And the beat goes on

This morning we officially moved off Pau Hana and handed over the bow lines to Cameron & Gina from San Francisco. We're excited for them and eager to watch the further adventures of our much loved sloop, soon to be rechristened Joshua. Pretty awesome name for a boat that will go far. 

For now, we're getting a van, trying to make a plan, and as usual, avoiding trouble with the man. Pau Hana clear.

Winding down in Sausalito

We've had a good couple weeks in the bay area riding bikes, eating too well and catching up on sleep. We also got to catch up with Amy Frykman and Dan Brekken last week, 2 friends that we hadn't seen in a long time.

Pau Hana now is officially for sale. There's been a lot of interest and we expect to have a sale finalized by the end of the month. They say the happiest days in a sailors' life are the day you buy your boat and the day you sell it.... but I don't think I'll be really happy until I'm restocked in the van and mountain bike department. There will be some transition from a floating party to a rolling one. Here's a few pics from the ad:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/153633655@N04/albums/72157682455841795

My parents visited from Minnesota this week. We went sailing when it was a bit too windy and ate some ridiculously good food. I'm sure they enjoyed the last 3 years of aiding and abetting: delivering winches to the Caribbean, carting home winter gear, bringing our road bikes from NZ to MN, manufacturing a custom gooseneck toggle, and finally, bringing our road bikes from MN to CA (packed with some cookies, too.) Thanks for all the help!!

Clipper Yacht Harbor, Sausalito

Troopers, one and all

Muir Woods

Sofa King Bueno

We made landfall last night in San Francisco Bay. 19 days out from Honolulu, myriad conditions. Lots of upwind work, some perfect spinnaker conditions and an awesome wildlife bonanza greeted us on our approach to the Golden Gate. We saw breeching humpback whales, sea lions, dolphins and a multitude of sea birds come by to say hi. We're headed to Pier 39 today to tie up to a dock and find some food that does not include lentils.

2 1/2 years, 22,000 nm, 44 ports of call... time for a glass of wine and a big nap.

Self explanatory

Pizza and Beer...

[pos]37 45n 124 09w
[sp]6.1 kts
[h]090*T
[w]N 12 kt
[s]Good progress this morning as we race to catch the afternoon flood into San Francisco Bay. We struggled through the night to keep the rig and vane in balance as we entered the coastal weather. The fog feels almost like drizzle. We're going to have to run the engine this morning as the clouds have prevented any solar charging. Plenty of fuel left and we're within helicopter range. It seems as though we're going to make it. Our heater is keeping the cabin cozy. Our current plan is to anchor in Richardson Bay off of Sausalito tonight since we'll be arriving in the dark. The pizza and beer will have to wait one more day.

Morning coffee at hull speed

[pos]37 52n 126 55w
[sp]7.1 kts
[h]090*T
[w]NNE 18 kt
[s]Drag race to the east. Yesterday's longitude looks to have been an error. We shook out the second reef at sunrise and are absolutely ripping towards the coast. The computer is strapped to the desk. The wind is forecasted to go light during the day so I should have a chance to comb my hair before our arrival. 210 nm to the bridge.

Nice guys finish last

[pos]37 52n 125 55w
[sp]6.5 kts
[h]090*T
[w]NNE 18 kt
[s]Wind Veered N putting us on a fast reach to the east. Grey and cold. 2000 miles of ocean behind us. 350 to go. Whomever adheres to "Gentlemen never sail to weather" will never arrive in California. Unless they were born in Alaska I suppose. Luckily I'm no gentleman.

Slow is smooth. Smooth is fast.

[pos]37 54n 132 39w
[sp]5.5 kts
[h]100*T
[w]NE 18 kt
[s]Close reach in lumpy seas and foggy and squally. Challenging to find the smooth line. We are definitely crossing a main shipping lane between Japan and Long Beach. For any of you cheapskate nerds that are reading this, the Digital Yacht NMEA to USB cable is worth every penny. It routes our AIS data to our laptop where we can easily see the closest point of approach of multiple ships at one time. We haven't had to change course for a ship yet. Prior to this gadget, we would have been a lot less informed and wasted a lot of time and worry out here in the lumps.
480 miles to go. ETA morning the 25th.

Like summer in Duluth..

[pos]38 01n 135 16w
[sp]4.7 kts
[h]100*T
[w]NE 10 kt
[s]Close Hauled in light winds with the vane following the shifts. Another container ship came by on it's way to Panama.
Low gray clouds, chilly and humid this morning. We're 75% complete: 1800 down, 600 to go.

Lil' Swedish Diesel Power!

[pos]38 15n 137 34w
[sp]6.3 kts
[h]080*T
[w]NW 1 kt
[s]Motored through the night over low ground swell and under low clouds. Hopefully some wind by afternoon. It's certainly warmer aboard with the engine running.

