Marty, the hurricane which has caused the
most destruction ever to the cruising fleet in Mexico, is reportedly
now down to Tropical Storm force – see graphic above – with sustained
winds of only 40 knots. She’s still a threat to some boats in
the northern Sea, but not as much. Regretably, in her track –
see graphic below – she leaves a tremendous trail of destruction,
particularly in some parts of La Paz and in Puerto Escondido.
Tim Schaaf, who managed to survive aboard
his Hunter Casual Water in Puerto Escondido, offers this
summary gleaned from personal observation and net reports:
“La Paz: More than 80 boats sunk or
damaged so badly as to be economically unfeasible to repair.
Three boats – Moon Me, Wanderlust V, and a tri with no
name – fell over in the boatyard at Astilleros, none seriously
damaged. The tri was dismasted when Wanderlust fell. Marina
de La Paz and Abaroa Marina suffered terrible damage. [See photos
below by Juan of Wanderin Star.] There was no major damage
to boats at Marina Palmira. [Byron Corley of the Rawson 30 Sabrina
says Eduardo of Bercovich Marina, where his boat is on the hard,
reports there was no damage to boats in that yard, and minor
damage to boats on the moorings. They noted it rained tremendously,
however.]
Destruction in La Paz Photos: Tom Zyber/bajainsider.com
[Other reports indicate two people – not
cruisers – were killed in La Paz. See the new report on La Paz
at the very bottom of this page.]
“Puerto Escondido: Two or perhaps
three boats floated out of the harbor. Zinfandel is still
missing, but Mahayana has been sighted on a beach on Isla
Danzante. The following are sunk, on the rocks, or otherwise
beached: Sambita, Distant Vision, Vagabond Lover, Rivaldi
II, High Jinks, Toy Boat, Ericazona, Ollie, Debutante, La Sirena,
Wildflower, Cleo, and Discover Baja, the latter being
a Fonatur boat. Of these, Rivaldi II and Vagabond Lover
were smashed into flinders on the seawall and are no more. High
Jinks smashed into the sea wall, sank, and is probably also
gone for good. Several – including Ollie, Toy Boat, Debutante,
La Sirena, and Wildflower – look to have made fairly
soft landings. The condition of the others is unknown, and so
is their outlook. One sailboat actually made it to the top of
the seawall! Surf was crashing over the north window of the main
harbor, just before the eye hit. Lots of stuff is floating around.
Amazingly, nobody was killed or even seriously injured. I don’t
have a max wind, but a boat with a known “sluggish”
wind gauge saw 72 knots, so I am going to guess that we definitely
saw over 80, and maybe, in the highest gusts, even 90.
“Bahia Concepcion: Three boats were
in Santa Barbara, and all are fine. One local sailboat, name
unknown, went on the beach.
“Santa Rosalia: The marina came apart
– but is being held together by the seven boats that are moored
to it! They are all okay, and one further sailboat washed on
the beach in the harbor, but looks okay. Winds have dropped to
30 knots. All people are fine. Seven of the boats had their people
aboard for the storm.
“San Carlos: Reports are still sketchy.
The storm took a left turn and did not hit them directly as was
predicted, but they are still just creeping out from under the
covers. Two boats appear to have fallen in Marina Seca. One boat
is reported adrift in Marina Real, where there was some dock
damage. No word on Marina San Carlos. A number of boats came
loose in the harbor. That list includes, but is by no means limited
to Toad and Viva. [More details below.]
“Puerto Don Juan: They had more than
50 knots last night for quite awhile, but all boats there are
okay.
“Puerto Refugio: The storm, having
turned a bit left, carved its way up the center of the Sea. It
hit Refugio overnight and is still going on. As we speak, Mirador
is beached and apparently breaking up – this by the final radio
transmissions from its owner – and Spirit Healer is way
up on the rocks, holed. The other three boats that are there,
including Rula, are still struggling, motoring into the
wind to hold position. The wind is currently reported to be about
50 knots, with major waves and surge. I believe it, as they are
within 30 miles of the storm center.
“Bahia Willard: Three or four boats
scooted up there. They currently have 30 knots plus, and are
awaiting Marty and their fate.
“Marty is slowing down and weakening,
and is predicted to continue up the gulf. It should just hang
around and dissipate tomorrow, possibly without ever finishing
up ashore. The Sea of Cortez is a really sad place right now.
But, sometimes good comes of bad, and I bet you will see a really
strong sense of community and many new friendships forged as
the fleet tries to put itself back afloat and back together.
That’s all for now. Got to go help.”
In addition, Latitude 38 spoke to
marinas in the San Carlos area this morning for their reports.
