flies
DAVIDPegasea
50 miles and taking advantage of the Gulfstream. Just south of Cape Hatteras we
were overrun by flies. There must have been at least 75-100 of them. Has anyone
heard of such a thing? Where did they come from? They were gone in about a
day. When we woke up the second day, they completely left us.
pm
<20010525173822...@ng-co1.news.cs.com>:
If you had checked their back pockets you'd have found tiny little DEA id's.
They have been known to be very good at disguises.
pm
Rich Hampel
If you really want flies, sail up the Chesapeake in the vicinity of Tangier and Smith Islands in
August (er, motor up during becalmed August) and you can have 25 flies per sq. ft. Take all you
want, we wont mind a bit.
Armond Perretta
"DAVIDPegasea" <davidp...@cs.com> wrote ...
>
> Last week I was sailing from Charleston, SC to New York. We were offshore
> about 50 miles and taking advantage of the Gulfstream. Just south of Cape
> Hatteras we were overrun by flies. There must have been at least 75-100 of
> them. Has anyone heard of such a thing?
Odds are you were sailing in a west or northwest wind. This often results
in swarms of windblown flying insects along this coast, and on north to
Southern New England. Not exactly common, but not so rare either.
--
Good luck and good sailing.
s/v Kerry Deare of Barnegat
http://members.tripod.com/kerrydeare
Rosalie B.
Were you sailing or was it calm? The same thing has happened to us in the
CHesapeake, but only when calm. A fly swatter is required equipment.
grandma Rosalie
Geoffrey W. Schultz
>Last week I was sailing from Charleston, SC to New York. We were
I had this happen a few years ago on a trip between Provincetown, MA (tip
of Cape Cod) and Maine. We ran into a huge swarm about 50 miles offshore.
It was disgusting. I must have had a premonition because I had just bought
a new fly swatter and fly "gun" that day. The only thing that made it
bearable was going after the flies. Luckily they disappeared during the
night and were no where to be seen when we pulled into Christmas Cove, ME
the next morning. It wasn't fun cleaning up from the massacre though...
-- Geoff
Tom Zwaska
thousands at certain times, mainly in the spring/early summer. I have seen
boats come back with empty drinking cups with 20-30 flies in each. It
usually last for a week or so with the peak being extremely difficult to
tolerate without screening.
I too would be interested in learning more about this phenomena.
"Geoffrey W. Schultz" <schultz@@ultranet.com> wrote in message
news:90AD5A886schu...@207.172.3.51...
Scott Downey
I saw on a show about insects how they can be blown out to sea in a strom
and they will land on anything they can.
Can you imagine millions of locusts resting on your boat many miles from
shore? I wonder if they would sink the boat.
"DAVIDPegasea" <davidp...@cs.com> wrote in message
news:20010525173822...@ng-co1.news.cs.com...
Vic
Scott Downey <sdow...@worldnet.att.net> wrote in message
news:2F5Q6.48996$4f7.3...@bgtnsc06-news.ops.worldnet.att.net...
> How about a plaque of locusts?
> I saw on a show about insects how they can be blown out to sea in a strom
> and they will land on anything they can.
> Can you imagine millions of locusts resting on your boat many miles from
> shore? I wonder if they would sink the boat.
>
--
vic johnson
Fremantle, Western Australia
Seamanship, like any other form of skill, is an art and cannot
be pursued at odd times as a secondary occupation;
on the contrary, no other work may be subordinated to it.
THUCYDIDES, Book I: CXLIII
Jim
regards, Jim
>"DAVIDPegasea" <davidp...@cs.com> wrote in message
Last week I was sailing from Charleston, SC to New York. We were offshore
>about
>> 50 miles and taking advantage of the Gulfstream. Just south of Cape
>Hatteras we
>> were overrun by flies. There must have been at least 75-100 of them. Has
>anyone
>> heard of such a thing? Where did they come from?
From the Southern Bay Sailing Club, website:
http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/southernbaysailingclub
and the Chesapeake Bay, the best sailing area in the world!
To reply, remove "motion" from this e-mail address.
Duncan Greenhill
I remember on part of my B.Sc being taught about arthropods dispersing
pretty large distances by being caught up in air currents, even creatures
that don't fly such as spiders. They have a string of silk out of their
spinnarets and eventually the drag on the line exceeds the weight of the
spider and off they go.
So there you go, next time you get the flies, just hang about and wait for
the spiders to arrive :-)
Duncan
Terry K
flies. First experience, we went to a movie in late may or early
june and when we came out, the sky looked like it was snowing. Our
car was, well, covered. The road was slippery. Our house had a
layer of flies an inch deep all over one end of the building. It's a
breeding strategy; feed the birds till they can't fly, and the
majority of the chilluns go free.
Army worms do it every 7 years in New Brunswick, and other places
have their own plagues. There is by far more biomass of bugs than
people in this world, and they rule! We just don't notice most
times. Can you imagine what it is like in some regions, where for
instance caribou are killed by blackflies and mosquitoes? OOOhhh!
it makes me sweat! Sounds like a theme for a horror movie.
Terry K
Jere Lull
> DAVIDPegasea wrote:
> >
> > Last week I was sailing from Charleston, SC to New York. We were offshore about
> > 50 miles and taking advantage of the Gulfstream. Just south of Cape Hatteras we
> > were overrun by flies. There must have been at least 75-100 of them. Has anyone
> > heard of such a thing? Where did they come from? They were gone in about a
> > day. When we woke up the second day, they completely left us.
As someone else mentioned, there were some fairly strong westerly winds last week -- and there are
plenty of chicken and pig "farms" on the DelMarVa and North Carolina.
Rich Hampel wrote:
> Happens a lot off the Virginia Capes ... and all the way to Cape May.
> If you really want flies, sail up the Chesapeake in the vicinity of Tangier and Smith Islands in
> August (er, motor up during becalmed August) and you can have 25 flies per sq. ft. Take all you
> want, we wont mind a bit.
Invent a fly lure and trap like those beetle things for the garden and you'll be rich. Find a use
for the carcasses and your cruising kitty would be set for several lifetimes. We sweep the cockpit
every 100 "hits" or each hour, whichever comes first. Them things bite pretty good.
--
Jere Lull
Xan-a-Deux -- '73 Tanzer 28 #4 -- out of Tolchester, MD
Xan's Pics & Specs: http://members.dca.net/jerelull/X-Main.html
Our BVI Vacation trip FAQ (250+ Annotated pics): http://members.dca.net/jerelull/BVI.html
Jeff
"Jere Lull" <jere...@dca.net> wrote in message
> Invent a fly lure and trap like those beetle things for the garden and
you'll be rich.
Just remember to put the lure/trap on someone else's boat, as they will
ATTRACT flies. Japanese Beetle traps are best used in your neighbor's yard,
according to the experts. :-)
Jeff