Hurricane Newton Impact September 6

Hurricane Newton!

There are no words to truly convey how we felt almost two weeks ago when it became clear that Hurricane/Tropical Storm Newton would indeed cross the Sea of Cortez and make a second landfall very close to San Carlos and Guaymas.  At this time of year - hurricane season, with INTREPID II on the hard, we regularly review the NOAA National Hurricane Center link, which is extremely informative. This NOAA chart shows year to date tracks of hurricanes; number 14, Newton headed north!

Courtesy of NOAA National Hurricane Center - 2016 Hurricanes to date

The data is of course a forecast and at first the advisories indicated the impact of Newton would lose power by the time its intended path veered across from the Baja California Sur peninsula towards the Sonoran coastline.  However, late Tuesday, September 6th, we knew that there would be considerable impact on the area; we were foremost concerned for those living in the area; we were obviously concerned for our sailboat.

This photo shows INTREPID II on her way from the works yard to dry storage last year; ready to weather the Sonoran elements.

Heading to dry storage at San Carlos marina seca

Marina San Carlos' marina seca provides a secure and for the most part, sound arrangement for storing boats 'on the hard'.   Mother Nature of course has a force which can overcome any and all precautions.  We gleaned our information from various newsletter links, a San Carlos forum and bits and pieces as local papers were able to report.  For several hours there was mostly speculation, then photos began to appear, citing 'damage at marina seca'....which dry storage area?

Marina San Carlos dry storage did indeed experience strong winds and even more rain; at least one row of boats suffered the 'domino effect' and tilted over one after the other.  We sent off an anxious email to the staff asking if they could provide any assurance, knowing they were in the midst of dealing with the impact for themselves and the storage yard.  In spite of the deluge of requests, staff did indeed send us replies...cautiously stating that INTREPID II was not on the list of damaged boats. A second email stated that boat owners with damaged boats would receive and email and photos in order to contact insurance brokers.

"As you probably know hurricane Newton hit San Carlos Tuesday night, we sustained damage to some of the docks at the Marina from the high winds during the night.  Some boats in the marina have scratches from rubbing against the docks but no major damage or structural issues are visible.

At Marina Seca some boats fell over on their side we are currently picking the boats up and setting them back on their keels. We sent an email with pictures to the owners of the boats affected by the hurricane, if you didn't receive an email is because your boat has no damage.

Thank you for your understanding!"

In the meantime, forum members rallied to provide second-hand information from whatever sources they had and provided photos where available.  To date we have not been advised otherwise that our boat is remaining upright and undamaged but we are hopeful.  The wind and rain certainly may have damaged items onboard and we hope we will receive more detailed information soon.

Fingers crossed!  Wishing all those cruisers who did receive bad news will have a successful and smooth experience putting their boats back together.  And thankfully, there were few injuries that we are aware of and communities have rallied to support clean-up and restoration throughout the area.