From Meg Amsden
Gail Vines is wrong in thinking the helm wind is the only UK wind with a name (14 May, p 50). We’ve got one here in the Norfolk/Suffolk Broads. I am currently researching a theatre show for the Broads Authority about wind, and came across this piece in Roy Clarke’s Black Sailed Traders.
“Sudden strong gusts of wind….are known locally as ‘Rogers’. They strike usually without any warning, and for twenty or thirty seconds blow with almost hurricane force…they have torn down windmill sails, stripped off thatched roofs, capsised haystacks and taken a wherry’s (sailing barge) canvas out of the bolt-ropes….on one occasion five wherries were crossing Breydon Water together in a gentle breeze when a Roger struck them. They heeled over at a terrifying angle sending quants, boathooks, buckets, brooms and all other loose gear over the side. Four got through safely, but the fifth, the Five Brothers of Yarmouth, lost her sail and drove up on the mud.”
From John Hamilton
Vines says that the helm wind is confined to Cross Fell. We are in Mallerstang, about 30 kilometres away, near the source of the river Eden, and have our own helm wind. A helm bar can form along the top of Mallerstang Edge, and warns of our own local version of the wind. Like its big brother, it can roar down our chimney for as long as a couple of days, and blows away anything that is not fixed down.
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Mallerstang, Cumbria, U
Halesworth, Suffolk, UK
