Thunderstorm Some summer thunderstorms are rather benign; lots of lightning, thunder and rain, but with little wind. Others are more severe, accompanied by damaging winds and hail. During the early evening of Wednesday, August 2, 2006, the fleet of sailboats competing in the Georgian Bay Regatta experienced a thunderstorm unlike any that most of the sailors had seen before. Following the conclusion of the race in mid-afternoon, the majority of the regatta fleet anchored in Little Sand Bay at the north-east side of Christian Island. Other competing boats anchored in Sandy Bay on the south side of Hope Island and a few may have gone to the east side of Beckwith Island. The weather was fair; however the Marine Forecast issued at 1030 h that morning had indicated thunderstorms could be expected late in the day. At1830 h I tuned the VHF radio to Weather Channel 9 to listen to the new Marine Forecast. It stated:
What I missed hearing, by not tuning in to the weather channel sooner, was the Severe Weather Advisory, issued at 1824 h. It stated: (information provided to me later by Thunder Bay Met. Service)
Based on the forecast, I, and many of the other skippers who had anchored off Christian Island, elected to move the two miles north to Sand Bay, there to enjoy the protection offered by Hope Island from northerly winds. We anchored under darkening skies shortly after 1900 h, letting out nearly 10:1 scope and setting the anchor securely into the sand bottom in anticipation of windy conditions. As we were finishing zipping in the panels of the cockpit enclosure, a spectacular gust front (roll cloud) was observed approaching rapidly from the W-NW.
Within a very few minutes after sighting the gust front, we watched as it sped quickly overhead to be quickly followed in an instant by a howling wind and driving torrential rain that swept in from the west. Visibility dropped quickly to just a few boat lengths and as “Summer Wine” yawed sharply on her anchor rode she was repeatedly heeled over by 35 degrees by the blast of the wind.
Fast-running steep-faced waves added a pitching motion to fill out the scope of gyrations being experienced by our boat. The conditions appeared to be like being in an open field during a raging winter blizzard, but with water, not snow, sweeping past at great speed. Boats would suddenly appear out of the murk on either side, seeming to be headed directly for us at distressing speed, and appeared likely to cause a serious T-bone collision, only to shear away and quickly disappear from sight.
I started the engine and endeavoured to reduce the strain on the anchor and rode by running at medium throttle in forward gear. Having the engine running would be important if we had experienced ground tackle failure. I also tried to steer away from approaching boats, although I do not know if this had any real effect. It gave me something to do. Fortunately, I had left the chartplotter operating and could soon see from the track scribed on the screen that although we were yawing wildly, we were holding our position. This information had a marked positive effect on our frame of mind. Conditions were so severe that we donned our PFDs. From time to time when visibility briefly improved, we could see crews of other boats, in particular “Eroica”, out on the foredeck where they were fully exposed to the near-hurricane force winds as they made their boat secure. On several occasions, I observed mast-head wind-speeds of more than 50 kts. Others reported, later, to have observed indicated wind-speeds of over 66 kts. Winds ranging from 40 kts to more than 50 kts accompanied by pelting rain continued to rage for about thirty minutes before subsiding to about 30 kts with frequent gusts to more than 40 kts for the next hour and then to 15 to 30 kts for some time thereafter. Eventually the winds subsided and veered to the north, leaving us in calm waters for the night. Instead of the preparing the planned gourmet dinner, we settled for heat-and-eat chili. Throughout the storm the VHF Channel 16 was congested with numerous Mayday calls, including one from “Cabana”, a nearby powerboat, that been driven ashore and was taking on water because the boat’s drive-shafts were said to have been driven through the boat’s bottom. The Rescue Coordination Centre tasked the Canadian Coast Guard cutter “Cape Providence” to respond from Meaford, which it did, covering the 28 nautical mile distance through rough water in just one hour. The crew of “Cabana” were taken aboard “Cape Providence” and were delivered to safety. The Regatta committee boat, “Summer Time II”, a multi-level power cruiser was stripped of its canvas, from top to bottom within just a few seconds, taking the barbeque with it. When the anchor was brought aboard the next morning, the anchor stock was found to be seriously bent. As the storm began to abate, one skipper reported that he had a spinnaker, not his, wrapped around his propeller. “Surona”, had experienced failure of its ground tackle at the rope to chain junction. Fortunately, “Surona” got out into open water and was able to return to Little Sand Bay to raft onto another boat for the night. A few boats had dragged anchor and the crew of one boat had to endure anxious moments fending off an unwelcome visitor that had drifted down upon them. It was reported that “Aquila” was knocked down with such violence that the winch handles were dumped from their holders and lost. Mayday calls continued to be heard over the VHF radio for some time, including a report of ten sailboats capsized in Midland Bay. Even as the storm moved away to the east, and a rainbow opened across the eastern sky, lightning continued to flash from the broken clouds of the wake sky off to the west.
What of the boats that had remained in Little Sand Bay? “Crackerjack” reported experiencing swirling winds gusting to 22 kts with rain. It did, however, become a bit bumpy during the night when the wind swung to the north. We were all fortunate to have been anchored in a bay with a sand bottom exhibiting good holding qualities. Had the bottom been mud, weeds or loose rocks, dragging anchors would have been a likely event and more boats might have been driven aground by winds and waves. Many of the sailors commented later that the storm was the worst that they had ever experienced. I concur with their opinions. Had we been under sail when the storm hit, life would have been very interesting. Later, we would learn of the extensive damage caused by the storm as it rampaged across the land east of Georgian Bay. Commencing with the rapid approach of the gust front and through the duration of the storm, John Hanson, my co-skipper for the Regatta, was able to capture segments of its fury with his video camera (from which the above photos were extracted). The resulting DVD gives us something with which we can remember, and even re-live, that eventful evening. |
