Stormy Weather
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All’s well that ends well
While I have made many hundreds of trips from Portsmouth Harbor to the Isles of Shoals across the full range of weather and seasons (wind, rain, fog, snow and freezing spray) I had never been thoroughly scared until one afternoon a few weeks ago.
Read MoreOn microbursts and mayhem
Years ago I was at a dock in Connecticut when friends of mine returned from a trip to Block Island aboard their 36-footer. They practically kissed the ground once their lines were thrown, and, to a man, were visibly shaken. The hours-old experience they described? Soon after leaving Great SaltRead More
Read MoreIn the wake of Isaias
The surreal aspect of Aug. 4 didn’t begin until 3 p.m. This was the Tuesday that Tropical Storm Isaias rolled through New England, and I was listening to the radio, one eye on my computer screen and the other on the wildly cavorting trees outside my window. Suddenly, this interruptionRead More
Read MoreForce 8 Cape Cod
June, 1994. 200 miles south of The Cape. Wind 40 knots, gusting higher. 20-foot waves. Water north of the Gulf Stream 50 degrees. Destination, Spain. This is the story of how we almost got there.
Read MoreA lament for the late, great, fog
A lot of coasters curse the fog. I miss it. Though a lifetime of sailing may be too brief a span to draw any reliable conclusions, it seems that the Gulf of Maine fog stocks are in decline, particularly during the last decade. During one cruise back in the ’80sRead More
Read MoreHurricane Dorian and the “dream wedding”
The last big weekend of the year promised a full house at the Oceanic Hotel. A two-day island wedding extravaganza was also on the schedule.
Read MoreStruck by lightning
A severe thunderstorm, covering many square miles of ocean, stalked our old gaff-yawl as she sailed home to Bristol, R.I., from Block Island.
Read MoreChallenging Charley
The locals told us not to worry. The forecasters said Charley would run up through the Gulf of Mexico well off shore.
Read MoreA visit from Isabel
Belhaven seemed like a fine place for a couple of southbound New England cruisers to ride out a hurricane. Then Isabel decided she’d like to visit too.
Read MoreHow nasty can the weather get out there?
So nasty that “In the middle of the sound, and the rain is coming down in torrents. The thunder and lightning are simultaneous. No sense trying to count the seconds to see how far off the storm is – it’s here! ”
Read MoreHow nasty can the weather get out there?
August 2003 By William E. Macdonald For Points East Without a doubt the worst weather I ever encountered on the water was a snowstorm during the winter of 1983, on my way home to Frenchboro during the early evening hours on my 26-foot Trojan. And just what was I doingRead More
Read MoreHow nasty can the weather get out there?
So nasty that “Lightning had struck about 100 feet off the port side of the boat. A 50-foot circle of sizzling, boiling white water expanded from the spot of the strike and dissipated into the surrounding water. ”
Read MoreHow nasty can the weather get out there?
So nasty that “the wind clocked around and before the boat could answer the helm, the boom jibed hard with a force that shook the entire boat.”
Read MoreWinter’s worst
With an out-of-season hurricane snapping at their heels, a cruising couple struggles to save their new boat.
Read MoreRemind me to call those forecasters
February, 2000 By Carlene M. Grossi For Points East It had been a relatively uneventful August cruise for the two sailboats from Newport, R.I., a Catalina 30 and a Pearson 30. Oh sure, there had been fog, and the broken spreader, and the calls in “sick” to work, and theRead More
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