Kauai Channel

Kara prepared an outstanding kale salad and grilled vegis dinner for the four of us aboard Maka'oi'oi in Waimea Bay.  It was an early meal so we could get cleaned up and underway for Kauai before dark.

The fleet raised their anchors at 630PM, and we powered in next to the beach so Marcy would have an easy swim to shore.  Single reefed mainsails were the unanimous call for the crossing.  Once clear of the land the fifteen knot trades filled in and stayed with us most of the night.

Maka'oi'oi and Puanani are amazingly similar in speed, and we could see each other's lights close by all night long.  It was a broad reach across the channel, and we poled out the jib on Maka'oi'oi just before midnight to allow us to sail deeper.  At sunrise we were about ten miles from Kauai, and just 1/4 mile apart.

The fishing lines went out at first light on both boats, but neither had any luck. 

The squadron skimmed along the coast next to Kilauea Light and into Hanalei dropping the anchor at 830AM.   It was great to see pals Willy and Cindy aboard the Oyster 48 Pazzo as we entered the anchorage.  We last saw the Cape Horn veteran cruisers when they were visiting Kaneohe Yacht Club a couple of weeks ago.

After breakfast, a nap to catch up on sleep, and a quick cribbage game with Kara, it was time to get her in to catch a bus to Lihue for her flight back to Oahu.  This morning's cribbage game was for the championship.  We had been tied at a game apiece but Kara prevailed and eked out a win.  I will get her next time.

Mark went surfing, Bo played with his new outboard engine, and I went to visit friends Mitch and Jenna Haynie who live just off of the beach here in the bay.

Tonight the crews of both boats enjoyed a lovely steak, mushroom, asparagus, and salad dinner aboard Puanani.    The bar has been set pretty high, and the Maka'oi'oi crew will be hard pressed to top it tomorrow.

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The squadron in Waimea Bay

Bruce Fleming found this webcam photo of Puanani and Maka'oi'oi on the internet

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Waimea Bay

At anchor in Waimea Bay, Oahu

Our mirror smooth anchorage disappeared during the night when a small north swell came up.  It is nothing to be concerned about, but the waves reflecting off of the beach and surrounding headlands create a chop that makes the boat rock and roll a bit. This is more like the Waimea I remember.

The faulty PV system proved to be a loose plug, so that is resolved.

Maka'oi'oi's electrical system gremlins just won't leave her alone.  Bo discovered alarmingly low battery voltage during the night and we had to run the engine twice to charge the batteries.  The load (refrigerator and anchor light) was minimal, and we should have been able to go for a week without recharging.  This morning we isolated each of the three new house batteries in turn and ran the boat's systems off a single battery to test each one.  All proved to be fine.  The electrical system seems to be working fine today with the wind and solar chargers generating, so we are going to continue on our way and keep trying to figure out what's going on.

Clay and Kara had a long swim this morning. The water is a bit murkier than it was yesterday, and I just don't feel comfortable in deep murky water, so I opted to stay on the boat.

Bo and Kara are currently ashore with the inflatable SUP meeting Marcy who drove up with some additional supplies.  She will join us for an early dinner and head back to shore before the fleet departs at sunset for Kauai.

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The Fleet Sets Sail

Emulating Columbus and Magellan before us, our small squadron set sail on its voyage of adventure early this morning with all systems functioning properly.  Bo had forgotten his cell phone at home, so Maka'oi'oi was about a half hour later than Puanani in casting off.

The trade winds were blowing with a vengeance, so we prudently tied a reef into the mainsail as we hoisted it, and only unrolled a scrap of jib to speed us along on the broad reach to Waimea Bay.  Puanani was similarly reefed and both boats had a quick, pleasant, and scenic sail down the coast.  The wind always peaks off of Kahuku (they put the windmills there for a reason), and Puanani reported seeing 37 knots.  Neither boat caught any fish.  We never caught Puanani, but we cut the corner on them during the jybe off of Kahuku and sailed a shorter distance.  We gained a little bit but it seemed like both boats were sailing at about the same speed.

Puanani and Maka'oi'oi are now anchored 200 feet apart right in the middle of Waimea Bay.  We are the only boats here, and it is as flat as I have ever seen it.  We will spend a day here and then depart tomorrow at sunset for Kauai.

Did I mention that all systems were working?  Never mind.  We've noticed the past couple of days while wrestling with the alternator that the recently installed photovoltaic system on Maka'oi'oi was spending more time in "sleep" mode than Rip Van Winkle.  I dug into it this afternoon, and the system is dead, not sleeping.  We will look into the problem tomorrow.

Both boats are settling quickly into to cruise mode.  We busted out some beers after the anchor went down to celebrate cheating death one more time.  Kara, Clay, and I have had a swim to the beach, and Kara has already kicked my okole at cribbage.

