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August 22 - Caribbean Sea
Here are three photos that give a little idea why folks in
the Caribbean have a healthy fear of hurricanes. They show the
damage caused by Hurricane Lenny, a relatively weak hurricane
that settled in between St. Martin and St. Barts last year after
most people figured that the hurricane season was over.
Chris Columbus named St. Barts after his brother. The structures
seen in the photos are just over the hill from the bay named after
Chris. Fast forward to the 1950s, when the Rockefellers flew down
to the Caribbean in a seaplane and bought up many of the best
properties for nearly nothing - including the property that backs
the beautiful bay at Columbie. Out on the point they built perhaps
the most distinctive structure in the Caribbean, the pyramid-shaped
'hurricane house'. The house was actually used by the CIA to spy
electronically on Cuba in the '60s. There are no roads to the
former Rockefeller place and spy shack, so the CIA had the Army
Corps of Engineers build a brick shithouse of a dock.
As you can see from the photos, even a damn-the-expense Army Corps
of Engineers dock is no match for a minor Caribbean hurricane.
Steel plates were bent in unimaginable ways and cement was blasted
out in all directions. In the second photo, Dona de Mallorca stands
at the top of the driveway, about 200 feet from the end of the
pier and about 30 feet above sea level. Even that far up from
the ocean, the roadway was totally destroyed. In the third photo,
Caribbean legend D. Randy West stands in the garage of the house
and poses with some of the rocks that were thrown up into the
garage with enough force to knock the pick-up truck sideways.
This is just one example of the damage. Over in the main town
of Gustavia, some of the 2,000-lb cement jacks used to form the
breakwater for the port were tossed up onto the road 20 feet above
sea level. No matter if you're at land or sea, take shelter when
even a minor hurricane heads your way.
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August 22 - Caribbean Sea
As we write this, Hurricane Debby is passing just to the north
of the British Virgins, and her 65-knot winds are putting her
at the minimum hurricane strength. So far the reports from the
Caribbean are excellent, as Antigua, St. Martin and other Leeward
Islands she's passed have felt little affect and almost no damage.
For great island by island first hand reports, visit http://stormcarib.com/.
Debby is showing a slight northern component, which hopefully
will take her to the north of Puerto Rico. While not a particularly
large or strong hurricane, she's still headed in the general direction
of Florida and remains a source of concern.
Hurricane Debby
Unisys Weather Graphic
There are no other tropical storms of concern in the Atlantic/Caribbean or the Eastern Pacific. But for more tropical weather details, visit http://weather.unisys.com/hurricane/atlantic/2000/index.html and http://weather.unisys.com/hurricane/e_pacific/2000/index.html
Pacific Weather UpdatesAugust 22 - Pacific Ocean San Francisco Bay WeatherTo see what the winds are like on the Bay right now, check out http://sfports.wr.usgs.gov/wind/. It's a great time of year to be sailing the Bay. California Coast WeatherLooking for current as well as recent wind and sea readings
from 17 buoys and stations between Pt. Arena and the Mexican
border? Here's the place - which has further links to weather
buoys and stations all over the U.S. Pacific Ocean WeatherCheck out the graphic at right. |
 University of Hawaii Meteorology Graphic |
Seas are normal in the Pacific. But you might check at:
http://www.mpc.ncep.noaa.gov/RSSA/PacRegSSA.html.
For another view, see http://www.oceanweather.com/data/global.html.
August 22 - The United Kingdom and the United States
The Americans are coming! The Americans are coming! One of the
great success stories in fiberglass boat production was Westerly
Yachts of England. They started in 1963 with bilge keel 22-footers
and rocked the boatbuilding world in the late '60s by producing
2,500 of the slightly larger Centaurs. They claim that was the
largest number of any model fiberglass production boat of that
size in the world, but we think Catalina might have beat them
with a couple of models. Nonetheless, in recent decades Westerly
has been in financial trouble as a result of tired designs in
a new world. In July, Westerly was sold to two businessmen from
Houston who had previously owned Westerlys. About the same time,
Hunter Yachts of Florida, which has been leading many of the changes
in modern production boat design and manufacturing, picked up
all the Westerly equipment for their new plant in Portland, England,
that will come on line in November. Up to 400 locals will be employed
to build the Legend 290, 320 and 340.
But that's not the full extent of the American invasion. The British
company Prout Catamarans Ltd., which has built 4,200 cats during
the last 40 years - and claims 10 million ocean miles with an
unequaled safety record - was sold to Quest Marine Holdings, which,
like Hunter Marine, is based in Florida.
August 22 - The Pacific Ocean and Cyberspace
Who is out making passages in the Pacific and what kind of weather are they having? Check out YOTREPS - 'yacht reports' - at http://www.bitwrangler.com/yotreps/
August 22 - San Francisco
Larry Ellison's St. Francis-based challenge for the America's
Cup in Auckland in 2003 won't be lacking for practice boats. In
addition to the two AmericaOne boats he bought from Paul Cayard's
AmericaOne syndicate, Oracle Racing has acquired both of the boats
from John Kolius' Aloha Challenge from Hawaii.
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