04-15 Leave Westport and return

At 3 am the night before, we lost power, and even after shutting everything down, the engine died just after we crossed the bar. This is because the fuel pump and solenoid need power to keep the engine running, and although there were two alternators on the engine (one for the start battery and one for the house bank), they share a regulator. This means the electric heads don’t work, the stove is down because the solenoid needs power to open the line. We then sailed back and forth until a boat came out to tow us in. I was tempted to sail the boat in because I know the marina well, and the wind was favorable, but fishing boats were coming and going, and the entrance was tight with poor visibility. This is a tough one because part of me knows I can get the boat on the dock without the tow and save the owner some money, but part of me knows that if I’m coming in and there is a collision, I’m liable as the licensed captain. This is the question of “can you” vs “should you”. I spoke at length with Capt Ray McCormack (link below) after he sunk a boat in Mexico about this issue exactly. It is easy to see yourself as many customers do, ie: “get a boat from A to B, whatever the risk, despite whatever stops working”. I want to help however my skills allow, but the primary reason I’m hired to move the boat is to make prudent decisions and only “cowboy” and ”jury rig” when all other options have been exhausted.

Once in we speak with an electrician at Balmar and learn that the Alternator went out of production 25 years ago. He advises us to clear the regulator’s computer by switching the battery type to lead acid and then back to lithium. This is easier said than done. To keep their regulators resistant to the marine environment, the components are encased in resin so you have to use a special Balmar screwdriver with a little magnet on the back to cycle through the menu while referring to the manual. We run a dockside test, and it appears to be charging.

Cast off at 10

Minus amps found just before the bar after working fine last night at the dock.

Did some extra work at the dock while trying to coordinate a new alternator ASAP.

Fixed the batten on the stack pack.

Pad eye for lee cloth aft installed

Tuned lowers

Watered up

Tightened belts 

Fueled up

Fix of oil manifold noted leak

Noted leak of coolant 

New alternator coming 

04-14 birthday offshore and heading back in

20 miles off

We are running down the meandering 70 fathom line (420 feet) to avoid crabbing gear. I know this is the depth most likely safe from fouling our prop because I spoke to my friend Capt Lars fishes this coastline to ask about were the “gear” was.

He has also advised us to stay in the shipping lane if we approach West Port as opposed to the smaller boat channel to the south of the shipping lane. This is because the boats that catch the gear and continue into port deposit these pots in the shallower water of the channel. This too proves to be good councel. 

I decide to head for West Port for fuel and to let the bigger seas subside. 

1:30 am no pots sighted 

We need to cross the bar in the daylight flood because of pots the next bar we can make in this time frame is Newport but I think it will put us in 13 footers

Finding the Starlink is propping coverage well inside the 20 mile limit the plan we have is supposed to cover.

All really fun stuff happens offshore at 3 am..

The boat is proving to be a bit of a broach coach.

The winds forecast haven’t appeared 

Supposed to be 20 now

Need to regain some faith in the boat 

3am

Lost charging from alternators. This means no toilets or LPG (stove) and eventualy the engine dies..

4-13 cast off (again)

Doing 8+ now 6:50 riding an ebb.

Well, it’s been almost a week of tribulation and hard work from the crew and others to get us back on the water. We have experienced a number of mechanical issues since we got to the boat and are very glad to be underway. Special thanks to the crew of Salty Boys Boat Works and family for dropping everything and coming out to replace the transmission of this newly purchased boat. This expensive mishap certainly demonstrates the importance of getting a mechanical survey from a trusted mechanic prior to buying a boat and or planning a passage of any distance. 

We set aside just over two weeks for this delivery to LA. We have eaten up a lot of that time working on the boat. If weather cooperates, we may still make it in our allotted time. But if not, we will do everything we can to get as close to the destination as possible. This crew has raised to the occasion making up for the boat’s deficiencies. I can say I am deeply honored to call these gentleman shipmates. Over these last days at any given time there were three projects underway at once and while the owner was complaining about the cost, having professionals do this work instead of volunteers would have been very expensive. Currently, we are motoring in positive current out straight up, Juan De Fuca in sunshine and light breeze, the new transmission is working beautifully and spirits are high. The forecast on the coast has shown weather beginning to settle into Westerly whereas only a few weeks ago we were seeing Southerly‘s of Gale force with some regularity. Pilot charts that show the statistical probability of different wind directions at strengths showed a marked difference between the historical weather for March and April. Originally the owner had wanted us to take the boat south in March, but I said we have a better chance of favorable weather in April. I had been watching it closely ever since wondering if the statistical data representing April or March was based on mid month or the beginning. 

