Gulf Stream Myths and Worse
 

anchorlt wrote:
"Armond Perretta" wrote...
anchorlt wrote:

I have long wondered why some people appear to fear the Gulf
Stream ... ...
I have crossed the Stream, from north of Ft. Lauderdale, to the
Banks south of St. Isaacs Light on the way to Abacos and south, to
Exumas, Long Islaand and even further south, and north, to extreme
NE Bahamas, more than 30 times, all without incident or concern.
...
If you have a reasonably well founded boat with good navigation
gear and good charts, wait for weather window and then "Go,"
keeping a sharp lookout for other boats and ships ...

Sometimes it happens that when you actually _get_ to the Stream,
the "window" is closed. Leaving from Florida in one thing.
Leaving from elsewhere on the East Coast or from the Maritimes,
places that are more than a mere 25 or 50 miles from the West
Wall, is often something else again.

I have been in harbor in Bermuda and encountered "well found"
boats who lost their rig, lost gear, and, worst of all, lost
people in the Stream. I suspect your crossings have given you a
perspective that applies well to the locations and situations
which you have directly experienced, but not so well to the Gulf
Stream in general.

Be careful about encouraging foolhardiness.

Foolhardiness? Please read my entry again.

Please read _my_ post again. I did not limit my discussion to jumping over
to Bimini, since you did not do so with title and tenor of your original
post. While you discussed only having crossed the Florida Straights, your
subject heading "Gulf Stream Myths" as originally posted makes no effort to
limit your analysis to this specific region of ocean. For these reason it
seemed appropriate submit the qualifications I did, based on my own
experiences with this section of ocean.

Florida may own the US Supreme Court and the Electoral College, but the Gulf
Stream is still pretty much in the public domain.

--
Good luck and good sailing.
s/v Kerry Deare of Barnegat
http://kerrydeare.home.comcast.net/

Gulf Stream Myths and Worse
 

On Thu, 18 Mar 2004 07:41:05 -0500, "Jerry" wrote:
Does anyone know the physics behind the effect of the north winds on the
Gulf Stream?

Simple logic seems to say that a 15 know wind against an opposing current of
3 knots should have the same effect as a 18 know wind on still water. I
know, from experience, that it ain't so. by why not?

==================================================

This is the intuitive, "non-technical" version. I believe it is
similar to what happens when a wave encounters shallow water. The
forward motion of the wave is slowed, water starts to pile up from
behind, and height/steepness increases as a result.

Gulf Stream Myths and Worse
 

anecdote:

Old sailor was nearing Cape Hatteras with 5 GPS units, a sextant, 3
charts, and a Texaco road map, could not find the bouy and decided to
turn back for fear of hitting imaginary rocks.

The only rocks near CH were in his head.

BB

Gulf Stream Myths and Worse
 

I been sailing for 46 years trying to find that elusive Gulph Streem.
It moves around ya know?

JAX


(anchorlt) wrote in message . com...
I have long wondered why some people appear to fear the Gulf Stream
and build such large myths and worse about crosssing it.

I have crossed the Stream, from north of Ft. Lauderdale, to the Banks
south of St. Isaacs Light on the way to Abacos and south, to Exumas,
Long Islaand and even further south, and north, to extreme NE Bahamas,
more than 30 times, all without incident or concern.

If you have a reasonably well founded boat with good navigation gear
and good charts, wait for weather window and then "Go," keeping a
sharp lookout for other boats and ships. (Ships travel near western
wall when headed south and near the eastern wall when headed north.)
Devils and other boat-eating monsters do not dwell in the Gulf Stream.

Gulf Stream is like any other waters with a moderately fluctuating
intensity of current. Be assured that if you are on a boat that is, in
all resoects, up to date, you will even enjoy the passage. And when
you first spot a Bahamian land mass on the distant horizon, you will
be pleased with yourself and your boat.

Gulf Stream Myths and Worse
 

The gulf stream is somewhat like a river in that it never stops flowing.
What does shift is the location of maximum current. Along the coast of
Florida it is at a low speed, increasing towards the Bahamas and then falling
off again as you approach Easterly closer to the islands. If it is a calm day,
you won't even notice the stream unless you take a Easterly heading to say
Bimini harbor
and watch your boat move Northeast. I have a slow 22 footer and will steer a
somewhat
SouthEast course across the stream heading East, and although I start somewhat
South of Bimini, I will usually hit Bimini right on the nose after a half day
crossing.
If you have a GPS, you can check your 'course made good' and also see the
effects
of the current. If you have been crossing in high speed power boats, the
effects
of the stream would be much less noticeable, but still there.

Sherwin Dubren

JAXAshby wrote:

I been sailing for 46 years trying to find that elusive Gulph Streem.
It moves around ya know?

JAX

(anchorlt) wrote in message . com...
I have long wondered why some people appear to fear the Gulf Stream
and build such large myths and worse about crosssing it.

I have crossed the Stream, from north of Ft. Lauderdale, to the Banks
south of St. Isaacs Light on the way to Abacos and south, to Exumas,
Long Islaand and even further south, and north, to extreme NE Bahamas,
more than 30 times, all without incident or concern.

If you have a reasonably well founded boat with good navigation gear
and good charts, wait for weather window and then "Go," keeping a
sharp lookout for other boats and ships. (Ships travel near western
wall when headed south and near the eastern wall when headed north.)
Devils and other boat-eating monsters do not dwell in the Gulf Stream.

Gulf Stream is like any other waters with a moderately fluctuating
intensity of current. Be assured that if you are on a boat that is, in
all resoects, up to date, you will even enjoy the passage. And when
you first spot a Bahamian land mass on the distant horizon, you will
be pleased with yourself and your boat.

