I’m writing from Sheet Harbour, our second of two stops along the often-unexplored coast east of Halifax. Starting in Lunenburg on August 10th, we spent the first two nights anchored in Chester, celebrating Chester Race Week. From there, we sailed to Murphy’s Cove, Arichat, Sheet Harbour, and we will head home to Lunenburg tomorrow.
With the halcyon days of summer fading, the weather plays a more significant role in Bluenose II operations. Those quiet days of summer allow us to attempt those “full sail”, close-to-shore photo opportunities, capturing stunning photos that you may have seen online.
When I started on Bluenose II, weather forecasts were largely obtained by either transcribing scratchy radio reports, or if you were lucky, some weather maps from a dedicated fax machine. We also would look to where the gulls were hanging out, and if you could smell the fish plant in town.
Today, weather is a group discussion around the meal table, and all the officers have different sources that they bring to it. Using eight different forecast models, including AI interpretations of government issued data, we can now access data that fundamentally increases the detail of our weather discussions. It’s been a huge shift from us old guys relying on more traditional methods to the younger officers building their own forecast, but as always, the truth lies in the middle.
As we prepare for the already arising hurricane season, we have noted a record-setting El Niño in the Pacific. This should quiet the Caribbean Basin, while the early warming of the ocean here could provide energy to any storm approaching. Time will tell. My approach is to prepare for the worst but hope for the best.
