Aleria's Adventures

We took the sails and ropes down to Aleria in Kilrush today. Alex got most of the ropes rigged but two halyards refused to go over the sheaves. We got the sails onboard with effort. They get heavier every year.  It was a beautiful day and we were surprised how many boats were still on the hard. For once I took pictures of Steve's boat not ours. A beauty.  We both struggled with age. Knees, sciatica, numb limbs. Just can't do this well anymore. 

  A transition from El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO)-neutral is expected in the next couple of months, with a greater than 90% chance of El Niño persisting into the Northern Hemisphere winter. El Niño is likely to form during the May-July season and persist into the winter. The combination of a forecasted third westerly wind event in mid-late May, and high levels of above-average oceanic heat content, means that a potentially significant El Niño is on the horizon. While at least a weak El Niño is likely, the range of possibilities at the end of the year (November-January) includes an 80% chance of at least a moderate El Niño to a ~55% chance of a strong El Niño. It is still possible the tropical atmosphere does not couple with the ocean, and El Niño fails to materialize (5-10% chance). In summary, a transition from ENSO-neutral is expected in the next couple of months, with a greater than 90% chance of El Niño persisting into the Northern Hemisphere winter. This discussion is a cons

There is a temperature anomaly over Canada and extending into the Arctic. Temperature anomaly map for the Arctic region for the next 5 days: GFS model guidance. Plenty warm over northern Greenland with temperatures up to ~20 °C higher than the 1979-2000 average! Above average everywhere except N Canada. Map: Climatereanalyzer Very warm, above-average temperatures are occurring over much of Canada today and it's likely to persist for more than a week! #weather #climate  It promted avalanche warnings for the western mountain regions. “The effect of the warm temperatures on the existing snowpack structure means that these avalanches will likely be very large and may run to valley bottoms,” Avalanche Canada said in the warning.

OCC Annual Awards Dinner The OCC 2023 AGM and Awards Dinner weekend was held on the 14th and 15th of April at the RNLI College in Poole, UK. It was highly significant for me for two reasons: 1) I was asked to step in for Bob Shepton as a speaker at the last minute and 2) I was stepping down as Vice Commodore after 12 years of service on the General Committee and Board. I was tired. Time for some new blood. The topic of my talk was Volunteerism and the OCC Pandemic Response. I already had the pandemic response slides in the can as I presented that at the Irish Sailing Conference about a month ago. A piece of cake. As this talk was twice as long as the first, I asked Alex to add some slides about the learnings from the experience. He had slides prepared for the Irish Cruising Club which I did not remember. It was a remarkable story. Alex and I got a standing ovation, which from the OCC members in attendance was very special. I wish Bob Shepton a speedy recovery, but I am grateful to him

  Vito Dumas At the ICC Annual Dinner, we launched a new edition of Conor O Brien's book,  Across Three Oceans . That was one of the first voyages around the world by private vessel. The first after Slocum, I believe. Right after that, I learned about the first woman who crossed the Atlantic Ocean solo nonstop,  Nicolette Milnes-Walker, and wrote a book about it under duress. I bought the book,  When I put out to sea,  but have not read it yet. It's a first edition (and only edition I believe).  Today, I encountered an  article  about the Argentinian, Vito Dumas, about whom I had read long ago. He was the first to circumnavigate nonstop via the Roaring 40s.  His book,  The Impossible Road,  is in  Spanish  and  French  from what I could find. I found an English version for sale in Canada, under a different title   Alone Through the Roaring Forties: The Voyage of Lehg II,  and bought it. I believe it's a first edition. There appear to be other  editions  from 2003 and 2001. 

Me hobnobbing with friend and Artic explorer Jarlath Cunnane and CCA Commodore Chris Otorowski We attended our first major ICC event post-Covid, and I must say it felt rather normal. With about 250 people in attendance whom we hadn't seen in several years, there was a lot of hugging and kissing. I truly hope we don;t come down with anything, but no one was particularly reserved and there were no masks worn, even by the ancient contingent.  Commodore David Beattie and Aoife had things well organised and the Radisson Blu in Sligo did a great job accommodating all of us. It was nice that our drive was only about 2 hours this year. Next year, it will be in Cork, 5+ hours distant.  As always, it starts out with an informal New Members reception on the Friday night, when the whiskey barrel is brought out for members to imbibe free of charge (dangerous!). The Mayo contingent was out in force and we even inducted a new member from Westport we hadn't met before. The next day, we had boo