Whenever long time cruisers get together, there is sure to be a weather story or two told. All or us have at one time or another, been caught by the odd windstorm or suffered through a deluge, We all know that this can happen and try to avoid it when possible. Sometimes avoidance is not possible. This is the message that comes through in The Perfect Storm, by Sebastian Junger, published by W.W. Norton and Company, 1997.
The storm of the title is the "Halloween Blast" of 1991, off the northeast coast of North America. This storm was labeled by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA, as one of the five most destructive storms on record, causing over 1.5 billion dollars damage to the coastline from Virginia to Newfoundland.
Mr. Junger writes of the crew of the sword fishing boat Andrea Gail. The Andrea Gail is a longliner, setting and hauling a forty mile long line of hooks, lights and radio beacons. The job of the commercial fisherman is the most lethal job in the United States an what Mr. Junger has done is to skillfully draw us into the world of the longliners. Mr. Junger describes the boat, the preparations taken by the crew and then reconstructs what the last days of the six men may have been like.
We, the readers, are aware from the beginning that the Andrea Gail does not return. Mr. Junger insures that we stay with him on this journey by describing the mechanics of keeping a boat upright in a seaway, following the storm from a cat's pay of wind to a hundred mile an hour hurricane. Wave formation and how they build, seemingly of their own accord, into the 75 or 100 foot monsters recounted in the reports is a vital part of the story.
I found myself reading parts of this story over again, simply out of a sense of awe at the forces unleashed in this storm. I read sections out loud, as if to take some of the incredulity out of the words. This is a powerful book, full of human drama set against a harsh, brutal sea. The stories that make up the whole of this terrific work are so interwoven and necessary that I found it hard to put the book aside until I had read large chunks.
This is not just a big sea story. It is of immediate concern to sailors, coastal or bluewater. How prepared were you for the Easter windstorm this past spring? How well do you think you can react when a thunderstorm catches you out? Is your boat as solid and ready as you can make it? Can you withstand heavy weather as well as your boat?
I heartily recommend this book, The Perfect Storm, both for its subject and for the craft of the writer.
Hunter Davis, Puffin