Weather

Since we are close to departing I really begin to focus on the weather. Many times it is a simple look at the marine forecast and if it looks good then no further action is needed. However in this case our weather is complex with a cold front approaching from the NW., which we expect to kick up the winds on Wednesday, Thursday settling down on Friday. The weather on the bay at this point is not looking good but doable...

WED...NE WINDS 15 TO 20 KT. GUSTS TO AROUND 30 KT IN THE AFTERNOON. WAVES 4 TO 5 FT. A CHANCE OF RAIN. .WED NIGHT...NE WINDS 15 TO 20 KT WITH GUSTS TO AROUND 30 KT. WAVES 4 TO 5 FT. A CHANCE OF RAIN. .THU...NE WINDS 15 TO 20 KT WITH GUSTS TO AROUND 30 KT. WAVES 4 TO 5 FT. .THU NIGHT...NE WINDS 15 TO 20 KT. GUSTS UP TO 30 KT IN THE EVENING. WAVES 3 TO 4 FT. .FRI...E WINDS 10 TO 15 KT...BECOMING SE 5 TO 10 KT IN THE EVENING... THEN BECOMING SW 10 TO 15 KT AFTER MIDNIGHT....

What makes this ok, so far,  is the wind is from the NW and will push us as we head south and we have TRAC fin stabilizers, http://www.thrusters.com/products/pdf/stabilizer_250.pdf  which really smooths out the ride by reducing the boat's roll by almost 95%.

Next up is hurricane Ida. I thought it might be interesting to post a shot of our on board weather capability. This is a composite of our on board computer screen showing our weather service view real time of IDA. We use a weather service that sends signals via satellite 
http://www.xmwxweather.com/marine/ to a receiver on board.  You can see the cloud cover, radar return and the track. This afternoon the cloud cover began to show itself here in Kilmarnock Va, a large system. It was recently downgraded to a tropical storm.



This is another view but now looking at surface temps. The warmer the water the more orange-red the coloring. You can see how this storm is pulling heat from the gulf of Mexico. On the east cost side the gulf stream it is evident by the darker bands that track along the coast. Finally the green in the upper right is cooler waters near the NC coast line and mouth of the Chesapeake Bay.

Here is a view of the pilot house controls and computer screens.

Finally as I was walking out and off the boat this was the view from the stern, maybe the calm before the storm but pretty nonetheless