Poseidon's Revenge: Cyclone Week & Stranded Sailboats

Ahoy, and happy Friday! Poseidon had a busy week, leaving only two oceans unaffected by cyclones. Our thoughts go out to everyone impacted, and hopefully this finds you all safe.

In today’s roundup:

• Captain Ron Award: Stranded on JAX.

• Race Updates: Rolex Middle Sea, Ocean Globe Race.

• Cyclone Week: Only two oceans untouched.

• Storm Washes Shipwreck: The Elsk emerges.

• Sailing Snippets: Oarsome Handbags, Crunchy Hatches, Sinking Dragon, Homebuilt Plywood Transat.

“I am tied to this ship”

This week’s Captain Ron Award goes to…Luke Rehberg.

His engine failed, the anchor chain broke, and as his boat hit the breakers he grabbed his paddle board and started swimming. Rehberg and his ship Aquilone hit rough water on Monday and washed ashore on Jacksonville beach in front of the Hampton Inn, where he climbed back aboard and spent the night. “I am tied to this ship until I can get her offshore”, he says, and is planning to refloat her on the king tide this weekend.

The community has been very supportive, with the hotel offering him a free 2 night stay. Rehberg says he may take a shower at the hotel, but will sleep aboard his boat every night to remain vigilant against looters.

No update on whether he has taken that shower.

Storm Watch

The only oceans this week that were cyclone-free were the Northwest Pacific and South Indian. Rising ocean temperatures are to blame. If you haven’t been following along, here are the storms that hit this week, and where they currently stand as of publishing this morning.

• Cyclone Tammy is weakening and is expected to become a post-tropical storm by Thursday, after impacting northern Caribbean islands.

• Cyclone Norma has dissipated, after causing dozens of fatalities. At least 50 ships were lost according to the governor.

• Cyclone Otis is expected to strengthen and make landfall in Mexico as a strong tropical storm.

• Cyclone Tej is expected to make landfall in Yemen as a Category 1 storm.

• Cyclone Lola is the second-earliest Category 4 storm ever observed in the Southern Hemisphere.

• Storm Babet hammered Northern Europe this week casuing massive flooding in parts of the U.K, Germany, and southern Scandinavia. Entire marinas wiped out, and multiple fatalities.

Shipwreck Beached

The was one very small silver lining to Storm Babet. The storm washed up a piece of history, what appears to be a piece of the wreck of the Elsk, a whaling ship that was homeward bound to Whitby on September 6th, 1826. The Elsk ran aground while outrunning a storm, and all lives aboard were lost except for a mate and one other crew member. The area is known for its maritime tradition, and also its danger, with dozens of lost shipwrecks in the area. Dendrochronology, or tree-ring-dating, will be used to determine which ship the piece belongs to.

Sailing Snippets

👜 Oarsome Handbags: These handbags are sewn from decommissioned sails used in the Clipper Round the World Race, and proceeds go to benefit UNICEF. Check that out here.

🐉 Crunchy Hatches, Sinking Dragon: The very large, very luxurious catamaran that was towering over everyone at the Annapolis Sailboat Show, and featured an on board pizza oven, sunk this week off the coast of North Carolina. The escape hatches broke in a storm, and the boat had catastrophic flooding. All crew were airlifted to safety. Check out pictures of Moon Dragon here.

🛠️ Homebuilt Plywood Transat: These 5.8m home built plywood sailboats are gearing up for a trans-atlantic race, but first they have a 6 day qualifying sail in Portugal. Read about the boats and crew here.

🦭 Sneaky Sea Lion: This little guy jumped aboard a sailboat, probably escaping an Orca. Cute, or terrifying? 

That’s it for today, stay safe and stay salty, we’ll Ketch you next week.

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