Gulfsails is the name of a

blog A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order s ...

, written by Troy Gilbert, that documented the

effect of Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans As the center of Hurricane Katrina passed southeast of New Orleans on August 29, 2005, winds downtown were in the Category 1 range with frequent intense gusts. The storm surge caused approximately 23 breaches in the drainage canal and navi ...

following that disaster. In the early aftermath of the hurricane and the

2005 levee failures in Greater New Orleans On Monday, August 29, 2005, there were over 50 failures of the levees and flood walls protecting New Orleans, Louisiana, and its suburbs following passage of Hurricane Katrina. The failures caused flooding in 80% of New Orleans and all of St. Be ...

, it was one of the few reliable communications links between the city and the rest of the world. Gulfsails was originally created for New Orleans Yacht Club members, ten days before Hurricane Katrina made landfall. Operating off of a generator when power was lost and uploading via a landline phone and cell phone, the operator provided a continuous stream of reports of what was actually happening, and through photographs, text messaging and audio feeds gave the outside a chance to see the destruction firsthand before other media arrived. The Gulfsails blog quickly became a widely recognized and cited source from inside New Orleans, appearing in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', the ''

Times Picayune ''The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate'' is an American newspaper published in New Orleans, Louisiana, since January 25, 1837. The current publication is the result of the 2019 acquisition of ''The Times-Picayune'' (itself a result of th ...

'', and

MSNBC MSNBC (originally the Microsoft National Broadcasting Company) is an American news-based pay television cable channel. It is owned by NBCUniversala subsidiary of Comcast. Headquartered in New York City, it provides news coverage and politi ...

. Even after the media arrived, the Gulfsails blog was still commonly cited as a reference to the events ongoing in New Orleans. When a police-enforced evacuation of New Orleans was ordered by Mayor

Ray Nagin Clarence Raymond Joseph Nagin Jr. (born June 11, 1956) is an American former politician who was the 60th Mayor of New Orleans, Louisiana, from 2002 to 2010. A Democrat, Nagin became internationally known in 2005 in the aftermath of Hurricane K ...

, the operator of the blog continued to travel through many parts of the city, including by canoe, documenting the worst natural disaster to ever befall the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. Excerpts of the blog have been published in the books ''A Howling in the Wires'' and ''Please Forward''.

References

External links

Gulfsails blogSailing/boating articles by Author, Troy GilbertArticle clips/books by Author, Troy Gilbert
Works about Hurricane Katrina American news websites American blogs {{Tropical-cyclone-stub

References

Further reading

See also

External links