Tehuantepec

Tehauntepec

This is the title given to fierce winds that appear with little prior warnings.

In the Gulf of Tehuantepec winds average force 6 (Beaufort Scale) throughout the year.  Violent gales, known as Tehuantepecers, normally appear from October to April - lasting from a few hours to several days their Force 8 or 9 winds raise treacherous, short high seas which can be as far as 100 miles offshore.  Added to the problems of heavy winds and seas are strong currents which vary in direction and rate depending on the wind's intensity.  Northwest or northeast currents of over 2 knots on either shore of the Gulf are a result of the wind being so strong at times that it actually lowers the water level at the head of the golf.  To be caught by a Tehuantepec is very dangerous, there are weather stations monitoring the situation but as I write this there is NO warnings present but the Tehuantepec is blowing 45 knots !!!

These winds are caused by a high pressure system that builds up in the Caribbean and tries to move westward towards the typically low pressure that lives out over the south eastern pacific ocean. The wind heads over the Central American land mass, then slams into the mountain ranges that run the length of it. Unfortunately, there are a few places, such as the narrow most portion of Mexico, just along the long, open area north of the bay, that allow the winds to funnel through. To make matters worse, as they push up then race down the mountain slopes, they pick up speed. When they reach the ocean they slam down with such force that they push the surface water hundred of miles out to sea. While this action makes for particularly good conditions for catching big game fish, it makes for very dangerous sailing conditions across the bay.

There appear two schools of thought - one is to go offshore and pedal to the metal when a break in the weather appears - the other is to have "one foot on the beach".  We will do the "one foot on the beach" route even though it adds 30 miles to the journey - it appears to us to be the safer option in that there is some protection gained from land so that the seas don't build up so much in close to the shore.  There is nowhere to hide and nowhere to stop if the winds start to blow across the 250 miles of the Gulf of Tehuantepec.   We have been listening to Don Anderson's weather forecasts on the Southbound Net (SSB HF radio) - he appears to have a good understanding of the weather patterns and an accurate prediction of the Tehuantepecers.  At present he says there will be a window of 2 days Tues - Thursday this week then maybe not another chance for 10 days - this is the reason we are moving along, you just never know when you are sailing (or motoring as we seem to do constantly these days).

After we survive the Tehuantepec winds we then have the Papagayo winds further along the coast, but I shall leave that for another day.  We have passed the Santa Anna's and the Pineapple express (winds that blow from Hawaii).