What is Appa doing in Hawaii?

Resting for our next leg!

Been plugging away at some boat projects.

I believe that I have fixed the fuel leak.  I had fuel coming out of the filler hose at the tank.  Old crap hose clamps and someone did a terrible job of cutting the hose led to us leaking fuel.  I was unsure if the tank was leaking or what.  I did notice that we seemed to leak when filling the boat with diesel.  The bottom of the tank was covered in fuel so I cleaned the hell out of the tank and also saw some fuel dripping off the filler hose.  I am thankful that my tank is extremely easy to get to other than emptying the locker completely out.  But that is easily done.

So I took off 15 gallons, went to West Marine and got some T-bolt hose clamps and then hack-sawed off the old end and cleaned everything up.  After that was done, I put the hose back on and PRESTO!  No more leaks.  For now.   

Old hose.  You can see the fuel on the hose.

I still have to cut the new batten for the mainsail and then just a bit more cleaning and reorganizing.  Basically the boat is ready to go.  I'm just trying to find a better spot for stuff.  Trying to keep the sliding around of provisions.  Make the boat a bit more quiet.

Crawling once more into the locker.

I am draining the tank here.  You can see the membrane for the watermaker in this picture also.  It is the white tube with red end cap.

 Of course I filled the tank to the top and now had to take off 15 gallons so I could pull the hose off and cut the old part off.  Thanks to Adam and Rachel on SV Moments for letting me borrow their spare jugs.

 Had to clean the bilge (again) to get rid of the diesel and after cleaning it, I decided to put our spare water jugs under the floor by the mast.  At least for now.

 Appa's new slip at the public marina.  End of G dock.  Long walk to the boat but it is cheap.  40 cents a foot!!

 I go to the Hawaiian Yacht Club for showers and such.  This is the entrance.  They are having a tough time financially and are scrambling to make ends meet.  Very nice club with a great friendly feeling.

 This guy here is 100% pure Hawaiian (so he says).  Brian and I met him at a club one night.  We had a blast with him.  He has this complicated Hawaiian name.  Kompobo or something.  Nice cat.

 They don't have this picture in the brochures!

 One ugly boat.  See out off the Waikiki Beach once and awhile.

We are here!

This is us in Cabo on departure day.

One of the four mahi mahi that we caught. Blue squid got 3 and red squid got one of them. 

Brain chilling out on deck.  

Flying fish patrol. 15 of them on deck every morning

Another mahi mahi. 

Spring rolls.

We are learning to make turk's heads and other decorative whippings

Brian making us some grub

One wave lashed out at me.  Splashed just me even though we were all sitting tightly packed in the cockpit.

Can't remember what this was.  gumbo?

Michael and Aime 

Meat loaf!

Us just cruising along.

Appa has sinks on the port side of the boat.  When sailing and the boat is heeling to port the sink can fill with water and flood everything. So we have to close the drains.  That means Brian had to empty the sink via the window.  One of many quirks on Appa. 

Getting the tunes ready for the Appa Sundowner Party.  Minimum drink-1 Maximum drink-1

Laundry day

The sea turtle we rescued.

The big one!

This is the only real sunset we had. Second night out.

I had the sunrise watch. 

As we got closer to Hawaii the winds increased. We started to hand steer as the danger of gybing was pretty good.

Hawaii!!

Celebration drinks at the dock!

Appa traveled about 2700 miles and did it in 17 days 6 hours.  Or so.  We averaged around 6 knots or so.  We broke a mainsail batten, AIS went out (and is still trying to get figured out), caught 5 mahi mahi and one yellowfin tuna.  We burned 15 gallons of fuel for making water and power.  It surprised me how cloudy it was and how very wavy it was.  Just crazy.

The rest of the crew still has to share their photos with me and I'll post them when I get them.

The plan now is to leave July 6th.  Five of us will be making the trip.  At least at this writing, there will be five.

A special thanks to Michael P. for helping with weather routing.  He is already gearing up to do it for the second leg.  Thanks!!!

More later...

