Kelcey Chandler-Yates and Jim Yates present...

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Tropical Cyclone Heta

January 6, 2004

From Lady Starlight during the height of Tropical Cyclone "Heta"

Here we sit the day after we almost got slammed by Tropical Cyclone "Heta". It passed within 120 miles to the east of Vava'u, Tonga. We spent two days securing everything on board. This entailed pulling everything off the decks, which with all our junk was not a mild undertaking. All the canvas had to come down , the main sail wrapped, Genoa pulled off, wind generator pulled, solar panels padded and lashed. Not to mention that Jim had to dive the mooring (12 tons of solid concrete), and secure our backup line. Then he ran around helping our friends by diving to secure their moorings. Baker kept checking the US Navy web site for the projected track of Heta. She kept playing chicken with us as she was headed straight at us until 12 hours before her arrival. At the cyclone's center there was over 150 knots of wind but we saw only gusts to 50 knots or so.

Sat map and isobar map of Heta as she passed northeast of Vava'u, Tonga