It's that time of Year again here in Tropical S. Texas.
As it gets closer to the height of hurricane season here in the North Atlantic , Caribbean Sea & Gulf of Mexico; Boatshed Texas & crews have been preparing for Tropical Storm Hanna this week, which has been tracking across the Gulf of Mexico in a westerly direction for the past couple of days & recently upgraded to Hurricane Hanna earlier today by the National Weather Service in Corpus Christi.
Hanna which is forecast to come ashore south of the Corpus Christi metropolitan area later to day as a Category 1. storm
with sustained wind speeds at 80 mph gusting up to 95-100 mph
is a large fast moving weather system.
Weather is always a concern especially at this time of year so our team has been busy preparing & securing boats by removing canvas etc. for the last several days in anticipation of the storm making land fall in our back yard.

One of the best ways to prepare your boat is to tie & secure it to the dock correctly. In addition to your regular dock lines adding extra springs, breast lines & chaff gear is always a good idea. However, there is a correct way in which to do this depending on what type of dock or quay your boat is secured to.
The configuration for fixed docks is different for floating docks which rise with the tied & in this case storm surge. Hurricane Hanna is expected to bring significant storm surge to the coastal areas of our region over the next several days to include wide spread flooding in many low lying areas.
One of the most common Knots Mariners use to secure their boats is a Cleat Hitch show below; this should be tied correctly as show with a full wrap tied around the base of the dock cleat you are securing to first before making your figure of eight turn & securing around the horn of the cleat.
Remember, that the pressure the wind & storm surge has on your mooring/ dock lines is extremely high, so in order to remove the line once the storm has passed in order to re adjust your dock lines is equally important. So many times we have seen lines made off on dock cleats incorrectly & it's all you can do to remove the half hitch that's wrapped incorrectly around the cleat which is virtually impossible to remove especially following high winds & storm surge.
So a little extra time spent before & ahead of the storm will save you a lot of frustration & avoid having to literally cut your boat loose from the dock, which is never a fun thing to have to do; not to mention replacing them expensive dock lines...Meantime, Stay Safe out there there during the 2020 Hurricane Season!