Sailing for home

Sailing home in gentle conditions. Sailing can't get much nicer than this. Arriving back in Kaneohe Bay is looking pretty nice too.

Return Trip Complete

I sailed back to Kaneohe on Monday arriving at 6 pm after 35 hours of sailing in near perfect conditions. I picked really nice weather for the return with 10-15 knot wind and clear skies. It nearly worked out perfect. The only glitch was the wind turned to the east half way to Oahu which put the winds directly on the nose and significantly increases the distance required to sail. So with some hesitation I fired up the engine on the 2nd day to assist the performance. So I cut about 5 hours off the enroute time and getting before dark. All in all a good passage with really pretty weather. I will get a couple of new pictures on here when I download them from the camera. Tom on Wind Warrior sailed along with me, so it was fun to see him out there. He stayed in visual contact through out until the end after I started motoring. He sailed the entire trip in diminishing winds arriving at 10 pm very tired. We both recieved a nice "welcome back" at the dock.

Departure day approaches

All good things must end so I am preparing for the trip back to Kaneohe. It is 115 miles east, but of course you can't sail east since that is where the wind is blowing from. So I sail about 55 miles NNE and then tack to the southeast and hopefully I have sailed far enough north or the wind gives me a break by backing a little to the NE so I can make Kaneohe on that tack. The forecast is for 10 knot east wind and 3 foot seas, so it should be relatively comfortable. I hope to arrive before dark on the second day. I spent an hour today cleaning the bottom of the boat so it will be nice a smooth for the sail. When I get home I will immediately be planning our after race activities scheduled for the 4th of July. It should be a fun race navigating outside the by and having to tack within the channel boundaries. Afterwards will be the barbeque at the clubhouse and awards. We should have 10 boats so I expect spirited sailing and tough competition.

There goes the neighborhood

This beautiful sailing yacht came in from the mainland. They are enroute to Juneau, making a stop here to play a little golf. Her name is "Janice of Wyoming", an unusual name for sure. It is registered in the Cayman Islands. It must be at least 150 feet in length. It is just an extraordinary boat.

Thinking of Sailing

This a picture from the sail to Kauai, sailing wing on wing dead downwind with the jib poled out. Seas were very pleasant. It won't be that way when I sail back to weather.

Another Sunset

Each day flows into the next and now I am already thinking of the sail home. Looking for favorable weather for this typically rough windward passage is the key to a enjoyable sail. Next Monday or Tuesday may work. Hopefully the long term forecast will hold. Meanwhile I will enjoy my last week in Hanalei. I haven't kayaked very much so I would like to do more of that. I am getting into some interesting books that keeps me busy. So with good weather I will soon be leaving but as we know sailing does not work well with schedules.

Changes

Everything appeared to change on Thursday with the weather. Besides a strong trade wind and showers, a late season Northwest swell showed up in the bay. That is the direction where we have no protection. So the boat was really rolling around during the night making sleep a challenge. I moved to the small bunk and rigged the lee cloth. That made it tolerable. By the next day conditions had moderated. I watched the surfers enjoying the 8 foot waves. One guy had his dog with him. The dog definitely knew what he was doing. When they launched on a wave the dog would immediately crouch down on his front legs for the ride on the front of the board. This was not a small dog. The waves have subsided now with frequent showers passing with the trade winds. The canoe clubs are having their races in the bay today. There must be 200 people on the beach cheering the paddlers on. We had some great rainbows this morning. I got pictures but haven't downloaded them yet. Looking at the long range forecast the strong trades should lessen by next weekend so I may be looking to depart for home about that time. One project I want to do when I return is to install solar panels. Seeing how well they are working for some of the other boats, I am really obsessed now with getting 2 large panels. I usually have to run my generator at least an hour a day to keep the batteries charged. Solar is the way to go.

Dolphins and Sunsets

Anchored in Hanalei Bay

Hanging out at Hanalei

We are still enjoying good weather here. That is going to change on Wednesday to very strong wind. We will be fine here though as the anchorage is well protected from the trades and the holding is excellent. Today was water day. That is filling the water tanks from shore using 5 gallon jugs. It took me 4 trips in the dinghy to replace 80 gallons of water. I used the outboard on the dinghy to manage it. I don't usually use the motor as it is easy to row the the beach. I found a free wfii hotspot in town to get on line. The one I use from the boat is inconsistant but when it's working it;s great. We brought dinner over to Matt's boat for the gang. We made Chicken Cacciatori in the pressure cooker. It always comes out good. Judi has a few more days here then she has to go home. I'm sure her cats are ready to be let out of the house. So we are keeping busy and the days seem to fly by.

Haena

We had a great visit to the anchorage off Haena. We first went to the beach for shells. These are tiny shells that are made into a necklace. We found about 20. Now we would just need about 200 more. Then we went snorkling and saw lots of reef fish of all kinds including turtles. After a good sunset we spent a peaceful night and weighed anchor early for the short trip back to Hanalei. The complete rainbow showed itself as we were leaving. It is a fun place to visit with the best part the spectacular scenery. It is where "South Pacific" was filmed. So now we are back with the "crowd" at Hanalei.

Aloha from Hanalei

Judi and I continue to enjoying being here on Hanalei Bay. The weather is still great except for some rain yesterday. I love our beach walk every morning and I an still running as well. We sailed the dingy some more with good result. It sails better than I expected. Tonight we are cooking for the group but having the party on Rattlesnake as my boat is small to entertain 7 for dinner. Bill will be sailing Rattlesnake back to Kaneohe on Wednesday with Shane flying back over to crew. He should have good weather for the windward passage. We are considering sailing to Haena for a couple days. There is good snorkling and beach combing there as well as spectacular scenery. It is a famous kite surfing beach so there is lots of wind but the winds are forecasted to be light. So we are really happy here and look forward to many more sunsets.

Hanalei 2009

I am back in Hanalei, Kauai for the the month of June. We had a pleasant sail over from Kaneohe in light winds that required some motoring, but it was nice. My crew was Ling, my famous crew from the Tahiti trip. She had to leave after a couple now Judi will be arriving tomorrow. The weather has been been really great so I have been able to walk/run the beach, 3 miles roundtrip. It is rated the best beach in the world this year. I have been also kayaking and sailing my dinghy which has been great. I'm glad I brought the gear this year. I have four other boats with me from Kaneohe so we get together often for sunset. Tomorrow is burrito night on Ariel in celebration of Judi's and Carol's arrival. My internet connection is iffy so I better move on and get this out brfore I lose it. I will try to update the blog often and with pictures.
Ron