Irma

richardbayle

richardbayle

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French Antilles
www.richardbayle.com
So here I am sitting in Guadeloupe and the forecast says I am experiencing a hurricane of gigantic proportions just 6o miles up the road. The forecast also says that I am experiencing, right here in Riviere Sens, winds of over 90 knots now, with high seas etc. so, how come there is hardly a breath of wind and the sea when I looked 10 minutes ago is almost flat. I spent days getting my boat prepped for this as did others, quite the Dunkirk spirit in the marina, met a whole new bunch as we worked on each other's boats. Lady wife very nervy about the whole thing and because right now, nada, rien, nuffink, is accusing me and the BBC and the whole news media of overreacting and getting her all worked up ! The calm before the storm perhaps.
Don't get me wrong, very grateful let's hope it stays like this.
 
Sorry it’s being such a washout for you so far. We’re in St Maarten with the eye not due for 12 hours and no complaints from her indoors about it being “nothing much” ... so far. Keep us posted if it livens up?
 
Just rain now. No real wind here in the south of Guadeloupe, high seas and lots of rain now. Rained off and on all night.
Feel for those in its direct path though.
Jose coming along behind. Bit busy hurricane wise, one of th loys of living in the Caraibbean
 
At 1350BST Wednesday via BBC News...

Hurricane Irma has caused major flooding and damage to buildings on several Caribbean islands, France says.
The four "most solid" buildings on the island of Saint Martin have been destroyed, French Interior Minister Gérard Collomb announced.
There was still no news of casualties and more damage was possible, he said
Click to expand...
 
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This is an extremely bad hurricane. I watched the wind readings from the safety of the UK as it passed over Barbuda, worried also about my boat, luckily far enough south (I think and hope). Here is a chart of wind recorded at 135mph before the anenometer broke. The pressure was still dropping, and winds would have been worse. This is enough to blow away pretty much every flimsy house in Barbuda with the people inside. It has just passed over St Martin and Anguilla after battering St Barts. I can't see how the boats in the bay and lagoon can survive in St Martin, or on the hard for that matter. It's going to turn out to be a horrid and deadly affair.
 

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Looks like a really nasty one - most places seem lucky as it appears to be tracking just outside the line of lslands but sounds as if St Martins was badly hit - I hope everyone is okay
 
Just had a huge or is it yuuuuge megayacht, about 150ft at a guess, motor past us going north up the ICW. I guess a paid crew is taking it somewhere away from the brightlights of southern Florida. Owner has probably flown somewhere safe far away.
 
Zing said:
This is an extremely bad hurricane. I watched the wind readings from the safety of the UK as it passed over Barbuda, worried also about my boat, luckily far enough south (I think and hope). Here is a chart of wind recorded at 135mph before the anenometer broke. The pressure was still dropping, and winds would have been worse. This is enough to blow away pretty much every flimsy house in Barbuda with the people inside. It has just passed over St Martin and Anguilla after battering St Barts. I can't see how the boats in the bay and lagoon can survive in St Martin, or on the hard for that matter. It's going to turn out to be a horrid and deadly affair.
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Blimey - puts the odd blow on Chimet into perspective! I hope there are no casualties, but I cannot image none with wind speed and storm surge at that level
 
richardbayle said:
So here I am sitting in Guadeloupe and the forecast says I am experiencing a hurricane of gigantic proportions just 6o miles up the road. The forecast also says that I am experiencing, right here in Riviere Sens, winds of over 90 knots now, with high seas etc. so, how come there is hardly a breath of wind and the sea when I looked 10 minutes ago is almost flat. I spent days getting my boat prepped for this as did others, quite the Dunkirk spirit in the marina, met a whole new bunch as we worked on each other's boats. Lady wife very nervy about the whole thing and because right now, nada, rien, nuffink, is accusing me and the BBC and the whole news media of overreacting and getting her all worked up ! The calm before the storm perhaps.
Don't get me wrong, very grateful let's hope it stays like this.
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During the night they were talking about it on BBC R4. Although the cloud cover is huge the hurricane itself is actually quite compact which explains its force.
 
bedouin said:
Looks like a really nasty one - most places seem lucky as it appears to be tracking just outside the line of lslands but sounds as if St Martins was badly hit - I hope everyone is okay
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It isn't tracking outside the islands. Barbuda, St Barts, St Martin, Anguilla and the BVI all passed or will pass through the eye. Puerto Rico and DR likely, Turks and or Bahamas certain, then the Keys. Pretty close to a Strike if it was playing bowling.
 
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Zing said:
..pretty close to a Strike if it was playing bowling.
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Photos starting to come out of St Martin, it's carnage! Track's still saying that it's going through every one of the BVIs and USVI's as I type this, then it's on track to hit every single Bahamian Island as it heads to Florida; seas to 9-10m, there are many places in the Turks andBahamas that're above 10m!
 
richardbayle said:
So here I am sitting in Guadeloupe and the forecast says I am experiencing a hurricane of gigantic proportions just 6o miles up the road. The forecast also says that I am experiencing, right here in Riviere Sens, winds of over 90 knots now, with high seas etc. so, how come there is hardly a breath of wind and the sea when I looked 10 minutes ago is almost flat.
Click to expand...

The Met Office does Caribbean forecasts?
 
bedouin said:
Looks like a really nasty one - most places seem lucky as it appears to be tracking just outside the line of lslands but sounds as if St Martins was badly hit - I hope everyone is okay
Click to expand...

Picture from the BBC News website ... looks like a rather sorry tangle of boats in the background.

_97692018_martinreuters.jpg
 
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