fetchinketch

Time: 0630 local
Lat: 32 02
Log: 154 30
Distance from Hawaii: 671
Distance to Golden Gate: 1605
24 hour distance made good: 87 nautical miles

Yesterday’s morning weather forecast reflected a bit of wishful thinking. Instead of a wind shift to the northwest we spent much of the day sitting waiting for wind, making it our slowest 24 hours yet. Despite that, we still managed a run of 87 miles.

Rather than issue a definite forecast for wind today, I’ll just say, “I hope for a change…”

The two most exciting events for the day:

1: Contacting the cargo ship that was 10 miles away and asking him to change course to avoid running us down while we were barely moving. He did so. The ocean isn’t so big that two ships can’t occupy the same spot at the same time, and since he out weighs us by 10,000 times, he’d win that argument. My general rule is to do something to avoid a ship if the computer reports a closest point of approach of 1 mile or less. In this case it was reporting a CPA of 1.1 FEET before he turned.

2: After I settled in for my 00:00 to 02:00 watch, I heard a whale go by in the dark. Several deep, almost explosive, exchanges of air as a huge animal takes a deep breath. Very eerie in the dark.

Everybody and everything continue to get along well. If you know a good wind dance, now would be the time to do it to spare us the frustration of another day of bobbing.

Time: 0620 local
Lat: 30 59
Log: 155 41
Distance from Hawaii: 595
Distance to Golden Gate: 1684
24 hour distance made good: 130.1 nautical miles

The wind has slowed to about 8 knots overnight, and become a bit “fussy” in direction. But the boat is still moving along in the direction we want at over 5 knots. We have had day after day of clear blue skies with only isolated white puffy cumulus clouds. At sunrise this morning I am greeted by a sold wall of gray off to the west. It is the cold front we have been waiting for. Behind it the wind veers, and we finally get to point directly at our destination, carried along by the west winds that flow toward the coast north of the tradewind belt.

This means that according to standard wisdom, we are coming to the end of the most difficult part of our trip, the beat into the trades. I am pretty sure I don’t believe that…

For what it is worth, the weather routing software predicts we will be under the Golden Gate Bridge in 11 to 13 days.

And a random thought: Do things ever tighten themselves? Or do they only ever get looser? My standard line is that when things go wrong, they always go wrong at 2AM. Well last night I would have been wrong it was 03:20. Tom was on watch, and the boat suddenly heads up into the wind and stops. I am awake right away. I hear the boat come back up to speed, and sail away again. But, something is wrong. No noise from the autopilot. Tom has the boat back on course by hand, and the autopilot is not responding.

Always try the easiest thing first, switch everything off and back on again. No luck. A quick visual check shows the right lights on indicating power is getting to where it needs to be. Opening an access panel shows the problem. The hydraulic ram has unscrewed itself from the eye that connects it to the rudder quadrant. Two minutes with a wrench and we’re back off and running. Hopefully today I can find some Locktite and prevent that from occurring again.

Time: 0620 local
Lat: 28 57
Log: 156 33
Distance from Hawaii: 466
Distance to Golden Gate: 1777

Ever since we left Hawaii we have been sailing as close to the Northeast Tradewinds as we can. The Tradewinds in the northeast Pacific Ocean blow consistently from the northeast or east. Our objective is to get north of the Pacific High. A more or less permanent region of fair skies, moderate temperatures, and no wind. Once north of the high, we should encounter the prevailing westerlies. A region where the wind blows mostly from the west, a weather pattern we hope to ride into the California coast.

All the weather models agree that sometime late tomorrow we will encounter a weather front approaching from the northwest that will mark this transition for us. Once the front passes, the winds will switch from the northeast to the westnorthwest, and we will be making a course more directly towards San Francisco.

Our local conditions are now cooler. Morning temperatures are now in the low 60s. After time in Hawaii, that feels positively chilly. The winds a bit lighter, but we continue to make boat speeds of about 6 knots. Sunny and clear. Every day has us visited by several albatrosses.

