As bad as the weather sounds, do you think you were detected by him? That would answer his erratic contact bearings. Recently, I was in a fierce storm and at night. I made my approach with decks awash(7m) and somehow managed to be seen even when the merchant ship was barely visible.
As far as the LSD is concerned, check your water pipes at your apartment/house. I was sure I was secretly being fed that stuff through my water supply. Operation Mind******* is in full effect!
Look up OM at wikipedia, but dont get too paranoid. They wouldnt want you to mess up their research.