Hurricane Norma, La Paz BCS
- Thread starter Larry M
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If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
PierreR
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Lots of warning and many boats did run up the coast to much more protected areas.
I was looking at Marine Global Traffic and saw plenty of boats heading north on both coasts. I also saw pink dots staying in very vulnerable marinas.
I was looking at Marine Global Traffic and saw plenty of boats heading north on both coasts. I also saw pink dots staying in very vulnerable marinas.
SteveK
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Internet must be down, Kevin, Peter, Scot and other TF members have not checked in.
mvweebles
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We're in Ensenada, 600nms north of La Paz so a non-issue. I saw Scot today and understand Kevin is still here after having his roll chocks done at Baja Naval a few weeks ago. He has a slip in La Paz - gotta wonder if he has something to return to. He dodged a bullet being up here.
Peter
Peter
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heysteve
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We’re in Marina de La Paz and all is well so far. Still windy but nothing like this morning. Sustained winds around 50 really put the hurt on people. In MLP, it was difficult to move on the docks as the was significant motion but there is reasonable protection from fetch with good concrete pilings.
Lots of boats were lost in the anchorage including some nice one but many looked derelict.
Marina Cortez got hammered. It has little protection from fetch so when the wind kicked up I can image there was just way too much movement between dock and boats. Many expensive and nice boat were either sunk or heavily damaged.
It’ll be interesting to see how the port responds as usually the occasional sunk boat is just left in place. But now many are on the beaches in town and many more were blown all the way to Centranario.
But rest assured Kevin, your slip will be ready when you return.
Lots of boats were lost in the anchorage including some nice one but many looked derelict.
Marina Cortez got hammered. It has little protection from fetch so when the wind kicked up I can image there was just way too much movement between dock and boats. Many expensive and nice boat were either sunk or heavily damaged.
It’ll be interesting to see how the port responds as usually the occasional sunk boat is just left in place. But now many are on the beaches in town and many more were blown all the way to Centranario.
But rest assured Kevin, your slip will be ready when you return.
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As Peter stated, we're still in Ensenada, but monitoring the situation. Kevin got first hand reports today, and as stated, so far, his slip is okay. Lots of boats on the beach though. We'll see it first hand in a few weeks. It's been a long time since a hurricane hit the Baja Peninsula this late in October . . .
OP
OP
I’m amazed on how I’ll prepared some of the boats at Marina Cortez were. Dinghy’s hanging from davits, toys not secured and sails still on the mast/booms. The forecasting was good.
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heysteve
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What a night! The wind kicked up again shortly after midnight and blew in the 40+ range until about an hour ago. This time it came from the NW which sent the chop right into the Marina de La Paz fairway.
About 2 AM, the boat in Kevin’s slip broke loose and started bashing into its neighbor. A call went out and shortly thereafter about ten people, including Neil the marina owner, showed up. We spent almost an hour fighting the wind and waves to secure the boat. The power pedestal was sheared off and there was some cleat damage.
Hopefully today things will settle down.
About 2 AM, the boat in Kevin’s slip broke loose and started bashing into its neighbor. A call went out and shortly thereafter about ten people, including Neil the marina owner, showed up. We spent almost an hour fighting the wind and waves to secure the boat. The power pedestal was sheared off and there was some cleat damage.
Hopefully today things will settle down.
Montenido
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Hey Steve, thanks for the updates. My boat is in MDLP in slip #229. Any chance you could take a look at her for me? Her name is Ansedonia.
Thanks, I'm stuck in California at the moment.
Cheers, Bill
Thanks, I'm stuck in California at the moment.
Cheers, Bill
ksanders
Moderator Emeritus
Wow!!!
I was not on TF yesterday as we were monitoring the situation with our families.
Scott and Laura came over for a bit and helped to provide something else to think about than to just sit here safe in Ensenada and be worried.
Our family is safe. At one point our daughter evacuated her apartment because she thought the roof might come off. She had one of the vans from the bakery so she went outside to it and sat for several hours but was perfectly safe and happy.
Power is still out at our house but we have a generator and fuel, for our adult son who lives in an attached apartment. The bakery appears fine, but is of course closed for probably most of the week.
I think Heysteve is just down from our slip, and several other friends are in the marina.
Prayers are out for all.
We will decide tomorrow morning wether we need to hold here, but I'm guessing that we'll probably be OK to start our journey south unless the marina suffers major damage.
Terry, has his slip in Marina Cortez, and might have to stay here in Ensenada for the time being.
The way the marina is orientated our slip is probably the best in the marina but is the most vulnerable in a hurricane, the reason we headed north for the summer.
I was not on TF yesterday as we were monitoring the situation with our families.
Scott and Laura came over for a bit and helped to provide something else to think about than to just sit here safe in Ensenada and be worried.
Our family is safe. At one point our daughter evacuated her apartment because she thought the roof might come off. She had one of the vans from the bakery so she went outside to it and sat for several hours but was perfectly safe and happy.
