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bigelowp
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1736 Posts
Initially Posted - 04/04/2021 :  06:59:52  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Just some musings . . . .

This is more for those living in the northeast US, however may pertain to other areas as well. Having lived in the same area for most of my life, and not being a spring chicken, I cannot remember a year with as many "gale warnings" or 'Small Craft Advisory's" as this one. In fact since December 1 there have been 63 days with such advisory/warnings on western Long Island Sound! Tomorrow yet another. Equally, my little neighborhood has lost many large "specimen" trees over the past six months because of the winds. So, call it global warming or whatever my concern is ---- if this keeps up what will this summer sailing conditions be?

Maybe I need to invest in a storm trysail!
Peter Bigelow
C-25 TR/FK #2092 Limerick
Rowayton, Ct
Port Captain: Rowayton/Norwalk/Darien CT

Voyager
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
5231 Posts
Response Posted - 04/09/2021 :  22:11:02  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Pete, I agree, being right up the pike from you. We’ve had plenty of gales and high wind warnings in a season — Dec to Mar — when we get most of our windy days. In addition to the winds felling trees, the trees themselves appear to be more diseased than ever before with invasive bug species like woolly adelgids killing hemlocks, ash borer beetles taking down 4 huge ash trees in my yard and something else killing my white pine trees.
Summertime hereabouts usually has the least windy days. Long Island Sound usually sees winds that are SW @ 5-10 kts from June 1 to mid-September. Occasionally, with the passage of a cold front we’ll get NW @20 with gusts to 30. Or winds associated with thunderstorms. Hopefully shorten sail at those times.
Might be a good idea to have a staysail handy for those windier days.
Bruce Ross
Passage ~ SR-FK ~ C25 #5032

Port Captain — Milford, CT
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islander
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
3992 Posts
Response Posted - 04/10/2021 :  04:08:21  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Ok so I'm not alone in thinking there are an unusual amount of high wind days lately.
Scott-"IMPULSE"87'C25/SR/WK/Din.#5688
Sailing out of Glen Cove,L.I Sound


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Stinkpotter
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Djibouti
9013 Posts
Response Posted - 04/11/2021 :  19:06:54  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
So Peter, are you thinking you'll go out in those gales, or just have to unexpectedly get back in?

When delivering our "new" C-25 from Mystic down to Darien, we watched a big front approach, and heard NOAA warnings of 75+ winds on the sound... We rolled up the genny and dropped the main as we motored toward the CT River and grabbed a mooring in North Cove at Old Saybrook just before it hit, blowing tree branches into onto the boat. For us, as brand new owners, "tucking and running" was the only option. That never really changed... For anyone 12 hours (or a week) from shelter, it's a different story--storm trysail, triple reef,... We were not going to be one of them (and clearly didn't have the boat for it either).

Hopefully the battle between the heat and the cold will subside, and summer will be calmer--often too calm on western Long Island Sound...
Dave Bristle
Association "Port Captain" for Mystic/Stonington CT
PO of 1985 C-25 SR/FK #5032 Passage, USCG "sixpack" (expired),
Now on Eastern 27 $+!nkp*+ Sarge
Edited by - Stinkpotter on 04/11/2021 19:10:00
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bigelowp
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1736 Posts
Response Posted - 04/12/2021 :  06:27:24  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Definitely will not knowingly be heading out in them, but does add concern that weather could change faster and to more severe than has been usual in the past. Over the years have done my fair share of "Tucking and running" and am not ashamed to continue doing the same in the future!
Peter Bigelow
C-25 TR/FK #2092 Limerick
Rowayton, Ct
Port Captain: Rowayton/Norwalk/Darien CT
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Stinkpotter
Master Marine Consultant

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Djibouti
9013 Posts
Response Posted - 04/12/2021 :  11:41:03  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
I call putting safety ahead of everything else, especially appearances, "Seamanship". There will always a nicer time to go out, or another chance to sail back to the mooring or marina, or another day to race...