Almost there

49 miles out of Honolulu. Caught a dorado today. 25 knots of east wind and we are heading west. Downwind run. Double reef main and half rolled genoa. 
Freed a sea turtle yesterday. That felt pretty good. Caught a dorado right that. Save one, kill one. Not many turtles left.

Last day at sea?

For two weeks now the GPS has been counting down the mileage to Honolulu and it is now reading 250 miles. So possibly tomorrow we are going to be in. Woo hoo!
We had spring rolls yesterday. Very good. They were so good we didn't ask what was inside them as I know damn well we are out of everything fresh but ham and cabbage.
Fishing lines out early this morning and I got away clean. No tangled lines.
Big full moon last night. We watched it come up while laying about on the foredeck of Appa shooting the breeze. Very relaxing. Of course the waves did their damnedest to get me wet.
In the mornings we have been finding flying fish. This morning the deck is littered with them. They fly onto the boat and the netting that keeps the kids safe is their doom.
the inReach communicator that I have been really liking on this trip went belly up yesterday. As a long shot I emailed customer tech support from the unit and lo and behold, they answered. We went through the usual diagnostic stuff and this morning I did a full reset on it. I think it is working but not sure until I can test it further.
Made 167 miles in the last 24 hours. We reefed down again last night as it was pretty gusty.
I think this will be the last blog post till I get on shore.

Westbound and down!

We are getting along quite well now. Less than 400 miles to go. I still think Sunday will be arrival day but the computer is saying Saturday or Friday with an occasional Sunday thrown in for good measure. Either way, we will be in soon.
Had fried Mahi Mahi yesterday with french fries. Found some tartar sauce also. Delicious!!!!!
Today I have already put out the fishing lines and thought I'd have a stroke doing it. Both lines got extremely tangled. Then the fishing pole started to act the fool. Put the pole away and only using handlines. Fish tacos today with any luck. Tons of flying fish around so we are hopeful.
The wind is blowing 15-20 out of the ENE and we are on a board reach heading about 280 degrees.
Sunny morning out here for a change and we had a full moon (or almost) last night and it was brilliant. We are all in good spirits and our eyes are tuned to the west for a glimpse of Hawaii Island. Couple more days till that happens I reckon.
Brian just got up and is going to relieve me here in a bit.
By all reports, everyone is sleeping OK despite the sound of water roaring as Appa shoulders her way across the Pacific. Once every 15 minutes or so, Appa will get on a wave and the wind will gust at the same time. We then surf down this wave, accelerating so hard you slide back in your bunk a bit. Then we hit the wave in front of us and you slide forward a bit. Takes some getting use to. Other times the boat does not feel like she is moving. Perfectly steady. Lying in your bunk, you wonder "What the hell?" and then the boat plunges down a wave or rises up another rapidly. You are ALWAYS in motion on this ride. Not like a car. Our up and down movements are 10 feet or so. You would walk if a car rode like this.
As a final note, we hit 13 knots yesterday surfing a wave and held 12 knots for 5 seconds. Got nothing more to say...

Magic?

