Standby Signal No. 1 with a mooring you have never inspected
At 0800 on 15 September the Hong Kong Observatory has the Standby Signal No. 1 in force and forecasts the No. 8 signal within 12 hours. The typhoon is expected to pass about 60 nm south-west of Hong Kong overnight, with north-east winds force 6 to 7 veering east and later south-east, squally showers and gusts, sea rough. Your 11 m diesel cruiser lies on a private swing mooring in Port Shelter, about 200 m off Pak Sha Wan. A 5 m speedboat is on a mooring 15 m away and a dozen similar boats are nearby. The mooring was laid about four years ago and you have never inspected the chain or the shackle. Your two regular crew have gone home to Kowloon, and the Sai Kung ferry stops running once the No. 8 is hoisted.
1. What does this forecast tell you about the wind and sea to expect overnight, and why does the veer matter to where you are lying?
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Read the track, not just the wind speed. A centre passing to the south-west of Hong Kong puts Hong Kong on the northern side of the track. With the storm moving westwards, that is the right-hand side in the northern hemisphere - the dangerous semicircle - where the strongest winds are, and where the wind veers as the centre passes. The forecast of north-east winds veering through east to south-east matches exactly that, so expect the second half of the night to be worse than the first, not better.
The veer is the operational point. A swing mooring only ever lies to the wind and tidal stream, so your boat will be head to the north-east early on and head to the south-east later, at a different angle to the mooring chain and on a different part of the harbour. Check on the chart which sector of Port Shelter your mooring is open to: shelter from the north-east does not mean shelter from the south-east. If the veer puts you on a lee shore, or if the chain drags in the first half, you will be pushed towards that shore in the dark with 40 knots of wind behind you.
Also note the barometer and the Observatory's warnings; a falling pressure and squally showers confirm the approach, and squalls can bring gusts well above the mean wind.
2. What do you do with the boat before nightfall, given that your crew are gone?
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Work in order of what can actually fail.
Mooring. The chain is your weakest link and you have never seen it. Dive on it or use a boat hook and mask to inspect the shackle, swivel and the connection to the buoy, and fit a second, independent line or a second strop to the buoy so no single failure loses the boat. Check the other boat's mooring too - a 5 m speedboat 15 m away dragging down on you is as dangerous as your own failure.
Windage and water. Strip the bimini, covers and anything that catches wind, stow loose gear, close and dog hatches, clear the cockpit drains and scuppers, check the bilge is dry and the automatic pump works, and make sure the batteries are fully charged.
Readiness. Anchor ready to run with the chain flaked, engine serviced and fuel full, lifejackets and a grab bag at hand, hand-held VHF and spare batteries, torch, and a plan for a place to run to if the mooring fails. Consider moving the boat to a proper typhoon shelter while you still can - once the No. 8 is hoisted the ferry has stopped and you are committed.
Finally, tell someone ashore where the boat is and how to reach you.
3. At 0200, in the No. 8, the mooring shackle fails and the boat starts to drift down on the moored boats to leeward. What do you do?
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Do not try to leave the harbour and do not try to pick up another mooring buoy in the dark with 40 to 50 knots of wind.
Start the engine immediately - a reliable engine is the single best asset you have - and use it to hold the bow up into the wind and to steer clear of the nearest boats. Lifejacket on, grab bag and VHF in the cockpit, torch ready.
Get the anchor down in a place with swinging room and good holding, let out plenty of chain in these conditions, and check the anchor is not dragging by taking transits on shore lights. If the anchor will not hold and you are being set towards the shore or the moored boats, a deliberate, controlled beaching on a soft shore at low speed, bow first, with the engine stopped and everyone on deck in lifejackets, is far better than being driven onto rocks or crushed between boats.
Call for help early on VHF 16 - Vessel Traffic Centre or the Marine Police - giving position, persons on board and what the boat is doing. Keep clear of other drifting boats; they have the same problem and neither of you can manoeuvre well.