April 2, 2010 Shilshole Bay:
When I lived in Hawaii I used to sometimes put a mini weather report at the end of my emails to people in the mainland. You know, the usual Hawaii weather report - 80, sunny, trades. Here in Seattle it's a little different - 40, rain, gales...
I read in a local paper a while back “You can’t talk about Seattle without talking about the weather…it makes everyone here a little crazy.” This is a place where fast moving cold fronts charging up the Strait of Juan de Fuca or down from Alaska can turn a (relatively) warm, sunny afternoon into something that would send Sir Ernest Shackleton hurrying for shelter in a matter of minutes. Optimistic weather reports mention the likelihood of “Sun breaks” even in high summer. Nonetheless, it looks like we will be staying here yet another few months.
As friend Captain Wendell Brunk says “Murphy loves boaters” and we are feeling the love; or maybe it’s the hangover, from St Patrick’s day. That is OK. We will be better prepared and have more confidence in our engine and electronics when we ultimately do cast off.
One of the interesting benefits of living as we do is how intimately we are connected with weather patterns. Not just locally and not just today but projecting to future destinations, routes and seasons. We still want to cruise SE Alaska but leaving here for Alaska at the end of July or later is out of the question. Equally out of the question is the proposition that we should stay here through another winter. Prevailing weather patterns and an intense desire to go barefoot dictate our course: South after August first, waiting to set out across the Pacific to Hawaii until after the hurricane season. Then we will run with the trades to the islands for the winter, and north to Alaska in the spring.
Do you think Clausewitz knows Murphy?
Oh yeah - 43, rain, gale force winds from the SW
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