Genesis Stripped Down

Hurricane Preparation 101

Hurricane season in the Pacific waters has not been a normal year. To date until this week all the hurricanes took a turn West towards Hawaii. Normally Hawaii would get 1 in a season. This year so far they have had 4.
Mexican hurricanes develop in the Gulf of Tehuantepec at about latitude 15 North. This hurricane genesis region varies with the position of maximum maritime heating, which interacts with movements of the cold northern currents from California. They begin as a tropical depression, a tropical storm then a tropical hurricane.
Early in the season June and July a few tropical disturbances lack power, they usually get to about Acapulco then turn North Northwest towards Hawaii. As the summer progresses the seas get warmer and the storms get stronger. They begin to travel faster and further North. Those that stay alive during August and September usually hit land.
August is the most active however not this year. None came north. September however tends to be a time when then turn East and either cross the Baja Peninsula or head straight up the Sea of Cortez. By October they are fewer in numbers but these late season hurricanes are particularly dangerous. They become erratic, are able to intensify rapidly and frequently recurve and hit the Mexican coast.
Hurricanes a very low pressure cell, generally under 1005 MB. Warm water fuels the low.
Luckily there is plenty of warning. (More on that later)
Early last week we knew there was a tropical depression with Easterly waves. This means that on weather charts you see waves in the pressure gradients lines. An indication something is up. As days went by through SSB forecasts (Weather radio) we were told to watch out that a critter was forming.

Sun August 30
An official forecast was issued that a Tropical storm had been upgraded to a Hurricane with the name given as Jimena (He Men A). She was likely to hit the outside of the Baja and high winds for the inside were being forecast.
Genesis looked like a gas station. There are boats that are having a problem with their watermakers, and boats with no watermakers. We have plenty with the ability to make lots so, we had boats tied along side while we filled water their tanks. It is important to have full tanks due to the fact that after a hurricane flash floods and the churning of the water with much debris prevents boats from making water for several days after.
I would like to mention that as we helped others we were also helped. Fellow Canadians, Peter and Marnie on the Sailboat 2 Pieces of 8, discussed storm anchoring with Ken and came on board as we deployed the anchors. Dave on the Sailboat Wave Sweeper helped take our sea kayaks to shore to store in an abandoned fish boat.
We headed over to Puerto Don Juan with the rest of the fleet. 21 in all.
We deployed 2 anchors in tandem. The first being our 45 lb CQR attached by 35’ of chain attached to our main anchor our 66 lb Manson and 250’ all chain. A killet weighing 37 lbs. was added. We then attached 2 X 30’ 5/8” nylon bridle snubbers. We had another 200’ all rope rode. The chain was taken off the windless and attached to the Samson Post. At the Samson post the anchor rodes also were double snubbed. An extra anchor our 30 lb Bruce was ready with all rope should the need be to deploy in an emergency. Lots of extra rope was cleaned and also ready in case needed. We anchored in 40’ of water in what is like a trench underneath. If we dragged either way it would be up hill.
We marked our anchor location on our charting program and put a range circle around it. Should we drag the alarm would sound and alert us to the problem.

Mon August 31
0200 hr. Forecast Hurricane Jimena’s location 450 miles south of Cabo San Lucas and 250 miles west of Cabo Corrientes (By Puerto Vallarta)
0645 hr. Hurricane is gaining strength.
0715 hr. This is the strongest Hurricane ever seen in Mexico. The eye is now at 19N 090W. It will hit the outside Baja at Magdalena Bay by tomorrow night. All the Southern Baja Coast will have hurricane winds. Inside and out. It will go north over land then head straight for Bahia Los Angeles for Fri! Yikes!!!!!!!!!!!
Ken put chafing gear on the snubbers and around any other possible weak points.
1800hr Forecast changed to say that it would now enter the Sea of Cortez at Santa Rosalia. Some relieve.

Tues September 01
0900hr a team of divers and dinghy drivers were put together to dive anchors. 5 teams in total. All 21 boats anchors were secure.
A roll call was made up with the boats and the persons on board
Medical/emergency persons were named. Genesis would supply the dinghy to act as an ambulance since we have to keep the engine on. It’s bolted on. We had a vet, a couple of nurses and a fireman. We had enough emergency equipment on all boats.
0700 hrs Mexican Government issued a Hurricane watch for Southern Baja Peninsula. It will be a very dangerous storm.
Now this is where things started to go strange with weather reports. We were collecting weather by several different methods. Satellite Imagery, SSB nets, SSB Weather reports. It was around this point we started to receive conflicting reports. The US Hurricane centre had it going off the outside as far as Turtle bay then heading West. HOWEVER and it was a big HOWEVER. The satellite imagery showed it going around Mag Bay heading across to Bahia Conception heading north to Santa Rosalia heading on a NNE track. Just skirting us by Fri.
While Ken was out checking anchors I continued to strip the boat. Everything was in order. Our ditch bags were ready, we were ready as ready can be.
0700 hr. Don’s weather report.(weather predictor from Oxnard California that has been doing the weather net here for 20 years)
The eye of the storm had a low 933 MB pressure. Wind speeds of 165 knots. It was expected into the Sea of Cortez by Fri morning.

