San Diego: furious; noisy; oblivious; clean

 

I finished A FURIOUS SKY.  Above is one of the illustrations in the book, THE GREAT GALE OF 1815 by John Russell Bartlett.  That storm hit New England,  I believe the scene is Providence, Rhode Island.

A FURIOUS SKY is a mostly interesting book.  As the NY TIMES said, the author, Eric Jay Dolan, is best when he is describing the storms themselves.  There are many almost incredible stories of survival and many of tragic death.  Of the illustrations, the most dramatic are before and after shots of various locations after storm surges obliterated everything as effectively as an atomic bomb.

An inescapable conclusion is that hurricanes are becoming more frequent and more severe with global warming.

Only five hurricanes have made landfall in the United States as Category 5 storms.

1928  San Filipe II Hurricane  Puerto Rico

1935  Labor Day Hurricane  Florida Keys

1969  Camille  Louisiana and Mississippi

1992  Andrew  South Florida

2018  Michael  Florida Panhandle

Others, such as Katrina, were Category 5 storms briefly but not at landfall.

As a property owner in hurricane country, this gives me pause.  We are on the inland side of Hilton Head Island five miles from the ocean, but only two miles from Port Royal Sound where a storm surge could be driven.  At least we are on the third floor.

Also to give pause is a recent forecast that a period of unusual storm activity is expected to began in a couple of weeks.  I thank Steve Earley for the link.

 https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2020/08/07/after-brief-lull-hurricane-season-is-set-roar-back-breakneck-pace-later-this-month/

The past few days have been noisy.  Sea lions who were quiet when I first returned to GANNET are now in full voice.  Day and night.  I don’t know what is going on out there.

I do know what is going on here at the dock where GANNET was run into five times yesterday.  I didn’t even go on deck, though I did shout at the last woman, “Try not to run into my boat.”  She said, “Sorry.”

Today GANNET has only been run into three times, but kayakers and stand up boarders will be returning for another hour or two so they may be able to improve their score.  

A few minutes ago a blow against the hull beside me was hard enough for me to stand up.  I found myself looking down on a middle aged man in a kayak staring at his phone.  I could have reached out and rapped  him on the head and probably should have.  I stood for several seconds.  He had no idea I was there.  Finally, in disgust, I said, “Man, you are oblivious.”  And sat down.

I am considering buying a water cannon.

Yesterday a pleasant young man, Javier, came and cleaned GANNET’s bottom.  Now if I can only get Kasey, the rigger, to do his work, I might go for a sail.