[PUP] West Coast offshore winds

[bob Austin]

I agree with Peter.  We have made this run 3 times, and each time hugged the
beach.  Even in 1983 we had excellent weather fax reception, and had a good
understanding of the conditions which created these winds.  To top this off,
we were enroute to rescue another sailor who had lost his boat on this hostile
coast.  We ran the beach--staying at about the 10 fathom line, detouring out,
by the river mouth shoaling.  Even with 50 knot winds, it was a very pleasant
trip, once we got past Salina Cruz.  In this same trip, we had to stand at
least 50 miles off the upper Central America Coast because of hostilities and
revolutionaries and got slammed with 60 knots and some boat damage due to a
Papagayo.  On another trip, we hugged the coast and in the Gulf of Papagayo we
saw almost 90 knots of wind.  Again, being close to the coast, we were able to
anchor and avoid any damage due to waves.  Two hundred miles is not far enough
to avoid Tehauntepec winds.

Despite "better forcasting" I have seen forcasting to be wrong, especially
when you are dealing with relitative slow boats, such as a trawler, and a
fairly long run--and boats lost because they did not respect this area.  Even
the very best forcasters (as evidenced in the around the world races) are
occasionally wrong.   A NOAA web site describes the meterology:
http://daac.gsfc.nasa.gov/oceancolor/scifocus/oceanColor/papagayo.shtml  for
those who have not researched this potential hazard.

One delivary skipper (not on this forum) lost a 65 foot research vessel
because he got caught out about 100 miles, and a stabalizer fin was not
properly locked, and eventually self distructed and tore a hole in the hull.
He thought he had a clear window for the crossing.

Better to be safe--because 80 knots in a beam sea of 20 to 30 feet is not
something that one wants to experience in any size trawler.

Bob Austin