Hurricane clubs will get your boat to the safest spot possible in your area. Protect Your Boat in a Hurricane: Making a Plan (Part I) May 2015. Remove everything in an effort to reduce wind resistance such as biminis, canvas, antennas, deck-stowed anchors, sails, running rigging, booms, life rings, dinghies and so on. How to Tie up a Boat. Practice drills frequently to help prevent panic in case an unexpected hurricane hits. Lines Too High WRONG: This boat has the spring lines tied too high on the piling. If your boat is docked in a marina, talk to the operator so there are no questions or confusion when the time comes to tie up or pull your boat from the water. Experienced boaters know the importance of tying up a boat at the dock, also called docking, when it is not in use. Always reduce windage as much as possible, no matter where you are keeping your boat. B efore you plan to secure your boat on the water, consider whether hauling your boat to higher ground is an option and develop a plan well before a storm is approaching – see Part I of this article for more information. Keep your boat safe in the water If you are storing your boat at a dock, it should be in a snug harbor and secured with additional storm lines and fenders. After experiencing 2003’s Hurricane Isabel on the Chesapeake, having the good luck to be late coming south in 2012, thus missing Hurricane Sandy, and then a near miss of Hurricane Irma’s ferocity last fall while in the central Florida region, I’ve decided, no more hurricanes for me, thanks (well, hopefully). Boat evacuation drills. An alternative to docking your boat is mooring or anchoring in an open, less crowded harbor. Storm surge is a major problem and 10′ waves or more are common in a hurricane; sea walls may not protect during a hurricane. Note that the lines are attached to the piling at the level of the boat during a medium tide, so that they rise up to the boat for high tides and fall down to it for low tides. Safe Havens and How to Secure Your Boat (Part II) June 2015. H urricanes can wreak all kinds of havoc on boats. So while getting your boat to a hurricane hole to ride out the storm is a viable option for some, there are two big factors that might take it off the table—you need to have the time to move your boat and get your anchors set before the storms strikes, and you have to trust the other boaters that are holed up with you. Stocking of emergency supplies. Some hurricane observers believe waiting for a watch to be posted also may be too late to head for the marina or to move the boat to a safer location. Powerful winds can scatter boats ashore, and smashing seas can sink or damage them.