Tomorrow is my birthday and I couldn’t imagine a better bunch of gentlemen to spend with doing something we all love.

I get a lot of pleasure out of putting Crews like these together and introducing these shipmates of mine to each other.

I have been so busy putting out fires that I had to keep pushing back a scheduled zoom interview with a past customer who is an example of a customer who is now a close shipmate and one of the best things about this work. He was a delivery customer who is now in the South Pacific cruising on the boat I helped him and his partner move many years ago now. Hopefully, we will get time to have our catch up call soon. Some of this crew have sailed with him and it would be nice to have a reunion of sorts if only through our Starlinks.

Tatoosh Island and the furthest NW point of the lower 48.

04-12 PT

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10 o’clock finding out the wrong dampener plate was picked up using the old dampener plate which is oversized and would void the warranty.

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Trans cooler (dunzo)

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Part of the boat’s former exhaust line.

new gear

Full court press on running new gear cables and a broken bolt to put it past dinner time.

Madison Rawley

HarRai Khalsa

Tom Muir

Some think that “PT” stands for Port Townsend but I know it stands for Pizza Town.

Boy are still working on drilling out broken screw in upper cable mount at 7

04-11 transmission gives out and we retreat to PT

Pt

9 am after an awesome breakfast at the Blue Moose (one of the two restaurants inside the boat yard) and back to boat to measure the transmission and use the photo rpm gauge to confirm the gear ratio.

Found the rpm confirming what the surveyor noted (not sure sure how he did this as the trans cooler was mounted the the ID plate).

Rick called to confirm that the transmission was what was on survey and asked for pictures of the trans cooler 

Jamie said through hull was loose and pack gland bellows were not set right.

A thorough mechanical survey would have caught that this was the original transmission with an adaptor mating it to an engine of twice the recommended horsepower.

Rick impressed the crew by the speed with which his team removed this transmission from its tiny cramped space and impressed them just as much by jumping to the dock from the deck with it in hand.

Salty Boy’s Boat Works (dream team)

“Miles” apprentice

Cool kids table. Sirens next!

04-10 PA work and cast

8am at it

Parts pick up

The new port running light is installed by Tom. Max and I do the dockside set up on the autopilot and we head out to do the sea trial calibration. 

I move to inspecting some of the chafe spots Tom is concerned about. I had noticed that the spinnaker halyards showed chafe where they had been allowed to hit the spreaders, but hadn’t been concerned about it myself. Tom ran his own rigging company for 15 years, so I listened to him and ran a messenger so we could get a better look before going up (on one of them) on the starboard spinnaker halyard to inspect the rig. The chafe was barely into the cover, and it was core dependent line, but I’m glad I went aloft because the U bolt that held the spinnaker halyard block to the masthead crane had a nut that was in the process of spinning off, and I was effectively hanging on one nut.

The most dangerous job here is going to a hight you wouldn’t survive a fall from. The second most dangorous job is being under a person working. I use lanyards when I can but never pull a tool out until people below are clear.

We cast off with hard won confidence and by 14:30 the transmission starts slipping out.  We disconnect the cable from the transmission to confirm that it wasn’t because it just wasn’t engaging all the way and find that it was and that the transmission was just failing. 

Slipped again, then tried extending the arm by removing the binnacle attach point and adding quarter inch throw, then tried removing entirely and pushing arm all the way down.

Tom looked up the Hurth transmission finding that “when they go they go” Rick confirmed and added that they don’t bother rebuilding the kind we had. 

We turn back dejected but happy to use the now building Southwesterly that the 30 knot coastal winds is bringing us. We are fighting an ebb and the chop gives us a taste of of how the boat will preform in the ocean with a following breeze…I bit of a “tiltin hilton” but not quite a “broach coach”.

