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I'll collect on this page whatever information I receive on the effects of hurricane Fausto. If you have any damage reports which might be of interest to the readers of these pages, please send the information to me by email (ftm@math.ucr.edu).

Comments of Fred Metcalf:

I left La Paz on Tuesday morning (September 10) having checked the email reports from the National Hurricane Center on Monday evening - only a small disturbance forming some distance south of the cape region. When I arrived back in Southern California on Friday morning, I was asked about hurricane Fausto. "Fausto? Never heard of it - must be an Atlantic hurricane." Well, very much mistaken, I discovered that this storm was heading right for La Paz!

There was email awaiting me from Richard Adcock in La Paz. He had sent it early Thursday morning, and indicated that if the storm continued on the predicted track, he'd be moving the ship Marisla up to Pichilingue that evening. I assume that this is what he did.

I don't expect to hear, by phone or email, from La Paz for several days. It will take some time to get the phone service back up. As an example of the delays, there was a major thunder and rain storm early in the morning of August 29. Water got into the telephone conduits along the main north-south street and much of the wiring and other equipment in those conduits had to be replaced. It took over a week for full service to be restored.

12:30PM Saturday:

I have now received a short email message from Richard Adcock in La Paz. The phone service was not so badly hit as I thought it might have been. Probably the new wires survived where the old ones would have failed.

Richard reports that the winds in La Paz probably peaked at about 85 knots. The Marisla held its ground, just barely, throughout the night at Pichilingue. The only damage Richard has reported, at this time, is the loss of their dingy dock and the parabolic antenna on top of the apartment. He will send a more complete report later.

Report received from Richard Adcock on Saturday evening:

Date: Sat, 14 Sep 1996 18:43:33
From: "Richard M. Adcock" 

Subject: Fausto

Thanks to the National Weather Bureau and their forecasts that
FAUSTO would make land fall near Todos Santos, then veer
Northeasterly, I opted to take Marisla to the nearby small safe
harbor of Pichilingue.  I sailed at 5PM MDT with the NE blowing
probably 20 knots, indeed a fresh wind and a bad omen that a
hurricane may very well be approaching.

Two hours later I was safely anchored inside Pichilingue Harbor. 
At the time I considered the pirates (from where the name
comes), who must have sailed into the area many years before.
And how, more lately, the harbor was used as a coaling station
for the Teddy Roosevelt Great White Fleet, which stopped in this
very place for fuel before going on to what became the 'round
the world cruise.  And even more lately, used by the U.S. Navy
during World War II as an outpost, complete with airstrip on the
island that formed Pichilingue, and 50 U.S. airmen.

To this day, descendants with names like Whitney still live on
in La Paz.  Even now, as the sun began to set and create the
most beautiful rainbow, I pondered what tomorrow had in store
for me, crew of three, and my ship Marisla.

The wind blew NE throughout the night.  By 8AM it freshened to
maybe 40 knots which got our attention.  We started one of our
two main diesel engines, moved forward and lowered our second
main anchor.  This held fast until noon, but now it was apparent
that we were dragging anchor, despite the two large Bruce
anchors now working.  But the windage on the Marisla hull was
too great.

We weighed anchor and moved to the other side of the port area
which seemed more protected from the wind.  The bottom was more
slime or ooze than the good holding ground we had had during the
previous night on the windward side of the bay.  We placed both
anchors but soon had to repeat the operation again and again.

Then the power to the ship's electric propulsion motors failed,
at the most critical time, as the ship dragged ever so close to
the windward shore.  Now the wind is at it's NE peak, maybe 50
or 60 knots.  Scud was flying from the white caps and waves, an
indicator of wind speed.  I ran to the engine room, forgetting
that I had bad knees, to try and figure out why the power from
the diesel-driven generators was not going into the electric
motors.

Probably fifteen minutes passed, maybe more, when it occurred to
me that the electric fields of the motors had failed.  This is
supplied by a solenoid relay which had failed.  Why I seized on
this idea was a miracle!  Sure enough, the relay was open.  I
found a short piece of wood, pressed the contacts and I had
power to the motors.  Eureka!

With a short piece of string and the nimble fingers of my
sailor, Silvino, we wrapped the two contacts closed and we were
back in business.  I ran to the bridge, gave the propeller 100
RPM and moved from the shallow beach behind, kicking up mud as
we moved away into the heavy wind.  Another few minutes and the
ship would have been aground!

This was too much for all of us and the ship.  We made our way
to an empty dock, which took some real doing, where we spent the
remaining daylight hours.

