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Thursday, September 04, 2010
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Goodbye Earl, we hardly knew ya!
Goodbye Earl, we hardly knew ya!
EverythingWestport.com
Saturday, September 4, 2010
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Area farmers, commercial and recreational boaters, and seaside trailer owners poured days of
preparations into protecting themselves against a possible category 4 hurricane hitting the coastal
villages, but all for naught as downgraded tropical storm Earl brushed Westport aside and headed for
better pickings on the Cape and Islands.
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.
The wind wasn’t strong enough
either to bump, bruise and cut the
berries on their retaining wire,
another disease-inviting catastrophe waiting to happen.
“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.
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