Squall Watch…

Squalls seem to come on through when you least expect them. Night time is the most dangerous as you cannot eyeball them to see the nature of them. They may only last 10 to 15 minutes but what they do in that time depends on your proper identification and appropriate preparation.

If you don’t analyse each one, you may get seriously injured and your boat may get seriously damaged.

All of them that contain water will show up on radar. The thing is that radar will not show whether the squall had dropped yet (rain) or if they are ready to drop but just pass over you as dark and threatening air masses with no rain.

Rain is sometimes welcome as it washes layers of salt from decks and rigging and cools surfaces as the rain water evaporates, but excessive wind is never welcome. If you don’t know the strength of the squall you always have to reef and take in sail area so that the boat doesn’t lose control, sails tear, or you get knocked down. This can be a pain if you take in sail and all you get are a few drops of water, it passes and then you have to put the sails out again.

If you are running (sailing with the wind behind you), you can tell if one is coming and likely to hit you due to the wind picking up at your back and the air temp is suddenly cooler. It is cooler due to the moisture/rain in the squall cooling the air. Rain AND wind will slam the boat harder than just wind. Why? Water is heavier than just air so you have the weight of the water/rain being driven by the speed of the wind producing higher forces.

There is a lot to understand about squalls and we are getting more and more of them as we approach Grenada.

We continue to be on the lookout for them day and night. 24 x 7.

Fair Winds!