Monthly Archives: November 2015

Yesterday we covered 155 miles in 24 hours. The strong trade winds are pushing us along at a fast clip. It might be worth mentioning what that distance means. There are a number of different ways that a distance like … Continue reading →

The Honolulu branch of the National Weather Service says it best: .SYNOPSIS…FRESH TO STRONG TRADE WINDS ASSOCIATED WITH HIGH PRESSURE NORTH OF THE OFFSHORE WATERS WILL CONTINUE THROUGH THE WEEK. .”Fresh to Strong” translates as 20 to 30 knots, which … Continue reading →

Last night was slow. Winds were light and in consistent. Never totally calm, but there were times where we struggled to keep the boat moving at more than 2 or 3 knots. Most of the day was glorious. The first … Continue reading →

The passage from the west coast to Hawaii is one of the longer open water passages. Almost three weeks of continuous sailing. Something both quantitatively and qualitatively different from regular day sailing. Imagine a sailboat in San Francisco Bay. One … Continue reading →

For the past couple of days it has been a very empty ocean. After two days without a single contact, today we did have a cargo ship make his presence known on our plotter. Not coming any closer than 16 … Continue reading →

When a sailboat is running before the wind, with the wind from behind, it is a very different feel than when sailing upwind. The wind across the deck is lighter, and it is warmer because the boat’s speed is subtracted … Continue reading →

The wind did finally slow a bit, and has start to clock around toward the northeast, the normal direction for the tradewinds in the eastern Pacific. I took the time today to rig the whisker pole and set our sails … Continue reading →

The wind continues to blow at the upper end of what is “comfortable”, 20 to 25 knots. The longer the wind blows, the bigger the waves get, and they have got big! Nothing scary, more impressive. I’d guess they are … Continue reading →

We sailed through a cold front this afternoon that saw winds gusting over 40 knots. Since then we have been skirting the southern edge of a zone of strong winds that occasionally reach down and smack us. At night we … Continue reading →

I started the day with a minor sinus headache. Not a huge deal, I get them from time to time. What I haven’t had is a sinus headache while sailing in boisterous tradewind seas. By the end of the day … Continue reading →