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Season's Hopes
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rcvesselstyn
- Posts: 304
- Joined: Fri Oct 18, 2019 9:54 am
May our New Year be safe and happy! Smooth sailing everybody...
1977 Cal 2 29 Emerald Flash #964 , Isthmus, Catalina Island , California
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[email protected]
- Posts: 10
- Joined: Thu Dec 10, 2020 8:05 am
Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and to all a following breeze!
Don and Eileen Dutton
1986 Cal 33-2, "Quantum Evolution"
Don and Eileen Dutton
1986 Cal 33-2, "Quantum Evolution"
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Mary Mac
- Site Admin
- Posts: 281
- Joined: Thu Oct 17, 2019 11:27 am
- Location: Alameda/Manhattan Beach
Happy Holidays from Manhattan Beach Pier!
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Mary
https://svmuleka.com
Muleka 1978 Cal 34-III #111 Marina Village, Alameda, California
Nepenthe 1976 Kelly Peterson 44 #116 Redondo Beach, California
https://svmuleka.com
Muleka 1978 Cal 34-III #111 Marina Village, Alameda, California
Nepenthe 1976 Kelly Peterson 44 #116 Redondo Beach, California
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SailingChris
- Posts: 77
- Joined: Fri Oct 18, 2019 9:15 am
I tried to post this and it looks like it didn't take. I'll try again and apologize if it is duplicative.
On the subject of fair winds.... I was reading my latest issue of Sailing magazine last night and turned first, as usual, to Bill Schanen's column. In it he was remarking on changes he has observed in sailing winds: they're getting stronger, meaning fewer of those "just right" perfect summer sailing winds. It's an effect of climate change. I've been watching online weather data from a tower at the entrance to the Saginaw River channel on Lake Huron's Saginaw Bay. Type "SBLM4" into the search engine and you can see what's happening 7 mi. out in Saginaw Bay. Lately the winds have been regularly in the 20 knot range. The good news is that they have been mostly W, NW, that general tendency.
It's a matter of interest because I have a tiny summer cottage at the SW end of Saginaw Bay. Our big storms are the ones from the NE, waves that roll all the way from Canada. The Great Lakes have quasi-cyclical episodes of high water and low water. This year we set new records for high levels on Lakes Michigan and Huron. High water + NE blow = erosion and flooding. Just as "100 year floods" seem to be happening every couple of years now, so also are "100 year storms" and when they are from the NE, there is hell to pay.
But even when we're not setting records, the tendency toward higher winds has made single-handed sailing more challenging. It's not just a matter of wind strength. It's the effect of the wind on the boat in close quarters--near shore, near shoals, in narrow channels, or when surrounded in a channel by lots of power boats. That's when there's little time for action and errors can raise the heart rate. I recall an interview in a sailing mag with a world cruiser. She was asked if it weren't frightening out there all alone in the middle of the ocean. "Oh no," she said, "what's frightening is the hard stuff around the edges." These days i am reminded of that often.
So let's all hope and act for fair winds, indeed.
Chris Campbell
On the subject of fair winds.... I was reading my latest issue of Sailing magazine last night and turned first, as usual, to Bill Schanen's column. In it he was remarking on changes he has observed in sailing winds: they're getting stronger, meaning fewer of those "just right" perfect summer sailing winds. It's an effect of climate change. I've been watching online weather data from a tower at the entrance to the Saginaw River channel on Lake Huron's Saginaw Bay. Type "SBLM4" into the search engine and you can see what's happening 7 mi. out in Saginaw Bay. Lately the winds have been regularly in the 20 knot range. The good news is that they have been mostly W, NW, that general tendency.
It's a matter of interest because I have a tiny summer cottage at the SW end of Saginaw Bay. Our big storms are the ones from the NE, waves that roll all the way from Canada. The Great Lakes have quasi-cyclical episodes of high water and low water. This year we set new records for high levels on Lakes Michigan and Huron. High water + NE blow = erosion and flooding. Just as "100 year floods" seem to be happening every couple of years now, so also are "100 year storms" and when they are from the NE, there is hell to pay.
But even when we're not setting records, the tendency toward higher winds has made single-handed sailing more challenging. It's not just a matter of wind strength. It's the effect of the wind on the boat in close quarters--near shore, near shoals, in narrow channels, or when surrounded in a channel by lots of power boats. That's when there's little time for action and errors can raise the heart rate. I recall an interview in a sailing mag with a world cruiser. She was asked if it weren't frightening out there all alone in the middle of the ocean. "Oh no," she said, "what's frightening is the hard stuff around the edges." These days i am reminded of that often.
So let's all hope and act for fair winds, indeed.
Chris Campbell
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