The Strongest Storm We Have Seen on the Boat

 We had been out of the boatyard for two days when we arrived in Vero Beach on June 13. We have stayed at the Vero Beach City Marina two other times and have really enjoyed it. When we arrived, we were given a mooring ball to ourselves for the first time. The other two times we were rafted up with another boat. We much preferred being on the ball by ourselves. Our first problem was, how would we get to land? Our dinghy was still being repaired and it was going to be Friday, June 16th before it was ready. We knew this might be a possibility when we left Missouri, so we brought our 14 foot inflatable kayak with us to the boat. 

The first problem was how to get the kayak inflated on the boat. Our big boat is about 40 feet long, so the Kayak is about a third of that length. I decided to start the process in the cabin. I would then shove it up and out of the companionway hatch as I inflated it. It was quite a process, but with Kim's help, we got it in the water. We were eager to get to shore to take a nice long shower. The only problem is that it was pretty hot, so the paddle back to the boat got us pretty hot and sweaty. Oh well, we were getting some good exercise and at least we were clean. 

We spent the next few days riding the free city bus all over the place. We spent the first day going to the beach, then did some grocery shopping. The next day, we went to the mall. We didn't buy anything except lunch, but it felt great in the mall and on the bus in the air conditioning. When we got back to the marina each day, there was usually a thunderstorm to greet us. We spent time in the air conditioned boaters lounge. The kayak was kind of a pain, because it did not have the carrying capacity of the dinghy and it was not nearly as stable to get in and out of, but we made it work. While we were in Vero Beach, we got hit with afternoon thunderstorms each afternoon. On of them was pretty strong producing winds of about 46 knots., but I felt confident being in a very protected space on a mooring ball. 

Just one more Km on a beach shot. This was a great day because the water and air was warm enough to spend much of the time in the water. 

Vero does a great job keeping up their beach.

My favorite bird, the Ibis.

 On Friday, June 16th, we finally got the dinghy back. We had to paddle over to the boat ramp and hook the dinghy to the back of the kayak and then tow it back to the boat. There we remounted the outboard and we were finally fully operational again. 

We were now finally ready to move north, but it was the weekend. We hate traveling on the ICW on the weekend. The amount of inconsiderate boaters make the experience very unpleasant, so we waited until Monday. 

As always, I had been watching the weather very closely. The pattern had been very consistent. Each morning was light winds and comfortable. It was getting up into the 90's by a little after noon and then we would see thunderstorms developing each afternoon into evening. Some were just rain, but others had big gust fronts on them with wind gusts up to 60 knots. The good news is the storms don't typically last long because they are moving fast. 

On Monday June 19th, we headed out of the Vero mooring field. We had a very pleasant 33 nm trip up to Melbourne.  I was watching the weather and it looked like we would get storms later coming in from the north west, so I opted for an anchorage by a bridge that had some protection from that direction. 

A nice calm morning along the ICW.

The huge houses go on and on in the area north of Vero Beach. 

Later that evening, the severe thunderstorm warnings started coming in. I was watching closely as the red blobs on radar would build and then move. Most were going north or south of us until about 10pm. A big one was coming right at us. The warnings on the radio and our phones went off warning of 50 to 60 knot winds. The problem is that the wind had shifted to the south. We now had no protection and we were being blown in the direction of a rocky shore next to the bridge. We put our lifejackets on and waited to see what would happen. We saw the blackness coming at us and then the wind shifted to the Northwest, just as I had hoped. The worst we saw was 35 knots, but because of the good protection of the land we had pretty mild waves. It was a bit nerve wracking, but all was clear by about midnight and we slept well. 

We were up early the next morning to make the 33 mile run to Titusville. We had a nice trip and were even able to get a sail up for part of it. We were very happy to arrive at the city marina in Titusville and hook up to a mooring. I feel much better being hooked to a mooring. These are inspected regularly and should hold in up to hurricane force winds. I always am concerned about the anchor dragging because I am not sure of what it is dug into. I always back down on it to test the holding, but it is always in the back of my mind. 

Here we are cruising along the ICW with the genoa up and helping us out. 

We had one pretty strong storm hit us about 35 knots of wind while we were in Titusville.  

I shot the video above during an afternoon thunderstorm. It wasn't too bad. There was a scheduled rocket launch from nearby Cape Canaveral on June 21st at 3:30am. We got up for it, but I found on line they had scrubbed the launch because of a technical issue. It did go the next day and we were up again. This time there was no disappointment. It was the first Atlas rocket we had seen fly. It was worth the lost sleep. It was so dark that I could not get any pictures. 

We left Titusville on June 22nd and made the 43 nm trip to Daytona Beach. I decided to anchor on the north side of town to get us closer to Saint Augustine, which was our next stop. We thought we found a good spot and the anchor hooked well. We knew that storms were once again predicted, so we put out 125 feet of chain and our big storm bridle that increases stretch and reduces yaw which should reduce the shock load on the anchor. 

We had a nice evening with a nice sunset, then storms started popping up all around us and many of them were severe. We heard that one was coming our way and it looked scary on radar. They were talking about 60 knot winds and baseball sized hail. We hunkered down in the cabin and waited. When it hit the boat had trouble getting her nose into the wind. The current was pulling one way and the wind was pulling the other. I heard a level of groaning in the bridle and the rigging I had not heard before. The first gust hit us with 50 knots! The waves were instantly about 6 feet and building. The boat was swinging violently. I was watching or position on GPS and it became obvious that our anchor was dragging. We went from 7 feet of depth to 5 and we had moved about 50 yards. The next gust hit us harder, but SHIFT had gained her position and handled it much better and the best news is we did not move and inch. We hung on for what seemed like a long time, but it was more like about a half hour and then...it was gone. We then had wind of 5 knots and calm water around us. It was surreal. It took us a while to calm down, but all was good. That was the strongest wind we had ever seen on the boat.

The calm before the storm. 

 

50.7 knots is around 58 mph. That is the strongest we have seen and the most I hope I ever see. I have to admit it was scary.

This was he following day. We decided to stay put because there were more storms coming. Thankfully they were not as severe and we were fine. That boat in this picture is another Island Packet called "Southern Cross" that had been traveling along the ICW at the same time. We saw them multiple times. 

On Sunday, June 25th we decided it was time to move on to St. Augustine and the safety of another mooring ball. That did not come without it's challenges. I will tell that story in my next entry.