Peter, you remember the fateful race on a Sunday out of Noroton Yacht Club in Darien, when the forecasts starting at least three days earlier were for a major, violent front on that day, and the western sky turned greenish-black (the worst sign!) over an hour before it arrived. I happened to be in Greenwich when I saw that sky, and drove back to Darien to button up our boat at the dock. It was then that I saw the racers returning to the club just as it hit--shocking! I didn't know until later what happened out there--it was the ultimate shame.
Dave Bristle
Association "Port Captain" for Mystic/Stonington CT
PO of 1985 C-25 SR/FK #5032 Passage, USCG "sixpack" (expired),
Now on Eastern 27 $+!nkp*+ Sarge
Edited by - Stinkpotter on 04/12/2021 11:49:42
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Voyager
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
5231 Posts
Response Posted - 04/12/2021 :  17:50:55  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
The same thing happened to a friend at Cedar Point Yacht Club (Westport, CT) in June 2019. The forecast for Sunday morning was expected to be partly cloudy with a chance of T’storms. Allofasudden, a backdoor cold front appeared and a squall line developed while the sailors were racing around the buoys. They were a mile or so offshore, so had no safe harbor within easy reach.
Most of the boats suffered some damage, one or two were swamped and another one sunk.
Here’s the link for the incident:
Storm
Pictures and everything. I was driving around that day and believe me, I was glad I hadn’t gone sailing. It was a hellacious 20 minutes.
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bigelowp
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1736 Posts
Response Posted - 04/13/2021 :  13:16:18  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Dave: Sure do remember that day and race. The gentleman -- Sam Dorrance -- who perished was a VERY experienced sailor. That front hit like a freight train. Back in the early 90s I was out in my 19 ft sailboat when a similar front came through. I was heading in but still had a heck of a time securing to the mooring. Those events have been rare, I just hope they stay that way!
Peter Bigelow
C-25 TR/FK #2092 Limerick
Rowayton, Ct
Port Captain: Rowayton/Norwalk/Darien CT
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Stinkpotter
Master Marine Consultant

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Djibouti
9013 Posts
Response Posted - 04/13/2021 :  14:48:58  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Granted, they didn't have weather radar on iPhones in 1997, but three days broadcast notice, and over an hour of clear, visual warning out on the water! Then all hell broke loose--just as it was expected to. Experienced or not, both Sam (as skipper) and the Noroton Yacht Club were jointly and blatantly responsible for his death.

Something like it happened to us in May of 2000, without the forecast but with a NOAA warning and the visual when we were halfway from Mystic to Mattituck, LI. We just got the second mooring pennant on the cleat in Old Saybrook when the dead air turned to hurricane force in seconds.
Dave Bristle
Association "Port Captain" for Mystic/Stonington CT
PO of 1985 C-25 SR/FK #5032 Passage, USCG "sixpack" (expired),
Now on Eastern 27 $+!nkp*+ Sarge
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bigelowp
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1736 Posts
Response Posted - 04/14/2021 :  13:59:48  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Bruce: interesting feed. I had either not known or forgotten about the Cedar Point incident. While not knowing the sailors, small world that I do know who took the pictures. Atlantics are beautiful but carry lots of canvas.
Peter Bigelow
C-25 TR/FK #2092 Limerick
Rowayton, Ct
Port Captain: Rowayton/Norwalk/Darien CT
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Voyager
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
5231 Posts
Response Posted - 04/14/2021 :  14:42:38  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Peter, it’s a small world. You know the photographer.
My mother-in-law’s visiting nurse is a member at Cedar Point and she and her partner were sailing that morning on another class of boats at the club. They had just finished racing and were cleaning up safely at the docks when the weather hit. She was very glad that they weren’t out on the water.
Bruce Ross
Passage ~ SR-FK ~ C25 #5032

Port Captain — Milford, CT
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bigelowp
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1736 Posts
Response Posted - 05/02/2021 :  12:05:56  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
FWIW -- in the month since I first posted this we have had 8 days with Gale warning and 10 with small craft advisories.
Peter Bigelow
C-25 TR/FK #2092 Limerick
Rowayton, Ct
Port Captain: Rowayton/Norwalk/Darien CT
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Voyager
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
5231 Posts
Response Posted - 05/02/2021 :  21:02:06  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
... and more to come in May. The jet stream is still looking like a wintertime pattern with storms crossing the country every three days or so and cold fronts following warm fronts with strong low pressure centers with barometric pressures below 29.0 in-HG.

You can see that pretty dramatically on my favorite NOAA/NWS page. Here’s the Seven Day Graphical Forecast. Using Zulu time, daytime is 12Z to 00Z next day and nighttime is the opposite.

I also have a personal weather station in my yard at PWS with temperature, wind speed and direction plus barometric pressure.

I have been watching the weather all month and about 6 miles inland from the shore at 280ft elevation I’ve seen many days in April with over 50 mph gusts. The stormy pattern is likely to persist until month’s end or into early June.
Bruce Ross
Passage ~ SR-FK ~ C25 #5032

Port Captain — Milford, CT
Edited by - Voyager on 05/02/2021 21:18:43
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