

Mariners Weather Log
ISSN 0025-3367U.S. Department of Commerce
William J. Brennan Ph. D.
Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere
National Weather Service
Dr. John "Jack" L. Hayes
NOAA Assistant Administrator for Weather Services
Editorial Supervisor
John L. Wasserman
Layout and Design
U.S Government Printing Office
Marco Marchegiani
Articles, photographs, and letters should be sent to:
Mr. John L. Wasserman, Editorial Supervisor
Mariners Weather Log
NDBC (W/OPS 51)
Building 3203
Stennis Space Center, MS 39529-6000
Phone: (228) 688-1818
Fax: (228) 688-3923
E-mail:
john.wasserman@noaa.gov
From the Editor
John Wasserman
Greetings shipmates and friends. Welcome to the latest and hopefully greatest installment of the Mariners Weather Log. I trust everybody had a great holiday season and is glad to be back to work this new year.
First of all, please join me in a heart felt Welcome Aboard to our newest member of the US VOS team, David Dellinger. David is the new Port Meteorological Officer for Miami. His story is included in this issue on page 11.
No sooner do I mention that I am having difficulty getting into nautical mode…before those words were even dry on the MWL page, I get the call to go to sea! That’s right, for the past six weeks I have been at sea on board the TS Kennedy with Massachusetts Maritime, Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts. It was the sea term for the school and they invited me to come on board and spread the word about the US VOS program and teach weather observing and techniques. I must say that it was a terrific experience and the people I met on board…..both students and staff, were some of the finest professionals I have had the chance to work with. I really appreciate the opportunity, and I hope they will invite me again.
In this issue, we continue with what has come to be known as the “shipwreck series”; Skip Gilham with his story of the Logos. George Bancroft’s brings us up to date with his latest marine reviews of both the Atlantic and Pacific. Robert Luke, your former MWL editor provides us with an article on Call sign masking of ships. The feature that I am the most excited to share in this issues comes from Captain John Konrad. It is an article about skysails, a subject that has been getting a lot of attention these past few months. I’m very grateful to Captain Konrad and I hope you enjoy it as much as I have. Last but certainly not least we have an extremely informative article on Right Whale regulations that was submitted from the NOAA fisheries office of protected resources. Thank you to Gregory Silber and Shannon Bettridge for their submission.
Well that’s about enough of my ramblings and musings. Please enjoy this issue of the Mariners Weather Log.
Please enjoy and drop me a note anytime.
John
On the cover:
M/V Beluga SkySails enroute from Bremerhaven, Germany to
Guanta, Venezuela.
Some Important Web Page Addresses
NOAA | http://www.noaa.gov |
National Weather Service | http://www.weather.gov |
National Data Buoy Center | http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov |
AMVER Program | http://www.amver.com |
VOS Program | http://www.vos.noaa.gov |
SEAS Program | http://seas.amverseas.noaa.gov/seas/seasmain.html |
Mariners Weather Log | http://www.vos.noaa.gov/mwl.shtml |
Marine Dissemination | http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/marine/home.htm |
U.S. Coast Guard Navigation Center | http://www.navcen.uscg.gov/marcomms |