When I was looking at the loops of this storm, I saw a huge mass of clouds to the east of the storm moving southward. It almost looked like a mini-rex block to me, the ridge laying on the poleward side of the "cut-off" low, this one prevented deep-shear and stoped some cool blasts of cold air. Because of this cold air mixing with some warm air (repestively) it created a weak baroclinic system that drifted around waiting for the right moment to make the change. While the water temps were marginally favorable, the shear had relaxed and the intial disturbance was created, telling one that hurricanes always don't need the textbook 79 degree water temp and they require a unique set of parameters. Thanks Clark for your thoughts too, I just wanted to see if anyone else thought what I thought.
Here's a cool link!
http://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/tropic/brazil/movies/abba/brazil-java.html