Stormy Weather

A stricken Ensign off the coast of Massachusetts. The end of August in New England featured fast-moving, powerful storms. Photo by Joe Berkeley

What’s in the forefront of every boater’s mind (other than where the liquor is stowed)? The weather, of course. We listen to the forecasts constantly, we brag about the storms we’ve vanquished and we fear those moments when the sky darkens, the wind shrieks and the swells grow. Here at Points East, we have plenty of weather stories to relate.


Casco Bay fog daze

“When in doubt, go out,” was the plan, and to outrun the soup, we headed farther offshore. The gloom seemed to lighten eight miles from home, but this was Maine, and we knew better.
Read More

The solution to climate change is us

Do we really need 1,200 hp on a boat designed for cocktail cruises?
Read More

All’s well that ends well

While I have made many hundreds of trips from Portsmouth Harbor to the Isles of Shoals across the full range of weather and seasons (wind, rain, fog, snow and freezing spray) I had never been thoroughly scared until one afternoon a few weeks ago.
Read More

On microbursts and mayhem

Years ago I was at a dock in Connecticut when friends of mine returned from a trip to Block Island aboard their 36-footer. They practically kissed the ground once their lines were thrown, and, to a man, were visibly shaken. The hours-old experience they described?
Read More

In the wake of Isaias

The surreal aspect of Aug. 4 didn’t begin until 3 p.m. This was the Tuesday that Tropical Storm Isaias rolled through New England, and I was listening to the radio, one eye on my computer screen and the other on the wildly cavorting trees outside
Read More