# What sailboats could survive a full blown hurricane at sea?



## scottie55 (Sep 25, 2013)

What sailboats are the most seaworthy?

Boats that can withstand 30+ foot ocean waves?


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## hellosailor (Apr 11, 2006)

Does "full blown" mean Category1? Or Category5?

Read "Fastnet, Force 10" to get some idea how boats do at sea.


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## Donna_F (Nov 7, 2005)

The Westsail 32 in the book/movie The Perfect Storm survived.

But, survival also depends on how well the boat was maintained. That same Westsail in poor condition may have had a different ending.


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## Omatako (Sep 14, 2003)

A 30 foot wave at sea and and a thirty foot wave on your local beach are not the same thing.

A thirty foot wave at sea only occasionally breaks and when it does, only a portion of it becomes white water. Don't get me wrong, the energy in that portion is still formidable and can do damage but it isn't like the breaking wave that hits land. Mostly you sail over thirty foot waves at sea without incident.

Another thing to consider is surfing. In my opinion allowing you boat to surf swells of 30 feet is playing Russian Roulette - eventually one will kill you. I won't elaborate here.

We sailed through a storm with 80kn and 30+ feet. We got knocked down twice by breaking waves as described above but we safely "sailed" over hundreds more. We sustained more damage from the wind than from the sea.

We have a 44ft GRP sloop.

Was that a "full blown hurricane"? No because it only lasted two days. But in terms of wind speed and wave size, yes it probably equaled a Cat 1. Would you survive a Cat 5? I don't think so.


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## bobperry (Apr 29, 2011)

I presume you are looking for a neat list.
Do you want that in alphabetical order or by LOA?
Color?


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## PCP (Dec 1, 2004)

A big warship? But that is not a sailboat neither a small boat.

It is crazy to think that a sailboat or any small boat can survive a major hurricane, I mean not near an hurricane but at the worst of it.

Miracles can always happen but they are miracles because they happen very rarely.


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## rgscpat (Aug 1, 2010)

In general, and your sea miles may vary:
NO sailboat is guaranteed to survive a hurricane. 
There are no guarantees at sea, except that the sea has a good chance of finding its way through weaknesses in either boat or crew. 
Any small boat skipper who intentionally challenges a hurricane would seem likely to be either a fool, harboring a death wish, under terrible pressure, seriously unlucky, or extraordinarily delusionally over-confident. 
Theoretically, a boat could be designed for having a maximum probability of surviving hurricanes, but it might have to be so over-built that it would be a pig in normal conditions. (glossing over some discussion of Westsails and such like)
There are boats built to sail in heavy conditions, and one could do a lot with flotation, water tight compartments, over-built rigs, high-strength impact-resistant hulls, more-or-less bulletproof steering systems, control lines led to sheltered locations, etc. If one were wealthy. But, a thirty-foot breaking wave can simply overpower most smaller craft, depending on how it catches a boat and how well the crew is able to anticipate and respond. 
With good voyage planning and weather routing and an efficient boat, a smart and not-too-unlucky crew can avoid most of the really heavy weather. What's sometimes harder to avoid and to manage is the really light stuff.


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## PBzeer (Nov 11, 2002)

What sailboat could survive a full-blown hurricane at sea?

A fortunate one.


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## desert rat (Feb 14, 2013)

Read God Forsaken Sea by Derek Lundy. Be prepared for some terrible gut wrenching 
descriptions.


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## capta (Jun 27, 2011)

PCP said:


> A big warship? But that is not a sailboat neither a small boat.
> 
> It is crazy to think that a sailboat or any small boat can survive a major hurricane, I mean not near an hurricane but at the worst of it.
> 
> Miracles can always happen but they are miracles because they happen very rarely.


Big ships often fair worse than a small sailboat in extreme conditions. Whereas a large ship may span a few waves and beak her back, a strong, small sailboat would be much like a cork, if watertight.
I have survived 2 hurricanes at sea in sailboats.
The first was just west of Fiji, probably a high cat 1, but it was before satellites so it may not be a "full blown" storm in your mind. We were capsized 3 times and sustained a lot of damage, but she got us back to a safe anchorage, so I guess she was a pretty good boat, considering she was 65 when she went through it.
The second storm was in the western Indian ocean and because we were beating, we escaped the full force of the storm, but it was still 45 to 60 knots for 10 very difficult days as the darn thing chased us across the ocean. That boat was Brown 37' trimaran, which handled quite a few "heavy weather" experiences very well, including 1200 miles up the Red Sea in northerlies.
Once again, it would very much depend on the choices made by and the experience of the captain (certainly NOT the case in the hurricane (cyclone if you prefer) off Fiji, as I made some very bad choices, but as they say, "hindsight is 20/20"); good choices increase the survivability in any situation, especially at sea, in heavy weather.


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## PCP (Dec 1, 2004)

capta said:


> Big ships often fair worse than a small sailboat in extreme conditions. Whereas a large ship may span a few waves and beak her back, a strong, small sailboat would be much like a cork, if watertight.
> I have survived 2 hurricanes at sea in sailboats.
> ....


