Mike Maurice wrote, in an excellent post, the following: "

(a) In the pictures the fenders are jumping out of the water and fail to
protect boat sides from being abraded by the dock....If you can find some way to
keep the fenders from jumping out of the water,

(b) but remember the "weakest link"  problem
(c)If possible, the defense of the marina should be a team effort

Lots to think about...here are a few initial thoughts:
(a) As Isabel approached not too long ago, I approached a fellow a few slips
down who was adding lines to his boat....we chatted and I mentioned he had
plenty of lines but inadequate fenders.....I told him at 80 or 90 mph, or
whatever, the fenders would be blown higher than our heads.....Best approach is to
run an additional line from the bottom of the fender under the boat to the
opposite side.

(b) "weakest link": My greatest fear. And the reason I rarely see a marina I
trust more than my own tackle...Recently, a 30ft boat backing in to a nearby
slip at my current marina bumped a piling and the piling  broke off under
water. The yard assessed the operater some fee which was discussed among boat
owners ....nobody mentioned that the piling was obviously defective....I wonder if
they were all driven about the same time???....

There is always a weakest link in a marina...and it's not easy to figure of
what it is. I have always promised myself that I would pull out and anchor (in
a secure spot) if the weater is expected to get really severe.

(c) A team defense is a good idea, but impractical unless procedures are
agreed to in advance when all is calm. Reason disappears in the face of a real
storm...

Once winds reach about 70 or 80 knots, it's about impossible to take any
action outside your boat....water is whipped up from the surface and blinds
everything...the force of the rain or other moisture bites the face and without
goggles or other protection prevents seeing into the wind....navigation (moving
the boat) is about impossible because of the above....

If an anchorline breaks in an isolated spot, it's possible (but not easy) to
remain inside and move the boat under power by instruments (radar,GPS,depth
sounder) so as the get the bow on a beach slope (if one exists) but tides make
this only a temporary option...Of course, one may not know if 10 feet or a 100
feet of line is dangling from the bow!!!!

Cheers,
Rob Brueckner
1972 Hatteras Yachtfish

I bet your finger hurts !!  :)

Ted

Mike wrote <I have some doubts about the line from the bottom of the fender
to the other side of the boat, or I would have suggested it. But, I have no
real test of this, one way or the other. The best answer might be to attach
the fenders to the dock?>

Living in the middle of the hurricane belt gives us the chance to try lots
of different tactics frequently. The fenders that have withstood the best
are.....car & light truck tires!  Cheap, easy to find, fill with water and
don't blow around. 4 or 5 a side will give you good protection. We put them
in the heavy 4 mil silver trash bags which keep them from blacking the
topsides. If they are really chaffed then the bags will break thru but
cleaning the rubber marks is a small price to pay for the protection given.

We have about 200 boats both sail and power that are protected this way for
every storm that comes by. Luckily no hits this year but 2 Cat 5 hurricanes
directly at us that turned 1 day away so every boat was fully prepped
anyway.

There is but one good "hurricane marina" here in the BVI. It has floating
dock on 10' pilings. The biggest surge we have seen was in Luis, a Cat 5 in
'95 of 6'. So this is the "high water mark" so to speak. The floating docks
allow you to keep the fenders working where the fixed docks will be below
the water line so there is no fendering to protect the hull from abrasion.

We have been thru more than 10 hurricanes of over a 100 kts on the docks an
Nanny Cay with 2 or 3 of our personnel boats there each time in the past 15
years. Knock on wood we've never had more than a bit of dock rash. In
Bertha, 1996, our CSY sailboat was knocked down nearly flat in the slip and
put the spreaders thru an adjacent boats flybridge. This with bare poles.
The force of wind over 100 kts is a bit more than folks realize. Try
standing up in the bed of a pick-up at 70 or 80 and you begin to understand
the force. Double the windspeed and quadruple the force :-(

The second issue is always the surge from the waves with the resulting chafe
as the lines are loaded and unloaded. Using chain in a short loop over dock
cleats, pilings, rings etc and then tying the lines to the chain with hose
or other chafe gear gives lots better chafe protection than going directly
to the land attachment point. Then with chafe gear on the boat you can
adjust the lines and move them as the situation requires. One thing to avoid
is to let the boat get "in rhythm" with the wave period. The strain on the
lines as the boat comes up short is incredible. Swan Song has broken a new
1" dock line within an hour when this happened. Changing the length to break
the pattern keeps things closer to "under control" if that's possible in
these events.

In the end luck has as much to do with it as anything. The Eye of a full Cat
5 hurricane is not really something a boat can survive without the lady on
it's side. We abandon ship at about 100 and let the lady roll the dice. We
are self insured so don't do this without making sure everything is the
loaded in Swan Song's favor as best we can.

Don't try this at home, professionals have bad days at sea too....YMMV

Dave & Nancy
Swan Song
Roughwater 58
Tortola, BVI