Icebound wrote:

Thus I wonder if leaving the tail loose, and tieing down at the nose gear
would make more sense. I don't see this as putting more pressure on the
wing-tiedowns because I feel that a tied-down tail would have given way
anyway, long before the wings reach any sort of critical point.

Leaving the tail loose will allow a wind from the rear to push the plane over. The
wind will be able to exercise a tremendous amount of leverage on the horizontal
stabilizer.

I normally keep 1/2" nylon tiedowns on my taildragger. When we get hurricane
warnings, I add a set of 3/8" nylon ropes from the tiedown rings to the wing struts.
for the last serious storm, I tied lift spoilers to the tops of the wings.

I've been here over 20 years. So far, our storms haven't been as serious as the worst
of the Florida storms. We rarely see winds higher than 100 mph.

George Patterson
If you want to know God's opinion of money, just look at the people
he gives it to.