This, allied to the fact that the Atlantic in mid-November is no place to be hanging around, with freezing watercrashing all over the boats, makes the Transat one of the hardest races in the world.
The weather service painted a vivid picture in its warning of the destruction it expects: a towering wall of water -- possibly up to 22 feet high -- crashing over the Galveston Bay shoreline as the brunt of Ike comes ashore.