I inform owner that Rick can get a new one installed at emergency rate the following day and have us back on the water in a day or two. The owner agrees and we sail past PA for Port Townsend. I call Odin a shipmate and rigger college that lives aboard in Boat Haven that we may have to sail in to advise on wind strength in the harbor and if the outside linear dock is clear and ask if he will be around to lend a hand if its windy when we may have to dock undersail. He says it only 10 knots in the marina, the dock is clean, and offers to come out if we need a hand. 

PT is a more convenient place for the repair and a more interesting place to spend free time.. that free time unfortunately never presents itself at least to this captain. (He does find time for a slice of his much loved Waterfront Pizza and a pint at the Sirens bar.)

04-09 PA work

PA work

In the engine room we found that the custom alternator bracket that the former owner had made was missing one of its four bolts and that there was an air line used to connect the coolant reservoir and that subsequently coolant had been leaking on the starter terminals.

We consult Rick from Salty Boys Boat Works and he advises we buy a manual oil pressure gauge so we can confirm our oil pressure. We do and it is high so high that he is concerned about our success. I call Ben Stickle from Cook Engine in Portland for a second opinion and he recommends we get the engine hot and add diesel to the oil for the last few minutes of running and change the oil. The old was changed (allegedly) along with the impeller. There is no sign of this as there is no date written on the oil filter.  We buy oil and a filter and borrow an oil change pump from the gentlemen at the marina office and change the oil. They advise us to put in an order at fisheries before 3 so anything we need is there in the morning. 

While I was doing this, Madison and Tom had started to clean the terminals on the starter.  Max was checking the deck plugs to see if the spotlight worked, and Har Rai was removing the plug from the main halyard’s electric mast winch. 

After cleaning the terminals and running the engine, Madison noticed that the coolant cap was leaking. So we added a cap to the list. Fortunatel,y this is not a special Perkins part and it was easily sourced locally. 

Order

Cable

Light

Filter?

Oil?

Get an oil change 

Did see a trial test on autopilot, finding the dockside insulation was not done after the oil change, finding 59 psi at 

We had another full day and a the oil change and flush reduced the psi to 59 at wot from at cruise 70 at cruise RPM.

04-08

PA

In the morning I head up to the marina office to speak with Ryan the harbormaster about the situation and ask if there is a mechanic he can recommend. I offer to pay the day’s moorage and he’s says that we better wait and see how long it takes. I make a joke about leaving broken boats in his marina that has a 5 year wait list to get into. This is a bad idea because I guess he forgot that the 44 foot Pearson I left for the owner to pick up after he got the fuel issue taken care of last year is still there. He tells me the owner said he would get it out of there the last time he saw him when he settle up for his previously accrued transient moorage but hadn’t heard from him since. Ryan went on to say that it was going to be a surprise when he came to pay again. I felt especially responsible because Har Rai was on that delivery too and it was looking like we were in a similar boat with a bunch of deferred maintenance to contend with on top of a challenging coastline. 

I call Jon Palmer who is a shipmate I’ve spend many hours with offshore who lives in PA and he lends us a drill and drives us around to get parts. He is still in a cast which is the reason he couldn’t join on this delivery. 

Tom in the anchor locker testing connections.

An air hose was used in the closed cooling system which was leaking onto the starter (foreshadowing!)

The starter in question

One of the two terminals showing corrosion from coolant leak.

The mechanics show up at by noon and get to work trying to diagnose the issues with the gauges and coolant leak while the crew get to work on the other issues. 

Tom gets into the anchor locker to diagnose if it is the port LED light that is only working intermittently or if its hat wiring. There are several short wires with non waterproof butt connectors used in the short run from the anchor locker bulkhead to the exit at the deck. The through deck fittings are leaking on both sides. The windless wires are the best looking part of the electrical system we have seen. That said the ground tackle is minimal. A 45 pound CQR is on a 50 foot run of chain. I told the owner that this was minimal and consistent with the boats history as a race boat and would be something he would want to remedy before going cruising but that we could adapt our plan to on the delivery. This is meaning we will plan to dock instead of wait out weather at anchor.. if we had to do so. (Something that was a consideration later in the passage. Tom and I discussed the possibility of weathering a blow at Port Orford and that the ground tackle would not be reliable. 

