September 19, 2004
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Wind-Borne III
Click below for the weblog of Wind-Borne III, currently in Bonaire. Their most recent entries describe how they prepared for Hurricane Ivan.
Excerpts from Sept. 6-10, 2004:
September 6, 2004
Although Ivan is projected to pass through the island chain near St. Lucia there are still Tropical storm warnings for Grenada and Trinidad. We decided to go into the internet café before they closed at noon (holiday hours). Everyone was there again and making plans. Some boats are now talking about heading to Curacao and tucking into Spanish Waters, others are talking about making a run for Venezuela. Then there are others, which include ourselves who are planning more for a wind reversal than an actual hurricane. Our current plan is to move into the marina if necessary.
September 8, 2004, Kralendijk, Bonaire
Rick and I were up and preparing the boat as best we could for Ivan. The weather reports indicate that conditions are worsening. Ivan has not turned and seems to refuse to track to the Northwest, as he should.
Here’s what we did to prepare Wind-Borne III to be as hurricane ready as possible:
We tied lines to and from every available cleat on the boat and then doubled or duplicated the same lines with brand new line tied just a little looser to an alternative cleat on the dock. If one should snap there will be another to take it’s place. We also tied two lines from our boat to the boat beside us.
Every fender we own and some that are the large flat fenders are tied along the boat next to the dock. The round fenders may fly up in the wind but the flat ones are secured so they shouldn’t.
We removed the headsails, bimini, dodger, solar panels and even the rubber matting from the cockpit floor. Anything at all that could possibly fly was removed or secured.
Rick spent almost an hour raising and securing the dinghy into the davits so that it couldn’t move but we still didn’t feel comfortable with the windage it created. Walt (Cop Out) had the same concerns so he asked the marina if we could take the dinghies ashore and secure them in between some of the condo buildings in the resort. We were given the ok and it took no time to lower the dinghies and get them ashore, tucked in and secured.
There are a couple of large mooring balls behind us for large boats that like to dock stern-to the condo wall. We had a boater down the dock who still had his dinghy in the water, tie a line from our stern to one of the mooring balls.
Down below everything was stored away. The cockpit cushions, mats, mops etc. were all stored in the aft cabin. The solar panels were tied upright to the table. Sails and canvas were stored in the bathtub. The radar reflector and barbecue were on the floor between the table and the settee.
By noon everything that we could do to prepare was done. I even had our passports, cash, credit cards, camera and computer in a ditch bag ready to abandon ship. We stopped for lunch and then I went ashore for a shower (my bathtub is full of sails and canvas). It was starting to rain a little when I returned to the boat. Rick went a little later had a second rinse on his way back to the boat after his shower as the rain had become heavier.
We both decided to have a siesta and wait for Ivan to make his appearance. The Island turned off all of the electricity at 12PM and there was an Island wide curfew in effect at 2PM. No one was to be on the streets including tourists who had to return to their hotel rooms.
We had a few squalls in the afternoon but nothing to uncomfortable. The 2PM forecast indicated that we would feel the worst of Ivan at about 6:30PM. At that time the eye would be about 80 miles to the north of us. This was good news because the lighter winds of Ivan are in the southern quadrant. Our winds are now forecast to be around 60 knots which is an improvement from the last couple of forecasts. Ivan is now a category four hurricane with winds up to 150 MPH.
All of the cruisers were helping each other prepare and it was a very jovial atmosphere but everyone was quite scared after hearing about the devastation in Grenada. With the storm getting closer and being in the marina with a lot of electrical interference it was very difficult to hear any weather reports on the SSB/HAM radio. It was also impossible to send email.
Just after 6:30PM the winds started to pick up and soon they were howling but Wind-Borne III seemed to be sitting quite comfortably at the dock. We’re tucked into a corner of the marina with concrete condos all around us blocking the wind. The roofs are heavy tile and with the less than 60 knot winds they should not be a problem.
By a little after 7PM I was feeling comfortable enough that I finally dozed off to sleep. I had not slept very well last night and I made up for it tonight during the hurricane. Every few hours either Rick or I would wake and look out the companionway to check conditions and each time everything was fine.
September 10, 2004
We continued on our walk and headed to the shore to see if the swell had diminished. Some of the boaters had wanted to leave the marina and return to the moorings in the morning but the harbour master had said no. The moorings had to be checked and the swell had to come down a bit before he would allow the boats on the moorings. We still may receive a few squalls from the feeder bands of Ivan. It was an interesting walk. The winds and waves from Ivan had been a lot stronger than we had realised. All of the docks along shore were all ripped apart. Club Nautico and the fishermen’s docks sustained the worst damage. The salt spray had damaged the trees on the opposite side of the street and there was coral and sand strewn across the road. The surf or surge must have been worse than the wind because the roofs that were made of palm fronds were still in place.
