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The Nor’ Easter that has been slowly moving N-NE off the US East Coast transitioned into a “Subtropical Storm” late yesterday and was named Josephine and is forecast to rapidly transition back into an extratropical storm later oday as the center moves northeast at 10 knots. This will be the 4th named system this year to last 36 hours or less, likely due to the adverse effects of the strong El Nino.
Currently Josephine is centered near 39.2N, 67.3W with maximum sustained winds of 55 knots (65 mph) and gusts up to 65 knots. 50 knot or higher winds extend outward up to 110 nm to the northwest and Gale Force winds up to 360 nautical miles to the northeast and 240 nautical miles to the northwest. Maximum significant wave heights estimated at 6-7 meters (20-23 feet).
Forecast
Josephine is forecast to become a fully extratropical storm low tonight with max winds increasing through Friday up to 65 knots with significant wave heights building to 8-10 meters (26-33 feet) within 60 nm west of the center before weakening Saturday.
Elizabeth City sits at the southern terminus of the Dismal Swamp Canal and has the well-earned reputation of being a transient-friendly town with free dockage for 72 hours.
The Coast Guard just made a U-turn, lit up the blue lights and called you on the radio. Here is exactly what happens next.
Capt. Chris Caldwell walks through a Coast Guard boarding step by step, from the first hail to the receipt in your hand.
In this episode of the Southern Boating podcast, training captain and Southern Boating & Yachting contributor Capt. Chris Caldwell breaks down what to expect when the U.S. Coast Guard asks to board your boat.
He covers how the boarding crew approaches, the questions they ask about passengers and firearms, why they open the engine room and lazarette first, and the paperwork and placards they expect to see, including the Navigation Rules handbook for boats 12 meters (39.4 feet) and longer.
He also explains the most common violation he sees (expired flares), why life jackets must carry U.S. Coast Guard approval, what to say and what not to say, and how a simple pre-departure checklist keeps a boarding short and friendly.
00:00 Intro 00:22 Where the Coast Guard can board you 00:55 The wave, the U-turn and the blue lights 01:53 Head count and firearms questions 02:48 Engine room, lazarette and the safety inspection 03:26 The Navigation Rules handbook (39.4 feet and up) 04:06 Pollution placards and the waste plan 04:46 Your documentation number 05:35 The boarding report and the “gold sheet” 06:18 Why they pick your boat 07:18 Big events and holiday weekends 08:10 Is there anything they cannot do? 08:23 The federal requirements booklet 08:54 Life jackets: USCG approval matters 09:43 Dewatering devices 10:20 The most common violation: expired flares 11:06 What to say and what not to say 11:30 A friendly boarding in Charleston Harbor 12:13 Your pre-departure checklist 12:52 Capt. Chris’s background 13:33 “Owning the boat” 13:55 Ask Captain Chris on YouTube
Cruisers Net publishes Loose Cannon articles with Captain Swanson’s permission in hopes that mariners with saltwater in their veins will subscribe. $7 per month or $56 for the year; you may cancel at any time.
Fox News in Orlando had a howler of a sea story on Tuesday. The story said, “A solo sailor was left terrified and shaking after a near-collision with a U.S. Navy submarine in St. Marys River. Officials ordered the woman to clear the channel while she was struggling against strong currents and low fuel.”
All that came from a video narrated by the solo sailor herself, a portion of which you can view below. Loose Cannon watched the whole thing so you don’t have to. This was only her second time singlehanding, and she was delivering the boat from Miami to Charleston. Spoiler alert: She made it.
Yes, she probably was terrified—sincerely so—but the danger was coming from her imagination not the ambient world. The real question is why the people at Fox-Orlando ever thought this was a story to begin with.
She happened to be motoring on the Intracoastal Waterway by the Fernandina Beach inlet at the same time as an Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine was outbound from her base at Kings Bay, Georgia. The solo sailor’s handheld VHF was turned down, and she didn’t respond to hails from the escort RIB, so they sped over to her and told her to get out of the way.
The Fox headline was spectacularly bad, but not in the way you might be thinking. The headline writer had skipper Shay Love avoiding “a near-collision,” which, taken literally, meant that her hopes for a “near collision” had been dashed, and she had actually hit the sub, or the sub had hit her.
