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1/5/2018 Crossing the Tehuantepec Tehuantepec Crossing The guidebooks say that the worst time to cross the Tehuantepec is December to February. Unfortunately for us our timing had us in the area right smack at the end of December. Oh well. Our time in Huatulco was nice but with weather windows becoming shorter in duration and farther apart on the calendar we decided to jump on the one Dec 31, 2017. We had 260 miles from Huatulco to Chiapas and we weren’t really sure how much of it would be affected by the higher wind speeds. We knew for sure we had 60 – 70 miles in the meat of it. According to Wikipedia Tehuantepecer "Tehuantepecer, or Tehuano wind, is a violent mountain-gap wind traveling through Chivela Pass, most common between October and February, with a summer minimum in July. It originates from eastern Mexico and the Bay of Campeche as a post-frontal northerly wind, accelerated southward by cold air damming, which crosses the isthmus and blows through the gap between the Mexican and Guatemalan mountains. The term dates back to at least 1929.[1] This wind can reach gale, storm, and hurricane force. Tehuantepec winds reach 20 knots (40 km/h) to 45 knots (80 km/h), and on rare occasions 100 knots (200 km/h). The wind’s direction is from the north to north-northeast.[3] It leads to a localized acceleration of the trade winds in the region, and can enhance thunderstorm activity when it interacts with the Intertropical Convergence Zone.[4] The effects can last from a few hours to six days.[5]" The window was pretty tight with just 12 hours predicted at slightly less than 20kts but we decided to go for it. The guidance is pretty clear of what to do in these windows. “Stay as close to shore as is reasonably prudent”. The area where all the wind seems to come from is Bahia Ventosa near Salinas Cruz in Mexico. In order to cross the slot with the highest wind speeds at the best time we would need to leave Huatulco at 12am. Our plan was to stay about a mile offshore until Salinas Cruz. On the West side of Bahia Ventosa there are mountains inland to shelter you from the worst of the wind. You can hug the coast and stay in the lee of the mountains until the very last moment. You stay a mile off here in order to avoid a few hazards that lay off the coast. Once you cross Salina Cruz and leave the lee of Cerro Morro you are into Bahia Ventosa and into the belly of the beast. Here the plan was to get within ¼ mile of the beach and into 30-40 ft of water. This way there is no fetch and so even if the wind is higher than forecast you don’t have to deal with any swell or wind wave. While you are closer to shore than you ever thought comfortable, the wind is pushing you South so the shore is not an issue. After that there are two lagoon entrances on the way to Chiapas that can have breaking waves you get too close to them. We watched the waypoints and made sure we were well clear. The rest of the passage was quite mellow with lighter winds all the way to Chiapas. We motorsailed in order to keep our speed up and make sure we arrived well before dark. Chiapas was an easy entrance and once we had our Navy Inspection and were checked in we poured ourselves some well deserved Margaritas!! Want to know more about SVLiquid?? Dial in to our Facebook page to get updated info on our progress - www.facebook.com/svliquid Just want to see pictures? Follow on Instagram - www.instagram.com/svliquid Like videos? Follow our YouTube channel - https://www.youtube.com Here are the notes from the passage 12am - 5 AM Leaving Huatulco Using Radar to stay a little over 1 mile off the coast No headsail, double reefed main and mizzen - Not sure what we are getting into or when the wind will increase.... Light wind F1-F2 Small easy swell off starboard bow 1.5kt current assist 3am - No more cell service 4am Current 0.0 Light wind small swell 5AM - 8AM Approaching Salinas 6am - Bamba bay Light wind small swell 1kt counter current 7am Cell service returns Punta Chiphua Wind starting to increase 8am - Approaching Salinas Wind F4 directly on nose. (NorthEast) Counter Current now less than 0.5 8AM -12PM Salinas to BocA San Francisco
9am Pass inside #3 Superbuoy at Salinas entrance Wind NE F3-F4, small chop No current 10am Entering Bahia Ventosa Wind N F4. Choppy Wind quickly increases to F5 with occasional F6 gusting higher. 12:00pm - Boca San Francisco We were over 2 miles out and in 80ft of water. No need to go out that far. Looking in towards the bar we still couldn’t see the breakers. Wind F5 steady (North) Wind waves now about 3ft and noticeably less comfortable than when we were closer than a half mile to the beach. 12PM - 10PM Boca SF to Boca de Tonala
5pm Wind down Wind NE F4 3 ft rollers on the stern 1 kt counter current 7pm. Working our way out in order to pass Boca de Tonala We will pass 2 miles out since it’s dark and we can’t see the breakers. It’s probably father out than we need. Wind back up to F5 from the East. (Port Bow) Counter current is 1.2kts Short Swell 5-6ft on the stbd stern qtr. 10pm Pass Boca de Tonala Still windy at F5 Start working our way closer to the beach to get out of the bigger waves. 12AM - 3PM PAST BOCA TONALA to CHiapas
12am
Happy New Years!! Dolphins for New Years!! Fireworks visible up and down the beach Wind down to F1 - F2 Swell 1-2 Counter current about 0.5 2am Moving offshore to avoid shoals marked on my Navionics charts 15 32.46N 93 21.89W Feeling good about moving offshore Wind F0-F1 Swell From NE 1-3 ft 6am Pretty Chill Wind F0-F1 Swell From NE 1-3 ft An easy run from here to Chiapas. A few fishing boats to watch out for but they were big and easy to see. That was it. Overall not bad at all. If you are comfortable sailing in 20-30kts then this is actually very reasonable. The biggest thing is that it can get very ugly very quickly as you venture farther offshore. We noticed a big difference within a mile or two. I would guess that it is less and less comfortable the farther out you get. Our advice is the same as all the previous boats before us. 1 - Wait for a good window. 2 - Stay close to shore. 3 - Go Go Go. Thanks to everyone for all the constructive feedback so far! Dial in to our Facebook page to get updated info on our progress - www.facebook.com/svliquid Just want to see pictures? Follow on Instagram - www.instagram.com/svliquid Like videos? Follow our YouTube channel - https://www.youtube.com Hi, guys! We crossed about a week before y'all, going the opposite way. We'd planned to stick close to the beach, but around 9 on our first night out we got hopelessly entangled in one of those mile-long floating long lines. It took us forever to get back on track. Glad you missed them! Comments are closed.
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AUTHORSMarc and Laura. Hit SUBSCRIBE to follow our adventure on YouTube. Archives
July 2018
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