No significant damage to boat or crew, everything is running smoothly.

Time: 0645 local
Lat 26 26
Log 156 30
Distance from Hawaii : 319
Distance to Golden Gate: 1846

Just to give you a little feel for the menu onboard, here was yesterday’s fare:

Breakfast: oatmeal
Smile, easy to prepare, and good for you!

Lunch: chicken salad with dried cranberries and pecans.
With a little creativity you can do very well with canned chicken.

Dinner: fish tacos from fresh caught mahi-mahi with coleslaw.
Yes, fishing was successful yesterday! We caught a small mahi-mahi, and was he ever tasty!

The winds seem to be more moderate. Instead of 18 to 20, we are now running 13 to 15, pretty much as the weather models predicted. In another couple of days, we should get a shift in wind which will allow us to turn east.

Time: 0800 local
Lat: 24 22
Log 156 55

Nothing new and dramatic. It has been so far a bit of a trip of one day after another. We continue to press hard close hauled making our way north.

The weather models have been only generally right at describing the weather we are seeing. So in return it seems only far to use them as a general guide and not for highly specific decisions. That said, they all seem to agree that over the next three days we will see a the winds come down a bit from the steady 20 knots we have at the moment. In about five or seven days we should begin to get into the westerly winds, and can make our turn east.

We have been doing very well with the Duogen in its water mode. At the speeds we are making, it supplies almost all the power we need. Since it has been kind of rough, I have not unfolded the solar panels. The few hours the sun hits the east facing panel, brings everything up full and happy. I ran the electric autopilot all night, and the batteries dropped only about 4%. With the sun up, they are being charged at about 10 amps.

So far, only one equipment casualty, the main topping lift broke. Not a disaster for us, the lazy jacks will hold the boom up.

Time: 09:12 local
Lat: N22 55
Log: W157 10

We continue to make rapid progress to the north. Boat speed is consistently above 7kt. Winds are running around 20 with gusts to 23. Just tucked it a second reef. It’s hard to believe that the weather model say our biggest challenge will be crossing an area of light and variable wind.

I was in the cabin this morning when I her a loud and excited expletive from the crew on deck. I bounced up, “What’s wrong?!” The reply, “oh sorry! Nothing wrong, just flying fish!”

N21 18.3  W157 23.4

We are sailing close hauled into the tradewinds which are blowing at about 20 knots.  The boat is steering herself, no autoplilot or windvane needed.  We are making almost 7 knots boat speed.  Molokai and Oahu are disappearing behind us.  It a fast run, and a very wet one as we crash through the waves.

Boat is working well, and we are all working at gaining our sea legs.

Our objective is to get far enough north that we avoid a large high pressure system that has no wind, and that we find the region where the wind blows from the west, to carry us quickly toward the California Coast.

We are just rounding Diamond Head, headed for the Molokai Channel. By tomorrow morning well be out of sight of land and at the mercy of the weather we find.

The boat is running well, so far no problems!

We are still here in Waikiki…  But just for the night.

We took the boat out today and filled fuel and water tanks. Just to give you an idea of the Hawaiian idea of customer service, the fuel dock is open from 8AM to 2PM.  That’s it.  And this is the only boat fuel on this side of the island!   We sent Steve off to a job interview on the other side of the island. Which by all reports went very well, so well worth a bit of delay.

Back in Ala Wai we set up a “last land meal” of steak, potatoes and creamed spinach.  Instead of heading out to sea just before dark, we all “voted” and decided that an extra beer would be a better idea and we could leave in the early AM. My next report will be by satphone from the Pacific ocean, I promise!

The boat is ready except for a few details, mostly just putting things in their final storage places.

We’ll be getting fuel tomorrow morning, and then if the weather looks great, we’ll be off for California.

I expect the trip to take about 25 days. Maybe a bit faster if the wind cooperates more than normal. Unlike the trip TO Hawaii, which is almost all downwind, the trip back is upwind, and involves a longer more circuitous route to avoid areas where there is little or not wind, or too much.

Watch here for daily updates as we make our way!