North Pacific High

[pos]37 46n 139 51w
[sp]3.5 kts
[h]080*T
[w]SW 6 kts
[s]Yesterday was some of the best spinnaker sailing ever for me, but now we have a few slow days ahead. We're currently still sailing but if we linger below 3 knots we'll fire up the Lil' Swede.
We have enough discretionary fuel to motor for about 50 hours plus additional fuel for the traffic separation scheme approaching the Golden Gate.
If we time our approach well we should get sucked right under the bridge by the flooding tide. Today I'll try for a fish.

Day 13

[pos]37 32n 142 07w
[sp]5.5 kts
[h]085*T
[w]WSW 8 kts
[s]Spinnaker and Ms. Piggy (autopilot) are earning their keep. We're making good progress within the light conditions. Yesterday was some of the nicest downwind sailing we've ever done. Two ships within two miles of us last night. AIS transponder remains my favorite equipment aboard. 1500 nm down, 900 nm to go.

Tuesday

[pos]37 20n 144 51w
[sp]4.0 kts
[h]085*T
[w]SW 8 kts
[s]Deep reach across flat seas. Heavy dew and crystal clear sunrise this morning. Our friends aboard "Sea Note" are within 50 miles of us. I hope to get within visual range. We'll both be on a similar heading for the next several days.

halfway!

[pos]37 08n 146 52w
[sp]6.0 kts
[h]085*T
[w]S 5 kts
[s]Past the halfway point between Honolulu and San Francisco. Light winds so motoring/motorsailing as we can. At this point all resources indicate a slow trip into San Fran. Alas. probably better than a 40 knot gale although less interesting. At our current pace, we should reach San Fran late on the 23rd or early on the 24th. We have a noteworthy amount of water in our fuel tank, likely came in through the vent during our upwind leg. I'm emptying the separator bowl every 6 hours. I'll be relocating the vent to a more protected spot.

Monday

[pos]36 39n 149 30w
[sp]5.2 kts
[h]055*T
[w]SE 14 kts
[s]Good sailing through the night. Advantageous wind shift around midnight. Nerdy goodness with AIS and VHF DSC allowed a clean pass between Pau Hana and a 1000 ft tanker at 0330.

Summer Teeth

[pos]34 45n 150 439w
[sp]6.0 kts
[h]040*T
[w]E 14 kts
[s]Running the heater this morning. We're into 1032 mb now. Much improved conditions. Smooth progress to the NE. Feels like Saturday.
Poor radio propagation at this point. All is well aboard except my temporary front tooth mutinied during a sneezing fit.
Plenty of maple syrup left. Time for pancakes.

Week one complete for Pau Hana

[pos]32 47n 151 39w
[sp]6.0 kts
[h]020*T
[w]NE 20 kts
[s]feels like 3 meter wind chop. steep and close. contrary to normal procedure, we've had to throttle back to care for ourselves and the rig. We're into 1028 mb now, so hopefully we can make some easting along the center of the high.

(no subject)

[pos]30 40n 151 52w
[sp]4.0 kts
[h]000*T
[w]NE 18 kts
[s]Underway from Honolulu, Hawaii to San Francisco, California. 100% cloud cover, 1024 mb rising. During the day yesterday we had smooth seas and good sailing.
Passed through a cold front yesterday evening with strong winds and steep waves. We had to slow the boat down to care for the boat and ourselves.
All is well. 700 miles between us and Honolulu.

beginning day 6

[pos]28 43n 151 45w
[sp]4.0 kts
[h]350*T
[w]NE 08 kts
[s]Underway from Honolulu, Hawaii to San Francisco, California. 60% cloud cover, 1022 mb rising.
Slow but comfortable. Getting slightly headed to the west of north. Bright full moon the last few nights.

Tuesday aboard Pau Hana

[pos]26 53n 152 13w
[sp]5.8 kts
[h]035*T
[w]E 14 kts
[s]Underway from Honolulu, Hawaii to San Francisco, California. 60% cloud cover, 1020 mb rising.
Good conditions. Finally cooling off at night since as long as I can remember.

Monday Morning

[pos]25 17n 154 07w
[sp]6.0 kts
[h]005*T
[w]NE 14 kts
[s]Underway from Honolulu, Hawaii to San Francisco, California. 100% cloud cover, raining, periodic squalls with wind shifting to SE, 1018 mb steady

Pau Hana Sunday Morning

At 0600 local time, 1600 UTC:
[pos]23 46n 155 35w
[sp]5.0 kts
[h]052*T
[w]E 14 kts
[s]Underway from Honolulu, Hawaii to San Francisco, California. 60% cloud cover, 1018 mb steady
A few rain squalls last night to rinse the salt off. otherwise good progress to the NE

Kolea style

The Humpback whale and the Pacific Plover (called Kolea by Polynesians) have both left Hawaii this week for their migration north for the summer.
As have we.
at 0600 Hawaii time, 1600 UTC
[pos]22 09n 156 52w
[sp]5.0 kts
[h]055*T
[w]ENE 14 kts
[s]Underway from Honolulu, Hawaii to San Francisco, California. 10% cloud cover, 1018 mb

Sunrise this morning finds us clear of the Kaiwi channel between Molokai and Oahu and are getting settled in to life on passage.
No other vessels sighted last night.

