Articles, photographs, and letters should be sent to:

Mr. Robert A. Luke, Editorial Supervisor
Mariners Weather Log
NDBC (W/OPS 51)
Building 3203, Room 305B
Stennis Space Center, MS 39529-6000

Phone: (228) 688-1457
Fax: (228) 688-3923
E-mail: robert.luke@noaa.gov

Welcome once again to another issue of the Mariners Weather Log (MWL). I hope y'all are enjoying the summer season as much as we are down here on the Gulf Coast. Just when you think that you can relax a bit, unexpected visitors like Cindy, Dennis, and Emily come a callin'. Oh well, at least we don't have snow days... Wait - didn't Galveston have a white Christmas recently? This is getting confusing.

Well, here's something that is easy to understand. We have some great stuff to share in this issue of the MWL. The Tropical Prediction Center offers us an outstanding article about how your manually observed wave heights are critical to their computer forecasts. We also have some late changes to the Pt. Reyes facsimile broadcast scheduling and some news about upcoming changes to the AMVER/SEAS software. A new section that we have just added to the MWL is a feature I call "From the Desk of a PMO." Each of our Port Meteorological Officers (PMOs) are taking turns and offering us some news, facts, or just some sea stories from their part of the VOS program. The first victim ...err, volunteer, is the one and only Timothy Kenefick. Tim is our PMO in Charleston, SC and being as shy as he is, it was a little hard to get him to speak up and tell us about his world. We also have pages of photos showing the proud faces of all the hard working masters and mates who were recipients of our annual award. I really do appreciate all the effort that each crew member does for this program and the efforts of each and every PMO in trying to keep them all supplied, trained, and happy. One minor correction from last issue though. I erroneously let a typo go by that gave an annual award to the ship DISCOVER DEEP SEAS. My apologies to the master and mates of the DISCOVERER DEEP SEAS for this lack of attention to detail. The echoes of my old Chief are once again ringing in my head, "Attention to Detail Nugget, Attention to Detail..." Oh make the nightmares stop...

I hope you find this issue as exciting to read as it was to produce, so grab a nice hot cup of coffee and enjoy!

Best Regards - Luke