Run or stay, which way. Cyclone Linda

[cyan]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

Hard to believe that number... do you have a citation for the data? I'd like to see the records!!

Jim

Millimeters can become inches, but usually when fishing.
(Still a lot of rain, though.)

[Mr B]

Originally Posted by IslandHopper

Long way out with your figures there Brian, think someone is getting millimetres and inches mixed up.....

2 figures below with a Tully average from wiki.....

Tully daily rain summaries - www.farmonlineweather.com.au
= 1938.9mm (76.3in) Jan - March 2018 (49 days)

RAINFALL
= 1942.3 (76.5in) Jan - March 2018 (51 days)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tully,_Queensland

800 mm equals, approx 2 feet of rain, in 72 hours,

Thats what they got last week in the floods up there,

Thats the facts, Whether you believe it or not,

It has been declared a disaster area,

[IslandHopper]

Originally Posted by Mr B

800 mm equals, approx 2 feet of rain, in 72 hours,

Thats what they got last week in the floods up there,

Thats the facts, Whether you believe it or not,

It has been declared a disaster area,

You said 800 inches, that equals as near as 67 feet it makes no difference, read your post again

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by Mr B

Local Papers up there, Channel 7 News,
The Premier of Queensland was up there Inspecting the floods,
I dont know how you missed it, if you watched the 7 PM news,
It would have been on the news even in Tassie where you are,

Tully records it annual rainfall in feet, Not inches,

Cheers, Brian,

Yep, I bet it would have been on the news if your numbers were correct, Mr B, for that rate of fall would have even drowned Noah!

As Island Hopper previously pointed out, you seem to have mixed up units or otherwise confused the facts.

A little thought would show that 800 inches is about 67 FEET, an unlikely amount of rainfall for 72 hours... or days... or weeks.

Still damn wet up there.

Oh, btw, we don't have TV on the boat and thus don't get Channel 7 news, leading to frightful ignorance of disasters.

Jim

[Mr B]

My appologys, I did say 800 inches, Instead of 800 millimetres, My Mistake,

I possibly stuffed up converting millimetres to inches,

4 inches is approx 100 mm But 800 mm is still a lot of rain,
Its still about two feet in 72 hours,

[Mr B]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

Yep, I bet it would have been on the news if your numbers were correct, Mr B, for that rate of fall would have even drowned Noah!

As Island Hopper previously pointed out, you seem to have mixed up units or otherwise confused the facts.

A little thought would show that 800 inches is about 67 FEET, an unlikely amount of rainfall for 72 hours... or days... or weeks.

Still damn wet up there.

Oh, btw, we don't have TV on the boat and thus don't get Channel 7 news, leading to frightful ignorance of disasters.

Jim

FWIW, Jim,

Kogan in Sydney sell a 28 inch TV with DVD player combo, that runs on 12 volts,
I bough one for my RV, Works great, I will put it on my boat when I get it going,
They sell them online for about $170-00 AUD,

Cheers, Brian,

[44'cruisingcat]

Originally Posted by Mr B

The Queensland coast is approx 5000 miles long,
On average they endure about 6 cyclones a year,
Between November and March, Monsoon season,

For the past several years the BOM has been predicting above average to record numbers of cyclones crossing the Qld coast, (due to global warming) but we've had well below average seasons for at least the past 6 or 7 years.

And so far this season, none.

You'd have to think, to maintain the average there has to be some really nasty seasons ahead.

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by Mr B

FWIW, Jim,

Kogan in Sydney sell a 28 inch TV with DVD player combo, that runs on 12 volts,
I bough one for my RV, Works great, I will put it on my boat when I get it going,
They sell them online for about $170-00 AUD,

Cheers, Brian,

Ahh, FWIW Brian, the reason that we have no TV on board is that we don't want one. I haven't owned a TV since I was divorced in the late 1960s, and have no desire to change that state.

Jim

[Alan Mighty]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

Oh, btw, we don't have TV on the boat and thus don't get Channel 7 news, leading to frightful ignorance of disasters.

+1 on that.

The only recent authoritative survey on how tv channel owners construct news in Aus does show that Channel 7 is something of a leader in 'disaster as news', allowing it to deemphasize federal politics and other messy things that might upset the politicians who have power over messy things like fees and taxes that tv companies must pay.

Channel 7 news (in Sydney) spends 7% of its time on local disasters and 2% on international disasters.

SBS news almost reverses those allocations: 6% on international disasters (suggesting that SBS thinks the world outside Aus might be 3 times the size of Aus? or that its audience prefers foreign mishaps than local mishaps?) and 2% on local disasters, for a total of 8% disasters.

ABC news is somewhere in between: 3% on local disasters and 5% on international disasters, totalling 8% disasters.

So for that extra 1% of disaster, on what do you miss out should you choose to get your news from Channel 7 telly in Aus?

Prime Minister Turdball's appointee to the head of ABC commissioned the survey, with her goal being to turn the ABC news into something more like Channel 7 news. Easier for political parties and politicians to get the focus on sport and crime, away from federal politics.

