Well we made it through the night but had to turn the engine on at this morning as the wind was all but gone. We were able to ghost along from 11am to noon which was a nice break from the engine noise but hopefully the high will pass over us and we will be on our way again.
The NOAA forecasts show the high 150 miles due north of us right now and trending slightly SE over the next 48 hours. If that forecast holds true we should be able to sail / motor sail / motor our way through the high and pop out on the other side.
We were able to pull the main sail out and I have it lashed down to help support the bent boom.
We were a little slower yesterday at 126 miles but all and all pretty decent considering we are getting closer to the high.
Everyone has put on pants but me. I’ll probably cave in the next couple days but I’ll push it as long as possible!
Well the boys finally caught a fish. It was a pretty small Mahi Mahi but there was enough meat for the three of us (Ron does not eat fish).
Jed looked back and saw the fish flapping on the surface and yelled “Fish on!” Do we all ran back to see the monster be pulled it.
We figure it was about 3 lbs, but had enough meat that Kevin cooked up which tasted amazing considering it was only an hour old when it hit our plates.
The wind died a little last night and we had to turn the engine on for an hour or so. It was pretty amazing that it went from 15 kts to glass calm and back to blowing 15 kts in an hour. Over the last 24 hours we still managed 153 miles which we are very happy about especially as we near the high!
As you may have read here, our boom has a significant bend in it and need to be replaced. This is devastating for us and therefore we made a (difficult) decision to ask our friends and readers for help. If you are interested in helping us by contributing to having our boom replaced you can visit our GoFundMe page:
https://www.gofundme.com/helpasunto
If you are unable to help, please consider passing along this info to others. Thank you!
Well another great day sailing with the Genoa. We are again on a beam reach and managed to knock off 169 miles for the noon to noon run.
Jed and Kevin have been fishing for the last couple days without luck so I thought I would take my turn at cooking dinner for everyone.
Lasagna! After slaving away in the kitchen for at least three minutes pulling the lasagna out of the freezer, I find out that it will take two hours to cook. Oh well, better get on with it.
I made my specialty Caesar salad (romain lettuce and Caesar dressing) and pulled the lasagna out two hours later. Perfect!
We were clearly hungry as we ate about 5.25 lbs of the 6 lbs lasagna and all the salad, but it sure was nice to have a full meal.
We are still heading north and hoping the high will slide east. Not sure we will get that lucky but we will keep pushing North.
We had a pretty good run of 171 miles in the last 24 hours and speeds well over 8 knots at times. It has been great.
The seas have calmed down a lot and we have been blasting along on a beam reach. Although the wind instruments have not been working we keep sailing along! What a concept.
Last night around 11pm Ron and Jed woke me up as there was a freighter closing in on us. The freighter had come over the horizon and wasn’t overtaking us so it appeared we were on a collision course.
I was able to track the freighter on the Radar and MARPA and they were doing 21 kts about 2.5 miles away and were indeed on a collision course.
We watched the freighter for about two minutes and then he made a large course correction to port and passed behind us with lots of room to spare.
It was sure nice to know that the crew of the freighter were on the ball and also to know that our own crew was paying attention as well and had everything well in hand.
Meeting a 700′ freighter in the middle of the pacific in the middle of the night sure does make you glad you have crew on hand 24 hours keeping an eye out for you!
Needless to say it was very disheartening to break the boom yesterday. Although it isn’t completely broken it is virtually unusable and we have decided to carry on to Alaska as turning back would mean an end to this trip for the guys and our trip as family as well.
We had a great day sailing along with the Genoa alone and truth be told it is also a relief not to be worried about how many miles we reel off in a day. We will get to Alaska when we get to Alaska and there is nothing we can do about it.
Amazingly I slept very well and we also kept up a pretty good pace. Our noon to noon run was just under 150 miles and just under 300 for the first 48 hours, however I’m not going to be keeping track as closely as I did last time and I’ll just enjoy the ride.
Besides, last time I had places to be and people to meet!
Well it was a slow start to the day and it was harder to leave Hawaii than I had anticipated. Although I am really excited to get to Alaska and explore SE, I really felt like leaving Hawaii was a big turning point for the trip as there would be no more warm water swimming and jumping off the boat with Fynn.
We had an auspicious start when attempting to get the stern anchor up. It has set itself so well into the sand that it took two attempts to break it free. When we finally got the anchor up and I motored out of the anchorage I took one final look at Hanalei Bay and heard Kevin shout “where is the white buoy?”.
Well as it turns out the white buoy we had tied to the anchor to mark our stern line had fouled on our prop and was stuck under the boat. Not ten seconds into our trip the first problem had reared its ugly head and I had to dive into the water and cut away the extra line and retrieve the buoy. Thanks to Ron for having his trusty knife on hand.
After that it was smooth and exciting sailing. The plan is to head due north until the wind starts to back and then make our way around the North Pacific high. The high is sitting right in our path as if this writing but who knows what a couple days will bring!
Just as my shift was ending at 0400 the wind instruments were giving funky readings. The wind rotated almost 180 degrees and shot up 43kts of apparent wind speed.
The boat sailed around in a half circle, now the actually wind had not really shifted so the sails filled in from behind and I was forced to furl them in and motor to get back on course.
