Rainy Day IV: Man The Pumps!

SHIP'S LOG:

What is it with Florida? Anybody know? It seems as if it can't just rain down here. Today(Tuesday) we had another one of those "special storms". It started about 8am and finished up here in Daytona about noon. It was typical, you know rain(torrential), wind(gusts to 60mph), thunder( LOUD!), lightning("frequent and excessive" according to NOAA), hail(only "dime size" this time), and tornadoes(though these all showed up as waterspouts). Can't it just bloody rain!?

Actually it would be easier to deal with if it all happened basically at the same time, but it doesn't do that either! It seems as though you get the wind first. This morning, it was clear skied but then the wind came and blew in the clouds and kept blowing, running up from a mere nothing to a solid 30-35, and then the gusts. This time, the early wind oriented ABISHAG and the others in the anchorage to the right direction before the onset of the gusts so that the first indication that the storm was really here was not getting laid over.

Then suddenly the wind stopped, or at least dropped below 20 and then came the rain. I don't know how much but it is always a lot when it blocks you from seeing any of the other boats around you. I think NOAA reported about 2 inches all told by the time the storm went its merry way out to sea.It fell like some one playing with a faucet. Hard and fast, slow and light, hard, slow, light , hard . . . . you get the idea.

It was funny that the thunder and lightning came when the rain was light. There some really fantastic bolts, though all for the most part seemed none too close. The thunder you felt through the air and then through the hull of the boat. A real one - two punch..

Then there was the hail. Not much of that, thank God, and it was pretty light. Even at "dime size" it rather stings should you get struck by it.

It appears that the major parts of the "squall line" went more south of Daytona. The places I was just some weeks ago really took a beating. There were few spots down there, around Titusville and Melbourne, that I would have like to have ridden out this storm or the ones last week.

Just before the curtain riser at 8am, a sailboat left the Aquamarina right near by and headed north. I really couldn't think of what he was doing. At that time, the weather from the north was awful according to the NOAA reports. He was basically ridding right into the teeth of another line of thunderstorms with all the fun features of the ones we would later experienced. I hope he got to where he was going all right. I wonder if he even checked the weather before he left for it didn't make a whole lot of sense to take off with what was in the offing.

I will have to admit that the boys and girls of NOAA, as badly as they seem to be at times, really have their act down when they deal with a serious and immediate weather problem. If they say something will begin at such and such a time, they are right on; if they say that it will move in such a way, it does; if they say it is going to end at this time, it does. Now if they can only get that good with the regular forecasts!

O well, the sun is out now and though the wind is still a bit up(15-20), the skies are clearing and tomorrow is supposed to be just fine. It will be good to be moving again, though the wind, what there will be of it, will be right on the nose. No Sailing tomorrow, unless NOAA got it wrong and what are the chances of that happening?