A great story as usual. The coolest part for me was not technology or intuition, but the part about local knowledge of tidal eddies. I watched a RU-vid series called “keep turning left” about slowly circumnavigating your sceptered isle. Among other things it’s a sailing videographers love poem to the marvelously complex tides and estuaries that are inextricably woven into the history of Britain. I think it will be a while before technology supplants the local knowledge of your old friend. I could be wrong, though, if there’s a good enough, detailed enough database of tidal depths and flow rates, maybe someone could do map directions to let you take detailed advantage of eddies and such. If you could get really accurate micro wind and weather forecasts, maybe technology can help make sailing somewhat commercially useful again. With your surprise squall, I’m reminded of all the wise sailors who arranged to have someone in a high spot, even on land, maybe with a semaphore, to see what was coming from as far as possible. And they had local knowledge of typical weather sequences. We’ve just got higher spots, a better semaphore, and more systematic local knowledge now.
So descriptive you bought the whole thing to life. I could even feel the cold air and see the rain putting fire hoses to shame. Brilliant. So technology has a welcome place. Ok .
Tide is king that's thats what I was recently told by my RYA Instructor Collin but now you've pushed that home more, thank you, and by the way my 15 year old son just walked past and said that's a New idea dad telling it as a story I like that, funny 😁