You can find a link to that report in the middle of this story on how news is socially constructed: Why is that a story? | About the ABC

Or look at the key pie charts attached here.

Which brings me back to tv: why would you put a sewage outfall for spiritual pollution on something as clean and sacred as a sailing boat?

[Hasbeen]

Our cyclones are young & capricious. They have not had time to settle into an orderly pattern.


One of my first posts here was motoring through one in the Whitsundays in a 60 Ft island ferry, South Molls Islander. I was motoring through it because the weather bureau got it very wrong. In fact of the 4 cyclones I experienced in the Whitsundays, they got the timing right in only one.


In this instance, at 6.00 AM they advised we could expect the thing in our area in 48 hours. They progressively reduced the lead time over the next 5 hours, but were still telling us it would be about 7.00 PM, when it went past at 3.00 PM.


Here is the thread for anyone interested.


Hi Folks.

I posted a thread about sailing through a cyclone in the Whitsunday Islands of the Great Barrier Reef, & thought you might be interested in running a launch through one. She was The South Molle 60 Ft Ferry, with twin 4 71 GM diesel, & a lot more top hamper than you really want in rough conditions.

It was 1985 or 6, & I was running the marine division for South Mole Island in the Whitsundays. It was stores day, when our 95Ft barge loaded fuel, our freezer truck & our major order of stores for the week.

We had been watching a cyclone out in the Coral Sea for a few days, but at 5.00 AM the forecast was it would not affect us in the next 48 hours. The island powerhouse was getting low on diesel so at 6.00 AM I confirmed with the MacKay fuel supplier to send 15,000 gallons of diesel, 5,000 of petrol, & 1,000 of two stroke mix up on the tanker.

I sent the two large boats 29 & 24 metre International catamarans, off to our cyclone bolt hole on the mainland, & arranged for their families to go to a large high safe home that night. I kept the 60Ft island ferry out, as the resort requested 3 departures at 8.00 AM, midday & 4.00 PM for any guests who wanted off the island. It would take its chances at Shute harbour, as would the barge, after getting the supplies to the island.

9 AM the ferry is back, & the barge is at the jetty, pumping diesel ashore, & unloading stores. The wind is up, & it’s getting a bit rough at the jetty. The bureau correct their forecast, we have only 24 hours before the cyclone reaches us.

10 AM it is getting quite rough at the jetty, I tell the island the last ferry will leave at 11.00AM, confirm the power house has enough fuel, & send the barge off for Shute harbour. It’s square bow is not good for pushing into the growing seas.

11.00 AM I get on the ferry, with the departing island guests, & head for Shute harbor. The weather bureau corrects its forecast, the cyclone will be over us at 7.00 PM. I arrange our courtesy bus to pick up the big boats crews families & get them to the safe house, before meeting the ferry at Shute.

We hear a call from Whitsunday Rent a Yacht. 2 of their 35 footers are to the west of North Molle Island & in trouble. They cannot make headway in the rising seas. Can anyone help?

I don’t like this. Amateur sailors, with ropes, near propellers in rough conditions is asking for disaster, but what can you do. We are the only boat near, & just a couple of miles away. The 2 amateur skippers are very competent luckily, & we have them both in tow in just 45 minutes.
That’s when we get a call from the barge, it is losing power on the starboard engine, & can’t make headway towards Shute in the now moderate seaway. I can’t help him with these yachts out back, so tell the skipper to head to Airlie Beach, it’s mostly down wind, & out of the rough stuff. He is to shove the thing up into the mangroves, drop all the anchor gear, & get home. His family were not taken to the safe house, as he should have been home.
The wind is up to about 40 knots by now, from a little east of south east. We keep as close in to the western coast of South Molle as safely possible, as I want to get south of Shute harbour entrance, then bring the wind & sea on the aft quarter as we cross Mole Channel into Shute. The ferry only has a couple of 4 71 GM diesels, & with a bluff bow, I’m not sure she could make headway into the growing sea, with the yachts in tow.

1.00 PM we finally get into Shute Harbour after a fair battle with increasing seas. As we do, the whole bay starts smoking. Spray is rising up from the water like a dancing mist, first at the far end of the harbour, coming to meet us as we get near the jetty. This indicates about 70 knots of wind usually, but it only lasts for a couple of minutes.

We get the yachts as close to their facility as possible, & get them to drop their tow. The company has their staff there to help now.

We get our thing tied up about 2.30 PM, & head for Airlie Beach, to look after our own families. Strangely it is not that bad at Airlie. In fact by 4.00 PM it is a quite nice afternoon. That smoking water was the switch to North West wind as the eye passed just south of us.

It is fortunate the folk of the weather bureau were many miles away from the Whitsundays. If I could have got to them just then, I might have done something very nasty to them, with the sharp end of a pineapple.

It wasn’t actually their fault that the cyclone suddenly sped up, & the speed of travel of the thing helped keep the wind speed down, but I could have done with not sailing right through it.

[DumnMad]

Originally Posted by Alan Mighty

+1 on that.

Which brings me back to tv: why would you put a sewage outfall for spiritual pollution on something as clean and sacred as a sailing boat?

Nicely put A-M