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Harvey, Irma, Irma, Maria and Lee

Hurricane season is not ‘officially’ over until November 30, something we’re reminded of following the devastation of Harvey, Irma and tropical storms/hurricanes Jose, Katia, Lee and Maria.  

Just 12 days after Irma ravaged the northern islands of the Lesser Antilles, Hurricane Maria is gaining strength as it approaches Dominica and Guadeloupe in the Eastern Caribbean. Maria’s path is farther south than Irma’s, but may still strike already wounded islands. Following Irma, many recreational boaters in Puerto Rico have loaded up to help bring supplies to support the Virgin Islanders, but now Maria is aiming at Puerto Rico.

Maria is crossing the islands to the south of Irma’s path. Though a relatively smaller storm, it could cause plenty of damage to people, islands and boats in its path.

© 2017 NOAA

The French island of Guadeloupe is yet another major charter boat center in the path of a hurricane, as well as a staging area for recovery efforts for the Irma-battered islands of St. Martin and St. Barth. Many residents of St. Martin were taken to Guadeloupe to escape the near-total devastation there.

The only good news about Maria thus far is that it appears she’ll go south of the most heavily Irma-ravaged islands of Barbuda (which is now completely abandoned), St. Barth, St. Martin and Anguilla. Unfortunately for the devastated British and US Virgins, there is about a 50% chance they’ll get hit by 50-knot winds — and perhaps worse, torrential rain.

The strength and destruction of Irma and the frequency of this season’s hurricanes might prompt outside observers to ask, ‘Why is this happening?’ The short answer is: because it’s hurricane season. According to storm data from the last 150 years, there have always been especially active periods which have included back-to-back hurricanes. Consider 2005, when 28 tropical stroms turned into a record 15 hurricanes — including Katrina, a devastating Category 5 — according to the National Hurricane Center’s North Atlantic hurricane database. A typical hurricane season has approximately 10 named storms, of which about six become hurricanes and approximately two become major hurricanes, or a Category 3 or higher.

In a sense, the Lesser Antilles, like the United States, have been ‘overdue’ for major hurricanes.

But there’s an elephant in the room: Did climate change cause or intensify Irma, Harvey, and other storms of the recent past? A few days ago, CNN quoted Sean Sublette, a meteorologist with Climate Central, a nonprofit science and news organization: "Climate change makes very bad storms worse," Sublette was quoted as saying. "And in the case of a really bad storm, climate change can make it totally disastrous or catastrophic."

On their website, Climate Central went on to say that "looking forward, hurricanes are projected to produce more rain, and the strongest storms are also expected to become more common. However, the overall frequency of hurricanes is projected to be nearly the same, or perhaps even decrease."

While we are watching these developing storms, we know many sailors have already leapt into action to help the people of the islands recover. How can you help?

Recovering from a devastating storm has three steps: In the short term, people simply need food, shelter and security, for which numerous groups are mobilizing aid. Secondly, the tourism-based economies will need visitors to help restart their battered lives — your next island vacation will help.

Third is the bigger-picture plan: reducing climate change. While it’s important to remember that hurricanes — even back-to-back ones like we’re seeing this year — are natural phenomena, we’ll heed the advice of climate-change scientists who say that even small changes in Earth’s temperature have exponential effects on the strength of storms. 

And the majority of scientists are unanimous in the opinion that that we should all be reducing our carbon footprint. If you live on land like you live on a sailboat, you’re already helping. More walking, less driving (less fuel), less meat in your diet, more renewable energy and more time with the sails up and engine off.

Fingers crossed that Maria is gentler than Irma. Katia has dissipated over Mexico, Lee looks like it’s falling apart, and Jose is now a slow-moving tropical storm ready to provide some rain on the northeast.

Over in the Pacific, Norma has been harassing the tip of Cabo but appears to be weakening and moving offshore — and farther out in the Pacific, Hurricane Otis is weakening. There are still ten weeks left until the ‘end’ of hurricane season, but everyone hopes we’ve seen the last of them for this year.

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There’s no point in mourning the "good old days" of the St. Francis Yacht Club Big Boat Series — you know, when the boats were really big, with lots of 70-footers and such.
Acknowledging the adage that ‘a picture is worth a thousand words’, we’ll let the accompanying photo by Glenn Twitchell give the definitive answer to what’s so good about the Sea of Cortez.