Sunday/Monday 29/30th July 2012 (Days 17/18)

Managing with difficulty to keep on target for early evening Wed 1st August arrival at Ship Point in Victoria Hbr, close to Empress Dock Causeway - but with mostly light , fickle W winds, use of 'iron sail' has been essential to keep up our speed, with frequent motorsailing to avoid both night landfall and also night passage through the Strait of Juan de Fuca - never a very good idea in view of the possible hazard of big logs or tree trunks in the water (a general hazard throughout B.C. waters) added into possible tugs with long log tows, big ships headed to Seattle or Vancouver and fishing vessels passing through on their way to the coast.

Have kept the pole up - mostly with the genoa poled out on it, goosewinged with the mains'l, but at times the genoa has been taken off the pole and over to starboard, as the wind has veered slightly under a raincloud- and then usually increased for a short while so often I was able to cut the engine for some peace and quiet under sail alone.

With the light winds, swell has become minimal so moving about the boat has been a lot easier. Sea temperature has actually increased slightly - clearly we've moved out of the colder S-flowing Alaska current and into slightly warmer inshore waters.

Tonight, occasionally, the rainclouds have cleared to give a lovely view of the near-full moon shining on the relatively calm sea... but no starry skies... Last night, I was out on deck frequently, dealing with the sails but had no need of a torch or headlamp with the bright moonlight being diffused through the thin cloud layer.

Lots of emails to answer or compose again - both congratulatory ones, being so close to finishing now, and ones dealing with boat problems or arrangements to deal with problems. It doesn't help that radio communication is often poor just now - so getting a connection to send/receive emails has often been time-consuming.

Had another go at contacting Tofino Radio - being only just over 200 ml away, I thought it might be easier... I knew what to do this time, after calling on 2182 and 4125 kHz to no avail ... Called up COMSTA Kodiak on 6215 and they relayed my message to Tofino (by phone?). Eventually heard Tofino calling on 4MHz but they couldn't hear me. There was nothing heard on 2MHz. So we still haven't communicated. Close to the Strait, I should be able to use VHF to talk to them - maybe!!

'Charisma' has been on passage for several days from Honolulu now, headed to Seattle, so we've had a regular 'sched' and it's been good to chat for a time most evenings - just as when we both sailed from Tahiti to Hawaii. They've had a problem with water collecting in the bilges - something the pump is coping with just now but clearly a job for when they get in! Chris and Alexis' son Seth has been busy with schoolwork whilst on passage - it still has to be done, ready for September! It was the same for Doug and Susan's three children on 'Long Shot II' - presently on passage from Fanning Island to Penrhyn - schoolwork has to take place most days if they're not to be behind when they return to Canada next year.

DMG: Sunday: 141 n.ml. ; Monday: 138 n.ml. - would be nice if we'd been able consistently to keep up the 7kt or more we had under a cloud for a time over last night!!

Distance to Tatoosh Island/Cape Flattery (Mon 1700PDT/Tues 0000 GMT) : 232 n.ml.

Friday/Saturday 27/28th July 2012 (Days 15/16)

Very mixed sailing - excellent yesterday afternoon and overnight as a passing Low and Cold Front gave good wind - we were consistently making around 7.4kt. Eventually, around midnight, in fine rain, I took in the first reef, being clearly over-canvassed in winds of 18 kt ...and we still made the same speed! Early this morning, the wind suddenly dropped and veered, increasing again, not long afterward - I gybed the mains'l.. in drizzle. Later found we were heading DDW, in slightly backed wind, so I poled out the genoa - took the usual long time...! It's stayed poled-out all day and into tonight.

Thought I should try to contact Tofino Radio last night to let them know I'm single-handing and soon to get close to the shippping lanes of the Strait of Juan de Fuca and also expecting to make landfall in Victoria, Canada , from Hawaii, USA, so needing to inform Immigration and Customs. Should have been simple enough - just call on the Distrass and Calling HF channels, which they should be keeping watch on, and then move to their working channel once contact made.... Simple...? No way!

I called on each of the dedicated channels several times, but got no response from Tofino. Made excellent contact with New Zealand on 12 and 9 MHz though - Taupo Coast Radio heard my boat name and came up to find out who I was trying to contact... They knew me, of course, from my twice-daily reporting-in from NZ waters all the way to Tahiti and he commented - "Not far to go now!"... Then Kodiak (Alaska) joined the party - COMSTA Kodiak (don't know that that stands for!) came up to ask whether I had a problem and eventually relayed lots of info about the boat to Tofino who had a problem copying me - from 650 mls away...!!

I couldn't figure out why we couldn't talk on another, better frequency, rather than 'COMSTA Kodiak' having continually to relay my information... If I could speak to Alaska and New Zealand, surely I should have been able to speak directly to Tofino? Anyway, I ended up with a Transit number - U150, I was told. Presumably for their paperwork and to quote at officials when I land. Tofino will now keep an eye out for any shipping in my vicinity that might cause me a problem (or vice versa) - and hopefully warn us of each other's presence. AIS isn't infallible - especiallly when fishing vessels and barges with long log tows are around.

I found a packet of ANZAC bicuits when I looked for some fresh ones to have with my tea - from Australia, of course. I was in Tasmania on Anzac Day and all the shops were selling stacks of 'Anzac biscuits'... Turns out that 40% of the selling price goes to RSL (Returning Services League) to help support Veterans, their families and the wider community - seemed a good way to raise funds!. The RSL was started in 1916 for support after the bloodshed at Gallipoli - which Anzac Day originally commemorated, with so many Aus and NZ soldiers in action (and killed) there.

I heard the London Olympics opening ceremony was last night - I'm missing the Games totally.... Will have lots of catching up to do on landfall! Hope our sailors do as well this time in Portland as 4 yrs ago in Qingdao - they did supremely well there!

DMG Friday: 128 n.ml.; Saturday: 147 n.ml. Distance toTatoosh Island : 511 n.ml.