Wed September 02

It is dead calm here. Not a ripple in the water. With everything done Ken and Bob from New Zealand went fishing. They kept 10 and distributed the extras throughout the anchorage.
I made up meals for the BIG weather day. I didn’t think cooking would be something we would want to do.

1430 hr Cindy from Masquerade was in Puerto Escondito. They had sustained 90 knot winds all night. It was currently 60 knots. You could not see the boats at the anchorage from the spray in the air. 5 boats had dragged anchors. One had a captain aboard and was able to re anchor. The others grounded. One was Waverly. A boat that dragged the night we had a Chubasco in Isla Carmen. A power boat named Bad Company had Satellite radio weather and had the storm directly over Conception Bay. Getting hammered.
The National Hurricane Centre still had the hurricane on the outside and going north expected to go west. It was not going NW. It was going NE at a high speed for having come over ground. It was still clocking 11 knots of speed.
1800 hrs. The Hurricane was now downgraded from a Category 5 to a Category 1. Sustained winds of 75 knots. We should expect the winds to be around 45 – 60 knots. Storm strength.
We go to bed waiting for Jimena.

Thurs. September 03
0330 – Heavy rains began no winds. Lasted 1 hr.
We had the odd gusts of 45 knots but the seas stayed small.
0630 hrs – The net reports that Santa Rosalia was hit hard. The older marina had severe damage. Several boats tossed around, 3 cars in water, mud slides but more important a loss of life by a police officer. All the boaters were safe and accounted for.
0700 hrs. Don’s report. The Hurricane had taken a turn and was heading East not NE. It was hitting San Carlos / Guyamas on the mainland. It was now heading to Texas. Hurray!
The US Hurricane Centre STILL had it outside the Baja! On the Pacific side.
Everyone started putting their boats back together. Many are planning on leaving tomorrow to head over to Bahia Los Angeles
1600 hr Ken has his net to do! Don’s weather report. This tropical depression is regenerating itself. It stalled over San Carlos/Guyamas and they have been getting hammered the whole day. It is getting larger and is heading West back to Santa Rosalia AGAIN. Tropical Storm. You could only hear silence in the anchorage. I could tell no one could believe what they were hearing. We could expect winds of 40 knots. As net controller Ken had his hands full but he did a great job getting everyone’s questions answered. The one boat that had left came back into the anchorage.

Fri. September 04
We had the odd blast of hot air but no wind. We awoke to blue skies, light breeze and calm seas.
0630 – Sunrisa net. San Carlos was damaged badly. Electrical wires were down. There is only one road open for emergency crews. Major mud slides, wind damage. The Marina Seca (dry storage marina) was washed out. No idea how many boats could be damaged because the road to it is washed out and no one can get to it. 8 boats washed ashore, reported 3 sunk. Our friends from Seaventure have their boat there and we hope all is well.
Conception Bay and Mulege seem to have the most damage. A 15 foot wall of water and mud came down the valley draw causing extensive damage to the town and the roads. The bridges have been washed out. The only traffic being allowed, are the Army and Hydro repair crews. The Mexican government has sent helicopters into the high lands and urban areas to check on residents. This has caused the lower Baja Peninsula to be isolated. No fuel, or food supplies will be able to get in. It was reported that the Mexican gov’t will get food to these people. The President vowed that the government would not allow the Mexican’s to go through what the survivors of Katrina went through.
Conception Bay had all the Palapa’s flattened, damage to all the house roofs, roads washed out, power outages, no back up generators. It never had phone service.
At the beginning I mentioned that Hurricanes give you lots of warning. Yes, that they are in the area. No, you cannot tell what they will do. They are unpredictable.
To put this in perspective; the mistakes made by the National Hurricane Centre was all within a few hundred miles. It really was not that much for this big of a storm. The people expecting the storm didn’t get one. The ones expecting not to see the storm got one.
We were lucky. We saw nothing. We were ready as ready as one can be. One boater mentioned on the net that he felt guilty that we had nothing and so many others had endured a hurricane of tropical storm. He was reminded by his fellow boater, that all of us in Puerto Don Juan had done what we were suppose to do, get to a hurricane hole up North. We shouldn’t feel guilty. With that statement I say we are trying to stay safe, and do not take anything for granted. Unfortunately there is another critter down south. It looks like it is headed NW to Hawaii. Lets hope so.