Rainy Day III: The Reprise - "Hey, Noah, Any Room In The Ark?"

SHIP'S LOG:

Location: Unmoved in Daytona!

Today, the weather decided not to wait until late in the day to"act up," it basically started first thing in the morning. A crappy way to start your day. I was barely into my second cup of joe when the rain started. Slowly at first,then more, then less, then more, something like someone playing with the water faucet. Then came the thunder and the lightning. My friends at NOAA noted that " there is a chance for an abundance of frequent lightning!" On that score they were dead on accurate. Lightning flashed up and down and sideways. It was spectacular to watch really quite beautiful to see, but all the time in the back of your mind it the thought that it might just consider your mast as a lightning rod, and in my case two of them, and "make the connection." Thank God none of the bolts tested the grounding system on ABISHAG, though some seemed closer than others.

Thunder on the other hand always seemed right overhead. About every fifth blast I could feel it though the hull as well as through the air. Most of the peels were sort of high pitched and tinny, but the ones I felt through the hull really had the bass turned way, way up. As "Perfect Peter," the computerized voice of the NOAA Weather Forecasts says, "When the Thunder roars, get indoors!" He also says "Exclamation Point" since the range of emotions in his voice run the gamut of from "A" to "B!"

Then of course there was the hail. It came in various sizes: golf-ball; 3/4 inch, quarter -size, penny - size and pea size. Thank God there wasn't a lot of it. I gather that there are times when it falls like rain. As it was, this was more like sprinkles when they happened.

Then there were the tornadoes - three of them in the general vicinity, including one that landed on "Launch Pad 39-A" at the Kennedy Space Center. Didn't see one, didn't want to see one. Probably couldn't see one if it came for all the rain. Then again they say that it sounds like a passing freight train. Doesn't work here though as there are railroad track less then a mile away inshore and they are very busy.

Well the upshot of it all is that everyone in this anchorage stayed in place. We got a nice 3.7 inches of rain. The wind gusts seemed to top out at 50mph, though farther south in Melbourne where I was just a few days ago, they got a few that topped out in the 70's! No damage from the hail, at least nothing serious and perhaps the best thing is that the crappy weather is going away. It will leave the wind for Friday, but the sun will return and over the weekend it should turn disgustingly hazy, hot and humid once again. I was talking to someone in Connecticut today who said they were looking at 6-12 inches of snow. Some people have all the luck!