Hurricane Erika threatening The Bahamas
By JASMIN BONIMY ~ Guardian Staff Reporter ~ jasmin@nasguard.com:
Local forecasters are keeping a close eye on the 2009 Atlantic Hurricane season's fifth named storm, whose current projected path places it over The Bahamas on the weekend.
At 5 p.m. yesterday, Tropical Storm Erika was 320 miles east-southeast of San Juan, Puerto Rico, and 700 miles southeast of Grand Turk in the Turks and Caicos.
The storm was moving westward at about 10 miles per hour. It had maximum sustained winds of 40 miles per hour, and tropical storm force winds extended outward up to 205 miles, according to information released by the Department of Meteorology.
Forecaster Greg Thompson said the storm is expected to first impact the southern Bahamas as it makes its way up the archipelago.
"We don't expect it to strengthen very much over the next few days, at least not into a hurricane," explained Thompson. "They are forecasting it to remain a tropical storm up until Saturday morning as it moves just to the north of the Dominican Republic and then moving very near to the Southeast Bahamas. As a matter of fact, it will weaken to a depression."
Thompson said the storm will begin ushering in heavy rain, gusts of wind and cloudy skies in the south by Sunday while northern and central islands will begin feeling Erika's impact early Monday morning.
The National Hurricane Center in the United States has projected Erika's wind speed will increase to as much as 60 to 65 miles per hour over the next two days before dropping back to about 55 miles per hour by the weekend.
Tropical storm warnings have been issued for Antigua, Barbuda, Montserrat, St. Kitts, Nevis, Anguilla, St. Martin, Saba and St. Eustatius.
Erika has forced at least one cruise ship sailing in the eastern Caribbean to change course.
In a press release issued yesterday, Carnival Cruise Lines said the Carnival Glory remained at sea yesterday instead of visiting St. Martin as originally scheduled.
The 2,974-passenger vessel, which departed Port Canaveral, Florida, on Saturday, instead will visit Grand Turk today before returning to Florida.
Puerto Rico Sailing - Lincolnville man is world sailing champion
Lincolnville man is world sailing champion
By Staff
NEWPORT, R.I. (Sep 17): Lincolnville native and Sophie II crew member Cam Lewis was part of a team that won the 10-Boat Modern Division at the 2009 Six Metre World Cup held Sept. 8-12.
Over five days, competitors at the World Cup encountered every condition that Narragansett Bay could serve up.
Pictured, from left, are Jonas Haggbom, Cam Lewis, Lars Linger, Brendan McCoy (with trophy) and Hugo Stenbeck; and in back, Luis Balzac, who represents the Office of the Governor of Puerto Rico, as Rums of Puerto Rico and The Puerto Rico Tourism Company presented the event. (Image courtesy of SallyAnne Santos/Winldlass Creative)
The sunshine and light air that opened the regatta on day one yielded to heavy winds and leaden skies for the balance of the series.
On the penultimate day of the championship, during the second race of the day, visibility shut down to less than 100 yards when driving rain squalls went through the course.
While two races were run for each division, wind readings of 25 knots eliminated plans to run additional races.
The final day of the series was a light air chase in low visibility courtesy of the stalled low pressure system that generated frequent heavy downpours.
In the 10-Boat Modern Division, all was set for a duel between Scoundrel, driven by Rob Gray of Great Britain, and Sophie II, with New York native Hugo Stenbeck of Sweden at the helm, who were tied or within a point of each other for much of the series.
At the end of the penultimate day of racing, a disqualification picked up by Sophie II looked like it might be her undoing. However, even a first-place by Scoundrel in the final race of the series was not enough to win her the championship.
Tied with 17 points each, Sophie IIwon by having two second-place finishes to Scoundrel’s one, as each had won three races.
"This is the first world championship I’ve ever sailed in any class," said Stenbeck. "By the skin of our teeth we managed to stay ahead of a very experienced group that we never thought we would be able to compete with."
Stenbeck’s crew included Lars Linger, Jonas Haggbom, both of Sweden, Brendan McCoy of Alabama and 1993 Rolex Yachtsman of the Year Lewis of Lincolnville, who was sailing his first regatta with this team.
Among the fleet of Sixes, which represented ten countries — Bermuda, Canada, Finland, France, Denmark, Germany, New Zealand, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States — one of the highlights was the participation of Scout, which was brought from New Zealand by Martin Farrand of Auckland.
Organized by Sail Newport, and held on the grounds of the Museum of Yachting, the 2009 Six Metre World Cup was presented by Rums of Puerto Rico and The Puerto Rico Tourism Company.
By Staff
NEWPORT, R.I. (Sep 17): Lincolnville native and Sophie II crew member Cam Lewis was part of a team that won the 10-Boat Modern Division at the 2009 Six Metre World Cup held Sept. 8-12.
Over five days, competitors at the World Cup encountered every condition that Narragansett Bay could serve up.
Pictured, from left, are Jonas Haggbom, Cam Lewis, Lars Linger, Brendan McCoy (with trophy) and Hugo Stenbeck; and in back, Luis Balzac, who represents the Office of the Governor of Puerto Rico, as Rums of Puerto Rico and The Puerto Rico Tourism Company presented the event. (Image courtesy of SallyAnne Santos/Winldlass Creative)
The sunshine and light air that opened the regatta on day one yielded to heavy winds and leaden skies for the balance of the series.
On the penultimate day of the championship, during the second race of the day, visibility shut down to less than 100 yards when driving rain squalls went through the course.
While two races were run for each division, wind readings of 25 knots eliminated plans to run additional races.
The final day of the series was a light air chase in low visibility courtesy of the stalled low pressure system that generated frequent heavy downpours.
In the 10-Boat Modern Division, all was set for a duel between Scoundrel, driven by Rob Gray of Great Britain, and Sophie II, with New York native Hugo Stenbeck of Sweden at the helm, who were tied or within a point of each other for much of the series.
At the end of the penultimate day of racing, a disqualification picked up by Sophie II looked like it might be her undoing. However, even a first-place by Scoundrel in the final race of the series was not enough to win her the championship.
Tied with 17 points each, Sophie IIwon by having two second-place finishes to Scoundrel’s one, as each had won three races.
"This is the first world championship I’ve ever sailed in any class," said Stenbeck. "By the skin of our teeth we managed to stay ahead of a very experienced group that we never thought we would be able to compete with."
Stenbeck’s crew included Lars Linger, Jonas Haggbom, both of Sweden, Brendan McCoy of Alabama and 1993 Rolex Yachtsman of the Year Lewis of Lincolnville, who was sailing his first regatta with this team.
Among the fleet of Sixes, which represented ten countries — Bermuda, Canada, Finland, France, Denmark, Germany, New Zealand, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States — one of the highlights was the participation of Scout, which was brought from New Zealand by Martin Farrand of Auckland.
Organized by Sail Newport, and held on the grounds of the Museum of Yachting, the 2009 Six Metre World Cup was presented by Rums of Puerto Rico and The Puerto Rico Tourism Company.
