Herb Retires

[conachair]

North Atlantic Radio Net: Herb Hilgenberg has Retired — Noonsite

On your own now.

[foolishsailor]

Wow, what a great loss. Almost as bad as losing GPS.

He will defo be missed and many a boat will now get a good battering as skippers miscall weather on the crossing...

[Sandero]

What a wonderful man and a friend. I hope all is well with Herb and his family.

[conachair]

Originally Posted by foolishsailor

Wow, what a great loss. Almost as bad as losing GPS.

He will defo be missed and many a boat will now get a good battering as skippers miscall weather on the crossing...

Well, he has always been very popular and provided a great service. Though it seemed to me a bit like passing up on a great opportunity to get some personal offshore weather forecasting experience without someone holding your hand.

But without doubt a generous individual who has had a large impact on countless passages.

Time to brush up on reading synoptic charts then Not that hard really.

[Blue Stocking]

I am sitting on my verandah, overlooking Ferry Reach, Bermuda, and can see the mooring where he kept Southbound, his Corbin 39. He will be missed, for sure.

[MarkJ]

Coming accross the Atlantic by myself is was kinda nice to hear Southbound II come up.

From his website:

In November of 2011 Herb lost all of his dedication/enthusiasm and commitment to continue operating his daily Net, over 25
years,Call Sign VAX498, (South Bound II Coastal). This was triggered by negative media assessments of Herb's advice to
yachts, participating in the NARC and other events.
His inclination was that it would be best to start reducing his level of service beginning 2012, by requesting that skippers
pre-register, and that he would cease coverage of any yachting events.
While this helped to reduce traffic down to about 325 vessels up to May 31, 2013, covering: Tall Ships, Fishing Vessels,
Motor Yacht, experienced Sailing Yacht delivery Captains, past contacts as far back as 25 years, experienced
Racers/Cruisers, as well as responding to requests from Rescue Coordination Centers, his heart is no longer in it, to continue.

We need to be careful who we critisize!

[cheoah]

What a great guy - all these years! He'll be missed at 1600.


Thanks Herb- happy retirement!

[boatman61]

Never ever used any of these SSB facilities for my crossings but have been aware of Herb for many years.. the guys a 'Legend' amongst many cruisers I've met...
Enjoy the retirement Herb... just hope ya don't get too bored...

[Talbot]

What a great shame.

Typical journalists - kicking someone for providing a free service instead of understanding the problem.

[LakeSuperior]

Herb helped us greatly on our North Atlantic crossing in 2010, Halifax to Ireland. He was helping four guys that were Great Lakes sailors and did not have much experience on oceans.

Once we figured things out we relied on the GRIBS as the SSB coverage was bad. However, when we could hear Herb and correlate his advice with the GRIB info we did finally get it.

He keep us from getting pounded had we stuck with our original great circle route to Oban. He provided a great service to yachters that summer. I am sure he will be missed.

Good luck Herb on your retirement I am glad we didn't miss you that summer.

[Mystic38]

This, in spades.

A very sad day for Atlantic passagemaking cruisers..

Originally Posted by Talbot

What a great shame.

Typical journalists - kicking someone for providing a free service instead of understanding the problem.

[S/V Alchemy]

Pinched between Hurricane Juan and a 980 mb trough on delivery between Virginia and USVIs in November 2009, we benefited greatly from Herb's commentary each afternoon.

The following year, I met him in Toronto at a Safety at Sea seminar. I'm not entirely sure he understood why he got the rock-star treatment from a few "sea dog" types in attendance, but clearly, he was appreciated and seemed to enjoy putting faces to names, or rather boat names, he had once heard buzzing over the ether from far offshore.

I understand and support his desire to put down the mike, but as I discussed this past March, the responsibility to run one's boat remains with the skipper. Herb gave an opinion in return for random weather data "on the ground", so to speak. Blaming or crediting him for the outcome would have been akin to shouting at the television when you don't like what's being said.