FROM HIS BASEMENT IN BURLINGTON, ONT., HERB HILGENBERG GUIDES SAILORS through the upredictable Atlantic Ocean, warning them of storms or hurricanes and routing them in the safest direction.

Hilgenberg, 60, has an engineering degree and a Master's in Business Administration from the University of Toronto, but his passion is his single-band radio. He has a special licence that allows him to transmit weather reports and the occasional travel tip to the yachtsmen of the Atlantic. He receives weather data from satellites and through the Internet and transmits his analysis to hundreds of listeners in locations like Bermuda, Halifax, N.S., or England.

For Hilgenberg, who hails from Newfoundland, geography is a way of helping others. 'Herb once helped us thread the needle between a bad low and a stalled hurricane,' says a sailor who survived a storm with Hilgenberg's guidance. 'For six days he kept us out of trouble. There was danger all around us but with Herb, we always felt safe.'

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(This information came from an original article by Marq de Villiers that appeared in Canadian Geographic magazine, September/October 1997. It may not be reproduced without written permission from Canadian Geographic.)