It was a wild and raucous ride during last week’s storm. Aggressive surf, high wind gusts, splash over with big tides caused a lot of damage. Several places I visit escaped major damage but did not go unscathed.

Porches at the water’s edge were littered with seaweed and rocks. Piers were damaged and even disappeared. Southeast blows seem to be particularly difficult. Ocean Point was hit hard – seems the ocean wove its way up through the islands just so.

Linekin Bay, now calm and empty after the storm, in today’s photo, took a pretty good lick too. One dock I know of got taken out and another, more rugged stone pier, showed serious debris and erosion when waters rolled in over the top. Hard to watch and even more complicated to”prevent” future similar episodes. I guess Mother Nature had everything lined up for maximum activity. The tides were up and the winds pushed them up even more. I spoke with a couple folks who work on the water who said waves offshore were 18 feet. I even saw on the news that Portland Headlight took a pretty serious thrashing with damage to the building.

I know I must sound like a broken record, but it does seem that we are having some weird weather. I also heard on the news that the maple sap has started to run in some areas. I thought that might be a bit much but then I noticed what appear to be buds on the maples and birches here at home. That will be tough on the trees when we get a hard freeze. 55 degrees anticipated for midweek.

And then there’s Buffalo. Wow! What a mess. I do recall visiting my grandparents as a kid, just south of Buffalo one winter when we had to tunnel out of the house because the snows had drifted up the roof. Those snows off the lakes are amazing. Even where I grew up in the central Pennsylvania Appalachians we would get some dandies. I guess our proximity to the ocean here may have something to do with less severe snows, but changing weather patterns may have something to do with it, too. I don’t know. All I hope is that our little portable Honda generator will work better next time. And, maybe if I exercised it more frequently, that would help, too. Duh. It did help some once we got it going.

Happy New Year everyone!

*On another note! My Golden Globe solo racer friend, Kirsten Neuschafer, from South Africa, has passed Hobart Gate and the halfway point of the race, on her way to Cape Horn. At this writing Kirsten is second, holding all the GGR fleet records! Best speed over four hours at 9.8 knots, best distance over 24 hours at 218.9 nautical miles, and best distance over seven days at 1143.7 nautical miles. Of the starting 16 racers, nine remain. Go Kirsten! The race started on Sept. 4 from Les Sables d’Olonne, France.