Virginia Man Sets Dinghy Record

Norfolk man's dinghy journey sets Guinness record

Guinness Book of World Records' website says Robert Suhay sailed 283.5 nautical miles, or 326.24 miles, on July 2. That's the longest single-handed distance sailed in a dinghy by a male.

WAVY-TV reports that the 51-year-old Suhay battled Hurricane Arthur as he traveled up the Chesapeake Bay to Maryland. He received a certificate from Guinness earlier this month.

Online: Guinness Book of World Records: www.guinnessworldrecords.com

His own report is here. Actually, the trip took 77 hours, from June 28 to July 3, from Virginia Beach, up to the Sassafras River and back down to Solomons Island. The distance was calculated using his GPS track. 

The Beach in the Wake of Arthur

Around 10 AM the clouds parted and the sun came out. Despite a high tide, and 20-30 mph winds, the cool(er) dry(er) air on the back side of Arthur made it a delightful day on the beach. If you have to have a hurricane, this was about the right distance to be from it.

The view from Charlie's steps, so you can see how far out the surf really reaches. That's Georgia down looking for teeth at the stream edge.  No luck today.  Maybe after the wave subside.

This luck dog got to come to the beach today.

The last cloud band from Hurricane Arthur moving away.

Arthur Update

At this time, Hurricane Arthur has passed over the Outer Banks, North Carolina with 100 mph winds, and is proceeding up the East Coast out to sea as predicted.

Winds here are 25ish sustained with gusts to 30, and still increasing. It's overcast, but not raining, although it must be raining not too far to the south. A little more rain wouldn't hurt. From the looks of the animated storm, we should soon be on the back side, and the winds should start to subside. Models predict it will continue offshore, passing off Cape Cod sometime early this evening on its way to Nova Scotia and Newfoundland.

At The Beach on the Advent of Arthur

As anyone with access to TV or the internet knows, the first tropical storm of the Atlantic Hurricane season, Arthur, has formed off Florida and blossomed into a full blown, if so far minimal, hurricane off the South Carolina coast. The consensus of the hurricane models is that, after whacking the Outer Banks on July 4, the storm will pass us by comfortably out to sea some time the same day on its way to an engagement in Nova Scotia. However, one errant European model has it running directly over us. . .

It certainly feels like tropical storm weather here. It was already 80 F and muggy under mostly cloudy skies when we got up. However, we're still expecting a line or two of thunderstorms from the north later, part of the cold front that's expected to push Arthur out to sea.

We made it to the beach around 11 AM and enjoyed a short walk. It was still mostly cloudy, and the wind from the west didn't reach down over the cliffs to give up much respite from heat and humidity.

This Great Blue Heron insisted on fishing in front of us on the way home, until squeezed between us and other beach-goers it decided to fly around to the empty side.

Some local kid (possibly aided by a father) made a home build swim platform and anchored it in shallow water near the north jetty.  Kind of ingenious, it is filled with quart soda bottles for flotation. I've blurred out the telephone number on it so you won't be tempted to call and ask for building instructions.

Since it's a relatively short beach report, I'll add a few photos from the garden, after we returned. First this dragonfly, welcome for its mosquito eating propensities.

A Cabbage White butterfly (female, according to the double spot on the forewing) trying to sip from our sage while in flight, like a humming bird. One thinks of butterfly wings as rigid, but still photos of them in flight often show the wings quite bent.