and that was it. We are better off today on that score.
In addition to a strong steel ship which gets all our attention, and of course, a strong Cape Horner rig with good sails and plenty of rope, and a top-notch capable crew, we must look at extra gear we use infrequently or only in heavy weather. Some of which we have never used except in practices and drills – and hope to never use in reality.
1. Manropes stretched tight across the main deck and quarterdeck. These are thick stong thick ropes about waist high stretched taught between the galley and the aft superstructure. Just an extra handhold for when it gets lumpy. The mates rig up these whenever seems useful. Why not? Nice hand-holds in rolly seas.
2. Water-tight doors closed. There are three on the weather deck in the aft superstructure. These can be easily closed and are closed when warranted. No fuss, just shut it. Of course portholes closed too.
3. Nets: these are nets that get rigged above the already high bulwark rail (four feet) adding maybe three feet of “strainer” above the midships topgallant rail stretched between the main and foremast rigging. The big Cape Horners had these and it seems a good idea. Also nets are rigged aft all around the breezeways from rail up to quarterdeck edge. This is to keep us all onboard in the event of extremely heavy seas coming aboard should we be caught out on deck in a large boarding sea. Rare indeed but not unheard of. In the same area of the breezeways we rig up an overhead wire to clip into with one’s harness carbiner when transiting this area if it is necassary to do so. To be avoided otherwise.
4. The cargo hatch. Extra waterproof tarps, well battened, wedged and pounded home, with added ratchet straps, eight of them, holding everything down.
5. Plywood plates to screw in over the charthouse windows. Just in case. These are premade and labled. We have never used these yet, and hope never to but here they are ready to go.
In addition to these special drills and gear we also make sure that everywhere in the ship is well stowed – cargo hold, engine room, chain locker, galley, charthouse, office, cabins and bunks, and atop the galley deck house, too; that all sails are checked to be sure they are well bent on with extra strong robands, head-earrings and sundry lashings; and running rigging is checked over to make sure it is all without defect. Extra storm gaskets get put on sails not set, marlin hitched on for extra holding power. We mght even send some sails down, possibly even royal yards might come down, if it seems warranted. Make sure all our many pumps are all humming along smoothly as well. And that our standard damage control supplies are well at hand and that we are familiar with them. Of course, abandon ship preparations are looked after, making sure float away EPRIBs and hand held EPIRBs, ditch bags, float away boxed PFDs, immersion suits, and emergency VHF radios are all looked after – plus a good deal more. In these all the crew are familar. The above is all separate from the acts and manouvers of avoiding heavy weather we might do with the ship herself.
In 27 years of seagoing, around 300,000 miles of bluewater sailing in total, and now on our 10th long, deep sea voyage with eight of these being being world circumnavigations, one cannot expect to dodge every gale or circular storm, try as one might.. although we did manage on one voyage, amazingly enough.
As we speak there is one pesky Indian Ocean cyclone twirling away 1,200 miles to our west-south-west. It looks like it will be no threat and is now fading, but in any case we are sailing courses to make sure we do our best to avoid it. And then of course there is the Cape of Good Hope up ahead, formerly called the “Cape of Storms.”
