My Good Ol' Friends At NOAA!

SHIP'S LOG:

W.A.G.  -  Wild Ass Guess, or, to phrase it another way, a Weather Forecast from NOAA! I have complained about forecasts from NOAA for a long-time, almost ruefully now, but it just amazes me how wrong they can be!!!!

I wasn't even aware that NOAA was forecasting that we were suppose to "get some weather" on Thursday until I got a call from Fred, one half of the " Head-In-The-Bucket" Brigade who had received a call from Bob, the other half of the "Head-In-The-Bucket" Brigade, Bob assured Fred that the world was coming to an end, "Weather-wise," and that he should secure his boat tout suite!  Fred called me as he lives up and beyond the other side of OZ. He asked what sort of weather we were having at TYC. I told him it was Triple H and that was all. Fred shared the word from BOB, that there was "Heavy rain coming, with large hail(hale?) and damaging winds, thunder and lightning, with air to ground lightning (is there any other kind?) and the potential for tornadoes!" -in NOAA-speak. Fred was vacillating between blowing the day to come down and secure his boat or just trusting that NOAA was screwing up again and letting it sit as it was. I told him that I would take care of his boat and that was that.

Going online and checking the weather radar, you could certainly see how things looked serious and that the potential was there from something bad to happen, but it didn't "feel" like it. I checked four or five different weather sites and none of them really agreed, but as with all thing that have to do with the weather, you had to deal with whatever came along. Myself, I wasn't really happy about the prospects of storm weather as I would be spending Thursday night attached to one of the piers("dock" is what you do, "pier" is what you do it to.). I Never liked being secured in a slip. I am never sure if I have ABISHAG secured correctly, what with the rise and fall of the tide and the shifting winds. There is far less strain on a mooring and a more comfortable motion too. But I had to go into a slip as I had to be at the Clubhouse at 8 am bright eyed and bushy tailed to help with the OPTI Regatta on Friday. And since the launch didn't start running until 9a,. and since I am not really awake until 3cups of coffee and a shower, and since I really distrust my skill at docking ABISHAG despite the ICW Trip, I  brought her in on Thursday afternoon. I overwhelmed every cleat and piling with docklines, just in case NOAA got it right. I didn't want her to bash.

By 7:30pm, when the Force Fives had finished their races, what wind there was died to nothing. It got black and ominous. There was some thunder and there we some spectacular flashes of lightning(not many) and the rain started to fall (lightly.) Actually thinking NOAA might be right this time, I scurried ashore, intending to wait out the storm on dry land(I had enough of doing so aboard in Florida.)By 9it had all but past and was completely gone by 10. No violent winds(though supposedly Ledge Light clocked 70 mph gusts), no tornadoes, no hail(hale?) and not enough rain to get anyone a reprieve from watering the garden. May such things happened elsewhere but not here where they were forecast. I figured that actually nothing would happen as a NOAA ship came in and tied-up at the Underwater Sound Lab pier. There was no way NOAA would have brought hat ship in here if the end of the world was coming - weather-wise! I slept aboard ABISHAG.

Friday NOAA forecast that it would be cloudy with some rain in the morning, followed by thunderstorms and lightning in the afternoon. Not the sort of weather forecast that one would like for a regatta full of kids.  But again it didn't happen. Not a drop of rain fell and the skies were blue with puffy white clouds.

NOAA is predicting the weather crap-out for the weekend, probably because it is the weekend and it will probably come true as even NOAA can't be wrong all of the time. I let you know! ! ! !