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Quote: Originally posted by russandjax on 02/4/2011

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Hi All

Our very first camping trip turned into a frightening nightmare!

We pitched and set up in 2hours lol and everything was great the first night.

By breakfast time the winds picked up...first to suffer was the canopy.  Our cooker was in here and the wind just took it across the field...we just shoved everytning inside the tnet and managed to get the canopy down.

By now the tent was folding in on itself, the gusts were hitting it from the side and my H was fighting a loosing battle with the guy rope pegs etc.

We decided to get the hell out of hell lol...(it was terrifying).  However once we started to empty the tent the wind had no resistance, and whilst H was still inside it, the winds just took it.  He was knocked off his feet but ok.  The carpet, airbed, bedding etc were down the field, the tent wrapped around a fence...oh the footprint was still in place...for about 10 mins lol!!!

The tent has 2 rips that we could see..the back pole is shattered and the tent ripped away from the seems.

We have no idea if we could have done anything to prevent this happening, apart from staying at home lol!

The winds must have been 45-60mph.  Any suggestions or similar experiences appreciated please..

We are covered in bruises and were very stressed, but not sure if this was our fault or a flaw in the tent, or just mother nature.

Thanks for reading

Jax

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50-60mph winds are strong enough to uproot large trees and blow the roofs off houses...what chance did you have in a tent?

I think the lesson to be learned here is don't go camping if strong winds are forecast. It just isn't worth it. I probably wouldn't voluntarily go camping in anything over 30 mph winds and I would think twice at that.

Reading your other posts it seems that you weren't placing the pegs at the right angle but to be honest, even if you had, I doubt whether your tent would have been saved. In some cases, a peg which doesn't pull out of the ground in really bad weather is instrumental in the tent tearing.

A collapsed tent due to the pegs pulling out is salvagable but not if it is torn to shreds. In my experience most tents subject to storms are damaged by the material tearing rather than the pegs pulling out. You can see this in numerous utube videos. In your case it is doubtful any type of peg would have saved your tent.

You have been advised regarding certain tent pegs, steel poled tents, etc. All good advice given in good faith but take a look around the campsite on your next trip and you will find at least 50% or more of tents are the ordinary fibreglass poled type and pegs vary from the regular wire pegs to rock pegs to steel pegs to plastic pegs of all shapes and sizes and most people survive a lifetime of camping without problems...you learned the hard way...but...that story will last you a lifetime at the pub bar and with the grandkids  

Having said all that I bought a metal poled tent because I am getting older now and the excitement of a fibre poled tunnel tent almost collapsing on top of me in a storm is no longer...er...exciting. I've not tested the metal poled tent in a storm yet though. I now keep a good eye on the weather forecast

Can't really comment whether the tent was at fault or it was due to set up related issues or a combination of both, however, I had experienced high wind during that stormy weekend in July last year.

I used a mixture of Deltas and 9in angled steel pegs for my set up, which included the additional storm guys for my Khyam Freelander tent.

Deltas were used for all load-bearing guys - all the guys for poles for the canopy, the ends of the wind break, and the main poles for the tent.

The wind was so strong the first night I really thought the tent was going to collapse. The dog was so scared by the noise he wanted to be hugged all the time.

We could not sleep due to the noise from the wind and the rain. Home was only 45min drive away, and I was very tempted to go home. However, I decided to sleep in the car instead, and grapped the sleeping bag and off we went, much to the amusement of my next pitch neighbours in a caravan.

We woke up to a calm and beautiful morning, and found the windbreak of my concertina kitchen and a bottle of oil got blown over. Everything else remained standing with no breakage.

The tent incurred a very small damage - a hole in the mess screen of one of the windows where it ground itself against the corner of the aluminium table. No big deal as I do not use that window at all.

Here is a pic of my set up during that trip. It may look a bit of a Health and Safety nightmare with all the guys, however, I left a clear passage way for entry with ease and for the dog to move about without getting tangled up.

I would like believe the number of guys used, in conjunction with strong pegs and good pegging, along with whatever up there that was looking after us that night, had saved me from loosing my tent, canopy and windbreak.

DK

I like my vango tent because of the TBSystem, as it gives it that bit more stability in the winds,  It only cost me about £120, It has served me well in all kinds of weather and it's entering it's 5th season.     I remember my first trip, I just finished pitching the tent, when it started raining.  That night it blew a hooley driving rain and wind.   I used the pegs which came with the tent, but for some reason, I doubled pegged and crossed them, it worked a treat.  I was a wreck with worry hoping that the tent would survive,   It was a toss up between views or shelter.  pitched the tent at the bottem of the hill, risking the potential of flooding, or having a high hedge for protection.

What was really nice and apprecitive, the owner asked if we managed to stay dry and if we were ok.

Heather

Quote: Originally posted by dk168 on 03/4/2011

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