Thursday 26th July 2012 (Day 14)

Not long after writing yesterday's report - fog came down and stayed for quite a time... not too surprising, in view of the far cooler sea temperatures seen lately... then suddenly, before sunset, it lifted, but grey cloud persisted, along with occasional light rain - continuing over today...

The wind, as expected, had veered into the WNW later yesterday, so the genoa pole had to be taken down and the mains'l gybed - took a time, as usual, and before going up to do all that, I'd donned foul weather gear, ready for the dripping wet foggy conditions on deck - first time foulies have been needed since sitting out helming in torrential rain overnight passing through the Southern Cooks, at 20.5S, nearly 8 weeks ago. (Fog wasn't too dense, in fact, although visibility was very restricted.)

Overnight, we kept on making good speed., as the wind slowly veered into NW, but by this morning, it had dropped, and continued slowly to drop more over the day, so we've been motor-sailing ..... presently, in 4-5 kts from well abaft the beam. With the good sailing overnight, and motor-sailing from later this morning to keep a better speed, DMG looks pretty reasonable, at 144 n.ml.

It's noticeably colder - I finally gave in and donned socks and warm fleece top! Sea temp has dropped further - now 15C.

Still spending a lot of time getting ready for 'boat projects' after landfall - lots to think about and organize from a distance by email, trying to prepare the boat for October.

Tonight I finished the last of the Tasmanian never-chilled, free-range eggs - the ones that have lasted best were small but very thick-shelled. Onion omelette with potato - and I added in some asparagus - decadent... but very nice!

These light winds are set to continue for several days, it seems - bad news for my hoped-for ETA of 1st August... It wouldn't make any difference were we further north, either. Don't have enough fuel to motor fast, only at low revs, hoping to motorsail gently in the increased apparent wind it causes - but not much help just now, with the wind looking as though it's starting to back - we'll have to gybe back onto starboard tack, that means... I'd hoped to avoid a final overnight of sailing up the Strait of Juan de Fuca, with the need for almost no sleep, being so close to shipping lanes and shore.... We'll see how the timing works out, this time next week!

Monday/Tuesday 23rd/24th July 2012 (Days 11/12)

Amazing how just a little bit of 'tweaking' can increase boat speed by over half a knot... Wind is from SSW --> SW slowly, but varies at times, and with the true wind being very light and from well abaft the beam, the 'iron sail' is gently providing apparent wind from more forward than otherwise, so it's worth keeping a good eye on the sails and wind direction to make the best speed possible.... i want to get in a.s.a.p. but I'm keeping a careful eye on fuel, to make sure consumption is minimal, as expected!!

My 'smiley' chart plotter keeps tellling me my ETA is 1st August - but only if I can keep up an average speed of 6 kt or more... We're very close to the centre of the High - but that's moving off slightly to the SW and a small Low is forecast to come by to our N soon - giving increased wind for a day but, in general, winds are expected to be light for several days, so we'll be motor-sailing for a bit yet. That's not someting I'll have the luxury of being able to do next time I come this way (hopefully!) since then it'll be a case of 'Sails alone all the way' with no use of motor except out of gear for charging, if needed. If that were the case this time around, I'd either have gone further N, hoping to keep stronger wind, or I'd have just accepted that I'd be sailing a lot more slowly but keeping position in relation to the High's centre, to avoid the wind from heading us ....

I can't get used to this gentle sailing in bright sunshine under full canvas in minimal swell .... very pleasant! I'm so used to being reefed down in big swell - having difficulty moving about down below due to being heeled over and lurching around a lot... Life is very easy just now!

Tsunami debris - very little seen, although I did rush up on deck early yesterday evening after hearing a big 'clonk' on the hull - saw something floating away astern but couldn't see what it was... could well have been a log, ... but who knows?

Cresent moon is waxing nicely now - weird effect early last night when it suddenly appeared, partly hidden, from behind broken clouds low in the W...

Spending a lot of time thinking ahead to work needed and making arrangements in general for after landfall (emails galore!) - thinking in particular about rigging, batteries and a lot of other small but important jobs I want to get done. My whiteboard above the chart table is so full of notes to myself, I've run out of space!

it's nice to have a couple of friends helping me from onshore - I have no Internet or telephone directories here, so I appreciate that a lot. I've even started organizing fresh, free-range, unchilled eggs for October, already! A Winlink sysop got into contact with me via my website (Jean Claude, VE7AXY) and it turned out that he and his wife have laying hens on their small farm between Comox and Campbell River - not enough to supply all my needs but they have a friend....!! (I fried two of my Tasmanian eggs last night - still OK from last week of April - go figure!)

I'm also delighted that Thora Brooks, of the Greater Victoria Harbour Authority, has managed to find me a berth on Ship Pt for 1-3 August, despite the busy weekend - thanks for that, Thora! It's nice to know I'll have somewhere to tie up to on arrival... I'm thinking of getting out all my code flags, burgees and courtesy flags from all over the world - so I can 'dress overall' on arrival - might not be the right flags in the proper order (yes - there's a 'proper', traditional way of ordering just the code flags!) - but it would be a fun way to celebrate my completion on arrival!! I hope I don't arrive in the dark of night....

DMG Monday: 141 n.ml. Tuesday: 133 n.ml. - helped by calm seas and 'iron sail'.

Distance to Tatoosh Island Tues 2pm LT: 1065 n.ml.

Sunday 22nd July 2012 (Day 10)

A day of mixed sunshine and cloud - but no rain.. Quite a lot of sunny skies, interspersed with extensive overcast - which this morning led to the wind almost disappearing, only to come back again nicely once the cloud cover had moved away.

Pair of storm petrels have been seen regularly - they seem to have adopted us! There was a twittering noise after sunset , as dusk fell, as they fluttered around on fast-beating wings...

I caught sight of something leaping out of the water this afternoon - a dolphin! I rushed up on deck to see lots of them headed this way, many leaping up into the air - several played around our bow for a time, before they all made off..... Always such a pleasure to see them...

