Big Waves and Wind: Hurricane Ian
Posted: Tue Sep 27, 2022 8:48 pm
What a bland name for a hurricane; Ian! Here comes Ian, brace yourself, doesn’t quite sound very alarmist, more likely to cause one to carry on and not panic. Anyway, I digress. I am bobbing about in the Gulf of Mexico waiting on a helicopter to take me to New Orleans. I am about 500 miles NW of the eye of Ian, which has just crossed over the west edge of Cuba.
The last few days have seen NE winds, about F2 to 3, balmy, short seas. For a couple of days now the swell was with the prevailing wind, NE, then there was a cross swell. Sky was blue and cloudless, then yesterday frontal cirrus clouds could be seen, but perfect blue today. The wind has been building all day, and the seas, both from the NE. The hurricane, over 500 miles away is producing 35 kt winds and 20 foot seas at my location and still building. All the drill ships around me, have weather cocked into the wind and waves and disconnected from the well. I am moored with 4 tension moorings per corner. It’s a funny motion, a sort of figure of eight shimmy, no heave, pitch or roll. Interesting to see it from this perspective.
The Hurricane is tracking to Florida and I will not be impacted, but my job is finished anyway. If the helicopter doesn’t fly, I am on boredom time. There is always an outside possibility that it suddenly tracks to the NW, in which case, while I would like that, a few years ago, the drilling rig on the sister platform, fell over the side, so its not really a situation to take lightly, despite the size of this rig.
It's been interesting watching the prognosis on TV and the actual facts as the storm has developed. For about a week now, it has been more or less predicted to do what it is exactly doing, both the track and the intensity. It only became a hurricane when it struck the hotter water in the Gulf of Mexico which powered it up to full belter mode. It has been decades since a big hurricane hit Florida and since then, there are now a couple generations who have not known hurricanes, and more crucially, a massive amount of home building and associated infrastructure. The threat from the surge is about 12’ and of course the winds, plus it will track along the west coast of the pan handle as opposed to just crossing it.
If I get off today, I’ll celebrate with a hurricane cocktail in Laffite’s Blacksmith shop bar and wish the population of FLorida luck! Poor souls.
The last few days have seen NE winds, about F2 to 3, balmy, short seas. For a couple of days now the swell was with the prevailing wind, NE, then there was a cross swell. Sky was blue and cloudless, then yesterday frontal cirrus clouds could be seen, but perfect blue today. The wind has been building all day, and the seas, both from the NE. The hurricane, over 500 miles away is producing 35 kt winds and 20 foot seas at my location and still building. All the drill ships around me, have weather cocked into the wind and waves and disconnected from the well. I am moored with 4 tension moorings per corner. It’s a funny motion, a sort of figure of eight shimmy, no heave, pitch or roll. Interesting to see it from this perspective.
The Hurricane is tracking to Florida and I will not be impacted, but my job is finished anyway. If the helicopter doesn’t fly, I am on boredom time. There is always an outside possibility that it suddenly tracks to the NW, in which case, while I would like that, a few years ago, the drilling rig on the sister platform, fell over the side, so its not really a situation to take lightly, despite the size of this rig.
It's been interesting watching the prognosis on TV and the actual facts as the storm has developed. For about a week now, it has been more or less predicted to do what it is exactly doing, both the track and the intensity. It only became a hurricane when it struck the hotter water in the Gulf of Mexico which powered it up to full belter mode. It has been decades since a big hurricane hit Florida and since then, there are now a couple generations who have not known hurricanes, and more crucially, a massive amount of home building and associated infrastructure. The threat from the surge is about 12’ and of course the winds, plus it will track along the west coast of the pan handle as opposed to just crossing it.
If I get off today, I’ll celebrate with a hurricane cocktail in Laffite’s Blacksmith shop bar and wish the population of FLorida luck! Poor souls.