Boating and Sailing.pdf - Moja ladja

Chapter 15: Weather You Like It or Not
is going—if it’s headed for you, you should be headed for shelter. Seen at a distance,
thunderheads appear to be white and fluffy and may appear in an otherwise blue sky. As
they draw near, they tend to spread out and turn the sky gray, and then nearly black. They
can develop quickly and move rapidly—a thunderhead on the horizon can reach you
within an hour with the right winds.
Squall Lines
A low, black bank of clouds stretching from horizon to horizon is a squall line, one of the
nastiest of the nasties that boaters have to deal with from time to time. Squall lines can
travel at a mile a minute and bring winds from near zero to gale force in nothing flat.
They’re frequently found on the edge of
advancing weather fronts, but these are well
forecast and easy to avoid.
Look Out!
Harder to foretell are the smaller but no less
dangerous localized squall lines that form along
the bottom of fast-moving thunderstorms. These
storms run across the sea as fast as most powerboats,
and passing through one can be a mindaltering
experience, particularly if you’re trying to
get through a crowded and very angry inlet along
with a bunch of other boaters who stayed outside
too long.
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Any time you see a
black line of clouds approaching
on the horizon, it’s time to head
for home at flank speed. If you’re
far at sea in a slow boat, the
only alternative is to batten down
the hatches, put on the PFDs, rain
gear, and life lines, and prepare
for some excitement.
The best place to be as a
squall line approaches is tied
up to the dock. The bottom
edge of a series of thunderstorms
always brings violent
weather.
(Photo credit: Frank Sargeant)