Once I had figured out that the instruments were acting up I tried to reset the NMEA2000 network to get the wind instruments up and running. While I was waiting for the system to reboot, Kevin and unfurled the main sail to start sailing along again. We pulled the main sail out all the way and set our course for about 60 degrees apparent.
We were moving along very nicely at 6.5 kts with the main alone but the instruments were still not working. I now had the autopilot on and decided to reset the network again.
DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS AT HOME
Well, just as my luck would have it, the NMEA system reset but lock the autopilot ram in a fixed position. When this happened the boat began an ever so slow turn and began to gybe. Kevin went to turn off the breaker to the instruments but by the time he got downstairs the gybe was completed and we had a small crash gybe (remember we were only trimmed for sailing at 60 degrees apparent) so I thought no harm no foul and set things up for Kevin and went to grab some sleep.
A couple hours later Kevin wakes me up and says “Kolby you should come look at the boom. There is a bend in it that I don’t remember being there before”
Yup that’s right folks, 16 hours into our passage from Hawaii to Alaska we broke the boom. Oh well only 2400 miles to go.
Want to help?
https://www.gofundme.com/helpasunto
We rolled into Hanalei after our overnight passage and it was hate at first sight. This was supposed to be one of the most beautiful anchorages in the world and we hated it… The water was a murky brown, it was cloudy and rainy and a north wind was pushing in 4 foot rollers into the bay. The current frequently left us abeam to the waves and we would roll so hard it was enough to make you want to jump over board. Except you didn’t because the was was so murky you could see your feet in ankle deep water and it was cold from all the river run off. Plus it rained for like 3 days non stop. This for our last week in Hawaii!! We contemplated moving the boat to the drier side of the island but instead rented a car. Then we moved into more sheltered water, set a stern anchor and things got much better. Before we left Hanalei Bay had dried up and turned into the most beautiful bay in the world. The water was turquoise, the mountains had hundred foot water falls snaking down them and the weather was warm. Being the wet side we still had several showers each day but they were brief and the sun came out between. So glad we stayed!
The view from our cockpit
We also loved Kaua’i with its small town vibe (although it did still have a Costco!). We drove over most of the island, checking out WImea Canyon, Tunnels Beach, and finishing off the trip with surf lesson. That was probably the highlight! I totally loved it and our instructor was awesome.
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- Post surf lessons
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- Fogged in at Wimea Canyon
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- The Explorers Gang
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- Learning the ropes
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- HA!
And that brings us to now, on a night passage to Hanalei Bay on Kauai. It is a distance of about 100 nm, so a true overnighter. This will be our first with the two kids. Fynn is great at night as she seems to sleep through anything but she is a bit trickier to keep entertained during the day. We tag team her so neither of us gets too worn out and bounce between sit down activities like books and puzzles, and busy actives like dancing and rough and tumble play and when need a break we turn on a movie. We are certainly not superheros. Bowen is a bit easier during the day. He just need love and hugs and cuddles and food. Or he sleeps in his bed. He makes the nights trickier though! Tonight we are trying this shift: Kolby was on until Bowen’s first feed, which ended up being at 10:30. Kristine came on once Bowen was back asleep and will stay on till he wakes up again. Then Kolby is back on until the morning when Fynn will wake up. Kristine will be on then and Kolby will catch a bit of sleep. I am expecting we will both be nackered tomorrow but we will pull through! Night watch sure is a great time to catch up on blogging!
Our next layover was Lono Harbour where we barely had the anchor set before the boat was swarmed by bees. We shut everything down and headed ashore where a made made lagoon was the perfect swimming hole for Bowen. It was his first time in the water (he hadn’t even had a bath yet!!!!) and he loved it. Well he didn’t cry and was super relaxed which I am taking to mean he loved it…
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- First time in the ocean!
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- Splish Splash
That night we left at midnight for an overnight-ish trip to Kane’ohoe Bay on Oahu. Unfortunately it was a messy trip across and no one slept well (except for Fynn). Kane’ohe Bay is a spectacular place. The bay is huge and completely protected by a barrier reef, creating calming waters within. On and it is bordered by dramatic mountains that shoot up form the sea, forming the back of the craters. Inside the day are dozens of circular reefs with some of the best coral we have seen in Hawaii. There is even a huge sandbar that become a local hangout on the weekends and tourist trap midweek.
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- nap time
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- Sand Island photo shoot
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- these two
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- water babe
We anchored in the designated anchorage as per our guidebook, but after checking in with the harbourmaster we were told to anchor by the sand bar or go through the process of applying for a permit to anchor in the designated anchorage. We opted for the sandbar.
Sandbar Anchorage
For their last two days in Hawaii we rented a car and toured the sight of Oahu – including climbing to the top of Diamond Head and snorkelling with the giant fish in Hanauma Bay. We made the mistake of driving the North road on the Saturday of the long weekend and ended up in number to bumper traffic for most of it. It was fun to see the locals setting up camp for the weekend on the beaches- bbqs going and huge family groups of adults and kekeis milling around. People here certainly make good use of their beaches. As they say – Aloha, it’s a lifestyle
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