11pm Just downloading some more weatherfaxes and a satpic - showing just light cloud cover over Vancouver Island and the Pacific NW of the US..... so hopefully, they're getting some summer weather there at last!

I've just been up on deck in the dark to trim the sails - makes all the difference to our speed, of course, when they're trimmed correctly. The wind is slowly veering as I sail around the N.Pacific High, so I need to trim quite often .

We've made good progress - DMG today was 156 n.ml.- but we're definitely slowing down now and expect light winds for quite a time - possibly all the way to the coast. I'd been following the Great Circle route to Cape Flattery since yesterday, when the wind veered to SE, but decided this evening to do a 'jiggle' more to the NE for a bit to avoid getting too close to the High's centre over the next couple of days or so, in the hope of keeping some wind, rather than very little!

Saturday 21st July 2012 (Day 9)

8:30am A light, misty, broken overcast -with light drizzle at times. Edge of the cloud clearly seen on W-NW horizon. Wind had veered after heavy raincloud earlier, but then backed slightly in the drizzle.. Then more drizzle and sky completely overcast. Wind was very light and rather variable yesterday, overnight & this morning - mainly NNE-NE, so we were struggling to maintain even a Northerly course.

Downloading weatherfaxes - present & forecast plus satpic - all very useful. Getting more complicated, now we're out of the NE Trades and close to the High pressure centre - which keeps moving around...

2pm - Sunny sky - clouds gone away - lovely sailing in SE wind and 1m seas. Looks as though we might have 'turned the corner' at last!! Fingers crossed....! Full canvas since late yesterday. A nice change after last night's and this morning's rainy/cloudy conditions ...

4pm When you see 7.2kt on the display (and that's SOG, with boat speed shown as more) and we're bouncing along under a blue sky so smoothly - you know things are going well!!!

A lot more plastic debris seen this afternoon- from tiny bits of polystyrene (I guess, from the way it floats so high in the water) to bottles and slightly larger pieces around 15cm square - but nothing very large so far, except for a bright yellow buoy seen from 1-2 miles away, a much smaller black buoy this evening with lots of growth below the water surface but shiny clean on top (I guess that's been floating around here for quite a time!) and, yesterday, the bottom part of a tree trunk - 4-5ft long.
I'm noting lat/long and time of sighting for the University of Hawaii who posted forms in Honolulu for that purpose to cruisers like myself making passage north through the area of the N.Pacific High.

Got a bit cloudy before sunset but it all cleared away again, leaving a slender, crescent moon shining brightly above the salmon-pink sky in the W. Still making 7.0kt SOG under full canvas in the relatively calm sea - waves and swell 1-1.5m maximum.

Seeing occasional ships on AIS - all well off - we're crossing major shipping routes to and from West Coast US ports to ports in Asia. One is crossing our path ahead now - but his closest approach will be over 8 ml in 45 minutes' time, my screen tells me... We 'passed' San Francisco yesterday and will shortly be 'passing' Cape Mendocino (at 40d 26'N) - both 1500 ml, or more, to our East!!

Time for food... and then a 'blitz' on emails - too many waiting to be written.... 'holiday' over....

DMG today: 124 n.ml - result of the variable wind under clouds, veering and backing, often dropping ..... and a very 'wobbly' path as a result, despite some good speeds at times!
Distance to Strait of Juan de Fuca: 1491 n.ml.___________________________________________________________________
Link to NEREIDA's recent track: http://www.exactearth.com/media-centre/recent-ship-tracks/tracking-nereida/ See 'Travels' page on website, also.

Friday 20th July 2012 (Day 8)

What a lovely, relaxed day it's been, with relatively calm seas for a change!

A few clouds overnight and this morning gave wind gusts and lulls, so highly varying boat speeds (2.5-6.5kt!)... but most of today it's been sunny, with broken light cloud and good sailing.

Now (just after sunset, at 2020 LT), we're creaming along at 5.5-6 kt in 10 kt of E-ESE wind, with very little swell, making 020-040T - our course varying with wind direction, but it's good to be heading roughly NNE and excellent if we head NE! We just came under an extensive layer of low, grey cloud, so no star-gazing expected for the time being.

The centre of the High is just to our NE - not so far way - and expected to move off ENE to give SE winds tomorrow, veering to S soon after, .... so I'm hoping we can keep this heading, or better.

I decided to have a 'day off' emails today and relaxed with my book instead, in between sitting in the cockpit after sail trimming to 'enjoy the moment'. For lunch, I made some ham sandwiches using sliced bread bought in Tahiti - 'de longue duration'...!! Not the kind of bread I'd normally buy, being very soft, white bread - but it's made a welcome change and I was interested to try it. (I was interested to hear from the Czech single-hander Petr, on 'Singa', when we chatted on HF radio at the end of March near Tasmania, that he had provisioned with bread specially baked for him and then vacuum-packed in nitrogen, for his nonstop RTW attempt. That would certainly prevent mould growth!)

A few bits of small plastic debris have been spotted, including one blue rectangular bowl with plenty of growth on its edges - possibly, but not necessarily, from Japan, as a result of the tsunami. Unless I see Japanese writing on it, there's no way of telling! I'm hoping not to come into contact with any of the larger pieces of debris that are supposed to lie on my present path north - could be nasty.... A bit of a worry, to be honest!

At 1400LT - DMG: 121 n.ml. To Strait of Juan de Fuca entrance (N of Tatoosh Island): 1589 n.ml.

Tuesday -Thursday 17-19th July 2012 (Days 5-7)

Busy trying to orgainize things for landfall and after - all meaning lots of emails dealing with possible berthing & work on board - rigging, computer system, sails, batteries, leaks, watermaker, instruments ...and lots more... all taking up a lot of time - so log reports have got slightly behind!

All that in between trying to keep up a decent speed and course - keeping an eye on weather and the position of the Pacific High via weatherfaxes and gribs to help decide which way to head. Actually fairly easy just now since wind is sending us a bit to W of our N-NNE course so it's simply a matter of making the best close-hauled course possible to make the best of the situation until we get to just W of the High's centre at which point we can start heading for the Strait of J de F more directly... The only 'minor' complication in all that being that the High's centre is never stationary - it keeps moving so it becomes a bit of a guessing game in trying to sail around it!