Brian was cooking an egg casserole yesterday and noticed that we never seem to run out of ham. Every time he cooks, he tries to use it up and just when he thinks it is all gone, another bag appears in the fridge. There is no other place to store ham so it is all in the same fridge he is using so what is the deal? This morning I noticed it. We are two weeks into this trip and, lemme check...yep, there is one bag of spiral cut ham in the fridge. We have had ham in every thing and on anything. Wanna crew on Appa? Better like ham!
I couldn't read the sign at the Costco in Cabo San Lucas when I bought the ham. Maybe it said "Magic Never Ending Delicious Ham!" Too bad we didn't buy the Magic Rum!
So yesterday we had a huge egg casserole. We have lots of eggs left, not sure if they are magic however. Very tasty. As Brian was making this monster sized dish, Michael was epoxying some decorative knot work, then BANG! FISH ON!! Brian promptly spilled some of the egg into the fridge and storage bins after a particular nasty bastard of a wave knocked us sideways. I scrambled up and Amie was reeling in a nice size Mahi Mahi. Michael dispatched that fish and was almost done filleting when we caught another one! Woo Hoo! One more mahi mahi won't be eating any more flying fish. Their bellies were full of tiny flying fish.
So today we are having, wait for it.....deep fried fish with french fries!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! With, potentially, a side of second and possibly third degree burns. No ham!!!!
Weather is the same. Cloudy with sunbreaks and wind out of the East with a hint of north in it running about 15 knots with gusts to 20. Some lulls are in there also.
Our daily mileage total yesterday was 166 miles. A little off pace but still respectable. We started to reef the jib at night. The jib is on the spinnaker pole and it can be vexing to reduce sail area, especially at night. The only time you reef really is in big winds so at night, in big winds, is not the time to reef. You reef before hand. Which we did. It was good. We were safe. And slower.
Sleep was hard to come by last night. Really windy for a bit with the boat just streaking west. Then a touch of light winds, light enough that when a wave rolled you, the sails would collapse and bang open again. Causing the whole boat to shudder.
We back under full sail now though and once again, Appa is making good time.
We love reading comments and getting messages on our inReach. Of course no one could be reading this drivel so there is that.

Tuesday

We broke into the 500 mile range this morning. The miles keep rolling under us.
Get this. The ocean under me right now is 5897 METERS deep. METERS!!!
We had fried rice yesterday. Very tasty. Rice with ham, eggs, carrots, peas, chorizo, and some other stuff Brian threw in there. Today we are going to have egg burritos. My Ben would have loved that. For dinner I'm not sure what we are going to have. Pasta? Pesto?
The wind has been steady. Truly I now know what the trade winds are all about. The waves are still....here. Grrrr. We reefed down last night when the wind started to punch into the high 20s. Made for a better ride and the autopilot didn't have to work as hard. Made 163 miles yesterday. Getting spoiled now. I want 180. Oh well. It is a passage not a race.
Had some sun yesterday aqnd learned how to do Turk's heads with bits of string. I am making a bell knocker. Michael has a bunch of string and instructions on decorative knot making. Fun stuff.
We are all having fun and realize what a great thing this is. Nevertheless, we are ready for Hawaii. We are salivating over walking without holding onto something. Just walking. That and egg rolls, cheeseburgers and ICE!
Meanwhile, we'll keep the metal to the petal and the thing to the floor. (We are going to watch Smoky and the Bandit tonight I think)



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Keep on truckin'

"WELCOME TO THE APPA SUNDOWNER PARTY!", Brian shouted over the opening riff of Wang Chang's "Everybody have fun tonight" as we hoisted our rum concoction and clinked glasses. The sun dropped into the ocean, it's fading light infusing the clouds with burnt orange embers ending yet another day. Appa had put another 175 miles under her keel the past 24 hours. That makes three consecutive days of +170 miles. Not bad for a boat with two porcelain sinks.
We have been running wing and wing under full jib and reefed main. Even though the waves are still coming from every direction we still manage to catch a few and surf. The motion below decks is calmer and once you get used to the noise of EVERYTHING sloshing around in it's locker, you can get some sleep.
We have used every towel on board trying to quiet the cans and bottles. They will have none of it however. The cans and bottles have been waiting for this dead downwind run. Secretly mobilizing their troops, sending out messengers to make sure the word gets spread to not only other food products but to the wine glasses also. Just yesterday I found a can of corn in my bunk. Maybe it was telling the sundries in my cabinets that the time of chaos was near. Now we hear them, late at night, marching back and forth in their little domain. Madness. Stark raving madness I tell you!
The gumbo yesterday was great. We ate like kings and queens. Ally and Amie are in charge of dinner today and the menu is up in the air. I am craving egg rolls and American style Chinese food. My pizza craving was crushed by our boat made pizza. A good cheeseburger with a mug of ice cold beer would be good. Ice crystals floating like liferafts in the blond liquid. Mmmmmmm. Beer...
Right now we have 858 miles till egg roll, er I mean Honolulu. The computer is now saying the 14th for our arrival pretty consistently. it will throw a 13 up on the board once in awhile.
Everyone is doing good and we are enjoying the ride.