Well you can chose a small sailboat as safer, I would take my chances in a big airplane carrier or in a battleship, one of the big ones.

A big warship breaking its back in bad weather? They are made strong enough not only to sustain the sea fury but also a lot of damage by enemy fire. I think you are talking about cargo ships. That is not what I had mentioned.

Regards

Paulo


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## bobperry (Apr 29, 2011)

Me too.
I cant remember ever hearing about a battleship or an aircraft carrier going down due to rough weather. And, the food is good.


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## mad_machine (Dec 16, 2012)

maybe not breaking it's back.. but my father rememebers seeing the intrepid with her flightdeck even with the water... and he was on an LST. The carrier sailors joked that people on his ship should have gotten Submarine pay as they spent most of the time under the waves.

From what he tells of the story, they were taking 50 degree rolls.. LSTs are only supposed to take 40 before the capsize.

I know of the Westsail that survived the perfect storm.. and a few Alberg 37s that survived some serious weather. Two that went through the Fast Net Gale with minimal damage and one that wound up beached with only scratches from a hurricane


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## smurphny (Feb 20, 2009)

The USN would disagree with the idea that warships are safe in a typhoon. In 1944 a number of ships were capsized and lost in Typhoon Cobra. Typhoon Cobra (1944) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

There are too many variables to say which boats would survive a hurricane. In a class 5 hurricane in the dangerous quadrant, essentially NO sailboat would be likely to survive. Currents, types of wave action, proficiency of the captain and crew, equipment on board, strategies for dealing with big seas, and whether you've pissed off Neptune...all variables making huge differences in ability to handle bad weather. It's not just the boat.

An Alberg 35 survived the Fastnet storm by just taking sails down and going below with bare poles.


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## Tenoch (Sep 28, 2012)

Read "Rescue in the Pacific". Great book, not a hurricane, but a nasty storm none-the-less. All but one of the 'boats' survived it. It was the people that didn't.


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## bobperry (Apr 29, 2011)

OK, fine. Then I won't go to sea in a warship. That settles it.


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## PCP (Dec 1, 2004)

smurphny said:


> The USN would disagree with the idea that warships are safe in a typhoon. In 1944 a number of ships were capsized and lost in Typhoon Cobra. Typhoon Cobra (1944) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
> 
> ...


"three destroyers capsized and sank"

There is a big difference between a small destroyer and a big battleship or an aircraft carrier. I said *"battleship, one of the big ones*".

and I would not like to be on a force 5 hurricane on any boat (or anywhere for that matter). I just said that If I had to, I would prefer to be on a big battleship than in a small sailboat.

But there are all kinds of tastes: If needed do you prefer to face one on a small sailboat than on a big battleship? I am with Bob, I bet they still can cook under the hurricane on the big ship

Regards

Paulo


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## smurphny (Feb 20, 2009)

I think it was one of Michner's books, maybe _Tales of the South Pacific_, that has a great fictional/historical account of this storm and what it must have been like to come upon the tragic sight of the wrong side of a destroyer from the deck of a sister ship.


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## smurphny (Feb 20, 2009)

PCP said:


> "three destroyers capsized and sank"
> 
> There is a big difference between a small destroyer and a big battleship or an aircraft carrier. I said *"battleship, one of the big ones*".
> 
> ...


For sure. One factor mentioned about ships that capsized and sank was the fact that top-heavy equipment/weight was added, the same criticism that was cited in the _Perfect Storm_ sword boat that was lost. I see a lot of commercial boats that OBVIOUSLY have way too much weight up high. A lot of this kind of modification seems to be done with not much though to stability engineering.


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## SloopJonB (Jun 6, 2011)

Might have been the *Caine Mutiny*. The storm in that book actually happened after the battle of Leyte. The returning American fleet got caught in what was, at the time, the worst storm ever recorded (lowest barometric pressure). Several Destroyers were lost.

If I had to choose a small boat to survive a hurricane I think I would choose one of those foam filled, unsinkable Etaps.


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## kjango (Apr 18, 2008)

Make all the boat lists you want , but the thing that most makes a boat seaworthy is the person sailing her. There's no magic pill to get you through 30 foot seas. The best regarded blue water vessel ill managed at sea isn't worth spit . Conversely , a lessor boat skillfully handled might make a miracle .


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## smurphny (Feb 20, 2009)

SloopJonB said:


> Might have been the *Caine Mutiny*. The storm in that book actually happened after the battle of Leyte. The returning American fleet got caught in what was, at the time, the worst storm ever recorded (lowest barometric pressure). Several Destroyers were lost.
> 
> If I had to choose a small boat to survive a hurricane I think I would choose one of those foam filled, unsinkable Etaps.


Might have been. Will have to search around and find where that section came from. It was a really haunting description, in the middle of a raging storm, of one warship looking out ahead and coming upon one that had capsized. Really presented a vivid and disturbing scene that has stuck with me.


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