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Thursday,
September 04, 2010
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Goodbye Earl, we hardly knew ya!
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Goodbye Earl, we hardly knew ya! EverythingWestport.com Saturday, September
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Left: The sailor’s denizen of disaster –
Half Mile Rock battered by waves and storm surge. The Buzzards Bay buoy weather station reported 11.2 foot waves and
wind gusts up to 50 knots at 11:00 p.m. Friday night. The churning ocean put on quite a show of
waves and crashing surf along Westport beaches during the day. Westport Rivers
Vineyard out of danger? “I’m very optimistic our grapes were spared any serious damage,”
reported Rob Russell, Westport Rivers’ Vineyard manager. “After our ordeal
with hurricane Bob, the near miss is a blessing. We got one and a half inches
of rain, good for the berries but not too much to swell them up and produce
splits, a certain invitation to disease,” Russell added.
“We’ll have to get out into the vineyard to be sure, but I’m very
optimistic at the moment,” Russell said on Saturday morning. Bill Russell, Westport Rivers’ winemaker, has experimented before with
a red Pinot Noir, but never produced any quantity for resale. “The last time we had a chance to make Pinot
Noir as a red was 1991, and hurricane Bob took away that opportunity,” Rob
Russell said.” “We need an early start and a hot summer in order to approach a red
wine year,” Russell said. “This year was 1 vintage in 20 as far as we’re
concerned.” “The 1991 season started early with the vines displaying bud break two
weeks before normal, just like this 2010 season. The 1991 season was hot and
dry; the same is true for this year.”
But late August 1991 also brought an unwelcome visitor - a hurricane
named Bob. And with Hurricane Earl bearing down on the vineyard, the Russell
family wanted to see the similarities between 1991 and 2010 end. Tepid tropical
storm Earl takes a tack to the east, sparing Westport. The day Earl arrived was a beach day for intrepid bathers and surfers who
threw caution to the wind and took to the waters to challenge the surf and
the enormous waves. Tourists in town for the weekend were entertained by the pounding surf
at town beaches and Gooseberry Island’s causeway. But the real action which
drew the curious to the ocean spectacle was at the Nubble where massive 11 foot waves shot
plumes of water and spray fifty feet into the air, drenching anyone foolish enough
to challenge King Neptune’s furious temper tantrum. There was the usual ubiquitous cobblestone,
sand and gravel spewed up on East Beach Road. Trailers were ordered evacuated the day
before and had sought refuge on lots just north of the Bayside Restaurant.
Left: Monica of Westport dodges a drenching
while (right) enormous waves
battered both sides of the causeway. “We were warned earlier by a posted notice there may be an evacuation.
On Thursday Westport Fire fighters called door to door and ordered us to move
the trailers,” said one trailer occupant. The trailers returned Saturday after the cobblestones were pushed
aside and the road swept clean of the windblown sand. The silver lining in Earl’s glancing blow to Westport’s shoreline was
the gem of a weekend that followed the tropical storm’s departure. Westport woke up Saturday morning to blue skies and sunshine as the
storm that promised a wallop passed by with barely a whimper, skirting the
coastline and sparing the coastal villages any real damage. Minor surface
water runoff from the sometimes heavy rains quickly dissipated, and the
leaves stayed on the trees and branches off the streets.
09/03/2010 - Westport Harbor is protected
by a narrow entrance, and a snake-like entrance to Westport Point that,
coupled with a barrier beach with 50 foot dunes, provides a safe haven for
vessels of all sizes. Comparison pictures above make obvious while the ocean
is turbulent and raging outside the Harbor’s mouth, the waters in the harbor
are placid and undisturbed. Left: Harbor entrance north of the
Nubble. Right: Harbor entrance south of the Nubble.
Above: Intrepid bathers and
surfers threw caution to the wind and took to the waters to challenge the
surf and the enormous waves.
Left: The historic Life Saving Station at Gooseberry Neck flew the
hurricane warning flags while (right)
the Westport Harbormaster declared the harbor entrance dangerous, prompting small
craft owners to trailer their boats and seek safer havens before the
impending arrival of Earl.
Left: Half Mile Rock in calmer times.
Right: The trailers return
to East Beach Road. - - - - - End - - - - - © 2010 Community Events of Westport All rights reserved. EverythingWestport.com |