Pizza! And sailing...

Just another day at sea. Made 173 miles in 24 hours yesterday. Not too shabby. Couple more of those and we would have....well, 2x172 is...you get the picture. Anyway we are under a main that is reefed and full headsail. We are heading as far south as possible but the waves are making that hard to do. They roll us around so much that even in 20 knots of breeze, they flip the air out of the sails with one big roll and then just as quick, roll us the opposite way and the sails go BANG to the other side. Everything shakes, everyone wakes, and so it goes.
I made pizza dough yesterday. Brian made the sauce. Brian use to work in a pizzeria and he came up with this killer sauce. We then topped it with sauteed mushrooms and onions. Adding to that was the chorizo (spelling?), sun dried tomatoes, the very last of our cheese (pepper jack and cheddar) and olives. We did not have high hopes for the dough. The yeast wasn't acting like I thought it would but once in the oven, it rose to the occasion. I am so witty! We devoured that pizza. Today is GUMBO DAY!!!
At about noon our time (Anchorage, AK time) we will have less than 1000 miles to go. Been out here 11 days I think. Haven't seen ONE boat, ship, contrails, anything! Nothing! Nada! Zip! Empty ocean. Our AIS (google if you know not what this is) can see, depending on power of the ship's transmitter, 300 miles or so. It has had no contacts for 9 days. That is something else. No help coming fast if it is needed.
The seas are projected to get better in the next couple of days. Supposedly they will pick one direction and stay with it. Brian said in a squeaky irritating voice last night after a particularly bad set rolled under us, "Hi! I am the Pacific Ocean!I don't know what the hell I am doing! I could be retarded! Look at my waves! Look at my waves! They are coming from EVERYWHERE!!!!!!" Well, I thought it was funny. We might be going a bit mad out here.
Watermaking day today along with GUMBO! I find that you really look forward to food while on passage. Not snacking. The main meal. The time when everyone is out and enjoying the sun and each other's company. We finish the meal and immediately start planning tomorrow's menu. Now that all the fresh stuff is gone, we are getting creative.
So what do we do all day? I get woken up by Ally who has the 5am-7am watch. Every morning I check the rigging, steering cables, adjust the halyards a bit to reduce chafe, a bit of light cleaning and then plop in front of this computer and upload a blog post and download the weather files. My good friend Michael in SD is also delivering weather info to us via my inReach system. Brian gets up at 0830 and gets the kettle on and begins his exercise routine. I go off watch at 0900 and Brian comes on. We both set the sails we want for for the day and talk how to get the boat going as fast as possible as safe as possible. Once the sails are set, I'll grab a bite and take a nap. Michael comes up at 1200 and he and Brian go over the sail selection and decide what else can be done to go faster. I usually come up to join in this conversation at 1300 or so. We then start to get dinner going. Amie takes the 1500 to 1800 watch and then it is me again at 1800 to 2100.At 2030 or so, we have our Sundowner then Brian does 2100 to midnight. Michael does midnight to 0300 and Amie relieves him. Amie does a short watch as Ally takes over for her at 0500 and so it goes.
We love getting messages via the inReach so if you want to drop us a line, please do. It is free!! The address escapes me now but it is located a few blog postings back.

Made some miles yesterday

Woke up yesterday and after messing with the phone sat phone trying to get weather, Brian and I raised the chute. We took off like a scalded hound. Hit 11.5 knots a couple of times. Ran with it up from 0900 to 1930.
Made a phone call to Jen who was visiting with my parents. Got to talk to all of them. Hearing their voices was magic. Waaay out in the ocean and I can still talk to them. Amazing world we live in. I sure do miss them.
Ben is off to the YMCA camp. It is a father son thing and I am missing it for the first time. I am bummed.
Right after the family phone call, the wind picked up and we wiped out with the spinnaker. No broach but just rounded up. Exciting. On a raceboat no big deal rounding up, except for lost time. But on a cruising boat....well let's put it this way. Raceboat is a horse and when rounding up, the horse merely trips but recovers quickly. On a cruising boat, imagine horses pulling a trailer, startled the horses take off running. The trailer is bouncing everywhere and then BAM! It tips over. That was us. No harm done. We might have broke a mainsail batten then or at night when the winds lightened and the mainsail started to slat horrendously.
We had meatloaf yesterday. Very tasty. Today is....wait for it.....PIZZA DAY!!!!!!



