Jim Bateman of Mathews and Fairfax didn’t intend to sail his 2012 Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 509 charter sailboat during a hurricane, and he wasn’t particularly worried that he was flirting with disaster when he left St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands last month to travel solo to the Mathews Yacht Club.
But his wife Liz and friends at home saw the path his boat was taking, deep in the dark red “the-hurricane-is-here” portion of a colorized weather chart on the Predict Wind app, and they were concerned a catastrophe could be imminent.
“For me on shore it’s a nailbiter when you look at Predict Wind,” said Liz. “The redder the color, the higher the waves, and if he should have any kind of accident or medical situation, he’s SOL. The worst of it for me is knowing he has no backup.”
Bateman, all smiles while doing maintenance on the “French Maid” last Monday, told his story from the beginning. He said he had been in St. Thomas from mid-May to Aug. 12 teaching Scouts how to sail as part of Scouting’...