Does proper storm prep lead to less wind?

Our track record is such that whenever we prepare for a storm, we end up with next to no wind. We experienced that when Hurricane Earl threatened us in the Chesapeake Bay, and at various other times during our Caribbean travels. Even though this time, with updated weather info leading us to believe that the brunt of this storm was going to miss us, we decided not to strip the sails off our boat, moving Frost to Calivigny Harbor, one of the island’s best hurricane holes, may have had the same affect. The water around us is glass calm, and even though the sky above looks a tad foreboding, and we can hear the rumble of thunder in the distance, my guess is that we’ll have no drama here as the day goes on.

An iPad mini screen capture of the Navionics iOS app shows how the entrance to Calivigny Harbor can be tricky. We know of at least one boat that has ended up on the reef by the channel. If you decide to come here, make sure you do so with good light, and in settled weather!

This is another of Grenada’s good hurricane holes, Port Egmont. This photo was taken by our friend Rolf, and it shows just a portion of the boats that moved there for shelter.

Even though we have 100% confidence in our Mantus anchor’s ability to reset in the strong wind shifts that are typical in tropical storms, we opted to drag our boat’s secondary anchor out of the aft locker and set it up on the foredeck for easy deployment, just in case.

We have a little bet going on, trying to guess the highest wind gust that we’ll experience during this bit of bad weather. A 22.9 knot squall visited us yesterday, leaving us with clean decks, and this mirror-like anchorage.

We started the pre-storm party with Frostbites shortly after that squall left us.

Our signature drink: the Frostbite

• 1 oz vodka
• 1 oz white rum
• 1 oz blue curacao
• 1 oz lime juice
• top with equal parts passion fruit juice and club soda over ice

Even the birds don’t know what to make of the distant thunder and lightning. This morning a number of them decided to take up residence on our triatic stay.

WindyTV is a great tool to help visualize the wind strength and direction!