<p>With the Hurricane season upon us, we flatlanders shoreside give a sigh of relief when the weatherman says 'the hurricane is turning eastward, and will only graze the coastline. It's heading out into the Atlantic'.</p>
<p>However, what do the ships do to avoid ( or if not possible, endure) these weather events... including tropical storms, etc.</p>
<p>Heres the text book answer…
The rule of thumb for locating and avoiding typhoons/hurricanes in the Northern Hemisphere is to face the wind and look to the right approximately 2 points abaft the beam (112 degrees relative) The storm center will be roughly in that direction. The rule governing avoidance is: Vessels to the right of the storms track facing in the direction of its travel, are said to be in the dangerous semicircle, and should put the wind on the starboard bow and attempt to run out of it. Vessels in the direct path or to the left of the storms track, are in the so-called navigable semicircle, and should put the wind on the starboard quarter and RUN…</p>
<p>If you get in close to one of these remarkable cyclonic depressions… both semicircles are dangerous. </p>
<p>I try to stay well out of their forecast path (because they are highly unpredictable) and at least a couple of hundred miles from their center.</p>
<p>Singers Law
Heres a good book about what can happen when you get too close and encounter the awesome strength of a western Pacific typhoon.
[Amazon.com:</a> Typhoon, the Other Enemy: The Third Fleet and the Pacific Storm of December 1944 (9780870215100): C. Raymond Calhoun: Books](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Typhoon-Other-Enemy-Pacific-December/dp/0870215108]Amazon.com:”>http://www.amazon.com/Typhoon-Other-Enemy-Pacific-December/dp/0870215108)</p>
<p>i know being in a typhoon on Christmas day was the highlight of my first sea year.
i mean, who needs sleep? haha.</p>
<p>Echoing everythin DD1 said and a little more anecdotal discussion. Atlantic storms tend to be tamer than Pacific storms this time of year though of course horendous Nor’ Easters like “The Perfect Storm” of book and movie fame are “epic” It’s also (IMHO) generally a lot easier to steer clear of a storm when you are going Transantlantic heading East or Westbound by adding distance to your transit and staying more southerly than you might otherwise of most of the “normal” “classic” Atlantic Hurricane tracks then it is to try and stay out of Typhoons in the South China Sea when your trying to transit up from the shouth from traditional trade routes to and out of the Singapore Straits to places like China and Japan. In 1980 I was on an LNG carrier that went from Indoniesia (Borneo and/or Summatra) to ports in Japan and we transited near 5 Typhons and the eyes of two of them - in each case for several days everything including sleeoping was a bit of an adventure…</p>
<p>Most every Kings Point Cadet will return home with at least a few pictures of life while the inclinometer on the bridge is showiung a number that is less than pleasant and a “smooth ride” - despite every matster’s desire and attempt to stay on “the more desirable side of a Tropical Cyclone’s eye.”</p>
<p>After that happens to you as a cadet or to your DS or DD as a Cadet - you will indeed have new feeling and impression about the words re a storm “passing safely out to sea.”</p>
<p>:eek: Yowza! (thanks!) Keep those stories coming!</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Are you sure your ship was in a typhoon? … although they have occurred in late December it is rare. If your ship was in higher latitudes, what you probably experienced was a deep “extra-tropical” low pressure system.</p>
<p>These weather systems, especially where there is explosive cyclogenesis, can be just as dangerous as any typhoon or hurricane… To see just how dangerous and the damage they can do to a BIG ship… :eek: go to the link below and scroll down to the APL CHINA casualty.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.containershipping.nl/casualties[/url]”>www.containershipping.nl/casualties</a></p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Yes, there are some bad spots along that route where your options and sea room to maneuver are limited…
The Formosa Straits, Bashi and Balintang Channels and the East China Sea area west of the Ryukyu Island chain come immediately to mind.</p>
<p>DD1,
it may have been ‘a deep “extra-tropical” low pressure system’, all i know was that they told me it was typhoon sized, and a very mean storm. (i’m an engineer, so all i know is big waves, heavy freezing spray, and no sleep for 3 days means a storm i don’t care to relive. haha)</p>
<p>Great Now I have something else to worry about when the time comes.</p>
<p>Last year I watched my son’s ship’s position and the path of a large typhoon with great interest. It appeared that the ship and the typhoon would make a direct hit, but, as Deepdraft said, the ship steered to the south of the storm and was in the tail end of it. My son had some great stories about that crossing.</p>
<p>With my son crossing the Atlantic in a few days again I am very happy to see that the global warming has really taken effect. LOL 
Looks pretty clear right now and his next crossing will be November 1st and hoping for the same.</p>
<p>Safe travel to all.</p>
<p>He’ll be back at school soon! Crazy to think B split is getting close to being over. geeze</p>