OUR LITTLE HURRICANE

Here on the Baja August and September are the months for hurricanes and this September was no exception. We were anchored on the south side of Isla San Marcos when the word was passed on the HF net that the category 5 hurricane, Jimena had formed south of Cabo San Lucas and the forecasted track took it north along the Baja coast uncomfortably close to our location and was due to arrive in four days.

We previously decided that if a hurricane threatened that we would ride it out in Playa Santa Barbara located in Bahia Conception where, in 2001, we successfully rode out hurricane Juliet. When we arrived in Santa Barbara four boats, (2 sail and 2 power) were already there getting ready to deploy their storm gear. We moved into 12 feet of water one hundred yards off the beach and dropped our arsenal. We also prepared our big 44-pound claw anchor with chain and rode to throw overboard should we get into trouble. We added two long 5/8” nylon snubbers to the main anchor, stripped the boat of sails, and tied down everything. Jean marked our position on two GPS units and set them up so we knew the exact distance to our anchor.

At 0800, September 2 Jimena arrived with short, 60-knot gusts and plenty of rain. Because we anchored so close to the beach there was no fetch to allow wind waves to build up. The wind remained in the sixties for a couple of hours and we thought that it was going to be over quickly. What we didn’t know was Jimena, which was previously forecasted to bounce off of Magdalena Bay on the outside of the Baja 140 miles away had changed her mind and turned inland coming over the Baja to our location. By 1100 the wind started to strengthen and much longer gusts were well over 70 to 80-knots. The wind picked up the sea surface and turned it to fog and we started to experience complete whiteouts. The rain and wind made so much noise that we couldn’t hear each other 3 feet away; in fact the wind drove the rainwater right through the canvas dodger! Up until this time our boat was behaving normally, slewing side to side about 30-degrees from each gust. However, with the increased wind strength the boat slew 90-degrees to each side and remained that way long enough so we would be broad side for the next gust. When the wind is blowing in the sixties the wind force hitting the boat is around 3,600 pounds for our size boat. At 100-knots the force is greater than 9,000 pounds. It’s like getting hit with two fully loaded Hummers … broadside! Five hours later, at 1300 the wind was consistently 100-knots, the air a mixture of salt and rainwater and the sea had so much air mixed in it that the depth sounder would not read. After a few hours I had to go forward wearing my swim mask to check the snubbers. The rain hitting my head felt like flying gravel and I had to hold onto the boat to keep from going overboard. I saw that the main snubber had parted and we were riding on the back-up so I made two new ones and attached them thinking that they may only last a couple of hours. A short while later Jean was watching the GPS and, to her horror, saw we were dragging … fast! I put my swim mask back on and ran forward to see if the snubbers had parted (and they hadn’t) then ran back and had Jean start the engine. Then I returned forward and heaved the emergency anchor off the port bow. I was worried about how much rode to let out, as I didn’t want to foul with the main anchor. In the end I just guessed and tied it off then ran back to the cockpit.

I could only catch glimpses of the other boats so Jean kept track of them and their anchor floats and told me which way to turn to avoid hitting them. I couldn’t take my mind off of steering the boat for even one second or we would be out of control. The set of dragging anchors kept the bow pointing somewhat upwind so I could use the engine to shear the boat left or right as needed although I had to use full power to do it. Without the anchors we would have been unable to control the boat except for to head downwind, probably onto the beach. We dragged 720 feet straight downwind and the anchors caught in 28-feet of water. It appeared that we were not moving but didn’t know how well the anchors were set. We decided to keep using the engine to take the load off the anchors. Around 1900 the wind diminished to around 50-knots and our GPS confirmed that we hadn’t moved in a few hours so we cut the engine and rested between the remaining gusts. It was pretty much over by 0300 the next morning but we were still getting 25-knot plus gusts. We had no significant damage to our boat or psyches but we almost ran out of beer and I thought that we might have to set off our Beer-PIRB.

Jimena packed 100-knots of wind and dumped over 15 inches of rain on the Baja. The lowest barometer reading was 991mb, the temperature fell from 94 degrees to 72 and the hurricane lasted 16 hours.

The local towns of Mulege and Santa Rosalia (where we often stay) were devastated by the hurricane. The towns were flooded by many feet of water. Roofs were lost, whole houses disappeared and everything was covered with mud and boulders. All services were out and the main highway was closed due to flooding and damage. The main bridge south of Santa Rosalia was destroyed.

We were surprised to witness the fast rescue response from the Mexican government. Military and service vehicles were on the road as soon as the weather passed. We think FEMA could learn a few things from these folks!