The eye of the storm passed directly above, as evidenced by a
lull in the wind and a blue sky.  Mary Lou radioed that the wind
had reversed 180 degrees and was more strong than before.  We
held to the dock with doubled up lines.  This morning, Saturday,
we recovered one of our two Bruce anchors and headed for La Paz. 

A radio call from George of the yacht Sun Ray exclaimed that his
friend's yacht had gone on the rocks close to Marina Palmira.  I
offered the assistance of the great strength of the ship to free
the yacht "Wipper" from Vancouver, BC.  (Owner Julius, the
baker, is in the hospital at Vancouver now.)

At the high tide of 9:30AM we were successful in pulling her
free.  I saw three or four other yachts on the same rocky area. 
Another was in the channel leading into the inner waters of La
Paz Harbor, abandoned and with a port list as though it had rain
or ocean water inside.  The sails had unfurled and were a mess. 
Nobody was aboard.

Palapas for the beaches were down at Coromuel Beach and the
public beach just North of the governor's home at Caimancito. 
The La Concha Beach Resort had lost their new float at the end
of their new pier.  Litter was all along the beaches as I
entered port.  Two yachts on my own dock were still there, the
Dandelion and the Tetrarch.

Sun Ray and Copper Sky had moved off.  They anchored across from
the abandoned hotel Gran Baja and spent a bad night and day
fighting the storm.  Copper Sky ended up aground and has since
been refloated.  Neither at this writing have yet to return to
my dock.

Our RV park is a mess.  Fred's RV suffered no damage whatsoever. 
A large lemon tree in space #14 was uprooted.  Two Benjamin
Ficus had fallen over.  But the biggest damage was to the
Plumaria trees, which are very fragile.  Now we have too many
branches for planting.  The Bougainvilla vines were down
throughout the park.  Even as I write, the cleanup is going on. 
Our street, Nayarit, had been destroyed earlier by a heavy rain,
and now it is going to take even more repair to get it back to
anything like before.  Rain water came down the street like a
river.

The bottom line is that no loss of life has been reported! 
Several small towns, like Chametla and Centenario were ordered
evacuated.  My welder-mechanic Rafael, who lives in Chametla
refused and he tells me by phone that all is well with him and
family. 

The wind was 80 knots, the strongest of which came out of the
Southwest.  We have seen worse over the years, but this is the
first in many years and an eye opener to the many yachtsmen who
now frequent the area.

Report received from Bill Kramer on Monday morning:

Date: Mon, 16 Sep 1996 10:38:10
From: Bill Kramer 

Subject: Hurricane Fausto

I heard from my son Bruce who lives in Todos Santos and owns
Kramer Construction, that the storm hit almost directly on them
on Friday.  A lot of wind but he had his palapa roof tied down
and it made it OK.  Most of his trees are down with fruit on the
ground but most everything held out fine.  He drove into town on
Sat. AM (he lives just No. of town on the dirt road out toward
the beach ) and said that there were many trees down making
driving difficult.  Most of the small free standing palapas on
lots around town are down.  Most everything else seemed OK.  No
water or electricity but surprisingly the phones were OK. 

However, he was supposed to call me on Sunday PM (9/15) and he
didn't so they could be out now.

Good thing is that everyone was OK and he hadn't heard of any
injuries or major damage in Todos Santos.

Bill Kramer
bkramer@callamer.com

Report received from Richard Adcock about boats in Marina Palmira:

Date: Sun, 29 Sep 1996 10:20:40
From: "Richard M. Adcock" 

Subject: Marina Palmira

Went to the Dinghy Dock for dinner and ran into Richard Selene
of "No Problemo".  He was staying in the Marina Hotel.  He flew
in to be near his yacht that was standing with all of the
others.

Indeed, it fell to the starboard side breaking off the mast as
it hit the adjoining yacht.  The large Philadelphia Pa. yacht
to the port side (north) fell against "No Problemo".

The two are still laying on their sides.  Richard left to the
states completely upset with the hotel and with the boat yard.

Under terms of the contract displayed by Richard, he had agreed
to hold the yard harmless for a host of events, including
hurricanes.  The yard wrote to Richard claiming no
responsibility. 

Richard could not find any eye witnesses as to what, and what
time, things happened.  He feels that the big sail boat fell
against his yacht, which in turn fell to the third yacht (which
did not fall).  He does not know to whom, if anybody, to look
for damages.  The hotel woke him up during the night requiring
$300 dollars to cover his bill, then locked him out in the
morning while he had temporarily left the room.

Richard took many pictures and expects to have the full story
published in the various give-aways.

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