Alternately, you could infer something else. The likelihood of colliding with the sub had been so small, one couldn’t even call it a “near collision.” It was so far from trouble that nearness was not achieved. Avoided, you might say.
Hey Fox, pick one or the other: Either the collision was avoided, or it was a near-collision. It’s a crime against English to avoid a near-collision.
My bet is that there never really was much chance of an accident—Love’s emotional state aside. But who wants to read a story headlined, “Escort vessel asks solo sailor to get out of sub’s way, and she does?”
Love also did some things that even some experienced recreational sailors like to do. She exaggerated the strength of the current happening while these events played out. I heard her say five knots at one point. The reporter quoted her as saying 10, which would have been nonsense.
The truth is the current at this inlet probably maxes out at 3.5 knots or 3.9 at worst, which is bad enough. She was also sweating fuel, which I don’t understand because she had just passed by a couple of gas docks on the Fernandina Beach waterfront.
All of this angst might have been avoided, if our young captain has gotten a copy of an old fashioned cruising guide. Waterway Guide, my old shop, probably could have forewarned Captain Love about the submarine traffic, inlet currents and the location of Fernandina fuel docks.
Anyway, all’s well that ends that way. She’ll probably handle routine stressors such as these much better the next time. Love will find a way.
As far as the news reporting, it harkens back to the reason we print people always held TV reporters in contempt, despite their better clothes and grooming.
LOOSE CANNON covers hard news, technical issues and nautical history. Every so often he tries to be funny. Subscribe for free to support the work. If you’ve been reading for a while—and you like it—consider upgrading to paid.
We hope to see you this Saturday, October 24th, at the Dismal Swamp State Park for the 12th annual Dismal Day! (10am-2pm)
Come experience the beauty of autumn in Camden County and the Dismal Swamp while enjoying a fun-filled fall festival featuring wagon rides, OBX Lizard Land, crafts, food trucks, displays, a 5K Fun Run/Walk (9am) and much more!
With beautiful fall scenery, family-friendly activities, and plenty of outdoor fun, it’s the perfect way to spend a fall Saturday!
Dismal Swamp State Park: 2294 US Hwy 17 North, South Mills, NC 27976
Fred Pickhardt’s Substack is free today. But if you enjoyed this post, you can tell Fred Pickhardt’s Substack that their writing is valuable by pledging a future subscription. You won’t be charged unless they enable payments.
A 991 MB Storm low near 37N/69W or about 260 nm southeast of the New Jersey Coast and was moving northeast at 10 knots. Winds of 40-50 knots with significant wave heights of 5 to 8.5 meters (16-28 feet) are occurring within 120-150 nm north and west of the center. Shower and thunderstorm activity has become better organized and appears to be acquiring sub-tropical characteristics and if this trend continues, the National Hurricane Center may name this system.
During the next 36 hours, the low will move northeast, deepening to 980mb low near 40N/64W with winds increasing to 50-65 knots (storm to hurricane-force) with significant wave heights of 7-10 meters (23-33 feet) within 90 nm west of the center.
With a closed vertical clearance of 31ft, Ben Sawyer Bridge is the last bridge before Charleston Harbor when southbound. Opened in 1945, the Ben Sawyer Bridge serves as the connection from Mount Pleasant to Sullivan’s Island.
Cruisers Net publishes Loose Cannon articles with Captain Swanson’s permission in hopes that mariners with saltwater in their veins will subscribe. $7 per month or $56 for the year; you may cancel at any time.
Caribbean island people are stealing dinghies and outboards for sport. The cruising community shames the victims and talks about feelings. And everybody pretends this is normal. Cultural norms all around. My arse!
Yes, my Happy Campers. You with the floppy hats riding your clown bikes. It’s your own fault that somebody you might have seen in the market yesterday now has your new Zodiac with the 9.9.
It seems that you didn’t raise the dinghy out of the water. You didn’t chain it to the boat with a lock from Tractor Supply—and the outboard, too. Shoulda festooned that hypelon harlot with unnecessary patches until she had the all sex appeal of a past-her-prime divorcee smoking a Marlb. Shoulda painted drippy zebra stripes on the motor, too.
Do all that, and you earn the right to crow on Facebook, “And I never hadda problem.” No, not me. Never-hadda being some uninterruptable state of grace.
