To Hawaii

[Delfin]

People reasonably ask why travel 5,500 nm miles to visit Hawaii when you can fly there or book a ticket on a cruise line. The reason isn't the destination, but a process that narrows down what your mind is focused on to just three things - the boat, the sea and the skies. There are no distractions from pop in visits of friends, driving to the grocery store, a changing landscape, etc. Just boat, sea and sky. That is a unique place to put your mind for a couple of weeks, and beneficial IMO.


Unfortunately, but more so fortunately, modern technology allows you to stay in touch at least with electronic distractions in the form of Internet, voip phone calls, etc. Probably be a better experience if I threw the computer and phone overboard, but then I would miss watching reruns of F Troop, and we can't have that.

 

[SteveK]

You mean it is the journey and not just the destination?

 

[Delfin]

You mean it is the journey and not just the destination?

A feeble attempt to explain why it's the journey.

 

[alfamike]

Agreed !

I agree 100%.

We do it because we can.

We enjoy it.

 

[Delfin]

I think long distance cruising is a bit like golf. You hit the ball 20 times and each shot isnt great, but then you whack one perfectly and you forget the bogies and the roughs. And every few days you have those perfect conditions cruising and it makes you forget the bashing into contrary seas. Today is like that. Six foot swells on the aft quarter, 8 knots breeze from astern, and a sunny day. Such a blessing.

1100 miles to the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

 

[kapnd]

Were you anchored off Haleiwa for a while?
Just read this thread, and remember seeing a similar looking boat hanging out there.

 

[Delfin]

Were you anchored off Haleiwa for a while?
Just read this thread, and remember seeing a similar looking boat hanging out there.

No, not us, but Haleiwa looks like a nice place to stop in settled weather.

 

[Nightsky]

Hi Mike, yes, I saw systems starting to develop to the east and decided that getting out of Dodge was prudent. I am so sad about the devastation Maui has experienced, and really wonder how the dozens of boats anchored in what is an exposed anchorage off Lahaina made out. Just terrible.

The last time I sailed to Hawaii, our return was planned based on pilot charts showing the percentage of time wind direction and speed might be experienced along different routes. Today, courtesy of StarLink, I can download a grib chart twice a day and the best route is pretty much the same as it was before - make a bunch of northing, then turn east once the winds shift astern. One big difference is that since going over to the dark side and now on a power boat, I aim for the dead spots. Sailing you have to avoid them if you want to avoid getting becalmed.


We're about 1,000 miles directly north of Kauai right now, and are currently experiencing glassy seas with no wind. Should be that way for a couple of days, then the wind is forecast to be from the south. If the forecast holds, we'll be heading up almost to the latitude of the Queen Charlottes to keep the wind aft before rounding and heading south along the west coast of Vancouver Island. S/b a 16 day transit of around 2650 nm.

You should be in likely albacore tuna waters. What water temps you seeing there?

 

[Delfin]

You should be in likely albacore tuna waters. What water temps you seeing there?

It's dropped a lot the last couple of days. Now 60.96. I see lots of fish on the finder at night, but only rarely during the day. Do you know why?

 

[Nightsky]

Unfortunately they aren’t everywhere. If you see birds or floating debris worth a drive by. Some years offshore was hot other years it was all near coast. Good luck and smooth sailing.

 

[Mako]

It's dropped a lot the last couple of days. Now 60.96. I see lots of fish on the finder at night, but only rarely during the day. Do you know why?

Deep depth squid come to the surface at night. Maybe the fish are feeding.

If you have a glow stick try tying it just above your lure or bait.

 

[Delfin]

Deep depth squid come to the surface at night. Maybe the fish are feeding.

If you have a glow stick try tying it just above your lure or bait.

Thanks!

 

[Delfin]

800 miles from Anacortes in very light wind and following seas. Burning 3.1 gph doing 7.2 knots. Talked briefly last night with a solo sailor in a 34' Wylie sailboat who has been at sea since June when he departed Micronesia. Interesting that his AIS signal was only good for about five miles, and his sailboat was basically invisible on radar. He's got more guts than I do...