Puanani at anchor in Waimea Bay

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The Staycation Voyage

My U.C Berkeley fraternity brother, Transpac race shipmate, and 40+year friend Bo Wheeler retired earlier this year with a short term goal of sailing his Sabre 38 sloop, Maka'oi'oi, south to French Polynesia.  Over a bottle of scotch one night, Bo's buddies Clay Hutchinson, Mark Logan, and I decided that we needed to help Bo get Maka'oi'oi to Tahiti, and Bo agreed.

The voyage south was supposed to take place in May, but Covid 19 shut down all international travel plans and we had to come up with an alternative adventure.  We decided that a three week sail around the State of Hawaii would fill the bill after the inter-island travel quarantine was lifted.  Two boats are more interesting than one, so Mark will be sailing his Beneteau 39, Puanani, in company with Maka'oi'oi.

The fleet was supposed to depart Kaneohe Yacht Club this morning, but Bo discovered a problem with the engine driven alternator aboard Maka'oi'oi yesterday, and we've been scrambling ever since to sort it out.  The problem has been resolved, and if nothing else breaks we will be departing tomorrow morning.

The squadron will head first to Waimea Bay on Oahu's north shore where we will spend a day before the overnight jump to Hanalei on Kauai.  My daughter Kara and I will sail on Maka'oi'oi with Bo.  Mark's son Kana will join Clay and Mark aboard Puanani.  Kara will jump ship in Hanalei and fly back to Oahu (she has to work).  We may switch up crew members somewhere along the way to keep things interesting.... or not.... we'll see.

Trash talking got an early start.  The crews of both boats promised each other that they would reserve an anchorage spot for the other boat in Waimea and have the sashimi ready when the slower boat arrives.

Planning Party
Bo, Noodle, Clay, Mark

Kara, Kendra, Blossom, Marcy

Bama and Raiatea

End of the Line

9/2 0800 position 22-13N 159-30W.  At anchor in Hanalei Bay in 30 feet, sand bottom.

As the mighty Starr entered Hanalei Bay yesterday morning we could see pal Mitch Haynie tow in surfing on his foiling board on the reef at the entrance to the bay.  Lori told me by email that he'd be out there this morning, taking advantage of the season's first big north swell.  Fortunately, the swell wasn't big enough to ruin the Hanalei anchorage, but it will ruin our plans to head down to some of my favorite anchorages on the Napali coast and on Niihau.

We've adjusted our plans accordingly.  Don and Sharry have decided to hang out on Starr in Hanalei for the time being, and the rest of the crew is flying home to Honolulu this afternoon.

This crossing is in the running for smoothest passage from the west coast to Hawaii ever. We were extremely lucky with weather.

No glass balls though, and we didn't see as much garbage as we expected.  Clay says he saw a lot more junk on the passage from Seattle to Hawaii on his boat a few years ago, but he took a more southerly route.   He thinks we passed to the north of the highest concentration of garbage.  We'll likely never know.  I suspect the garbage patch grows and shrinks and moves around the ocean much like the North Pacific High Pressure Area does, but not as fast and perhaps not as far.

We all piled into Starr's new dinghy yesterday evening and powered up the Hanalei River to a dinner hosted by Don and Sharry at the Dolphin Restaurant.  The Dolphin overlooks the river about a mile upstream from the bay.  We found a place in the Hau bushes there to moor the dinghy.  It was a great farewell meal after a great passage.  To  make it more memorable, it started pouring during dinner and continued as we made our way back to Starr later.  We were all soaked to the bone!  You know it was a drama free passage when the worst weather we saw and most drama we had occurred on the Hanalei River!

It was great to cruise with Clay, Don, and Sharry again, and enjoy voyaging with a new shipmate, Donna.

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Land Ho!

9/1 0600 position 22-28N 159-12W. Wind NE@9 knots. Seas 3 feet. 21 miles from Hanalei.

When I came on watch at 1AM this morning I could just see the loom of Honolulu's lights off to the south. We never did see any lights on Kauai. Dawn broke this morning when we were still thirty miles from Hanalei, too far offshore to see lights on shore there.

We get a bit stir crazy during the night watches aboard Starr, staring at the instruments with nothing else happening. Clay noticed that our log, the instrument that tells us the miles travelled since it was reset, was approaching a special number, and we got a picture of it. Simple things for simple minds....

At 3AM a ship popped up on the AIS, our first in five days or so. It was the English flagged 250 foot "Petrel" heading for "Project Area Midway" at ten knots. It must have been some kind of research vessel.

At 6AM Kauai appeared on the radar, and a few minutes later we could see it ahead of us in the growing light. We should have the anchor down in Hanalei Bay before 9AM.