14 November - Deja Vu

0600 position 18-19N 153-34W. 122 miles southeast of Hilo. Day's run 118
miles.

The wind has been behind us and light all day so it was slow going. The
spinnaker went up at 6AM and we sailed on a broad reach with it until it
looked like the wind was starting to pick up. It took a lot of attention
to fly the kite as the wind was up and down and there was a large north
swell to contend with. We dropped the kite at 4PM and poled out the jib
which was easier to deal with. The wind stopped building almost
immediately so it was slow going into the night, and by 10PM the wind had
lifted us well above our lay line so we jybed to port. Since then we have
been moseying along toward the Big Island. The wind is supposed to
continue clocking to the southwest and our speed should increase as it
comes forward.

I finally found the right lures for the conditions. I put on the two
smallest lures I have, both red straight running resin heads, and they
both caught today. We threw back the first ahi and aku since they were
too small, and kept the next small ahi for dinner.

Twenty eight years ago almost to the day I was in just about the same spot
on a passage from the Marquesas. We were rushing to get into Hilo on a
Friday afternoon so we could clear customs and not be stuck on the boat
for the weekend. We were on my Ranger 33, Eleu, and as we approached Hilo
the wind died, as it often does, so on went the engine. After a few
minutes the temperature buzzer came on so we shut her down and sailed in.
If you haven't tried short tacking in the channel into Hilo's Radio Bay,
it is not for the faint hearted. It's similar to short tacking up to the
KYC bulkhead. But we made it in and cleared customs just before they shut
down for the weekend. After we got settled I tore into the engine and
determined that the raw water inlet into the exhaust mixing elbow had
become clogged with precipitate - a common problem with Yanmars. I
cleaned it out with a coat hanger and we were up and running. Good times.

It's a Friday and we are racing to get into Hilo, but the heat is off on
clearing customs. They are now open on Saturdays until 2PM and we will
probably arrive sometime early Saturday morning.

Lori is flying in to Hilo Saturday to join us for the sail to Kaneohe. I
can't wait to see her!