We had been using the water speed indicator to guess cruising RPM and found that it was off so Max and I removed it and see if it had growth. We had Madison our resident filmographer document this as it is a harrowing thing to behold seeing how much water can come in through a 1.5 inch hole in the hull three feet below waterline for the few seconds it is out and before the dummy plug is in. 

The “speedo” showed no growth to speak of so there is some other issue with it.

One of the many missing bolts we will find.. or not find. (the custom bracket cantilevered off the front of the engine to mount the 100 amp alternator and fridge compressor. PRO TIP: GET A MECHANICAL SURVEY BEFORE YOU BUY A BOAT.

In the back of John’s truck on a mission to get hardware in one of the less walkable towns one might have to do so. No complaints on that front.

Is this the real oil pressure or an issue with the sender of gauge? We did an oil change and added a little diesel to flush the old oil and installed a manual oil pressure gauge. Pressure did read high on manual gauge and came down after oil change. Many instances on this delivery of the virtue of simple design rather than not simple.

Obligatory masthead selfie. Note that the Ubolt the starboard spin halyard in on that i am hanging from had a nut that had almost backed off entirely. The guys sent up some lock tight and a wrench so we could use the spinnaker further down the coast.

You never know how much your boat is just barely holding together. Thats why you need a crew thats bad ass.

Headsail halyards were left where they could chafe on the spreaders. PRO TIP: GET A RIGGING SURVEY BEFORE YOU BUY A BOAT.

Anacortes to LA Cast off 04-07

Tom arrived the night before to find an otter had defecated in the cockpit, requiring him to stay up and sanitize the cockpit. (Later, we learn that the cockpit drain’s hose clamps were loose and had introduced smelly water into the aft cabin)

Tom also checked the running lights and found the port light wasn’t working. I had checked this previously, and it was working weeks before, so we had an intermittent short somewhere in the anchor locker or a faulty light. This is common because this area is often wet and salty and therefore a terrible environment for electrical connections. 

This is what too much food looks like.

Crew arrives with food, and the forecast looks like we will have a lot of wind if we wait to depart the following morning. It also looks like we might have to try and get down the Washington coast and in before a forecast southerly hits, so we plan to cast off just before the fuel dock closes instead of the following day.

From my log

Headsail on at the fuel dock (I had taken all the sails I thought we would need to the sail loft in town for a survey where they found that the headsail’s sun cover was ready for replacement.)

Fueled up with 73 gallons (Forward most fuel deckfill is dead-ended and we just filled the fill hose. (Will have to empty later.) Yay

Left from the fuel dock at 5:15 pm

No tachometer

No oil pressure (or not believable oil pressure reading)

Only oil pressure alarm and temp gauge working.. yay

Throttle slipping at 6:00 yay

Throttle not allowing full rpm at 6:20

Found that there was fuel starvation from the loose routing of fuel lines coming off the fuel filters mounted to the swinging door back of steps. Vac gauge recorded vacuum, and we are now closing the engine room door while watching from the side panel access. 

Autopilot is not working. Was allegedly dock programmed and was only needing sea trial set up. Will have to do this later. 

The throttle slips from our estimated cruising RPM because the fuel governor’s spring is too loaded. We have jury-rigged a wire to hold the throttle handle at the desired RPM at the binnacle. The former owner used clamps to put pressure on the throttle cables in two places, and it has resulted in allowing moisture into the cable housing and their subsequent deterioration. We don’t know the RPM as the tachometer is not functioning so using speed through water.

Speed through water not accurate..

There is an oil pressure solenoid manifold running off a splitter at the original oil pressure sender that houses two additional senders. It is leaking a little oil. We are watching this.

As we head to Port Angeles guest dock for the night the transmission slips out of gear.

Making the weather window is out of the question now so we will need to address what we can in Port Angelies.

Owner is updated and offers the crew a per deim for the work necessary the next day.

