Day 4 Sailing Again

August 14, 2010
11:24 HST (21:24 UTC)
Lat: 31 48.2 North
Lon: 156 56.3 West

After motoring for 22 hours, we started sailing again this morning. At 6am (boat time which happens to be Hawaiian Standard Time which also happens to be I believe 9am PDST) we turned into the wind and hoisted the main. Next, we poled out the genoa on the port side. The wind was blowing about 12 knots from the SSW. About 2 hours later, the spinnaker went up and life has been good sailing at around 8 knots with winds in the high teens.

Yesterday was pretty mellow. I believe Dave is averaging a book a day reading-trying to beat Lydia’s record. For dinner, we had grilled fish with a mango salsa, a green salad and pasta with red sauce. People would have paid good money for a dish like this in a classy restaurant. Thanks again, Randy! (and grillmaster Brad)! After dinner, we watched another movie. this time it was volume one in a three volume series about Shakleton and his last expedition to the Antarctic. I suspect we will watch volume two tonight. I cooked up some bacon this morning and gave the crew the choice of having their eggs just the way they wanted as long as what they wanted was scrambled. They could choose to have them scrambled. We hooked two Mahi Mahi simultaneously this morning.  So, we let one go and cut up the other for yet another fish meal maybe it will be for lunch this time.

The weather outlook hasn't changed much. Hopefully, we will be able to milk a couple days of sailing before what looks like a rather prolonged motoring stint. The weather models can and do change, but if the current trend holds we will have to motor through a long light patch.  However, right now we are coasting along at 8 knots with the spinnaker up, mostly sunny skies, the stereo playing and all the crew with their nose in a book. Jorge (the autopilot) is doing a fine job of driving.

Capt. Brad signing off

Day 3.......Motoring already!

August 13, 2010 (Friday the 13th)
12:56 HST (22:56 UTC)
Lat 29 25.3  North
Lon 157 10.7  West

Yup, we are motoring. Since the last blog entry, the wind has slowly tapered off, until it reached a low of about 5 knots this morning. After looking at the weather models(I talk more about this in a bit), we decided to crank up the Iron Genoa and do some motoring.

For dinner yesterday, Randy fried the Mahi Mahi with a light breading on the outside. This was served with a green salad and diced up potatoes. Yum! After dinner we watched a movie, "Children of Men". Very intense! Brad popped some popcorn. The watch schedule started right after the movie finished, with Randy  and Dave on first, I hit the sack. My watch was to be the 4:30am to 7am stretch so I had a full 7.5 hours of sleep. Nice!

By far the highlight of the last 24 hours was standing the night watch. I believe all aboard would agree with that statement. Last night was the peak of the Percied Meteor Shower.  Well, let’s put it this way: If you want to watch the stars with absolutely no light pollution, the middle of the Pacific on a clear night is a pretty darn good place to do it. I had only about a half an hour to watch the show before things got too light with the coming sunrise. I lost count at 30 meteors after only 10 minutes of watching. It was spectacular.

With the lighter wind and seas, things have definitely become more civilized. Everyone aboard the boat has had a shower except yours truly. I believe there will be a mutiny aboard if I don't follow suit,  seeing as we are all sleeping in each other’s bunks.

The weather........well, the short story is it doesn't look good for a short trip. The Pacific High is in the process of being split in two by a front and a low coming from the west. This weather system is forecast to dissipate.  As it does, the high will re-establish itself. This all will happen right in the path of where we want to go! Bottom line is a lot of light air and possible head winds. We have decided to motor NNE to try and hook into some of the wind generated by the front and low. I fear that we will not be able to get north fast enough to take advantage of this, but we are going to give it a try. We need to be able to sail another two or three days if we hope to pull off my master plan. What is the master plan you may ask?  Well, I want to motor right through the center of the Pacific High and hopefully have a enough fuel to come out the other side and catch NW winds for the sail to the Strait of Juan De Fuca. We have enough fuel to motor for about 7.5 days, maybe a bit more if we keep the RPMs down. That means we need to do some more sailing before doing the long motor or I don't believe we'll have the fuel to pull it off. The models are having a hard time figuring out what is going to happen in our neck of the woods weather wise, so I'm hoping there will be periods of good wind for sailing. I know it's Friday the 13th, so please knock on wood for us or do any other ritual you think may send us luck.

Capt. Brad signing off.

PS We caught another Mahi Mahi today so fish is still on the menu.

Days 1 and 2: Trucking Along

August 12, 2010
10:44 HST (20:44 UTC)
Lat: 26 51.6 North
Lon:158 00.4 West

Fish on! Mahi Mahi just came on the menu for dinner tonight! I literally had just sat down to type in this blog entry and the shout came from above, "Fish On". It's actually now 11:10 am, as I had to take a break to bring in the smallish Mahi Mahi and do one instructional fillet on one side. Dave is taking a shot at cutti   ng the other half.