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Like sand through the hourglass.....

My grandmother Elise watched Days of our Lives. She lived with us most of my childhood and I can still hear the opening tune of that weird show. I don't think she missed many episodes if any.
Had a fun day yesterday. Wind was light in the morning but we still managed to eek out 5 knots out of Appa's 32,000 pound butt. I sent that last blog post and then started to think about the spinnaker trapped in it's bag, asking, nay, demanding to be set free. We did. And it was good. The wind picked up and we dashed through the waves. Michael was driving for a spell and hit 10.12 knots for a brief bit. Steady 8s for a looong time.
One thing I noticed about Appa is she makes no noise whilst at speed. Most boats I have been on like to talk when they are going at hull speed or above. My bud's Irwin 38 Avocet would start to sing at 7 knots. Full on opera sounding voice would emanate from the hull. Loudest in the aft cabin where I was sleeping. Startling at first. My past boats Slide and Hooked would hum gently when they were moving fast. My step father's tri hull would have a geyser of water shoot straight up from the rudder area and also hum. Only Avocet sings. But Appa does nothing. Picks up her skirt and runs.
So today is Friday. We are past half way now. Everyone is in the routine. Seasickness is a thing of the past. So is catching fish evidently. We are reefing the boat without thinking about it. Take down of the spinnaker was easy peasy. Shout out to Max for fixing the rip and actually packing the chute in the bag correctly. No wraps. Yay Maxey!!!
Here's our location for the internet impaired. N18 31.975 W 133 14.987
We are averaging 155-160 miles a day. Not bad for having a reef in the main most of the time. Triple reefed yesterday with the spinnaker up. We aren't racing. We are traveling. Going easy on the boat is the name of the game. Get to Hawaii in one piece cause I have to turn around and do another 2600 miles. Like my cruising guide says, "Any boat can sail TO Hawaii, only real boats can make it back."
We have sailed all but a very small portion of the trip. Maybe 3 hours total so far. We have made 55 gallons of water and are making more right now. The food has been simply amazing. We are going to try and make bread again today. Pot roast was yesterday and meatloaf!!!!!!!! today. Not Kathy's meatloaf but it will do. Ever since Michael mentioned meatloaf I've been thinking of Kathy's meatloaf. There are certain things I miss back home and that is one of them.



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From the rockin' of the cradle...

