Horror Of Horrors ! ! ! ! ! !

SHIP'S LOG:

There is nothing like a front moving through to ruin your day! The boys and girls at NOAA, and most of the other weather outlets, predicted that a cold front would "blast" in from the west. Preceding it would be torrential rains and following it a temperature drop. The "blast" was scheduled for about noon.

At noon the temperature was in the high 70's/low 80's, there were a few clouds here and there and what breeze there was was light and variable. Toward the end of the afternoon, it cooled a little and the winds picked up a bit and one of our most revered members announced that the front "had past through." Now in anticipation of the nasty weather, I had brought stuff ashore to camp out in the clubhouse which would be warmer and dryer and more stationary than ABISHAG. NOAA had once again it seemed "blown the call" and so about 6pm, I took advantage of the launch service for the Off Soundings Race to haul all the stuff back to ABISHAG for the night. The launch service stopped at 8pm and an hour later we got hit. Not a lot of rain but some serious wind.

It is a tough thing to estimate the speed of the wind at night without an anemometer. The best thing I had was the wind generator and I could only use that as a gauge by noting the sound. The higher the pitch the greater the wind speed. I would estimate that the sustained wind was about 25-30mph and some of the gusts had to hit the40's as I got the "moose call" from the rigging and the radar reflector. ABISHAG didn't sail much at the mooring but occasionally she did lay over a bit which is also an indicator of some high velocity gusts. It reminded me of the times on the journey when I got nailed by storms. Then I was hanging off a 5/8 anchor rode attached to a 35lbs CQR anchor and 20lbs of anchor weights. Riding on the mooring made it easier to drop off to a relaxed and easy and deep sleep though I did check the pennants and chaffing gear before retiring. Even with the movement, it was far more comfortable on ABISHAG than it would have been on the clubhouse floor though if the "hit" had come earlier, I certainly would have stayed onshore.

And the "horror of horrors" is that when I got up at 6:30, the temperature was "hovering at 45!!!!!!!!!!!! I haven't awakened to temps that low since last December! I imagine that the cold front will pass through is a day or so and the weather will return to its proper September state, but there is no doubt that summer, if not past, is passing and quickly. I don't think I am ready for it!