24 hours to go time

We're getting close to departure from Honolulu- heading for San Francisco Bay. All jobs have been shed, hospital art has been vandalized, good-byes mostly said, rig inspected, boat stuffed with lentils, onions, apples and potatoes (okay and brownie mix), satellite phone charged, ditch bag stocked, SSB radio tested, and anchor stowed. Pau Hana is ready to sail. Conditions are looking good for a sporty first few days at sea. We're hoping for about 17 days, but who knows?

Hayes!

We had a surprise visit from an old friend this week. Chris Hayes came from Carbondale, CO. We got to get out for an evening sail and catch up on the past decade. We didn't have any whale sightings but there were plenty of outriggers out prepping for an upcoming race. The final pics are are some of the many cool murals in Honolulu- these are a few of my favorites.

We're continuing to get Pau Hana ready for the sail to San Francisco. Yesterday the battery charger suddenly died so Martin will replace it this weekend. There's always something on a boat.
Hopefully the weather will hold for an early May departure. Employers have been notified!

Lexi

Original ad for the Pretorien

Turtle Canyon, Oahu

We commuted over to Kewalo Basin to do some diving yesterday. Martin loaded up the BCDs, regulators, fins and wetsuits in his panniers. There's a big NW swell coming in right now so the boat ride was pretty rough but we had some good wildlife sightings.

I'm happy to see all the turtles in Hawai'i. In French Polynesia, Tonga and Fiji, they are not protected and still on the menu, so to speak. All the turtles here have migrated from the French Frigate Shoals, hundreds of miles to the west. We're starting to get the boat ready for one more big passage and are planning for a May crossing to San Francisco. One more month of work (and the occasional turtle fly by) and then we're off.

Concrete rhapsody

We went out last weekend with the Mitchell family who are visiting Oahu from Bozeman.  We anchored in some calm water with Diamond Head in the background.

There wasn't much wind but we made up for it with cannonballs.

Visitors!

We're delighted this week to have visitors Jeff Ward & Shashi Ajmani hailing from Boise, ID. We made it out for an afternoon sail last weekend and had great conditions along with a distant whale sighting.

We all went diving and first off was a wreck called the Sea Tiger, sitting in about 120' of water. 

Many Pacific sea turtles were seen on our subsequent dives. This one was hiding out under a shelf of coral.

This mature adult is hanging out at a cleaning station. The little reef fish are cleaning off the algae from the turtle's shell.

This cephalopod was a real treat and came out to play for a bit. Its skin was so soft in my hand it felt like a puppy's belly. Octopus is definitely off the menu! 

This is a unique photo of Jeff & Martin because they are clearly not skiing or biking. I think they're still having fun.

Jeff & Shashi with a moorish idol.

Out for a rip

The marina we're in is right by Waikiki and all the good shopping spots in Honolulu. It's a 5 minute walk to the Apple Store which is pretty fun but definitely hard on the wallet....

We went out for a day sail yesterday. Sunny skies, and conditions looked pretty benign, but it was blowing hard when we got out of the lee of the buildings downtown.

20+ knots of wind gusting to 30 kts- all reefed up and nowhere to go

This is called getting hosed

And back to the protection of the bay and the city. Fun sailing!

The Pali Loop, Oahu

We found a road loop on Strava that looked interesting so we headed out on the bikes this morning to check it out. There were some urban antics getting out of town be we made it to the north coast and had some good views.

We rode out to a marine research facility. Inside a big garage were a couple really techie looking submersibles. Someone's got a great job on Oahu.

The traffic here isn't terrible but it is relentless.

There were a couple quiet stretches through tropical forest that made for pretty fun carves going downhill.

The canopy crossed the road several times.

It just makes me want to go sailing!

Arrived Waikiki Yacht Club!

Back on track

Good news from Kona this morning. The 'lil Swede has indeed been fully resuscitated and is running well. The crew is delighted. Leaving port this morning bound for Honolulu- 150 nm to the NW.  It should take about 24 hours depending on the wind in the lee of the island chain.

The buck toothed critter in the last photo is a barred filefish, he followed us around on a dive last week, probably wondering what's taking so long to get your engine fixed?

Lexi

The Lil' Swede lives!

After several frustrating weeks of orc mischief, the incompetent mechanics that we happened into finally agreed to a bench test of our engine. As expected, several leaks were discovered and repaired. The Lil' Swede then ran leak - free for a while and came up to temperature.  Who knows how long it will hold up. At this point I'd just like to collect my toys and GTFO. Our transmission parts should return from the spa soon and we could be on the move again.