Power is still out at our house but we have a generator and fuel, for our adult son who lives in an attached apartment. The bakery appears fine, but is of course closed for probably most of the week.
I think Heysteve is just down from our slip, and several other friends are in the marina.
Prayers are out for all.
We will decide tomorrow morning wether we need to hold here, but I'm guessing that we'll probably be OK to start our journey south unless the marina suffers major damage.
Terry, has his slip in Marina Cortez, and might have to stay here in Ensenada for the time being.
The way the marina is orientated our slip is probably the best in the marina but is the most vulnerable in a hurricane, the reason we headed north for the summer.
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heysteve
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Just took a look... all good. No hull damage and bimini still in place!
AlaskaProf
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We've been near Puerto Vallarta for the past week. Many sawed-up remnants of downed trees along the Carretera toward Mismaloya resulting from Huracan Lidia. A Mexican friend opined that it wouldn't be so bad in Cabo: "no hay arboles alla."
klee wyck
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The tally of the carnage from Norma in La Paz is rolling in. Very sad.
My boat watch company reports the count looks like 43 vessels on the beach and 8 sunk at the docks. The big boy pictured below is one of the casualties.
Marina de la Paz held mostly together which helped our vessel DOMINO come through OK.
I expect there are similar scenes happening right now from Acalpulco up to Zihuatanejo. That is a much bigger and stronger storm.
My boat watch company reports the count looks like 43 vessels on the beach and 8 sunk at the docks. The big boy pictured below is one of the casualties.
Marina de la Paz held mostly together which helped our vessel DOMINO come through OK.
I expect there are similar scenes happening right now from Acalpulco up to Zihuatanejo. That is a much bigger and stronger storm.
Attachments
Euphoria
Member
Responsible Boaters
We spent many years down in Mexico but always moved out of the hurricane areas.
It is because of these irresponsible owners that don’t have a proper hurricane action plan that are causing our insurance to escalate out of control.
We spent many years down in Mexico but always moved out of the hurricane areas.
It is because of these irresponsible owners that don’t have a proper hurricane action plan that are causing our insurance to escalate out of control.
klee wyck
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Here are some thoughts about the carnage in La Paz and the effects it may have on insurance underwriting on a broader scale.
Insurance companies do identify a hurricane zone on the Pacific coast. To be out of the hurricane zone you must be north of 25 degrees north latitude during the period of June 1 to November 1. La Paz is at 24.85 degrees north latitude.
The 'hurricane' that hit La Paz recently was not, in fact, a hurricane. It was a remnant of hurricane Norma that I am not sure even qualified as a tropical storm by the time it hit the La Paz region. The highest sustained winds I heard reported there was more than 50 knots but less than 60 knots. I will see winds that high where I moor my northern boat during winter which at 48 degrees north latitude, is not close to any hurricane zone.
I am not sure any insurance company will insure a boat for named storms in the Pacific hurricane zone at any price. If they do, I am sure the actuaries have priced it high enough to cover the risk they would take there without causing that risk to be carried by pricing outside of that zone and onto anyone else's property. That is not how insurance works. The insuring of high-risk property is not purposely socialized to low-risk property.
I chose to leave my boat in La Paz this season. I self-insure the property I can afford to lose and insure the property I cannot afford to lose. That is, I carry the risk on my own boat for casualty, and with liability insurance only from Chubb, I insure the property of others that I cannot afford to lose.
I do not consider mooring in a well-constructed marina in La Paz a high risk. Marina de la Paz has good breakwaters and well-constructed docks. As far as I know, there was no loss of property there other than one boat that was poorly moored and broke loose of the dock.
The losses came from the anchorage and from a marina next door to MDLP that has no breakwaters. Those losses would have occurred during a run of the mill gale in the Pacific northwest. In the majority of cases I suspect the losses were at least in part due to poor seamanship and poor storm season preparation. In looking at images of carnage I see boats with sails still on the booms and even canvas on bimini. Most of the losses seem to be from boats in the anchorage with inadequate ground tackle.
There was 8-12 inches of rain with this event. At least 8 boats sunk at the dock. What is that? Isn't that what bilge pumps and boats that do not down-flood in a storm are supposed to prevent? Are not there many areas that could be subject to this amount of precipitation outside of 'hurricane zones'?
Insurance has become ridiculously expensive in most areas these days which is why I self-insure both of my larger vessels. I think that is due in large part to an increase in indiscriminate underwriting that has led to large losses, and to an increase in poor seamanship and preparation across many geographies. This combination is coming home to roost in higher premiums, more exclusions, and more navigation limits. As it should.
I do not think the La Paz event will cause a major change in that overall situation.
Euphoria
Member
K, keep an eye on insurance policies being renewed in 2024 and take note of the substantial increase. Including those policies with companies that insure world wide. Let’s say that you are with Pantaenius and your boat is in the PNW well guess what, because of the hurricanes in Mexico your insurance is going up.
