In New Caledonia, cyclone season runs from November to April, and a boat afloat is one of the most exposed assets when a tropical system heads for the lagoon. Everything is decided before the alert: a written plan, gear ready to go and choices already made.
The real problem: deciding fast with a boat that isn’t ready
You can track a cyclone for days, but its path stays uncertain until the end. The owner then has little time to choose: stay in the marina, head for shelter, or haul out. Each option takes hours of work, extra hands, and sometimes a spot that no longer exists because everyone had the same idea at the same time.
The cost comes in two forms. In time and energy, preparing a 13.6 m by 7.7 m catamaran means long hours of work, ideally with a crew. In money, a poorly prepared boat can lose its tender, a sail or its wind generator, damage its neighbours on the pontoon, and the insurer will look closely at whether you did what the policy required.
Before November: write your cyclone plan
A cyclone plan is a short document written in calm conditions, one that anyone aboard or ashore could follow without you. Ours answers a handful of simple questions.
- Where does the boat go depending on the forecast track: marina berth, sheltered anchorage, or haul-out?
- Who does what, and who gets called if the owner is away (skipper, caretaker, pontoon neighbour)?
- What gear is already aboard: extra lines, chafe guards, fenders, anchors, chain, straps?
- How long does the whole job take, measured during a trial run rather than guessed?
- Where are the insurance policy and the key phone numbers?
Do a trial run out of season. Dropping the genoa, stowing the cushions and deflating the tender once, against the clock, always turns up a seized shackle or a missing strap.
Choosing shelter: be careful with “cyclone holes”
Around Noumea, people talk about mangrove-lined bays and the deep inlets of the southern lagoon, such as Prony Bay, as traditional shelters. Treat them as leads, not guarantees. A shelter only works for certain wind directions, it fills up quickly, and the holding ground and the boats around you dragging their anchors matter as much as the protection of the hills.
Ask the harbour office, sailors who have lived through several seasons, and the maritime affairs directorate. Scout the spots in good weather, check the depths, and don’t leave at the last minute in a poor weather window. In a marina, whether Port Moselle or elsewhere, follow the operator’s instructions, which may set specific mooring rules.
Preparing the boat: the onboard list
- Sails: drop and stow the genoa and mainsail rather than trusting the furler and lazy bag. A sail that breaks free in strong wind puts the whole rig at risk.
- Deck: remove anything that catches the wind (covers, cushions, tarps, boards, rods) and lash down the rest.
- Power: stop and tie off the wind generator, check the solar panel mounts on the arch, keep batteries charged and breakers set so the bilge pumps stay powered.
- Tender: take it out of the water, deflate it or lash it on deck, outboard removed and stowed. A tender on davits catches the wind like a sail.
- Mooring: double up the lines, protect every chafe point, keep some stretch, check cleats and fairleads.
- Watertightness: hatches closed and checked, bilge pumps tested, seacocks checked.
- Paperwork: dated photos of the boat’s condition, an inventory, documents and policy kept ashore.
Insurance: read the clauses before you need them
Many policies carry specific conditions for cyclone damage: permitted cruising area by season, an obligation to shelter or haul out, a cyclone plan to submit, a separate deductible, sometimes exclusions. Reread it before November, put your questions to the insurer in writing and keep the answers. If the policy requires a measure, write into your plan exactly how you will carry it out, with whom and how long it takes.
Tracking the threat: Météo-France and the alert levels
Météo-France New Caledonia publishes forecasts and tracks tropical systems. The authorities trigger a graded alert system, set out by the civil protection service: a pre-alert when a system threatens the territory, a level 1 alert when it may reach inhabited areas within 18 hours, a level 2 alert when it is expected within 6 hours, with all movement banned, and then a recovery phase once it has passed.
For a boat owner the practical consequence is simple: under a level 2 alert it is too late to go aboard. Preparation happens during the pre-alert, at the latest at the very start of level 1. The rules can change from one season to the next, so always rely on the official instructions published by the Government of New Caledonia and civil protection, and keep the radio on.
Aboard myCloud: a checklist instead of memory
Our Lagoon 440 has plenty that catches the wind: a wind generator, solar panels on the arch, a 3.80 m tender with a 30 hp outboard, a large forward trampoline. Every season we start from the same list rather than from memory, and we correct it after each use.
In the myCloud boat management app, the cyclone plan is a checklist, and the pre-season checks (lines, bilge pumps, arch mounts) are scheduled maintenance tasks with reminders. The insurance policy is filed with the rest of the boat’s documents. The app does not work offline, so we also keep a printed copy of the plan aboard and ashore.
In the logbook. After each preparation, even when the alert is lifted with no damage, we record the time spent, what got stuck and what needs replacing. That is what makes the next time faster and calmer.