[Rhodes22-list] Ivan story

[Mark Kaynor]

I just received this from the Sailnet Tayana list. Scary stuff.....

-----Original Message-----
From: Tim Pruss [mailto:mariner36 at wideopenwest.com] 
Sent: Friday, September 10, 2004 3:19 PM
To: tayana-list at sailnet.net
Subject: [tayana-list] Re:(Tayana list) Kamaloha survived!

Great news, Charlie, especially considering the news I received from friends
of mine aboard Prizm, a 35 ft. Island Packet. I included their note to me
received today. BTW, Harvey,  they used 300 feet of 5/16 chain and a 66 lb.
Spade anchor for ground tackle.
Tim Pruss
S/V Chardonnay
Tayana Mariner36

Hi Bob here is another email for the group - an accounting of our encounter
with Ivan. Ed

"The Night of Hurricane Ivan"

At 5am on Sep 7, Hurricane Ivan is about 320 miles away. For the first time,
Ivan is above our latitude. Ivan is at 11.4 degrees. We are at 11.0 degrees.
A degree of latitude equates to 60 nautical miles. The forecasters have been
predicting that Ivan will take a WNW track which would move Ivan well north
of us. If Ivan follows the forecasters' tracks, he will pass 210 miles north
of us - close but not bad! But, Ivan has been moving straight west with just
a tinge of north - not enough. It is only 24 miles north of our position. We
are in Porlamar, Margarita Island, Venezuela. The hurricane is just not
moving north as promised and we continued preparing for Ivan's arrival. We
moved Prism way the hell away from all of the other boats and anchored out
in the Bay. A number of other boats picked up their hooks and moved away
from everyone else too. At this time, we have about three football fields
between Prism and the nearest boats. The wind is light and there is no
swell.

At 11am on Sep 7, Ivan is at 11.8 degrees north.  The hurricane is following
the forecasters' tracks. No need to be concerned. Ivan is moving north of
us. In the anchorage, more boats have started to move out where we are.
However, there are still two football fields between Prism and its nearest
boats.  The wind is still light and there are no swells.

At 2pm on Sep 7, Ivan is at 11.9 degrees north. He has not taken a turn to
the north. Shit! Ivan is jus east of Southern Grenada and he is only 54
miles north of our position. However, the Forecasters continue to project
that Ivan will go north.

At 5pm on Sep 7, Ivan is at 12.0 degrees north. Ivan still has not taken a
turn to the north. He is only 60 miles north of our position - too damn
close. But, the forecasters continue to predict that Ivan will head north
away from us. Winds have begun to pick up. We had a big squall go through
with winds of 50 knots and lots of heavy rain. More and more boats have
joined us and there is now only about one football field between Prism and
its nearest boats.

Night falls on Sep 7. The wind is up. Swells begin to come in. Initially,
the swells are about three feet. Later they will rise to 12 feet plus but we
did not know that then.

It is about 9pm on Sep 7. We will not get another report on the position of
Ivan until 11pm. However, listening to the Single Sideband radio (SSB), we
learn that Ivan has devastated southern Grenada. It has maximum sustained
winds of 105 knots with gusts to 130 knots. Ivan has an eye diameter of 15
miles and the barometric pressure is 956mb and dropping. Ivan is turning
into a category 3 hurricane. Winds are increasing and the swell is now up to
six feet.

The eye of Ivan will pass our position at about 1am on Sep 8. At about 10pm
on Sep 7, the boat next to us begins to drag anchor. A female singlehander
that we know is on board. She is calling for help. We have only a 2
horsepower engine for our dinghy. The winds are increasing and if I went to
her help, I would not be able to get back to Prism. Dorothy says what I am
thinking: "No way. You don't go help her and leave me alone on this boat. If
anything goes wrong, you can't get back here to do what needs to be done."
The singlehander continues to call for help. Finally, a boat with a 10hp
engine on its dinghy volunteers to help. He swings by Prism and picks me up.
When he gets to Prism, I start to put the boarding ladder down. But, the
swells are so high that his dinghy rides them right up and I am able to step
into his dinghy from Prism's deck.

We spend the next hour pulling up the Singlehander's anchor and resetting it
along with a second anchor. The wind and swells have increased and I cannot
look into the rain/wind. The rain is like sandblasting. My eyes don't like
it. I get dropped back off at Prism and again step right onto Prism's deck
when a swell moves the dinghy up by her side. The wind and seas are up
again.

It is 11pm on Sep 7. Ivan is at 12.1 degrees. Shit! The Forecasters still
say Ivan will move north but the hurricane is still tracking west toward us.
Ivan is only 66 miles north of our position. Ivan has been upgraded to a
Category 4 (on a scale of 5) hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 135
knots and gusts much higher. On the track that Ivan is on, it will pass just
70 miles north of us. Winds and seas are up again. The swells coming into
the Bay are running 12 feet plus and are breaking. There is a nasty strain
on the anchor and Prism is being jerked around like a puppet. The dinghy
tied behind is taking a beating. But we still have two more hours before the
eye of Ivan is at its closest position.

It is 1am on Sep 8. According to our calculations, Ivan is directly north of
us. Winds are up. There is a big luxury boat about 150 feet long that was
anchored near us. The big boat has begun to drag anchor and it is now only
50 feet away. I have been calling him on the VHF but he has not been
responding. Finally, he gets on the radio and says he is picking up his hook
and moving. Not a minute too soon. He stars to move away.

It is 3am on Sep 8. Are the winds beginning to decrease? No. But they are at
least not increasing. Prism is still being tossed around like a puppet on a
string. The swells are 12 feet with some higher. I am exhausted. I go to
sleep with Dorothy on watch.

It is 5am on Sep 8. Winds are down. The swell remains the same however.
Dorothy is exhausted.

Dawn arrives on Sep 8. The swells are still the same but winds are down even
further. There is less strain on the anchor. Prism has survived without any
damage.

When we woke up, we learned that Margarita Island had been lucky. Only three
boats were blown ashore. Grenada, however, was not so lucky.

-St. Georges Lagoon.  The Yacht Club is gone, there are 50 boats on the
shore in the parking lot and on the road.
-Spice Island Boat Yard. Out of the 200 yachts that were there, there are 9
left standing.
-Prickley Bay. There are over 20 boats blown ashore in Prickley Bay.
-Secret Harbor. There are 30 boats blown ashore and Martin's Marina
sustained severe damage with at least 6 sinkings of boats that were tied up
at the dock.
-Clarks Court Bay. Only 2 anchored boats survived. The entire marina and all
but one boat within was destroyed.
-Egmont Bay (the best hurricane hole in Grenada). The hurricane hole has
reports of piles and piles of boats on shore.
-Grenada Marine has a high percentage of damaged boats.  The office, bar,
canvas shop and chandelry are all gone.

We spent hurricane season for the last two years in Grenada. Had we been
there this year, we would probably have been one of those statistics. But,
our hearts are sad because we have lots of friends in Grenada and they are
among those statistics.

Ed & Dorothy still afloat onboard Prism






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