15. Return to San Carlos T - 1 day

Sept. 3, 2007:


So our bags are packed and we're ready to go. The flight leaves tomorrow at 7:15 am (Sept. 4th).

The only problem is that our welcoming committee is Hurricane Henriette! What's up with that? We'd been following this system since it first showed up on the Navy weather database, over a week ago. Three days ago, it showed up on the National Hurricane Center site, but was targetted to skirt the outside of Baja ... then just barely cross the Baja ... and now it's gonna cut right across and head to San Carlos/Guaymas where Wirewalker is.

The consolation is that the projected winds when it reaches San Carlos are 50 kts. or less. While unpleasant, these are manageable winds. Our plans are to head out tomorrow, spend 24 hours retighting lines, etc., then spend the night in a nice safe hotel room.

If you're interested in tracking the weather, there are many, many sites that can help. Here are a few:

The Navy database:
https://www.fnmoc.navy.mil/wxmap_cgi/cgi-bin/wxmap_DOD_area.cgi
?area=ngp_tropepac

The National Hurricane Center:
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/

Sailflow (very good localized model for winds):
http://www.sailflow.com/windandwhere.iws?regionID=130®ion
ProductID=29&timeoffset=0

More when we get there.