Tuesday started out cloudy but by midday we were sailing in pleasant sunny conditions and making very good speed at times - and over Wednesday also. Lovely sailing under mainly blue skies... so pleasant in fact that I decided at one point to relax and picked up Barbara McDougall's "The Rum 'uns" to read some more Tasmanian light-hearted tales . The occasional large cloud mass caused the increasing wind to veer, with accompanying heeling and acceleration ...and then often the wind finally died right away..... NO! Don't unfurl more or shake out a reef !... Patience... ! The wind always came back up again!! Today has been grey and gusty with frequent wind shifts - not a fast day, being slightly more close-hauled this afternoon so as not to be pushed too far off course by the NE wind.

Dawn - a bright Venus, still in company with Jupiter (and Aldebaran still close by as well, I think).

I finally tied in the 2nd reef on Wednesday night..... we were heeling way too much and life was getting decidedly uncomfortable... but then I just had to stop in the cockpit to enjoy the amazingly bright stars and Milky Way ... Leo was prancing away low in the W...a low-orbiting satellite (communications?) passed N to S overhead... and then a flash and streak of light as a meteorite ended its days by burning up.

A Sooty Shearwater has come by over the last two days - a large dark bird. They migrate north for the summer here but breed on the islands of the southern hemisphere - where I last saw one.

I found a good-sized flying fish in the cockpit this morning - such a sacrifice was not to be ignored, so I had a nice lunch -fried in green olive oil after de-scaling, cleaning and rinsing it in seawater - lots of fine bones to be careful of, but very tasty!

DMG: Tues: 136 n.ml. ; Wed: 148 n.ml. ; Thurs: 138 n.ml. Distance to Strait of Juan de Fuca entrance (N of Tatoosh Island) on Thursday: 1655 n.ml.

Sea Temp is down to 28C from the 30's of recent times and air is around 25C. With the overcast skies, I finally covered my arms and legs today ... it's feeling cooler!

Monday 16th July 2012

Last night I had an omelette with eggs, potatoes and onions - all from Tasmania! Fresh-laid, unchilled, farm eggs still OK after fairly regular turning, although I had to throw some away - not turned quite as often as I should have done...

We were not making very good speed - I was rather loathe to unfurl too much genoa overnight after the previous night's sudden squalls and we were fairly close-hauled and banging into the occasional larger swell, so only making 4-5 knots in E wind of 13-14kt - that felt really slow!! Finally unfurled enough to get us up to 5 kt or more.... and there were no squalls overnight!

Beautiful morning - hardly any cloud . Listened in to SHTP at their 0400Z sched time - but too much noise to copy well - so no contact. Within an hour, sky was full of grey showery clouds - but nothing much except wind veered, backed and became light for a time... Then it was back to lovely sailing under blue sky... When we're bouncing along smoothly, I know we're 'in the groove' and making a good speed!

It was a very relaxing morning - I've been busy looking ahead, trying to think of who I need to contact in an effort to organize boat work soon after I get in - difficult! There seems to be so little time to do so much!

Every so often, after midday,I'd realize things were getting 'bumpy' - I'd find us under a really big cloud, with the wind having strengthened and veered- and we'd be careering off to the NE at a rate of knots - over 7, to be precise!! After a short while, the wind dies and backs again and things calm down... It's getting to be a regular pattern and I'm constantly having to adjust Fred and keep an eye on our course... Eventually, I reduced the genoa with the squally cloudy conditions continuing, with wind regularly over 20kt. We've made good progress with speeds often 6-7 kt, but it's been really variable.

I'm having to put on a jacket now when I go on deck - especially at night... We're no longer in the Tropics!

DMG today: 128 n.ml ; 1961 n.ml. to Strait of Juan de Fuca entrance (N of Tatoosh Island)

For the next 2-3 days, the centre of the N. Pacific High is nicely positioned but then it ridges and will give possible headwinds, although they might be light enough to motor through... We'll see, as we get nearer to Wed/Thurs, how it develops.

Note from Australian Winlink sysop Phil, VK3PG, today about radio propagation getting difficult maybe : "08:55 UTC Solar storm hitting Earth - this one could be a bad one (Northern Lights are shining brightly)."
Certainly propagation has been bad today and I was unable to have my usual daily chats with 'Holy Grail' (on passage to Alaska) and the SHTP racers -the bands were far too noisy.

Time to think of evening meal - pasta maybe ... sun is close to setting .. sky is full of grey clouds and the sea has become rough with the stronger winds this afternoon ....

Thursday 12th - Sunday 15th July 2012

Happy 'Quatorze Juillet' of yesterday to any French friends reading this!

We're presently in an area of squally clouds as we head N on Day 3 towards the Strait of Juan de Fuca from the lovely Hawaiian island of Kauai. From Hanalei Bay, to be precise, with 'Puff the Magic Dragon' looking out to sea, clearly formed by the hilly slopes on the W side of the Bay, a red-earth landslip forming an eye behind his clear snout & his body,with a foreleg and paw sticking out, curving around behind the bay further along - the song was written here!

The biennial Single-Handed TransPac race from San Francisco has had boats arriving since last week and expected up to the end of this coming week. Since Friday evening, after leaving Hanalei mid-afternoon, I've been in contact by radio with some of the racers still on their way - a few I know from previous races, so it was nice to chat to them.

I'd left Honolulu around sunset on Wednesday to arrive in Hanalei Bay Thursday mid-afternoon after a lovely sail around the N of Kauai. As I dropped the mains'l and prepared to anchor, I was greeted by 'Young Mitch' who came to take me ashore to meet up with friends Rob, LaDonna and Robbie of the Race Cttee, who were fortuitously holding an evening get-together at their condo on the heights overlooking the Bay, from where they timed the SHTP boats over the 'virtual' Finish line.