Backing up, we arrived in Honolulu in the afternoon of August 2nd, which I believe PJ has already blogged about. After a hectic week of prepping the boat for the next leg and PJ’s seemingly non-stop car trips to and from the airport, Costco and everywhere else, we finally cast off the lines from the Hawaii Yacht Club and set sail.

  

The crew consists of Dave McWhirter, a long time college buddy of PJ and sailboat owner; Harold Beard, a dentist and friend from our Voodoo Child sailing days who has done numerous open water deliveries including a sail all the way to NZ from Washington. And last but not least Randy Holbrook boat owner, friend and fellow SYC member. I really couldn't ask for a better crew.

We threw off the lines at 11:19 HST (21:19 UTC) on August 10th. Once clearing the channel, we immediately set sail with a the wind aft, blowing about 20 knots we were on our way. As we rounded the SW corner of Oahu, we looked for a calm spot to stop the boat and give the bottom an inspection and quick scrub of the waterline. I didn't do this in Ala Wai Harbor, mostly because of the rather large shark doing the rounds in the marina. Once in the water, I discovered that our Max Prop zinc was no longer present, so I put a new one on while Dave scrubbed on the bottom. This took a little more then an hour to complete and we were off again.

Once we cleared the island of Oahu, the trade winds filled to full force and we sailed the first 36 hours in 20-25 knots with seas reaching as much as 3 meters at times. The wind was forward of the beam so we took a fair amount of water over the bow and sometime over the entire pilot house and bimini. PJ, I am happy to report that the forward cabin remains dry. Needless to say things were bouncy. Randy was the only one impervious to the wave action. I and Dave felt squishy at times and Harol . . . .  well, he got physically sick. I sent him over the edge the first night when I had him do a log entry and he had to focus on the screens and number etc. I'm happy to report that we are all now feeling great with the squishies hopefully a thing of the past.

Randy was a trooper the first night literally spending a couple of hours in the galley putting together a chicken and rice dish. It was at the height of the waves and wind and his accomplishment was no small feat.

Yesterday was spent settling in and getting used to life at sea. Dave spent more then an hour on the aft deck basking in the sun and looking at the waves. We all did a lot of napping, reading etc. The autopilot was misbehaving basically faulting and shutting itself off every few minutes. I had changed the brushes in Honolulu and the new ones had not seated themselves yet. I am happy to report the Jorge (that’s the name of our trusty autopilot) is now behaving wonderfully and we haven't had a autopilot fault for over 12 hours (I am now touching wood so as not to jinx things).

Current conditions are quite nice with blue sunny skies, winds in the high teens with an apparent wind angle of about 70 degrees, small seas and making good time! We are heading due North. The weather models don't look great for a fast trip. Right now it looks like it may take us 3 weeks based on what I'm seeing in the weather models. I will write more about this perhaps tonight with a synopsis on the weather and thinking for our routing.

All is well aboard Capaz!

Cheers!
Cpt. Brad

PS PJ is very glad that the forward cabin staying dry and that she and the boys are already enjoying visiting friends and family in Seattle while CAPAZ bashes toward the mainland.

Enjoying Oahu

Waimea Valley, Oahu, Hawaii, USA

August 6, 2010

  

We took almost an entire day off of boat errands to drive to a reserve on the North Shore of Oahu called Waimea Valley.  We found it very similar to the Valley out of Wailuku on Maui.  It is basically a botanical garden with a few hands on cultural activities along a paved path that leads to a waterfall where you can swim about a mile up the valley.  On the way, we made a quick stop at the Dole Plantation where we completed the pineapple maze.

  We had packed a lunch, so we ate under the shade of the banyan trees.

 

We learned about taro and invasive prawns.  Brad and Austin figured out how to play an ancient game that was a key part of the Polynesian oral history tradition.  We had a great conversation with some of the docents who had been to Tahiti (for surfing) and the Tuamotus.  We swam in the pool below the waterfall where the lifeguard assured us that there were no freshwater eels (like in Daniels Bay).  We also saw the almost extinct moor hen which is duck that does not have webbed feet.  It actually a cross between a goose and a chicken.

    

We drove back along the north shore, but there was no legendary surf (wrong time of year and a very calm day at that).  A quick stop at Zippy’s for plate dinners and burgers and we headed back to the boat.  A local family who is contemplating cruising met us at the dock and checked out what it would be like to live on a 48’.  They won’t have any problem as they have already spent  some time living in a motorhome while touring around the states (on the mainland, of course).