Oil solenoid manifold

One of the clamps on the throttle cables

Anacortes to LA Stevens 47

Unfortunately, this delivery was one of the most eventful deliveries I’ve ever done…now that I say that, so many memories come to mind of more traumatizing deliveries. I should clarify that this was “eventful” in that there were several debilitating mechanical failures. There were so many mechanical failures that the passage took three times as long as expected. The positive aspects were that we didn’t get bad weather and that the boat was delivered to the owner with a bunch of work done that they would have had to do or discover on their own.

One of the unfortunate things about this delivery was that because my crew and I were so busy “putting out fires,” we had little energy to write about it underway, which had been my plan originally—something that motivated me to spring for a Starlink before leaving, which nonetheless proved very handy. As always, I want to share sea stories and logbook quotes that are educational for those who are interested in pursuing sailing or passagemaking of this kind. I want to be entertaining enough to maintain readers' attention but concise enough not to waste time. As hard as this was for the owner, who had to pay quite a lot of money expediting repairs, there were many valuable lessons to be shared in this passage. I hope that we can transmute some of that frustration into an educational yarn.

I was contacted well before the delivery, which is nice because I can gather the best crew possible. The boat was located in Anacortes and near me, which allowed me to see it beforehand, another big plus. Another big plus was that the owner wanted to do things right and was willing to pay for it, sadly, something that people don’t do enough.

Whenever I'm asked to move a newly bought boat out of the San Juans, I encourage people to use the vessel while it’s in this amazing cruising ground first. The new owner was amenable to that, and we discussed covering some of the ASA material and getting him certified to the Bareboat Cruising level while it was in the NW. Now I know what some are thinking: why isn't he already a certified or an otherwise capable skipper? While I strongly recommend people learn first and then look for a boat, many don’t do this, and there are lots of reasons for this. This boat buyer was purchasing a boat that he was planning to live on first and foremost, and then, by the time he retired, be at the level necessary to sail away.

Unfortunately, work got in the way of our shakedown cruise, and we had to focus on the delivery. This is expensive because owners pay for two slips until the crew can depart. Originally, we had spoken about leaving in March, but statistically speaking, the difference between March and April for finding favorable winds is distinct. So I told the owner we could cast off in March, but we may have to wait on the weather once the crew gets together. This could result in several “lay days” waiting for weather, and worst case: having to recrew the boat in a semi-remote place. This makes transportation expensive and hard to find a good crew on short notice, once there is a weather window and the boat is ready.

All that said and we decided on the beginning of April to depart. I'm so glad that we did because there were southerly gales all through March, and even the week before we left, I was watching what was a substantial Southerly was forecast to come in right as we were planning to head South around Cape Flattery.

As I mentioned, I had a lot of lead time to put together a great crew. It was a group of gentlemen that I knew would get along and complement each other’s skills well, and would be good company for each other. Unfortunately, one dropped out a week before departure, and that is never good, but part of the reason I try to bring a larger crew if we can accommodate it. Telling the crew that while these numbers seem excessive, I do it to make up for the fact that we can not rely on their participation. This means that “life happens” and people have to cancel, but it is also important because people get sick and often can't hold their watches, and the others have to cover. The flipside of this is that there is more food to cook, water to bring, and a bigger load on the head....oh, and work for me to coordinate.

Tom, Madison (Mad Dog) Har Rai, Max and Me. (If Mad Dog looks like he just woke up you would be right.) Charleston Fuel Dock

The crew

Tom Muir: retired captain, engineer, rigger, and instructor. Someone I met working at Seattle Sailing Club so many years ago, when he was head of maintenance for their 40-boat fleet. Tom was going to be the first mate and was glad to come along and not be the captain. Also, he is from southern Cali and looking forward to getting some family visits and surfing in once down south.

Madison Rowley: former crew aboard the tall ship Lady Washington and one of my first junior sail students when I was teaching at Island Sailing Club in Portland. I think I was 19 or 20, and he was 14. Madison and I reconnected years after the JR Camp, and he crewed on my Merit 25 and Moore 24 in their respective campaigns.

HarRai Khalsa: a friend of Madison's and former delivery crew and friend who had recently hired me to help him find a boat for his slip in Hood River.

