And they said it would never happen. Don and George Leighton have owned a series of Tahlequahs for the last three (at least) decades and have always set a standard for doing it right. George retired a couple of years ago however most of us thought Don would never retire. He enjoyed being the globe-trotting engineer you could call anytime and he would figure out a way to solve whatever the problem was and get the project back on track. Congratulations Don!
Since there isn’t much racing going on down here I thought I should also mention that one of the very coolest boats with one of the very best (and most fun) crews, one of the best overall programs and one of the best and nicest owners, Lou Bianco, has been sold. Luckily, Crossfire will remain in the Pacific Northwest and will continue to be actively campaigned around here. Whenever that starts up again. (Ed. Note: Swiftsure Yachts was very much part of the deal, with Ken Monaghan representing the new owner. Plans are definitely for the mighty Crossfire to continue racing in the Northwest and eventually leading the way on some ocean races. New boat name forthcoming….)
August 21 500 mb 
August 21 Surfac Analysis 
August 22 Surface Forecast 
August 23 500 mb 
August 23 Surface Forecast 
August 24 Surface Forecast 
August 25 500 mb 
August 25 Surface Forecast 
It’s not as if there isn’t enough weather to talk about. The charts, the satellite pics, and the forecast from the National Hurricane Center will be enough to keep the weather geeks going all weekend. Our break from the scorching temps of last week has brought a little bit of very welcome rainfall which will continue today and into tomorrow. Unfortunately, the rain won’t get much beyond the Cascades where it’s really needed. The other problem you can clearly see in the Sat Pic is the gaps in the cloudiness over the Pacific Northwest. This will allow heating to occur resulting in some vertical instability and this will lead to thunderstorms, particularly over the Cascades. This satellite picture also shows the fires that are raging in California and just how far that smoke is traveling. In the big satellite picture, you can also see the remains of Hurricane Genevieve now a Tropical Storm. Due south of Genevieve you can also see a loosely organized area that forecasters will be watching to see if it will become yet another system. And this is just the Pacific.
If we move over to the Atlantic you will see the possibility of not one but TWO Hurricanes impacting the GulF Coast of the US at almost the same time. Tropical Depression 14 off of the Nicaragua/Honduras border is forecast to drift to the NW, over the Yucatan Peninsula, into the Gulf of Mexico, where it will find some very warm water and probably strengthen bringing wind and rain to Texas and Louisiana. This will be followed by Hurricane Laura which will come into the Gulf of Mexico Monday morning and arrive on the Gulf Coast on Tuesday morning. This will all be very interesting to watch as it developes.
For the Pacific Northwest we have yet another unusual weather pattern that is the result of the Pacific High failing to establish itself this year. Today it is at 1023MB and well south and well west of where it should be. This has allowed two low-pressure systems with attached fronts to come in over our area. The second one of these will move over the area this afternoon and with some strong southerly breeze to the Sound and possibly gale force winds to the eastern Strait of JdF. With frontal passage the wind will shift from southerly/southeasterly to a post frontal westerly flow down the Strait of JdF with stronger flow in the late afternoon and early evening hours. By tomorrow morning the breeze will be light over the areaand with some clearing the breeze will become northerly in the Sound and gradually fill from west in the Strait of JdF.
Sunday the breeze will ease even more and fill later. Next week will be another perfect Pac NW week with high temps in the 70’s and lows in the mid-50’s.
Enjoy the weekend.
Bruce has raced and cruised the Pacific Northwest his entire life. He earned a Bachelor’s of Science from the University of Washington in Biological Oceanography and learned meteorology “to keep from getting kicked around on the race course.” Bruce spent nearly two decades as Associate Publisher for Northwest Yachting Magazine, retiring in mid-2015, and was the chairman of the board of trustees for the Northwest Marine Trade Association in 2014. (photo of Bruce driving Playstation is a bit dated, but cool)