Anchoring got a bit fraught when the chain got jammed under a pile that had shifted in my travels - there wasn't enough chain down not to drift perilously close to a boat moored nearby as I frantically tried to clear the chain out of the way... "Reverse, reverse!" yelled Mitch... close thing! But the good news was that the windlass was working - fixed with help just before leaving Honolulu - good thing I'd checked that item out in readiness before leaving there! Once finally well-anchored in good holding, Mitch and I celebrated my return to Hanalei after a trip around the world via all Five Gt Capes of the Southern Ocean (and a few others!) - with a 'Longboard' beer made in Hawaii! His father, 'Big Mitch', had seen me off from near the same spot two years ago as I left to head N after making landfall from New Zealand a few days earlier - they're a true Hawaiian family of surfers and boat people and know the waters around really well.

Raising the anchor on Friday also gave a problem - it came up OK but was twisted around on its shackle so needed me to lean out over the bow to get it orientated so it would stow in the bow roller properly ... all with lots of boats around and a gusty wind... Took a few tries, in between diving back to the wheel several times to steer us to safety!

The beginning of the 3-week sail north from Kauai is always rough, banging into short seas, beating into the NE Trades, on a close reach in winds of 15-20kt, but by later in the day yesterday it felt a bit calmer and was quite pleasant, fast sailing under sunny skies. During the night, we came under a squall cloud a couple of times - with sudden heeling and acceleration as the wind increased rapidly from 14 to 20 kts .... and then we were well over-canvassed!! Earlier, I'd been enjoying spotting the familiar Northern hemisphere stars - haven't seen Cassiopoeia, nor Delphinus, and definitely not the Pole Star, for ages!

Just now we're ambling along under a big patch of blue sky at around 5.5-6 kt, having left a band of clouds behind but still with plenty of big clouds around - so there's sure to be more excitement with squalls from time to time... No record-breaking DMGs I think (just 122 n.ml. during first 24hrs out)... Our speed is varying with the wind - which often backs and drops after a squall to around 10 kt or less, having veered in the squall... Last night, before the first big squall came by, I'd unfurled most of the genoa in lighter wind around sunset to keep up a decent speed... to regret it when the squall came along in the dark of night and I finally had to furl a lot back in again, we were heeling so much.

Time for lunch - I've several fresh avocadoes, apples and bananas, so that's easy!

Wednesday 11th July 2012

It was a pleasure to meet Randy, KH6RC, and wife Lynn in Kona last Friday, having spoken to him so many times on the Pacific Seafarers Net over several years. Customs officials Jonathan and Tiffany had come by earlier, before 8am, and had made the Clearance procedure very painless and pleasant, with a minimum of fuss and time taken - a nice surprise!

After a quick visit to nearby Costco & Walmart to look for a replacement, small, cheap PC (we managed a cellphone but no PC), we returned to the boat and I got underway by 3.25pm for the overnight sail to Honolulu. With thick cloud and haze over the island, I didn't even get a glimpse of the high mountains and volcanoes!! Initially there was no wind, but once finally away from the lee of the island, the wind rapidly got up to around 30 kt from NE, with correspondingly rough seas for the crossing over to past Maui and Laina - until dawn, when it dropped to ~12 kt, with occasional gusts up to 28kt...

Once past the islands with their high mountains and big wind shadow, we were back into solid wind and rough seas until close to Oahu and the approach to Honolulu with its high-rise hotels behind Waikiki beach - even I have heard of that surfing Mecca! The swell was still big and the wind up as we entered the channel cut into the reef - coral right alongside - and surfers too!! I was headed for the Hawaii Y.C. who were expecting me.

I'd furled in the headsails and lowered the mains'l well before getting too close to the entrance to Ala Wai Boat Hbr but had left putting out fenders and mooring lines until in the protection of the big area inside, near to the fuel dock and HYC - with rocky shallows bedside the park area on one side.... In strong gusts, I kept having to manoeuvre the boat in between hanging out fenders and preparing the lines - Ron the Port Capt and one or two other people waiting for me got quite worried and I heard a loud bell clangng as I drifted near to the shallows a couple of times (my eyes were constantly on the depth display and the water's edge when close - "It gets shallow suddenly," they said later - "and some one went aground there very recently and damaged his rudder badly.")

I was finally able to come gently alongside the Canadian 43' Hans Christian 'Long Shot II' (built 1882!) and had a good welcome. It was nice to relax as I met with the Commodore Ron, friend Kirk ('Silk Purse') and neighbours Doug and Susan with their youngsters Charlie, Riley and little Saylor - proudly parading in one of her many dresses! It was good to be among friendly cruisers again!

I'd previously contacted Jerry Zak about the Raymarine work he was due to help me with and he duly turned up, as promised , before midday on Sunday. The job took far longer than expected - he just couldn't get the system properly bled, after replacing the pump/motor assembly with new, until eventually we replaced the ram which was clearly faulty - and finally the system was behaving OK - TG I had a spare ram...! The faulty one had been serviced in Cape Town but it seems the bushing inside, and/or the seal, must have gone on the way from Tasmania, past New Zealand when I first realized i had a problem....

Sunday evening was first of several sociable evenings on board 'Long Shot II' and arrangements were made with Paul, crew on 'Misty' wit h a loaned truck, to go out to a Mall to look for my PC while he and others did a general 'shop' in Costco there... I finally got my little Notebook PC in Best Buy - for $263! - but only next day, from Pearl City Mall (close to Pearl Hbr), after a car ride out there - and a long $1 bus ride back via China Town in Honolulu - the bus ride took me through parts of town I would not otherwise have seen - a good tourist trip!!

Daytimes, apart from trips out for the PC, have been spent dealing with boat jobs, trying to prepare to leave, and the Y.C. Internet was finally made use of to upload software onto the new PC . Doug gave me a helping hand several times - in particular on Wednesday, when I checked out my windlass, ready for anchoring in Hanalei Bay soon. It worked fine dropping the chain - but not raising it! He tracked the cause to corrosion in a wire where the plastic cover had been nicked in the boatyard while joining two wires when installing a foot button switch on deck... carelessness!!

