This is probably the worst news to hit melbourne since the Aquarium had a Salmonella out break!!!

What has happened?!?!?!

This is a disaster!

Here are his details (from Google):

"Andrew WatkinsAndrew Watkins. Position: Honorary Research Fellow ... Postal: School of Earth Sciences, University of Melbourne, VIC 3010 Telephone:+61 3 9669 4360 ..."

There's his phone no. Someone give him a call!

Hmmm, to me it looks like somebody stuffed up the server . All the personal home pages are not accessable anymore and lots of MySQL errors...

I think Andrew is 'Windjunky' and posts on here on Seabreeze. I am sure he will sort it out when he can. It has gone down before when he was away and he sorted it out once he got back.

Yeah I am indeed windjunky!

Well i'm as bemused as you guys, cos everything is running fine, just seems to be the server thats cut us off and hence not delivering my or anyones personal pages (which this is for me - it isnt anything official, just a bit of fun i started to help me get on the water for a windsurf).

There are rumours of Melb Uni centralisation of web pages, with restrictions on personal stuff :-( I still haven't heard anything from the IT folks, so i'll assume the best (i.e., somethings gone wrong) till i hear the worst.

As for visits... well till now the home page alone gets 10,000 per day. See:
http://www.sitemeter.com/?a=stats&s=s37baywinds

Actually just found out... the server was hacked into and severely compromised, and this has necessitated a major overhaul of how things are done. Might be Monday before things are working again.

Oh NO. No Bay Winds Page for the whole weekend. Arrrg!

Like a tree falling in the forest when no-one's there to hear it, there is no wind unless it's on you website, Andrew.

Nice work andy!

Looking forward to having it going again!

If you're getting that many hits then maybe you could ask someone else to host it. I'm sure RPS, SHQ etc would be interested.

Depending on the bandwidth and db requirements, I may be able to help you out with the hosting as well, thats if the uni stops all your personal sites.

I know I use Bay Winds quite regularly and would be more than happy to help out if required.

Yeah, i've often thought about moving it somewhere else, cos one day they gotta kick me off (I finished my PhD and left Melb Uni in 1998, but I am still an honorary research associate in EarthSciences which is very gracious of them, but it cant go forever).

The only concerns for me are that its a) written with some fairly "in house" software (at least the graphs) though i could re-do them with a shareware like gnuplot, but thats more work; b) having it hosted on a site like SHQ or RPS sorta ruins the goal of the pages - simple, effective fast loading pages with no flashing lights and dancing girls, and basically a web page true to the original premise of the web; that its all about the data and c) its written very clunkily and i'd love to re-write it all; any computer boffins would cack themselves at how i've done it (c-shell scripts), but then thats cos it has evolved rather than been planned (originally it was just a graph for Fawkner Beacon and a graph for South Channel cos i sailed at Middle Park and Rye).

I guess what i would love to do is find a UNIX box i could install software on and that has a server that would host it under its own domain name. Does anyone know how much such a beast would cost and who does this??

Such an awesome site. it is amazing just how many people "check up" and see what it is doing. At my work I have 3 fishos, 4 sailors, 2 kiters and 2 windsurfers that religiously look at it either as an escape or to make plans on where to go and what to expect.

it would of been great to see todays plot (I was caught pretty far out on a 6.6m and crapping myself) - the 30 minute resolution BOM site doesnt really do it for me.

Ive always wondered about the resolution of the data that you receive - are you getting an average windspeed/direction/max gust over say a 5 minute period or are they instantaneous values from the stations?

good luck with your future endeavors.

Its bacckkkkkk...

Awesome. Thank you

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windjunky said...

Its bacckkkkkk...

But it's stoped at 3:55 pm

Disaster Strikes Again!

Its a pity the wind isnt always 20kts from the south!

Keep up the good work fellas!

Thanks again Andy!

I think i need a long holiday!!

What does it mean when the Fawkner Beacon is showing no readings on ANY page?

It must have been stolen?!!!

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sflack said...

What does it mean when the Fawkner Beacon is showing no readings on ANY page?

It must have been stolen?!!!

The BoM boys have said that the wind data transmitter is locked in its boot cycle, but rest assured they're working on it.

Thank goodness that a ship hasn't crashed into it.....again.

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MikeyS said...

Thank goodness that a ship hasn't crashed into it.....again.

again??? Have boats crashed into the Beacon???

Awesome! Thats for the update guys!

Cheers Again!

Steve

BTW!!! Where is the 30kt South Easter that was ment to hit today?!

Allegedly in December 1990, but I haven't been able to confirm that from any official sources like the Aus Transport Safety Board (ASTB) reports yet.

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MikeyS said...

Allegedly in December 1990, but I haven't been able to confirm that from any official sources like the Aus Transport Safety Board (ASTB) reports yet.

According to the BoM records, the Beacon was destroyed by a ship on 11/12/1990, and hence the wind observations didn't get back up till 1992.

wow thats pretty intense!!

Andy... when do ya reckon they will have the Beacon back up and going again?

Cant you just turn it off an on again?!

When do you think Fawkner will be back up and running again!

Are there any other (sailing club) websites that have the wind on them?

Cheers Steve

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sflack said...

When do you think Fawkner will be back up and running again!

I've spoken with the guys in charge, and they have arranged for a crew to go out to the beacon on Thursday to change over the transmitter - weather/sea state dependent of course. Best other option is the St Kilda Marina obs, IMHO.

awesome thanks andy!

I rang them up today, the dude sounds mighty pissed off... i think loads of yachties, kiters and windwackers have been ringing up to let them know.

Thanks for ya help andy!

See you all out on the water soon!

BRING ON THE SEABREEZE'S