Around the World of Sailing

5 December 2001

This weeks features:

Finish Line

The last boat to win the 1st two legs of the Volvo Ocean Race was
Steinlager 2 in the 1989-90 event. Steinlager went onto to win all 6 legs
of that event!

Water Level Update

Weekly Water Level Update
Available on line at:
http://www.torresen.com/atwos/2001/oc/1024/frw.htm

Below you'll find water level info that pertains
to Lake Michigan and Huron.
For information on other lakes see:
http://huron.lre.usace.army.mil/levels/weekly.html

Reference Point:

Difference from Chart Datum 0
Difference from last month 0
Difference from last year +6
Difference from long term average for November -16
Difference from Record High -53
Difference from Record Low +15
Forecast for 30 December 2001 0

Rowing Reporter

The Rowing Reporter is a weekly column of commentary and
observations by Ike Stephenson, Marine Informationist. It
concentrates on the home waters of Around the World of
Sailing, Lake Michigan and Muskegon Lake.
****************
Specially Interesting in Weather
You know those tests where there's a group of worlds like it's
57° in Michigan and it's December. The ones where you are supposed to
choose the word that does not belong. Well, from the lead sentence I'd
think most would pick 57° as the misplaced phrase.
And, they'd be wrong! It is in fact 57° and it is December in
Michigan.
Although warm these temperatures are not quite up to the record.
As recent as 1998 a record for the 4th of December was set at 59°.
What a difference a year makes. Last December's Rowing Reporter
from 6 December had this vignette: "Iceboating- Year round sailors in
Michigan just take to a different form of water- ice. Around 15 hard
water sailors were on Black Lake this past weekend. Word has it that
one of most hard core ice boaters thought that a 15 hour drive to
Minnesota was necessary to get good ice. Talk about picking the wrong side of
the course!"
No freezing temperatures and no ice this December. To date
temperatures are + 11.25 degrees. Still, before the optimism or pessimism
gets too out of hand, more normal high temperatures in the 30's are
forecast for the weekend.
****************
Readers Write
A reader who might be disappointed by this warm weather wrote in
about iceboating. He's from Madison WI and asked, "Do you ever discuss iceboating?
Bought a DN this fall and I'm looking forward to learning how to wear/sail it."
I answered, "During the winter we periodically touch on iceboating.
The audience and participation doesn't match sailing, but we do carry results and news.
In the Madison area I would advise contacting Four Lakes Ice Yacht
Club. They are on the web at http://www.iceboat.org/"
*******************
When to Expect Ice?
While on the subject of weather and iceboating, I thought I would
bring up an ATWOS article from 2000. This article discussed the changes
in freeze up times.
A .
study took an historical look at global warming.
Using reports of when 26 bodies of water in North America, Asia
and Europe froze and thawed researchers determined that these
bodies freeze 8.7 days later and the ice breaks up 9.8 days
earlier.
Researchers say the combined direct human observations show
a definite warming trend in the northern hemisphere over the last
150 years.
Of particular interest to the marine community is data on
some lakes that are frequently visited by ice boaters.
Lake Mendota in Wisconsin has seen freezing occur 6.0 days
later, while the breakup has moved 7.5 days earlier. Lake Geneva also
in Wisconsin has seen a breakup date 2.3 days earlier. Michigan's
Grand Traverse Bay has seen the freeze date move back 11.4 days and
the ice breakup 11.8 days sooner. Grand Traverse has some of the
largest changes in the study.
Some definitive proof that good ice for iceboating is not
getting any easier to find.
*****************
The Solstice and Sunrise/Sunset
As I recently wrote the Muskegon November weather report it
occurred to me that the winter solstice will occur on 21 December.
Further I commented: "Yet it will grow colder as well as lighter.
Another contradiction inherent in nature."
The Solstice occurs on the day when the Sun is lowest in the sky.
Still, it is not the day of earliest set and rise the latest.
One reason for this is that the sun is not the highest at
precisely noon. This difference between the clock and sun defined noon
is the equation of time. This difference can affects the sun's set and
rise by up to 16 minutes.
Further, earth orbits the sun in an ellipse and not a circle. This
casuses the distance to the sun to vary. Add to this the tilt of the
axis and you get the contradiction I mentioned above.
**********************
Chaos Theory, Waves and the VOR
News Corp's Ross Field provided this description of the Southern
Ocean. He begins, "We were reaching in very heavy airs and big, big seas
were coming down over the deck. We were doing about 20 knots and the waves
must have been coming towards us at 30 knots." Then, "It [a wave] just
threw me completely off the helm and crashed me on to the steering platform
flat on my back. The force of me hitting the edge of the steering platform
and the harness taking up just blew the wind out of my sails. Luckily Barney
[Walker] looked back and couldn't see me and he dived for the helm and saved the day."
Obviously the big winds and spaces of the Southern Ocean combine
for big, damaging waves. In this incident Field broke ribs.
For those sailors who have various theories of 'waveology'
including rogue waves or the idea that every third wave is the biggest
chaos theory might be something to look at.
Chaos theory attempts to reveal structure in irregular, dynamic
situations like cloud formation. Closer to earth such a process is
the forming of waves.
Another way to look at chaos theory goes something like this.
Somewhere a butterfly flutters its wings. Somewhere else this small
ripple forms a hurricane.
Well, I am sure that Ross Field would very much like the name of
the organism that caused the wave set described above!