Max Heckscher: An alumnus of the Griffin Bay Adventure advance programs, Max proved to be such a great hand in the class that he took from Me and Tom Muir on Tom’s 53-foot Andrews, that I asked if he wanted to join my crew on an Oregon Offshore race we did in 2022? A boat owner and conveniently between jobs, Max is the paradigm of an invaluable shipmate offshore. Always engaged where we are. His dedication to doing what needs to be done without instruction is such a help when my brain is swimming in the decision-making process, weighing risks.

Second interview with GBA instructor Erden Eruc regarding prep for the Golden Globe

Erden Eruc interview part 2

In this the second interview with Capt Eruc we discus his progress preparing the boat for the coming race around the world. Most notable is the discussion around the need to sail and navigate the boat with antiquated materials and technology. Celestial navigation, weather fax, single sideband all present real challenges coming from the modern sailors background where weather routing and satellite communication all make things so much more efficient.

1966 44’ Pearson Countess Port Townsend to Portland

It's almost one in the morning and blowing 15 to 20 knots from the West as we approach the shelter of Neah Bay. There is a reef in our lee and I don’t want to back off on the throttle because the engine is surging. We are doing 6 knots which is also uncomfortable. Im looking at the boat’s chart plotter that is out of arms reach on a ram mount in the companionway and a more detailed zoom on the chart on my phone. The phone is bright so I close one eye to look at it so I don't destroy my night vision on the moonless night. Im looking for the flashing bouy lights and for the solid color from any boats underway coming or going. There's red lights on the cars driving through the reservation on the shore road that send false alarms to my brain. Once out of the swell and chop from the strait, the crew begin to put out fenders as we prepare to dock. Once we are abreast of the Coast Guard station I back the throttle off and the engine promptly dies sending us drifting silently into the bay. I put it in neutral and go to start it up again and the engine’s instrument panel goes black with a quiet click. Somewhere a fuse has blown but there is no time to track the fuse holder down or a fuse to replace it. I run forward to the anchor to find the chain jammed in the mouse hole where it comes out of the deck. I asked one of the crew to lift the headsail that is lying on the Kedge anchor (secondary anchor), undo its lashing, pull 10 feet of chain out of its mouse hole, and send the anchor uncontrolled into the dark water and set the anchor alarm on an app on my phone.

Keenly aware we are anchored in the channel right off the Coast Guard station I head below to get to work on restarting. I remove the filter; it is black, and so is the fuel that pours out of it into the cup I have to hold it in. I then sent a crewmember on deck to unlash the diesel can to prime the filter and then I tried to jump the starter solenoid with a screwdriver but it was in an awkward spot- shortly after I found the fuse holder and spare fuses and restarted the engine. Me and the crew’s confidence in the boat is seriously affected and we head into the dock ready for the engine to die at any moment but the engine room is open and another fuse is ready. We approach the transient dock and I direct the crew to shine my spotlight on the dock to see the bolts I know stick out of at least 60 feet of the dock section. We land on a spot near a power pylon. A jittery recap begins through the companionway and I instruct the crew to close the door and come bellow so we can retain the heat from the previously open engine compartment. It's warm for the moment and we settle in for the night. The Vbirth is the only proper berth available the second best is the settee that makes up part of a typical U-shaped main saloon (now wet from a leaking hatch). I take the floor and an owner-provided camping mattress. I struggle with the zipper on my lightweight sleeping bag for a moment while I question the decision to bring the light bag and the general life choices that have led me there. Zipper breaks and I go to sleep.

A superstitious person would be concerned. A captain that sent a provision briefing regarding a no banana policy would as well.

Another but lesser know item not allowed aboard.

'The night is dark and full of terror"

Stainless chain looks much better than galvanized chain however it does cost more. Someone tried to get around this by shackling a 3 foot piece of stainless to 200 feet of chain. Unfortunately a shackle between these sections makes deploying the anchor difficult…perhaps even more so in an emergency. Fortunately the kedge anchor (spare) deployed easily

One of the nicest parts of the boat but sadly this seemingly benign scene hides a 2 gallon black water tank made from a 2.5 gallon water container. The container was attached to the blackwater y valve and ether blew off when the head was used the first time or was off when we got to it. Needless to say it was another thing the surveyor missed.

