God Bless Herb Hilgenberg
With my parents on their sloop making way off the coast of North Carolina bound for St. Martin...
300 PM EST THU NOV 2 2006 - W CENTRAL N ATLC CONTINENTAL SHELF AND SLOPE WATERS...it's a good time to revist Herb Hilgenberg. Famously known as Southbound Herb, this man is a veritable savior in the way of reliable weather forcasts delivered via SSB to offshore sailors in the North Atlantic waters. Great background can be found in this U.S. Coast Guard story, including Herb's motivation for providing an invaluable and often life-saving service utterly free-of-charge.
BEYOND 20 NM TO 250 NM OFFSHORE...GALE WARNING...
Herb resides in Ontario and his primary area of coverage is the North Atlantic between the Eastern Seaboard and Europe, including the Caribbean Sea, the Bahamas Islands and the Gulf of Mexico.
From Herb's website...
Most of the vessels who use Herb's service range in size from 35 to 45 feet. They are sailed by families, serious cruisers and even some adventurers, of all nationalities. They want to enjoy for extended periods tropical climates, participate in blue water Yacht races or just see the world from their maritime mobile base. Over the years, as the service became more established and recognized, the range of vessels using the service broadened. End users now included larger ocean sailing/racing yachts, fishing vessels, research vessels, luxury motor yachts, merchant vessels including tugs, container ships, carships, oil tankers, mobile oil rigs, salvage vessels, and the occasional commercial aircraft, Cruise ship, Coast Guard Cutter and Navy Warship.The service has also been a recognized source for obtaining fleet and individual weather reports for organized yacht racing events and cruises, such as the Newport-Bermuda Yacht Races, the Marion-Bermuda Yacht Races, the ARC, the Caribbean 1500, the Annapolis -Bermuda Race, the Daytona -Bermuda Races, the Marblehead- Halifax Race and other Atlantic and World Ocean cup/racing events, including the MiniTransat, the Whitbread, BOC, Alone Around The World Race, and the Tall Ship's 2000 event.
5 comments:
Would have been nice if you had posted a link to Herb's website Here's the URL btw,
http://www3.sympatico.ca/hehilgen/vax498.htm
Of course I did, my friend. The name Herb in the post is linked to his web site. Maybe it was not explicit enough but it's there!
My bad... It didn't show as a link in my other browser.. :( Also, I just realized the link to the USCG story is also on Herb's site. :D
My friend Val, delivery skip and racer, told me that good words from Herb were a definate part of her navigating strategy during the most recent Newport-Bermuda. And oh yeah... First in Class, first in Division, and wond the Navigator Award aboard Synergy.
In case Herb reads this, I'd like to thank him for helping us miss two gales in the North Atlantic back in 92. I believe he lived in Bermuda back then.
Not only did the weather advice help but it helped us get in contact with two boats that were crossing at about the same speed and course. I'll never forget pulling into Ireland and having to translate between the Irish fishermen and the Tennessee sailors. Good times.
Thanks, Herb.
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