I'm writing from the Eastern Shore of Nova Scotia — Sheet Harbour to be exact. Our second of two stops along the often unexplored coast east of Halifax. This particular excursion started in Lunenburg on August 10. We spent the first two nights anchored in Chester to help celebrate the beginning of Chester Race Week. From there, we sailed to Murphy’s Cove, on to Arichat and then, leaving a day early, we headed here. Tomorrow we will head home to Lunenburg.

It is this time of year when we start to pay more attention to the weather. The halcyon days of summer are fading and the weather begins to play a more significant role in our operation of Bluenose II. Those quiet days of summer allow us to attempt those “full sail”, close-to-shore photo opportunities that you may have seen online. This summer, Boston and Peggy’s Cove both allowed photographers to capture some stunning photos. Our recent time with Pride of Baltimore II in Lunenburg Bay also allowed for some truly amazing shots.

When I started on Bluenose II, weather forecasts were largely obtained by either transcribing scratchy radio reports, or if you were lucky, some weather maps from a dedicated fax machine. Receiving weather faxes was a bit of a wizard’s game, and listening to the radio required developing an ear for radio speech. A skill that helps me to this day as we listen to ordinary radio traffic via VHF or single side band radios. We also would look to where the gulls were hanging out, and if you could smell the fish plant in town. At night, listening to AM radio stations from Boston was a good indicator for weather as well, both from the local weather reports and also how clear they were. A clear radio signal from a station four hundred miles away was certainly an indicator of bad weather to come!

Today, weather is a group discussion around the meal table. All the officers have different sources that they bring to the meeting. I pay for access to eight different forecast models, including AI interpretations of government issued data. This access to data has fundamentally changed how we talk about weather. Instead of one forecast, with maybe a chart or map for back up, we now have hundreds of data points. The conversation has changed from “they say it's going to be strong from the south” to “I think it's going to blow strong from the south and then moderate early”. It’s a huge shift with the younger officers willing to build their own forecast, versus us old guys relying more on traditional methods. As always, the truth lies in the middle between the seagulls moving inland and the latest satellite photo. The price to pay for getting a forecast wrong is often seasickness, missed ports or even potentially damage to the ship. My personal approach is to prepare for the worst reasonable forecast and hope for the best. Two plans for either eventuality.

As we prepare for hurricane season, which has already started, we have noted a record setting El Niño in the pacific which should quiet the Caribbean basin and the early warming of the ocean here which could provide energy to any storm approaching. Time will tell. Prepare for the worst, hope for the best.