It’s been a quiet hurricane season so far, but it looks like it could soon get interesting. In Norfolk, Virginia, the Dashews prepare Beowulf, just in case.
There’s nothing like a hurricane sitting a few hundred miles away (over the Gulf Stream – gathering strength) to concentrate one’s thinking!
We’ve been in the Norfolk, Virginia area for the last few days, tied up at Cobbs Marina in Little Creek. Howdy Bailey, a retired metal boat builder, is doing some work on Beowulf for us (changing a bit of stainless, modifying deck fittings, and adding a beam between the coamings to help distribute the luff load of our big mizzen genoa).
A couple of days ago a tropical disturbance formed between Cape Hatteras and Bermuda. That got our attention. It has been gathering strength and is now a full fledged hurricane, although not particularly stong – 75 to 80 knots, gusting higher. The area of hurricane-strength winds is pretty small. Still, it has brought home the fact that we are sitting in a part of the world where these storms occasionally visit land.
After making inquiries we’ve found a land-locked marina, about 30 miles away, in a non-tidal area (which theoretically means moderated storm surge). There’s a bridge that needs to be opened on the way there, and we’ve made a date for Friday afternoon.
Beowulf’s roller-furling jib has been removed, and today we’ll pull all but one halyard on each mast to the masthead, to further reduce windage. When we get the boat parked we’ll double-wrap our main and mizzen with line to make sure they stay furled, seal our dorade cowls, and remove the wind instruments from the masthead. While we’re up the mast we’ll seal all halyard openings with metal tape (self-adhesive) to reduce the amount of rain which might otherwise find its way down the masts and into our bilges.
By making all of these preparations we’re probably guaranteeing Florence will head east. In fact, the 500mb charts show strong flow and what appears to be a vigorous short wave trough over the Great Lakes. Odds are this will carry Florence out into the Atlantic. In fact, this is a good looking upper-level scenario for Florence to transition to extratropical storm stucture, and hitch a ride back towards Europe.
In the meantime the latest faxes show five tropical waves coming off Africa – so things have begun to heat up. What has been a very quiet hurricane season may get more interesting…
(To see a list of our favorite hurricane-related websites, click here.)
Posted by Steve Dashew (September 13, 2000)
