Tropical Storm becomes Hurricane  03/07/2021

I wrote this yesterday, but then mobile communications went down and I couldn’t post it!

Tropical Storm Elsa was upgraded by the US Hurricane Center to Hurricane Elsa at 0745 today. It had been strengthening, and reached sustained wind speed of 75 mph as it crossed Barbados (64 knots is Hurricane Force wind, which is 73.6 miles per hour). 

The hurricane was headed west-northwest – in my direction. St Lucia issued an official hurricane warning, and a complete shutting of all businesses and schools until further notice. In the event, the hurricane’s centre passed 5 miles north of St Vincent at about 1100, 20 miles south of St Lucia. From where I am up the coast in Marigot Bay, it was about 35 land miles south. That’s pretty close. I am pleased that I took sufficient precautions!

Even though Marigot Bay is protected by the high land surrounding it, it still blew like hell here! Last night, I noticed that the boat wasn’t moving at all – that is how calm it is normally deep in the bay. But this morning, and into the afternoon, the boat was jumping around against its four moorings. Trees lining the marina were waving wildly and my deck is covered with twigs and other litter. 

But this was nothing really – the wind might at times have hit 40mph, but certainly nothing extreme. I took a walk outside in the rain an hour or so ago, and there are no signs of any problems. All boats are well tethered, with anything that might move being lashed down. I removed the front part of my Bimini shelter yesterday evening, rolled up the canvas and stowed it below; the rear part of it is extremely sturdy, well supported by interlocking 20mm steel poles – I thought that would be ok, and it was. I also took the precaution of lashing the mainsail bag to the boom – although it zips up, covering the sail completely, I just wanted to be sure that the bag wouldn’t tear in the wind.

By 1700 the wind had died down considerably. It was still pouring with rain on and off. No surprise that St Lucia has expected 3-6 inches of rain in 24 hours.

Well, I’m sailing for new experiences I guess. This was my first hurricane! I’m very happy that I wasn’t at sea or on an exposed mooring. I think that if there’s a lesson in this, it’s that I was right to err on the side of caution. What was a tropical storm became a tropical hurricane…