Sea Devil
Well-known member
If anyone is heading out that way this might be of interest
Caribbean Sailing
- Thread starter Sea Devil
- Start date
Tradewinds
Well-known member
Thanks Michael. It brings back some happy memories for me. The hours spent listening to Herb waiting my turn on the roll call only for the propagation to break up at the crucial moment he was due to contact me! I found Herb to be somewhat cantankerous at times! BTW he routed a group of us from Fiji down to NZ (as a favour to one of his benefactors within the group). His forecasting, although welcome, was fairly average and we could glean just as much from our own weatherfaxes via the SSB. His forte was undoubtedly the N. Atlantic. On the outward crossing from Cape Verdes to WI we also listened to Bajansailor's mum Trudi on the Transatlantic MM net for weather info.
Great times.
Great times.
Sea Devil
Well-known member
Really glad it brought back good memories... They were fun days and my sailing in the Caribbean and subsequent circumnavigation were certainly one of the high points of my life so far... Tend to agree with you about Herb who has retired after some bad press... I did get some excellent help from Trudi but as I was not a Ham she stopped.
David Jones has died I gather but there is someone filling his slot--
Sometimes I think I should go back...
Bajansailor
Well-known member
Trudi did talk to quite a few 'pirates' - when she could - she just wanted everybody to benefit as much as possible from her net.
Trouble is, there was another Herb, an American chap based in the Virgin Islands (not to be confused with Canadian Herb the weather forecaster), who was the self styled policeman of the ham radio air waves (rumour had it that he was employed by the FCC) - and he often appeared to be on an absolute vendetta, going to extraordinary lengths to getting 'pirates' shut down.
My Mum was on the receiving end of his vitriol as well (he would lambaste her as well, and threaten to shut her down for talking to 'pirates') and he occasionally reduced her to tears.
Policeman Herb also had running battles with Lou who ran the Caribbean Maritime Mobile Net.
Yet Mum did meet him once in person, after years of being barbequed on the radio waves - and he turned out to be a very quiet and introvert chap who could hardly say boo to a goose.
A bit like some forumites on here.........
Yes, Weatherman Herb could get a bit cantankerous, especially when members of his flock ignored his good advice and decided to do their own thing.
I remember listening to Herb in May 1995; there were a group of us waiting in St Georges, Bermuda for a suitable weather window to head for the mainland, and we waited until he said go.
Some boats were going directly up to Maine, but we were heading for Newport, Rhode Island, 600 miles away - a bit over 4 days away.
One reason being that Newport had a reputation then for having the nicest Customs man on the whole Eastern Seaboard.
During the time we were at sea the first hurricane of the season formed off the Bahamas, and started barrelling north - the feeder bands chased us into Newport, and we were lucky to get in ahead of it (it stayed offshore).
We stayed at anchor for 24 hours before going ashore to clear, as it was too rough for the wee tender.
The nice Customs gentleman was not bothered by this - others would have kicked up a fuss, as you are supposed to clear in immediately on arrival.
And he actually wrote up our clearance papers in the launderette (next door to his office) while we were doing our laundry.
A large,(49' - I was on a 34') fairly posh yacht (with a middle aged couple on board) set off from Bermuda for Newport a couple of days after us, despite warnings from Herb not to go to sea, but her rather bumptious skipper knew better.
And as a result they got fairly well pasted by the fringes of the hurricane, but survived.
He was very meek and humble when we bumped into him after they arrived (in contrast to the person we had met in Bermuda), and his wife declared that she had had enough, and was getting on a plane and returning home.
I think that a most entertaining book could probably be written about Weatherman Herb's customers - they were a very varied bunch, from all walks of life, sailing every type of boat imaginable.......
Trouble is, there was another Herb, an American chap based in the Virgin Islands (not to be confused with Canadian Herb the weather forecaster), who was the self styled policeman of the ham radio air waves (rumour had it that he was employed by the FCC) - and he often appeared to be on an absolute vendetta, going to extraordinary lengths to getting 'pirates' shut down.
My Mum was on the receiving end of his vitriol as well (he would lambaste her as well, and threaten to shut her down for talking to 'pirates') and he occasionally reduced her to tears.
Policeman Herb also had running battles with Lou who ran the Caribbean Maritime Mobile Net.
Yet Mum did meet him once in person, after years of being barbequed on the radio waves - and he turned out to be a very quiet and introvert chap who could hardly say boo to a goose.
A bit like some forumites on here.........
Yes, Weatherman Herb could get a bit cantankerous, especially when members of his flock ignored his good advice and decided to do their own thing.
I remember listening to Herb in May 1995; there were a group of us waiting in St Georges, Bermuda for a suitable weather window to head for the mainland, and we waited until he said go.
Some boats were going directly up to Maine, but we were heading for Newport, Rhode Island, 600 miles away - a bit over 4 days away.
One reason being that Newport had a reputation then for having the nicest Customs man on the whole Eastern Seaboard.
During the time we were at sea the first hurricane of the season formed off the Bahamas, and started barrelling north - the feeder bands chased us into Newport, and we were lucky to get in ahead of it (it stayed offshore).
We stayed at anchor for 24 hours before going ashore to clear, as it was too rough for the wee tender.
The nice Customs gentleman was not bothered by this - others would have kicked up a fuss, as you are supposed to clear in immediately on arrival.
And he actually wrote up our clearance papers in the launderette (next door to his office) while we were doing our laundry.
A large,(49' - I was on a 34') fairly posh yacht (with a middle aged couple on board) set off from Bermuda for Newport a couple of days after us, despite warnings from Herb not to go to sea, but her rather bumptious skipper knew better.
And as a result they got fairly well pasted by the fringes of the hurricane, but survived.
He was very meek and humble when we bumped into him after they arrived (in contrast to the person we had met in Bermuda), and his wife declared that she had had enough, and was getting on a plane and returning home.
I think that a most entertaining book could probably be written about Weatherman Herb's customers - they were a very varied bunch, from all walks of life, sailing every type of boat imaginable.......
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Sea Devil
Well-known member
Yes Herb told me off for leaving too early on an overnight to somewhere in the Bahamas heading south... It was a bit bumpy!
I wonder if all the SSB nets still existe... If its still the best way of keeping in touch?
I wonder if all the SSB nets still existe... If its still the best way of keeping in touch?
Bajansailor
Well-known member
I think that the UK Net (14.303?) is still going, similarly the Caribbean Net which Lou in St Croix ran, but I am not too sure about the Trans-Atlantic Net now. My Mum retired from the Net at least 10 or 12 years ago now - email is so much easier nowadays for keeping in contact with people, especially as almost everybody has email comms now via SSB or sat phone.
Sea Devil
Well-known member
Yes. 14.303 was always the main chat channel. Good days.. Lots of fun