Blind Sailor Racing Storm to Bermuda

Tropical Storm Arlene threw 50-m.p.h. winds and thundersqualls Wednesday toward Bermuda, where a blind sailor attempting a solo voyage across the Atlantic was seeking refuge from the hurricane season’s first storm.

Sailor Jim Dickson, 41, struggling with a broken computer navigation system, misread his Braille compass Wednesday, got off course for several hours as he raced the storm toward the resort island and will be forced to spend the night at sea, officials said.

The storm, centered about 175 miles west of Bermuda, was moving east-northeast at 12 to 15 m.p.h.

Dickson still was beyond the reach of the storm, which was producing winds of tropical storm strength 100 miles east of its center. But forecasters said thunderstorms and gusty winds would lash the area today.

Difficulty in Steering

Paul Petronello, the chief of Dickson’s support crew, said the sailor was about 70 miles north of Bermuda and would be forced to spend the night at sea.

Dickson was having difficulty in steering with the Braille compass on his 36-foot sloop Eye Opener. He was heading to Bermuda for repairs to his navigational equipment when the storm materialized Tuesday.

“He’s not in any danger,” spokesman Stephen R. Graham said in Providence, R. I., where Dickson started his projected 2,800-mile trip to Plymouth, England.

The season’s first tropical storm was not expected to strengthen, forecasters at the National Hurricane Center in Miami said.

“The chances of the storm passing directly over the island (Bermuda) are remote,” meteorologist Jim Gross said. “It certainly will be affected by the outermost winds. Bermuda very rarely gets hit because it is such a small island. Gusty winds and thunderstorms are expected to affect it during the next 24 hours.”

Police Warn Residents

Police on the island, a popular tourist retreat for Americans, told residents to close shutters and stock up on candles and matches.

Gil Clark, a forecaster in the hurricane center, said the storm had sustained winds of 50 m.p.h. with gusts up to 70 m.p.h., but he did not expect it to reach hurricane strength.

“The pattern is not favorable for any real rapid strengthing,” he said. “At this latitude it’s pretty far north for any kind of strengthening.”

Elsewhere, showers and thunderstorms deposited heavy rains Wednesday from the upper Mississippi Valley across eastern Nebraska and western Kansas into the Oklahoma panhandle.

Three inches of rain fell at Atlanta, Kan., in a 24-hour period, and nearly two inches was recorded at Russell, Kan. A flash flood watch was posted in southeast Nebraska.