After refuellling, with lots of helping hands from several keen sailing youngsters (and father Ray), I was finally ready to leave for Kauai just before sunset and expect to arrive in Hanalei Bay Thursday afternoon - just in time, I hear, for an evening get-together with LaDonna and Rob (R.C.) and other Single-handed Sailing Society members. (The first of the SHTP racers came in on Monday -beat the existing record from San Francisco by two-and-a-half days - sailing conditions have been good!)

Distance from Honolulu to Hanalei Bay: 115 n.ml.

Thursday 5th July

Grey sky, rainy, cooler air ... Bands of rainshowers and gusty clouds with patchy blue sky from time to time in between. Wind stronger....

Email from Raymarine Hawaiian agent in Honolulu didn't make me happy this morning - but after an email from me in reply, he's making a big effort - and coming to fix the replacment pump on Sunday...!

2pm - Certainly knew we were getting near high land even though I couldn't see it for cloud - wind well over 30knots and rough seas..!! Tied in 3rd reef and reduced genoa - a lot!! Wind direction changed by the land rather, so now from E which makes it more of a following wind so feels more comfortable - until a big wave catches us on the beam and tosses us on our ears...!. We're approaching the S.Cape (Ka Lae) of Hawai'i - 'the Big Island' they call it, to distinguish it from the other smaller Hawaiian islands nearby.

By 5pm we were rounding the SW of Hawaii and getting into the lee of the land slowly - seas down to 2m from the oough 3.5-4m seas of just before and wind down to 25 from 30+ kt. Still making good speed but very little seen of the land - too much grey cloud, with a long plume of cloud downwind from the high mountain (volcano) in the middle of the island.

3 hrs later, as we passed Puu Nahaha (!!), the wind dropped quickly - from 13 to 11 ...to 7 .. and not long after that - to 3knots -which it remained at for the duration. A bright moon finally made it out from behind the clouds. I tried motor-sailing but that didn't work so regretfully furled away headsails, centred the main - and turned on the 'iron sail'

During the Pacific Seafarers Net, Randy (KH6RC), who lives on the island, went over the mooring options and the entry into Kona Hbr, and Howard, on 'Holy Grail', also gave me some useful tips. The hope was that someone would already be tied to the fuel dock and all I'd have to do would be to raft up to him, rather than having to pick up a flimsy mooring buoy. The method here is a 'Med-moor' i.e. pick up a stern buoy & tie off to it and then head for shore and tie off the bow with lines there as well (or bow to buoy and stern to shore - is more usual) Since I was expecting to arrive after midnight, when everyone would be fast asleep, so no helping hands available, the rafting-up option sounded far preferable - only problem was not being sure if a boat would be there - and which side I'd be able to tie up to.

In the event, after a highly cautious approach to the narrow entry channel, not finding the lights quite as expected, I found a boat at the fuel dock - so rafted up. (I had lines and fenders on both side ready.... having heard a comment about 'not much space inside' I'd done that out in deep water!)

So here we are - ready for sleep at the end of our passage from Tahiti - just under 19 days in all and over 2560 n.ml... It's 2.30 am and Customs are due first thing to do paperwork... Good night!

PS We made DMG of 169 n.ml. up to 2pm today!! Not bad, eh?

Wednesday 4th July 2012

Greetings to my US friends - hope you've had a good Fourth July!

Posting here the lovely photo mentioned on Day 11 (27th June) which a friend took recently, showing Venus before dawn, with Jupiter above and Aldebaran below... Looking over River Derwent, just S of Hobart... (Courtesy John Gardner):

I forgot to mention yesterday all the flying fish I keep finding on deck each morning - unfortunately none quite big enough to cook...!

Overnight, and into today, grey rainclouds gathered ... None too dark or threatening.... mainly with wind gusting up to just over 20 kt and a quick shower, but sky hasn't been as sunny as I've got used to! In fact, overnight, I had to cover myself with the sleeping bag to keep warm...! Clouds have now cleared away so might be sunnier tomorrow - if so, solar panels will give up to 16A or so - excellent input, adding in to wind generator input to batteries.

Still making good speed - I've got used to seeing 7.3-7.6 kt SOG displayed and start looking for ways to increase it if speed drops for long! DMG today slightly down with overnight lesser wind and genoa furled in a bit due to gusty conditions .... so 'only' 157 n.ml. - still a respectable distance over the 24 hrs! Wind has been fairly consistent around 18kt from ENE. Windsteering is going well - Fred is happily in charge, steering a good course most of the time, with just the occasionsal tweaking needed as wind varies a little.... On a longer passage, wouldn't be needed so much but I want to get in as soon as possible, so a tighter course is required.

PC is continuing to test my patience ... Have missed several weatherfaxes because it has decided bluetooth needs to be disabled... Each time I re-boot, after uninstalling the bluetooth, the Com Port number shoots up - we've now reached 48!!! But at least the precious bluetooth icon reappears, giving radio communication again ...

We're making for Kona on the 'big island' of Hawaii to clear Customs and Quarantine and obtain US Cruising Permit - ETA is very early Friday morning... Have emailed 'Dept of Homeland Security' (what a title!!) to let them know in advance. Shouldn't take long to do paperwork, since airport is quite close and that's where officials are based. Then I'll make for Honolulu (140 ml away - about a day's sail) - either immediately or early Saturday, depending on paperwork, sleep and whether friend living close by is available to catch up with.

Tuesday 3rd July 2012

Into yet another glorious day of fabulous sailing in the NE Trades - and still no squalls in sight!! I could get used to this! So unlike the sailing I've got used to in the Southern Ocean...

Midday
Just got back down below after an hour on deck in bright sunshine - hot, sticky & salty.... Finally decided it was relatively calm enough to lower pole and stow it - always a bit of a struggle in the swell with no-one else to stand either in the bow or at the mast - so some to-ing and fro-ing needed... (and always with a few curses!) Had already unfurled remaining genoa and trimmed all sails .... all prompted by seeing speed down to (only!) around 6 kt .... so action was needed to get it up again. Wind is definitely down a bit now, though - 14-17 kt, rather than the 18-20kt we've been seeing over the last few days.