Gulf Stream Myths and Worse
 

I notice that the Navy site I used to check the Gulf Stream has disappeared.
Anyone have a URL for the weekly positions of the Gulf Stream?

--
Dennis Gibbons
dkgibbons at optonline dot net
"Sherwin Dubren" wrote in message
...
The gulf stream is somewhat like a river in that it never stops flowing.
What does shift is the location of maximum current. Along the coast of
Florida it is at a low speed, increasing towards the Bahamas and then
falling
off again as you approach Easterly closer to the islands. If it is a calm
day,
you won't even notice the stream unless you take a Easterly heading to say
Bimini harbor
and watch your boat move Northeast. I have a slow 22 footer and will
steer a
somewhat
SouthEast course across the stream heading East, and although I start
somewhat
South of Bimini, I will usually hit Bimini right on the nose after a half
day
crossing.
If you have a GPS, you can check your 'course made good' and also see the
effects
of the current. If you have been crossing in high speed power boats, the
effects
of the stream would be much less noticeable, but still there.

Sherwin Dubren

JAXAshby wrote:

I been sailing for 46 years trying to find that elusive Gulph Streem.
It moves around ya know?

JAX

(anchorlt) wrote in message
. com...
I have long wondered why some people appear to fear the Gulf Stream
and build such large myths and worse about crosssing it.

I have crossed the Stream, from north of Ft. Lauderdale, to the Banks
south of St. Isaacs Light on the way to Abacos and south, to Exumas,
Long Islaand and even further south, and north, to extreme NE Bahamas,
more than 30 times, all without incident or concern.

If you have a reasonably well founded boat with good navigation gear
and good charts, wait for weather window and then "Go," keeping a
sharp lookout for other boats and ships. (Ships travel near western
wall when headed south and near the eastern wall when headed north.)
Devils and other boat-eating monsters do not dwell in the Gulf Stream.

Gulf Stream is like any other waters with a moderately fluctuating
intensity of current. Be assured that if you are on a boat that is, in
all resoects, up to date, you will even enjoy the passage. And when
you first spot a Bahamian land mass on the distant horizon, you will
be pleased with yourself and your boat.

Gulf Stream Myths and Worse
 

Try http://www.deos.tudelft.nl/altim/gulfstream/

--


Keith
__
Everybody should believe in something: I believe I'll have another drink.
"Dennis Gibbons" wrote in message
et...
I notice that the Navy site I used to check the Gulf Stream has
disappeared.
Anyone have a URL for the weekly positions of the Gulf Stream?

Gulf Stream Myths and Worse
 

I have that one, I'm looking for the larger scale one with more detail.

--
Dennis Gibbons
dkgibbons at optonline dot net
"Keith" wrote in message
...
Try http://www.deos.tudelft.nl/altim/gulfstream/

--


Keith
__
Everybody should believe in something: I believe I'll have another drink.
"Dennis Gibbons" wrote in message
et...
I notice that the Navy site I used to check the Gulf Stream has
disappeared.
Anyone have a URL for the weekly positions of the Gulf Stream?

Gulf Stream Myths and Worse
 

Dennis Gibbons wrote:

I have that one, I'm looking for the larger scale one with more
detail.

For my money (IOW this isn't free) this cannot be beaten:

http://users.erols.com/gulfstrm/

Clark's site is the granddaddy (or is it "grandmamma"?) of Gulf Stream
references.

--
Good luck and good sailing.
s/v Kerry Deare of Barnegat
http://kerrydeare.home.comcast.net/

Gulf Stream Myths and Worse
 

Sherwin, you might just wanna take a look at a temp chart of the waters between
Florida and Newfoundland to see just how much of a well-defined "river" the
Gulf Stream is. On the average, it "gets there", but there is not much
"average" about it.


The gulf stream is somewhat like a river in that it never stops flowing.
What does shift is the location of maximum current. Along the coast of
Florida it is at a low speed, increasing towards the Bahamas and then falling

off again as you approach Easterly closer to the islands. If it is a calm
day,
you won't even notice the stream unless you take a Easterly heading to say
Bimini harbor
and watch your boat move Northeast. I have a slow 22 footer and will steer a
somewhat
SouthEast course across the stream heading East, and although I start
somewhat
South of Bimini, I will usually hit Bimini right on the nose after a half day
crossing.
If you have a GPS, you can check your 'course made good' and also see the
effects
of the current. If you have been crossing in high speed power boats, the
effects
of the stream would be much less noticeable, but still there.

Sherwin Dubren

JAXAshby wrote:

I been sailing for 46 years trying to find that elusive Gulph Streem.
It moves around ya know?

JAX

(anchorlt) wrote in message
.com...
I have long wondered why some people appear to fear the Gulf Stream
and build such large myths and worse about crosssing it.

I have crossed the Stream, from north of Ft. Lauderdale, to the Banks
south of St. Isaacs Light on the way to Abacos and south, to Exumas,
Long Islaand and even further south, and north, to extreme NE Bahamas,
more than 30 times, all without incident or concern.

If you have a reasonably well founded boat with good navigation gear
and good charts, wait for weather window and then "Go," keeping a
sharp lookout for other boats and ships. (Ships travel near western
wall when headed south and near the eastern wall when headed north.)
Devils and other boat-eating monsters do not dwell in the Gulf Stream.

Gulf Stream is like any other waters with a moderately fluctuating
intensity of current. Be assured that if you are on a boat that is, in
all resoects, up to date, you will even enjoy the passage. And when
you first spot a Bahamian land mass on the distant horizon, you will
be pleased with yourself and your boat.