Monday 30 August

A nice day, quite a decent temperature (for this neck of the woods), 16C. No coat required for walk to shop this afternoon. The pretty yacht that was in on Sunday has disappeared; AIS tells me it left after 10pm last night, destination "Home".

This is the Eleonora E, which is a replica of the 1910-built schooner Windward.

Here in Lewis, the battle for the Pairc Estate has hotted up and the gloves are off. Under Scottish law, the community can purchase the estate they reside on, whether the landlord wants to cooperate or not. Barry Lomas, owner of the Pairc Estate, most definitely does not want to part with his land - even less so now that a windfarm could be built on it, meaning its value would skyrocket. According to the Pairc Trust, which are spearheading the community buy-out bid since 2004, his family have ratcheted up an 85-year record of neglect.


Gravir, Pairc

Hurricane update - 30 August

No fewer than five tropical cyclones to watch at present, with one possibly about to form, and another about to cease being a tropical cyclone.

Danielle is turning into a non-tropical storm depression south of Newfoundland, and will head towards Greenland.

Earl is a category III hurricane, which is presently giving the northern Leeward Islands, Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico hurricane-force winds. Its future path should give concern to the US east coast, although it is more likely that Nova Scotia gets a category II hurricane knocking on its door later this week.

Lionrock is a tropical storm in the western Pacific, bound into an unholy threesome with nearby storms Kompasu and Namtheun, in the vicinity of Taiwan. Kompasu is a 75 knots typhoon, Namtheun is a minor tropical storm, which will be gobbled up by Lionrock as that storm strengthens into a typhoon.

97L is a tropical disturbance which is trying to catch up with Earl - this gives the forecasters a headache as it introduces all sorts of uncertainties.

In summary: watch Earl if you're in the Caribbean or the US East Coast / Canadian Maritimes.