Have persuaded PC to behave for time being - think I might have conquered its quirks & know what to do when it turns sulky! So back to emails/weatherfaxes - although for quite a time yesterday, Honolulu was NOT transmitting - as confirmed when chatting to 'Charisma' later in the day.

The SHTP racers are finishing their Day 3 now. They started around noon on Saturday and are headed to Kauai. Looks as though conditions are set for a fast race with the High in a good position for their sail down from San Francisco - unlike when I did it in '06 when we went N to Pt Reyes looking for wind - and got becalmed...!! (The High was playing all sorts of tricks that year...)

Last time I headed up to Hawaii (from New Zealand in 2010), I managed to meet up with them all in Hanalei Bay on their Awards Night - Friday 9th July - last official day of the race ... and party night! It was good to see them all again! This year, my timing has worked out similar, but the 3-week Race will unfortunately be finishing too late for me to wait around for it - I need to get N to prepare for October... (My original plan, before weather and repairs got in the way from Cape Town on, was to be in SF for the start of the race...! "The best laid plans o' mice and men..." ?!)

DMG at 2pm LT was 161 n.ml.! Distance to Kona: 400ml; Honolulu: 533ml

Lovely moon again tonight... Just let out more genoa to keep up speed- wind still down a bit...

Monday 2nd July 2012

Before dawn .... Bright Venus like a spotlight in the E sky with Jupiter above and Aldebaran lined up below ... a great sight!

10am 'Bluetooth USB Adapter' in Device Manager:- "Windows has stopped this device because it has reported problems. (Code 43)" Just great! Meaning no possible use of Pactor modem bluetooth for sending/receiving emails and weather info... grrr!!! Had re-started computer because it was giving error messages when tried to connect to radio to download wxfax this morning... Device Manager showed problems... Updating driver and disabling/enablng doesn't help... Spent a good hour on the problem.... Means I have to get into back of modem (behind instrument panel at chart table) to make a hard connection with PC using USB cable.... Oh well ... and it seemed such a lovely day ... Think I'll get my breakfast first...after adjusting Fred...! At least there's blue sky and not a grey cloud in sight... We're sailing well in ENE5 wind.

2pm Found PC closing itself down - and when I re-booted it - the bluetooth icon was sitting there quite happily... So tried bluetooth radio connection - worked fine .... grrr!! Glad I hadn`t started taking instrument panel to pieces... So now I can relax !

Later: Still playing up - sometimes there, sometimes not... Keep having to re-boot it.. Need a solid, enclosed, salt-in-air-proof computer... with chip/motherboard that doesn't heat up and can take tropical temperatures without complaining...

DMG - Unbelievably - it's up again! ... 166 n.ml. over the 24hr period to 2pm! And it`s still not due to fair current - display tells me boat speed is even higher!!
Distance to Honolulu: 694 n.ml.

Computer apart, it's been another lovely sailing day - good wind, excellent speed .... and not too many bigger waves to knock us on our ears...!
And tonight is just beautiful - full moon - so bright it's lighting up clouds, sea and boat.. a time to sit out in the cockpit and simply enjoy the moment.

Sunday 1st July 2012 - Happy Canada Day to my Canadian friends!!

Brown booby... chased after shoal of flying fish that suddenly took off across the waves while it was circling high above 'Nereida'.

Continued fast sailing under sunny skies, if cloudy at times...... Regularly seeing SOG of 7.5 kt or more - and still rough 3+ m seas!

Occasional sail trimming to keep up speed and try to reduce heeling, as wind varies between NE and ENE 18-21kt over the day.

Without the constant need to download weatherfaxes just now, I had some spare time and actually took to my bunk while being tossed about and started reading a book: "The Rum 'Uns". Quiet amusement reading of Barbara McDougall's humorous episodes in her life in rural - so far - Tasmania (she gets into Dragon racing later, I know - she met up with me in Hobart, took me around and gave me her book!)

DMG today ..... a fabulous 164 n.ml. - making superb progress!! That relates to a sustained speed of 7 knots over the 24 hours... impressive! (And there's NO current help...)

Distance to Honolulu: 860 n.ml. .... although I'm looking into pausing briefly in Kona on the 'Big Island' of Hawaii, simply to Clear Customs etc on arrival in the USA within 'office hours': M-F 0800-1630 LT.

I'm passing close by Kona on my way to Oahu, so it makes sense to do the paperwork there and not incur extra charges or complications by arriving in Honolulu well over a day later - maybe Friday evening/over the weekend.

Moon shining brightly - and waxing for several more days - always nice to be able to trim the sails at night just by moonlight!

Saturday 30th June 2012

Consistent NE Trades (around 18-19 knots) all day, making for good,fast sailing, but heeled often and seas still tossing us around at times so having to take great care moving around.

Dull, grey clouds cleared away soon after dawn, to be replaced, after a nice sunny gap, by broken light cloud for most of day - until skies cleared again around mid-afternoon. So waxing moon can be seen shining brightly in early evening along with Southern Cross high up in S.

Fresh eggs from Tasmania (turned regularly, never chilled...) are still OK! Having an omelette tonight! Enjoyed fresh grapefruit this afternoon , also from Tasmania - I find grapefruit often keep well. Both stored out of fridge...

Sooty shearwater and prion seen several times, also a black-headed booby (my naming!) - circles around near sunset as though looking for a roosting place.

Today's position/weather report:

TIME: 2012/07/01 00:00 GMT/2pm 30th June LT
LATITUDE: 08-46.30N LONGITUDE: 145-47.71W
COURSE: 318T SPEED: 6.6
WIND_SPEED: 19 WIND_DIR: 054
SWELL_DIR: NE SWELL_HT: 3.0M SWELL_PER: 5
CLOUDS: 30% BARO: 1009 TREND: -1 SEA_TEMP: 34.0C
COMMENT: Bright & sunny. Fast sailing continues!
DMG : An excellent 154 n.ml.!! Honolulu: 1024 n.ml.

