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02/6/2011 at 10:27am
Location: Beautiful Warwickshire
Outfit: Various tents
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There's been plenty of discussion about wind recently here on UKCS - not surprisingly, given that early last week the Met Office issued severe weather warnings and in Scotland and northwest England high winds caused a fair bit of damage. It has been heartbreaking to read of tents wrecked, trips cancelled, and holidays ruined.
I have just been camping for over a week (including the days during the Met Office warning) in the north of England visiting East Yorkshire, North Yorkshire, Co Durham and various parts of Cumbria. It was certainly very windy - Force 9 (50mph or more) on the hills and Force 6 or 7 (up to 35mph or more) even in the valleys.
Apart from the inevitable anxiety and irritation, I suffered no problems due to the wind. However, I saw a lot of tents damaged or downed (including some robust-looking tents from quality manufacturers). But I also saw plenty of tall tents and very cheap tents which stayed up undamaged.
So here are a few observations from my trip that may be useful as pointers for dealing with the wind.
It seems to me that here are three crucial factors: seeking out or improving shelter; orientation and positioning; and, most importantly, pitching the tent securely.
Firstly, shelter. If you have not pre-booked on a camp site you can visit several campsites in an area and select the most sheltered one. As an example, while I was in Teesdale I looked round three or four sites within a few miles of each other. My original choice turned out to be halfway up a hillside so instead I went to a less picturesque but more sheltered site in the valley.
If, however, you have pre-booked try not to get fobbed off with an exposed pitch - insist on choosing the most sheltered location. Again as an example, at the site in Teesdale I walked around to suss out where the wind was coming from and then chose the least windy corner. In my experience most site owners and wardens will be understanding and helpful if they can but if the site is crowded you may have less choice of location.
Still on shelter, look out for natural windbreaks - the leeside of a hill, the bottom of a valley, a line of trees or a wood, or, best of all, dense hedges. One warning though - do not pitch under, or in the lee of, tall trees (especially conifers) unless you are somewhat further from the tree than its height. Last week I saw several trees blown down.
If there is no natural feature to deflect the wind, look out for barns or sheds or a strong fence or, best of all, a drystone wall. And don't forget the time-honoured trick of improvising a windbreak by parking your car upwind of your pitch.
On my trip, I was surprised to see that many tents (some of which were either down or wind-damaged) were pitched in exposed locations on campsites despite there being plenty of vacant pitches in more sheltered spots.
To be continued...
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02/6/2011 at 10:29am
Location: Beautiful Warwickshire
Outfit: Various tents
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Continues
As I've already mentioned, I saw a good few tents down (or about to go down) due to the wind during my recent trip. Although lack of shelter and poor orientation were factors by far the most common cause of collapse was sloppy and/or inadequate pegging and guying.
To resist the effects of wind a tent obviously needs to be pegged down - and that means using pegs that are suitable for the ground, using a sufficient number of them, and driving them right in. As an example, at one site I saw an unattended family tent partially collapsed. When I got closer I saw that the guy line pegs had pulled out. The reason was obvious from those that remained in place - the wire pegs had only been driven halfway into the ground allowing the loop of guy line to ride up to the hook and exert sufficient levergage to yank out the peg. There was no reason for this - the ground was fairly soft and the pegs could easily have been driven right in.
Conversely, I camped at a site with very stony ground later that week. Here it was very difficult to drive wire pegs more than a few of inches into the ground without them bending. At this site, the value of pegging was even more apparent - those tents relying on wire pegs that weren't driven in far enough went down, those that were securely pegged stayed up. I also saw a trick worth trying there; several campers had gathered rocks from around the site and placed them on top of the guy line pegs. This struck me as simple and effective augmentation.
I always carry strong stainless steel pegs with me and also some twelve-inch angle-iron storm pegs; even so, I bought extra rock pegs from the campsite shop. I also carry a heavy claw hammer in my box as well as the rubber mallet.
I chatted to a neighbouring camper who had pitched an Outwell Nevada. To my surprise, he had used only the plastic pegs supplied with the tent. It took him a while to hammer in the pegs (and, on the day he left, I noticed several had become banana-shaped) but once in they didn't budge even though it was very windy and a Nevada is quite a tall tent.
To be continued...
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02/6/2011 at 10:31am
Location: Beautiful Warwickshire
Outfit: Various tents
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Continued
Guy lines are vitally important in the wind. The pegging points around the tent itself will hold it down but it is the guy lines that provide stability, rigidity and resistance to side-loading. It should go without saying that all guy lines should be deployed when it is windy. I was surprised to see quite a few tents pitched with only the corner guy lines in use, the other lines still rolled up. In particularly windy conditions, it may even be necessary to augment guy lines with additional ones - always carry some spares.
When it comes to tension, there are different schools of thought. Personally, I like to keep the lines pretty taut but some people advocate a little slack to allow for shrinkage as fabric and lines get wet or dry. To an extent, this depends on materials - polyester and natural fabrics have different shrinkage characteristics.
With guy lines, try to ensure the pull of any one line is balanced by an opposing pull from another; for example, you should tension the four opposing corner guys against one another. Different types of tent (rigid pole frame tent, flexi-pole domes, tunnel, bell and so on) have different guying requirements. If you are not sure of the optimum angle or positioning, be guided by the tent's instructions, look for illustrations of the tent in use, or look round the campsite to see how similar tents have their guys deployed.
The main things to avoid are slack guys, not using all the lines, and not applying balanced tension all round the tent.
So much for securing the tent once it is pitched. But often trying to get the thing up in the first place causes the most difficulty and damage on windy days. I'm afraid there is no secret technique but when pitching in the wind work swiftly, be well organised, and take advantage of any lulls between gusts. Equally obviously take advantage of any shelter (or position your car as a windbreak).
Get everything possible prepared before you unroll the tent; for example, assemble the pole sets and position them, lay out the pegs and mallet, and so on. Once you are ready to unfold or unroll the tent itself, be sure to have several pegs in your pocket and use anything heavy (coolbox, tool box, even your car's spare wheel) to pin down the fabric as you position the poles and raise the tent. And don't be afraid to ask neighbouring campers or the warden for help - the more hands the merrier when it's windy.
After many windy camping trips, I have concluded that you don't need a bomb-proof low-profile 'tech' tent to shrug off the wind. I've seen large family tents and bargain-bucket cheapies stand up to near gales - and the common factor was they were pitched properly in well-chosen locations.
Good luck, everyone.
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