Then something happens that makes you realize that lesser theft in the Petty Antilles is a varsity sport. Challenge accepted. Like what happened on Guadelope on October 1, as reported by our good friends at the Caribbean Safety and Security Network:
Overnight while the owner slept onboard, the entire lower unit of the Yamaha outboard was stolen. The dinghy was lifted. The thieves apparently disassembled the lower unit from the locked-to-the dinghy outboard from underneath the raised dinghy. No police report was made.
Ha! No report necessary. By then, the boys at the Saint-Louis cop shop had probably heard and were celebrating cousin Luc’s NASCAR-pit-crew-worthy performance. “Mon Dieu, ce gamin est fort!”
Pity the Never-Haddas the next morning. Maybe, they didn’t notice right away.
Imagine them donning matching Tilleys and plunking their own retired-with-money lower units onto opposing tubes of their relaunched Tender/To. That baguette fresh from the ovens at Victoire & Les Saveurs? They can almost taste it.
Satan has taken a vape break, so the 9.9 starts first pull, but something still ain’t right. Yama Mama’s revving like a banshee. WTF! Give it a minute and she’ll overheat to a standstill, sans lower unit to send cooling water upward. The Never-Haddas have an epiphany: No boulangerie for them. Not today.
Any/Many/Most
Then, there’s that other cruiser crime trope. Forget the nearby presence of homicidal gang warfare and the fact that it translates into thuggery against cruisers on a fairly regular basis. Sooner or later, you will hear some version of I feel safer here than I do in any/many/most places in the United States.
Really? When’s the last time masked men boarded your boat at the Fort Pierce Municipal Marina (See, I even picked the dodgiest waterfront in Florida) and ran away with your precious refuse? Again, from an October 18 CSSN dispatch from Grenada:
The owner and four guests were onboard when three masked men approached from the land-side and boarded a yacht berthed on the T-dock at Le Phare Bleu marina at 2315 hours. A scuffle ensued. One of the intruders jumped in the water, and the two others managed to grab a bag as they rushed away up the dock. It contained trash. Apparently, the intruders had knocked the dock security camera off on their way to the yacht. A report was made to the marina and the police.
Nothing left to say here, Loose Cannon out.
LOOSE CANNON covers hard news, technical issues and nautical history. Sometimes he tries to be funny. Subscribe for free to support the work. If you’ve been reading for a while—and you like it—consider upgrading to paid.
Fred Pickhardt’s Substack is free today. But if you enjoyed this post, you can tell Fred Pickhardt’s Substack that their writing is valuable by pledging a future subscription. You won’t be charged unless they enable payments.
A potent atmospheric duo—combining a strong high-pressure system parked over the eastern United States and southeastern Canada with a developing offshore nor’easter is generating hazardous weather stretching from New England down through eastern Florida. Gale Warnings and Storm Warnings are in effect for offshore and coastal waters.
Gale Warnings & Coastal Hazards
A tight pressure gradient between the mainland high pressure and the offshore low-pressure system is driving northeast to north winds to 35-45 knots, with higher gusts offshore and 20-30 knots near the coast. As a result, Gale Warnings remain in effect for significant portions of the Mid-Atlantic and North Carolina coastal zones through at least Wednesday.
Coastal Hazards:
There is a high risk for dangerous rip currents from the Carolinas all the way down through parts of eastern Florida. Rough surf conditions, beach erosion, and coastal flooding are an ongoing concern.
Current Status
The center of the low pressure is located near 36N 70W (roughly 300 miles east of the North Carolina Outer Banks) with a central pressure of 1001 MB and is drifting slowly north to northeast.
Within 180 nautical miles (NM) of the west and northwest of the center, winds are 35 to 45 knots with higher gusts. Elsewhere west of a line spanning 31N 71W to 33N 66W to 43N 60W, sustained winds are 25 to 40 knots. Significant wave heights are 4 to 7 meters (13 to 23 feet) are occurring west of the center.
Current Wave Heights 13-23 feet offshore
18-24 Hour Forecast
The low is expected to deepen to 997 MB within 12 hours with winds increasing to 40 to 55 knots within the northwest semicircle and significant wave heights will build to 5.5 to 8 meters (18 to 26 feet).
Longer-Term
The low center will move northeast, however, it will remain over warm sea surface temperatures and there is a 40% chance that the system could transition into a sub-tropical storm.
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