Dario Sezzi of Marina Real: “People here say the strongest
wind ever.” They have 40 boats in dry storage, but only
two of them went over. In the mostly small boat 300-berth marina,
a few boats that got loose were damaged. Of the houses along
the beach where the Club Med used to be, many were destroyed
by 12-ft surf.
Heidi Grossman at Marina San Carlos and
Marina Seca Dry Storage: “We got hit about 9:30 p.m. The
wind topped out at 68 knots, but was probably 55 knots steady
with 12-ft seas. It was worse than Ernesto, but did less damage
to our marinas. Of the 600 boats in dry storage at Marina Seca,
special hurricane stands – a result of the domino effect on boats
during Ernesto, held well, with only three boats slipping. One
boat was scratched up on O Dock. A ‘pirate ship’ sailed herself
out of the marina, still attached to a part of a dock. Two boats
on our moorings dragged ashore. In addition, four other boats
– one cat, one sail, and two motoryachts – dragged from their
private moorings. Also a shrimper and an 80-ft motoryacht went
a on sandbar, but should be all right when pulled off.”
With Marty almost blown out, and well past
many damaged areas, the misery of clean-up, salvage, and filing
insurance claims begins. We’ve already heard many owners express
concerns about a line in many policies, where it says that if
sails were left on the boat while the boat was “stored or
layed up”, the policy is valid. So what exactly is meant
by “stored or layed up”?
Historically, the biggest danger to boats
in any hurricane are other boats, particularly unattended ones,
particularly ones left unattended with roller furling jibs in
place. The tremendous destruction to boats caused by Hurricane
Marty may result in some legislation to curb these problems.
To all you folks with damaged or destroyed
boats, and/or with no immediate place to repair them, our heart
goes out to you in what are certainly most discouraging times.
Bless all of you.
P.S. The print issue goes to press Wednesday
night. We are desparate for high resolution photos that can reach
us by noon on Wednesday. Please help if you can. In addition,
we would appreciate any first hand accounts, but they must be
limited to three short paragraphs. Please include your boat name,
boat type, full name, and hailing port.
For many more photos of damage by Marty
in La Paz, see Tom’s photos at www.bajainsider.com.
More on La Paz. We just received the following
report from surveyor Mike Wilson of Tortue, who was at
Marina de La Paz:
“Just to let you know that we are
still alive after Hurricane Marty ploughed directly into us.
We were tied up in the Marina de La Paz, which is now 60% smaller
than before. Marina Abaroa is about 70% smaller. Everything –
docks and pilings – broke up at 0730 resulting in boats stacked
on top of each other this morning with the wind shift when the
eye passed over blowing 100+ knots.
“More than 80 boats are seriously
damaged. Many sank, including Novia. We are now right
up next to the concrete bulkhead on the north side of the marina
with a dock between us and the rocks and many broken styrofoam
floats. Novia is sunk off our stern, the 60-ft powerboat
next to us is sinking, and we have a sunken 50-ft trimaran off
the port quarter, and another four boats spaced around us tightly.
So far, Tortue hasn’t leaked a drop of water. The transom
and port quarter took a few hits, but the boats that hit us were
fiberglass, and they exploded whilst we being aluminum just dented
a bit. Most should be cosmetic fixes. The dinghy acted as a $3,000
fender, and the Yamaha 6 got ripped off the transom. I got the
windvane off in time, and three out of six solar panels. All
things considered we came out okay – about $10,000 in damage.
We have no insurance, but even if we had been insured, the dinghy
and the deductable would be $5,000. So having Tortue for
10 years, it works out at $500 per year versus $3,000 a year
for the insurance . . . it makes me feel better to rationalize
it that way.
“Tomorrow we start the clean up. I
already have seven insurance adjustments to do, and a whole lot
more on the way. It looks like I will be here for a few months.
The sheer speed and force of Marty was awesome. Thank God there
were no casualties. We ran down the dock with our passports and
grab bag, huddled behind the marina building, and then watched
whilst our home was getting destroyed. Within two minutes the
storm surge floated the entire dock away.”
YOTREPS
September 23 – The Pacific Ocean and Cyberspace
Who is out making passages in the Pacific
and what kind of weather are they having? The YOTREPS daily yacht
tracking page has moved to www.bitwrangler.com/psn.
Looking for current as well as recent wind
and sea readings from 17 buoys and stations between Pt. Arena
and the Mexican border? Here’s the place – which has further
links to weather buoys and stations all over the U.S.: www.ndbc.noaa.gov/Maps/Southwest.shtml.
Pacific Winds and Pressure
The University of Hawaii Dept. of Meteorology
page posts a daily map of the NE Pacific Ocean barometric
pressure and winds.