Saw one Humpback breaching yesterday, and I believe they are starting their annual migration from Alaska to Hawaiian waters for calving.

Small dolphins started playing the bow wave this morning. A couple of young uns' and the largest of the adults was maybe only four feet long. Really not sure what species this is.

 

[twistedtree]

What sort of watch rotation have you found works best?

 

[Delfin]

What sort of watch rotation have you found works best?

With two, the following works really well:

1st 0600-1200. (4 hours sleep)
2nd 1200-1800. (4 hrs sleep)
3rd 1800-2300. (3-4 hrs sleep)
4th 2300-0300. (2-3 hrs sleep)
5th 0300-0600. (2 hrs sleep)

With an odd number of watches, if you have 1st watch one day, the next day you have the 2nd watch, which provides some variety. We feel fully rested.

 

[Delfin]

Very pleasant weather the last few days, but as we near the home stretch, not quite so good. 600 miles from the dock, we're taking a NE course up to the latitude of the northern end of Vancouver Island before heading SE with 30 knot winds astern. We've been around Vancouver Is 10 times, always counter clockwise except once, and the downwind run along the West Coast of the Island is usually a treat. We'll see.

Encountered a pod of what I think were Minke whales today. A mile off I could see lots of different spumes and this feller seemed to be standing between us and them, making sure we weren't up to any funny business, or so it seemed.

 

[sunchaser]

Carl
As you’ve seen, you’ll likely encounter 25 to 30 knots from the NW as you approach VI. How does Delfin like 3 meter seas with lots of fetch from port forward weather?

How do you accomplish oil changes when underway, if done at all, given your oil filter setup.

Enjoy the ride and stay safe, there are gales a few days in front of you.

 

[Delfin]

Carl
As you’ve seen, you’ll likely encounter 25 to 30 knots from the NW as you approach VI. How does Delfin like 3 meter seas with lots of fetch from port forward weather?

How do you accomplish oil changes when underway, if done at all, given your oil filter setup.

Enjoy the ride and stay safe, there are gales a few days in front of you.

Yes, I saw that bit of joy on the grib chart. We're making a course towards Cape Scott so when we are forced to turn I can get the wind as far aft as possible. The swells are accommodating though, as they're pretty much astern the rest of the way. I've slowed down to 6 knots, burning about 2 gph, to give time for that wind to peter out a bit before we get there. Should be off VI around 0200 on Sat, unless I turn south before.

Right now, the wind is 60 deg off the port bow at 20-25, and her motion is fine, if jerky. Can't really see the wave direction yet, but it still feels astern.

With the bypass filter that includes additives, I just changed that filter in Hawaii, and am running the same T6 I started with.

 

[Delfin]

350 miles west of Barkley Sound on Vancouver Island in 25 knot beam winds and 6 foot quartering swells. Fairly comfortable, but I won't object if it calms a bit tonight. Gales are mostly north of us, and sometime early am on Saturday should able to turn south for a run to the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

 

[Delfin]

The gale that was supposed to be north came south, so the last 12 hours have been spent playing dodgeball with 12' waves. At night you can't see anything, so a big one hit us beam on and dumped a whole lot of water on us. I had the roof vent hatches in the pilothouse closed, but not dogged down tight enough so we got about five gallons of seawater through a loosely tightened hatch. Don't ask me how the physics of that works...

Once daylight arrived, we manually adjusted the course to present our stern quarter to the big waves, then ran 90° to the wave train between whoppers. Helped keep the boat from experiencing a lot of roll beyond the ability of the stabilizers to handle if we took a particularly big wave beam on.

Then, voila, it's gone, and now we're marching along 50 miles from Vancouver Island under sunny skies, low westerly swell and 10 knots of tailwind. What a difference a few hours makes. We should be entering the Strait of Juan de Fuca this evening, and at the dock around 4pm tomorrow.

 

[Delfin]

Home again.

Sad to see the amount of smoke in the air from Canadian wildfires after so many days of bright blue and nights of infinite stars. Hopefully, we'll see some rain soon.

 

[slowgoesit]

Well Done! Glad you made it back safe.

 

[cardude01]

Wow what a trip!