Got up yesterday at 0700 or so. Ally is on watch. Pitch black outside. We haven't changed our clocks yet and we are still on Cabo time. The wind is light from the NNE and Appa is gurgling along at 6 knots touching 7 at times. I thought some coffee would be a good start to the day. Two scoops of Nestle Instant in my cup and some hot water from the kettle. I'm sitting happy. I know that coffee makes me jittery and even more unpleasant than usual but I decide to have another cup. I don't really like coffee though. I like the routine, the grown-upness about it. I have never felt particular adult-like but when I have a cup of coffee in front of me, I start to think of myself as I little bit more mature. The feeling doesn't last long thankfully.
The ocean swell is a beastly thing, using every opportunity to hamper movement, food prep, and sleep. Just prior to going to bed the previous night a swell, out of nowhere, attacked me at the helmstation. Just me. We were all up in the cockpit and I was the only one who got punished. The swells are getting bold I tell you. And smart. Soon they will be changing our course on the autopilot. They already are moving my tools. In fact one of them launched a squid into my bunk through a very small porthole. Laying in bed, I roll over and swore something was tickling me. Shook it off as boat noise and motion. Got up in the morning and there, smashed into the sheets is a dead squid. Part of his tentacles were on my back. Nice. Evil waves. Poor squid.
I've been thinking about my dad on this trip to Hawaii. My dad and my Uncle Gordon. I don't know if my dad ever had plans to get to the Pacific but I know his boat was ready to go for the Caribbean. He's been dead now, what 4 years? Jen got pregnant with Sam and we found out in the very beginning of September 2010. My dad died just before I found out about the impending arrival of Sam. Sam is now 4. Good God. Sam told me she couldn't wait to turn 5 that way, when showing people how old she was, she could use her thumb also.
My brother recently bought a J105. It is a raceboat. He plans on campaigning it in Lake Michigan with his family serving as crew. Maybe a ringer thrown into the crew mix. I'm flying out to Chicago mid-August to race with him. My religious views are still being developed so I'll spare this blog any ramblings on the subject but I want to believe that Gordon and Arne will see my brother and I sailing that boat like they taught us.
Open ocean sailing makes me...wistful.
We had light winds last night but still sailed on. The winds also clocked more and made for a dreadful ride. The waves were slapping the hull of Appa in joy at our discomfort. For one week the boat has been heeled over at approximately 15 degrees to port. All the while being shook by the evil waves. Our food and stuff have all found equilibrium in the holds of the boat. Then the swell started to rock us back and forth. 15 degrees to port and then 15 to starboard. Couple of times we had some 30 degree rolls. Now our stuff is sliding back and forth in the cabinets, lockers, bilge. To quote another book, sounds like a burglary gone bad.
First World problems, eh?
OK. Enough of this blogging for now. We have to get this spinnaker rigged. I think. Maybe I'll let the crew sleep. Boat motion is a tad better. A well rested crew...






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Day.....what day is it?

Blue. That is all I see is blue. This deep cobalt carpet rolling under us as we glide to Hawaii I have only seen waaay offshore. Others much more eloquent than me have written about the color of the ocean so I'll leave it to them. I will say one thing though, if you could capture this color, the feel of it, the history of it, the underlying deepness of it, you would really have something. I suppose it is better for the color to stay out here. Makes it all the more special. If you think of it, not many people has seen this color. The blue of the ocean a thousand miles off land cannot be appreciated from an airplane or dare I say it, a ship. You have to be among the waves to really see it. I am planning a stop when we are halfway and I am going swimming. Once around the boat.
So I have clearly lost my mind as the proofread the above paragraph. Lots of thinking going on in our heads.
The crew is getting along well and seasickness has departed us. Ally is back among the living and Amie has perked up.
Michael is self-appointed chef and we have been having some amazing meals. Yesterday we had bean and ham soup with coleslaw, the day before mac and cheese side dish (Ally's favorite and it was her 14th birthday!!) with fresh yellow fish tuna baked with mangoes and then potato skins. Today is casserole day I think. I've been doing the dishes.
We watched a movie last night. "Snatch". Seen it before but it was fun to see again.
The wind has mellowed and we are running on a beam to broad reach in about 13 knots of wind and we have 6-7 knots of boat speed. We are trying to head a bit south as when we get within one thousand miles of Hawaii the winds start to clock and we will be running with it. Our plan is to get south and when the wind turns we don't have to run dead downwind for it is a frustrating point of sail. We are averaging 150-160 miles a day and are taking it easy on the boat. Had two reefs in the main for the first 3 days and a partially rolled jib. Only yesterday did we "unleash the hounds" and let Appa run under full sail. Two more weeks of this and I don't want to break the boat so we take it easy.
The motion on the boat has gotten much better. The waves are more or less off our beam and no longer attempting to board us. Pretty crazy there for a couple days. Brian says of the waves "You can roll but please, no chop!" So far so good.
We are about 700 miles into this thing. The first couple of days it was hard to find the beauty. Now I am appreciating the chance to do this and realize it is NOT an ordeal but a gift. It is a gift from my wife and kids to allow me to do this. I love them and miss them.
Well, I am going to download weather files to see what is what. I hear there is another tropical disturbance down south and east of us. Shouldn't concern us but you never know.