florida storms--sail through . they end fast.
surprises only happen to the brain dead and comatose, as all
weather is visible in advance-- cannot see them at night but you feel the pre conditions--changes in sea state and air movement and sounds. all is part of the impending doom by which you are allegedly surprised.
in daylight it is easier to see. visible changes in sky and winds. read them and learn the meanings of each subtle or not so subtle change. growing cloud cover is a dead giveaway. patterns of those clouds.. can you see that line squall coming your way?
can you see the clouds that will cause issues and recognize those issues???
why do you think you are a sailor if you can not do these simple tasks and recognize your weather--do you even know the patterns of your local daily
weather?? and in different seasons can you say what is normal and what is impending doom???
do you know how to see growing cloud cover in darkness?? remember those lil bright things you call stars--can you see them and if so, where is the end of the visibility of these stars--all kindsa ways to know what is happening around you. so important to know weather IFF you consider youyrself a sailor.
no this aint taught in most
asa classes not even advanced. but if you learn via an old
salt with a real and earned captains license--merchant
marine and navy--you will. the more you sail the more you know.
you will never stop
learning about weather or about sailing. there is always moire to learn. always.
i know ann and jim and some others on this forum know this stuff. they aint dead yet. good
work kids.
there are others i know also know this stuff. they are my age, thereabouts ,. or slightly less old ha ha h aha ha this is also known by
water folks -- fishers, tug
boat operators---so many different --even
oil rig workers. hahaha they live in it, they have to know.
so do yourself a huge favor and learn your weather , as you are not a sailor until you know your weather. that was my second lesson at age 7. "a GOOD sailor knows his weather"
my uncle was not overly talkative and he expected us to use our gods gifted brains for something . he taught us well. we learned responsibility for others and ourselves and
boat and respect and how to address those we respect, which is also part of sailing, historically.
we learned mark twain for two fathoms
depth of river, and how to read our knotted line for boatspeed. he made a new one each trip we took.
this is important info iff you wish to use sailing for anything --racing, cruising--bobbing in ocean.
no storm is a surprise. my uncle saw and felt the line squall we were "caught " in about an hour before it showed obvious cloudy skies and big
wind.
we had time to get to a shoal and
anchor down and hunker before it came--we even made
food and ate before it hit. was excellent lesson. we had no
engine on that antique
sloop.
i had a squall come at me in zihuatenejo one night--something woke me at about 120 am.
ok listening-- nothing . roll over... then the tarps made a different than usual sound--wind had changed. ok.
out onto
deck i look around. i see a tiny spec of intermittent light quite far to the west of us. waaay out to sea.
ok. watched it a bit --until it was obvious where it was headed. by then it was 2 ish am.. i hunkered boat well for a storm while anchored without a protective shoal very close to a potential surf line.
let out chain, tied tarps lower to
cabin and made sure nothing gonna pull me anywhere i didnot want to go --took me a coupla few minutes--as i worked i noticed the increasing
wind from yet another direction, and the lil cute storm was getting larger and actually closer. ok. we had 2 -4 hours of a squall then peace.
no issue. ye deal with it and live. someone dragged -- they were not awake at the early part of the adventure to prep and storm awakened them. the
lighting was only noisey from half hour out. the visual was gorgeous. i would not want to have faced it out at sea in pacific.
pacific ocean gets wicked before she has had her coffee.
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