One Thing at a Time

August 6, 2010

Waikiki Beach, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA

View of Waikiki from the 33rd Floor 

There is a philosophy in the cruiser community that the day is successful if you can accomplish ONE thing.  It’s a strategy for us to meet our goal of slowing life down a little so that it can be enjoyed.  Out among like minds, it is much easier to to be successful at taking it easy, but when we come into a port it is always a challenge to strike a balance between getting things done that need to get done and keeping a reasonable pace of life so we can enjoy whatever said port has to offer.  I am working very hard at this balance, but it is difficult.

When we arrived on Monday, the priority was simple: get checked in.  So, we checked into the country and secured our moorage.  Luckily, Lydia was going to try to catch a flight back to the mainland late that evening and so taking her out to dinner was another easy choice.

Tuesday, I had to finish getting us checked and work on getting a condo and car.  I took the bike out to the container dock where Customs is located and checked that one off my list.  Since I had the bike, I multi-tasked a little with a quick recon to the little grocery store that is in the mall right across from the marina and a quick stop at the Seattle Embassy (aka Starbucks).  Sometimes, Google makes things easier – but when the tasks become easier, I always try to squeeze more of them in than I probably should.  Anyway, I spent a few hours searching on-line for places and directions to them where we could take care of some of things that have to get done before the boat leaves for the mainland next week.  I was also completely overwhelmed by trying to find a condo and car.  After the years spent working at a brokerage, I should know better:  there are people for that.  Brad had the great idea to call our trusted travel agent and within an hour, she had our reservations made for the next day for less than anything I could find!  Mulan arrived in the evening and we had to do some catching up with them.

Wednesday, the boys and I took the local bus out to the airport to pick up our car.  Through no fault of our own (we were a little lost at the time), we found Costco.  A quick phone call to see if the condo was ready and we decided to do a Costco recon and advance directly to checking in.   We got checked in and got our Costco purchases into the fridge.  Now that there was a car available, Brad was anxious to get some of his errands rolling.  Home Depot and West Marine were back out towards Costco, so while the kids veged in front of “Shark Week”.  We made another run out towards the airport and knocked a few more things off the list, including another trip to Costco now that I was sure that we indeed had a full sized fridge in our room.   We ate dinner together back at the condo and then returned Brad to the boat where we picked up lots of laundry.  There is a washer/dryer on the floor here, so that’s an on-going project.

It was now Thursday and we had not done anything to ENJOY Oahu.  Drastic measures needed to be taken, so we called a team meeting.  We got out that thing with the squares on it . . . . . oh yeah, I think it is called a calendar and we did a little strategic planning.  I know this is going to require time management and even some multi-tasking.   But if we hadn’t done it, we were in danger of only “getting things done” here on Oahu and not seeing anything the island has to offer.  We ran a few more errands and then, spent some time by the pool before heading out to a nice pasta dinner at the Spaghetti Factory.  Two more tasks were completed: post the “Capaz Chronicle” and get the pictures from the crossing onto the blog.

Today we will try to bring back some balance by doing a little sightseeing. 

Surfers waiting for the break this morning off Waikiki

Day 14: Sunrise over Haleakala

    20* 30.2' North
157* 11.5' West
August 2, 2010

 

We spent most of yesterday trying to see the Big Island of Hawaii through the clouds that shrouded it. We were able to make out a wind farm near the southern tip of the island, but otherwise it was pretty much the suggestion of land. Once we were in the leeward side of the island, the swell became much gentler and we enjoyed the respite even though we had to turn on the engine. Once we entered the Channel between Hawaii and Maui, the swell and wind increased.
A little after 6:00 am, I was treated to an absolutely fantabulous sunrise over the dormant volcano, Haleakala on Maui. Off our starboard bow is the island of Lanai.

Allied ship during combat exercises off Oahu

We are pretty excited about coming into Honolulu this afternoon. Once we hit the dock, there are lists of things to do before the new crew flies in to help bring CAPAZ back to the mainland and the boys and I fly to Seattle for a couple of weeks.

The CAPAZ Crew enjoys dinner on land at the Chart House

Day 13: Are we there yet?

18* 22.8' North
155* 11.4' West
August 1, 2010

On this morning's watch, I have been continually scanning the horizon to the northwest of our position for a glimpse of the Big Island. We within 60 miles of it and with Mauna Kea at over 13,000 feet, we should have no problem seeing it. However, one needs it to be clear all the way to the horizon to be able to see such things and the current weather conditions are prohibiting me from calling, "Land ho!" at this point.
Luckily, the VHF radio is picking up transmissions from the US Coast Guard Honolulu. It just hit me that we are essentially once again within the easy reach of the US Guard for the first time in months. After following a ca;; pm the radio and hearing how the French Polynesian Coat Guard or Navy handled a distress call, I am very glad to be back in this jurisdiction. The USCG's competence is reassuring.

There is land in this picture – I promise! 
Ah! There it is! As the squall line in front of me has passed to the south, I can see it: the top of Mauna Loa! Hawaii here we come!