Friday 29th June 2012

A day full of incident....

As half-expected, another big rainsquall - just before dawn... AIS showed a fishing vessel, 'Ningtai I' passing astern - no problem.... but soon after, I saw another ship on AIS - clearly heading our way and expected to pass very close - well within one mile - that's a collision course in my book! Eventually, its name came up on the screen - 'Cap Pasado' - and the watchkeeper finally responded to my VHF calls. "I'm keeeping an eye on you and will turn to starboard," he said.... (meaning he'll pass ahead of us, way too close...!) I asked him please to pass astern of me, as a sailing vessel under sail.... He agreed to turn to port.... situation resolved... It was a big cargo vessel, headed to Auckland, N.Z., and came close enough to see clearly in the grey light of a stormy dawn, with the long sausage of the grey, rolling ITCZ rainclouds just ahead of us.

We were making good speed but being tossed about in the rough seas and about to be engulfed by a rainstorm . Passing through the main ITCZ axis, we somehow managed to avoid a lot of the rain falling fom the towering clouds but the winds were strong... and once through, the heavy grey rainclouds continued over the day and into tonight - we're still being tossed around by the close, steep 3-4m seas ,while keeping up a good speed in ENE 20 kt winds, despite being well reefed down. In fact, there was a pleasant lull after passing through the main line of grey clouds and I shook out the 2nd reef - but I soon regretted that and had to tie it in again - we were well heeled over!

Looking at the satellite picture I downloaded early in the day, it seems we were lucky in passing through a less active part of the ITCZ - no black clouds, no lightning...and not so much heavy rain either! But it's certainly been rough saiing all day long.....

So now, we're finally headed directly for Hawaii in good ENE winds - we should be in Honolulu in just over a week's time.

DMG today: 128 n.ml. Honolulu: 1178 n.ml.

Thursday 28th June 2012

Strong Equatorial Current flow varied between E and SE up to midday when it turned to ENE.

Lovely sunny sailing conditions this morning - 90% cloud but it was broken and light.. Making over 7knots SOG. From satpics, axis of TCZ has moved slightly to 7-8N - so 1-2 days away, but we're clearly into the cloud around it and have been since yesterday. Hopefully, we'll miss the really strong convection the ITCZ is noted for... fingers crossed... by Saturday, we'll know for sure!

Munching one of the last Gala apples from Tasmania as I downloaded weatherfaxes, satpics and emails just before midday ... Have been busy trying to organize things while in Hawaii - Kirk, VE0KRP, on 'Silk Purse', already in Ala Wai Boat Hbr, has been very helpful - Hawaii Y.C. have agreed to let me stay wih them for the few days I'm on Oahu, despite a major Fishing Tournament taking place and filling berths.

Still good sunshine - no squalls in sight so far...

Around sunset, small group of dolphins came and played around 'Nereida" and earlier, along with dolphins, there were lots of birds - clearly a shoal of fish nearby!

We'd just changed course to 320T to head directly for Hawaii - prompted partly by arriving at 5N and partly by seeing clump of convection dead ahead when I downloaded satpics showing position of clouds in ITCZ - would be nice to avoid strong stuff if possible! Spent a time poling out the genoa, being on a very broad reach. By nightfall, speed was still down around 5kt or less, not helped by wind down to 13 kt and ENE-flowing Equatorial current - would have shaken out 2nd reef if it weren't for mass of grey cloud ahead and darkness coming on ... Decided 5 kt was fine and 6 kt could wait for tomorrow!

On seeing later satpic, it was clear that my plan to avoid convection by heading on 320 T wasn't going to work (it would have kept us in convection for twice as long!) - so changed to 'Plan B' - head due N again - so as to get through the ITCZ's clouds and nasty weather as soon as possible - there was also possibly a thinning of the cloud to the N. Had to take genoa off the pole and back over to port - but left the pole out, it being night-time...

Just before midnight, the wind increased & we heeled over ... went on deck ... raincloud .... surprise, surprise...!! De-powered the mains'l and thought about reducing the stays'l ... but the squall was a small one and passed quickly ....so all was well. ... I sheeted in the mains'l again so we picked up speed. I imagine there'll be a few more of those over tonight and tomorrow...

DMG: 162 n.ml. .. wow! Honlulu: 1296 n.ml.

Wednesday 27th June 2012

Good sailing overnight at over 6 knots consistently, with mainly clear skies until before dawn, when the entire sky became overcast and it became grey & rainy. No sooner had I finished a regular 9am radio 'sched' with 'Charisma' and got up on deck than I saw the wind increasing & tied in 2nd reef just before it got over 20knots, with some rain ... The ESE 20 kt wind continued on over the morning, finally reducing to 16kt mid-afternoon by which time the 90% cloudcover was light and broken. The wind has stayed ESE so we're still able to keep, or slightly improve on, our Easting.

We're definitely into the ITCZ now - satpics showed me that we were no longer headed into a nice gap - but straight into a big clump of cloud! I'm hoping for no big squalls in it. We'll take 2-3 days to get through this cloudy area, unless it decides to dissipate or move away.

Thre's an E-flowing Equatorial current now - quite strong, so helping us to stay East.

Hopefully, you'll see here the photo a friend in Tasmania sent me when I commented on the dawn sky and two possible planets in the E. John, VK7ZZ, happened to take this shot from his back door, overlooking the Derwent River, just S of Hobart, a few days before my comment - hence the waning crescent moon is also in the picture, whereas it was newly-appearing in the W at sunset the night before I saw the two planets at dawn -they're Venus and Jupiter, I'm told, Venus being the lower of the two and Aldebaran (in Taurus) is also in the shot, to the right.

Relaxed on deck having my food under moonlight - half-moon struggling through a light, broken cloud-layer - very pleasant , refreshing evening making good speed north in ESE wind...

DMG : 146 n.ml. Honolulu 1407 n.ml.