Hurricane season

Well, if Hawaii was really the paradise islands, there should never be hurricanes.. Specially for boat owners. Actually, they pretty rarely hit the islands with full force. And maybe it is good as well. it reminds us our place in the bug scheme of things, and our ant status compared to natural forces.

Guillermo, Last week.

Still, those could be real beast. 120 Mph of wind, 20 to 40 feet waves. Bringing havoc through their way and sinking ships for a laugh.

As Guillermo was actually really on track to hit Maui with decent remaining forces, we had to jump into an emergency mode to secure our boat.

Our mooring ball

The first step was to remove all the hardware that was sitting on top of the ball and already damaged our hull paint pretty badly in calm conditions. There is a weird current against wind at Mala, where we are moored, that force the boat to travel against the wind and sit on top of the buoy, which, in return, bang continuously on the hull. The strong fiberglass of the buoy is one thing - I am switching to rubber next week - but the metal of the hardware was actually pretty bad. 

Storm setup

I switched our pendant setup to a single line, 1.25" nylon, which is less resistant to chaffing, but stretch way better, and with waves, stretch is was matters.

I am not sure of the strength of my Bow cleats yet, then I doubled it to the mast.

Mast safety - just in case

Once the most important - the ground tackle is secure, you need to check everything else, specially, everything that can add to your windage, and increase the effect of high wind on your boat.

Removed the Jib

Number one contender is always a jib even furled. Ours is a 140, seems like a 200 or something when it lays on to the deck. To pack it in something that is moveable, it took me almost one hour. what a nightmare.

Securing the main

Did not have the energy to remove the main, I did it in the past, but that's complicated on the boat, because of the attach on the mast. I give up our windage, but secured it with lines to be sure it does not get tear off by the wind.

The good news is... Guillermo did not Hit.

The bad news is Hilda is already on track for another fright.

Rainbow colors,
this ain't as pretty though

Well, we rehearsed pretty well, it is almost routine at this point.
Until we get hit.