When heading offshore or perhaps anywhere one should be able to “dog” the foredeck hatch. This boat had no way to do this properly so we used a ratchet strap and a fender. File under “Things the surveyor missed”

In the morning I looked at the weather and discussed the situation with the crew. There was little or no wind in the forecast and 10-foot seas building to 15 by the time we were expecting to arrive at the bar if we were delayed much more. If the tanks and fuel were foul we would be looking at going through all the filters we had on board in the rolly beam sea conditions and the possibility of having to bleed air from the system which presented another issue. The engine has an unconventional fuel delivery design making bleeding the injectors hard. If filters clog and create suction in the fuel lines and then air can be pulled into the fuel system. This sometimes requires bleeding the air. The tools aboard were limited for this kind of work. The crew had lost confidence in the seaworthiness of the boat.

Seeking another opinion I called some mechanic friends of mine about the state of the fuel and tanks trying to get a sense of what we could expect moving forward. The boat is from the 60s and the tanks looked original. Over an inch of rust on the tops of both tempted me to see if I could easily poke a screwdriver through the tank. My friend Rick from Salty Boys Boat Works says he can head out and polish the fuel. This generous offer from a family man on a Sunday is not lost on me but it would put our passage in the way of big seas coming in from storms offshore.

I called the owner and reluctantly told him that we were not going to be able to proceed with the original plan with this new information. He is apologetic and understanding. After I discussed our exit strategy with the crew as some research had already been underway we found that it was going to take us 5 hours to get back to Port Angeles so we discussed whether it was safe to take the boat back at least as far as Port Angeles. There is wind forecast in the strait so sailing is an option and there is little or no chop in the strait. The guys are keen to salvage the trip and make up for all the time to get to the boat. There is not much of anything in Neah Bay and Port Angeles would have options for polishing and transportation to and fro.

We run this by the owner and decide to head back. We sailed most of the day and as frustrating as it was, the engine didn’t clog the filter. I believe this is because we were not stirring the sediment in the tanks up or that the engine service that was supposedly performed right before the departure never happened and there were many hours on the filter.

The only one way rental out of PA that day was a 20 foot Uhaul. Bringing a 6 person liferaft brings piece of mind offshore but seriously hampers travel ashore.

Day 16 Landfall

Well, we made it.

The true measure of a successful journey is when the crew wants to hang out afterward. These long passages can strain even the closest relationships. Just because you are friends with someone doesn’t mean that you would make good shipmates. This makes “shipmates” a special kind of friendship. Let us sail to sail again and build relationships that take us hundreds of miles together gracefully.

Day Fifteen

VIVACE HAWAII - SITREP 2024-07-13 - EVENING WATCH REPORTING - FINAL (HOPEFULLY)

CREW HIGHLIGHTS: Reaching the end of the delicious meal plan established and primarily executed by Kirill, Craig whipped up breakfast burritos with chorizo and eggs for breakfast while Kirill practiced the art of bread making with a guiding hand from Iain. Piping hot seafood chowder for lunch with the last of the salmon, accompanied by chunks of Kirill's first successful peasant loaf, fresh from the oven. For dinner thawed and baked off the frozen lasagna that had been the cold "anchor" in the on-deck cooler. Our first taste of cheese in days!

CONDITIONS: Winds have remained 15-20 knots from the east, good for consistent sailing but the course has proved uncomfortable with persistent oscillating direction and rolling waves over the past three days. Crew have endured with minimal  grumbling but it's not the downhill sleigh ride we might have enjoyed if the down-the-coast route had looked palatable earlier in the voyage. 

While we were dealt a challenging hand with the unusual wind patterns, the ambitious calculated route threading through the low pressure was frustratingly unachievable in part due to our reliance on the vessel's "out of the box" performance polars. These describe how the boat should perform, in terms of speed and wind angles, and allows weather routing routines to put us "in the right place at the right time". Taking the generic polars and tuning them for this specific vessel and crew would have taken quite a bit of practice time, with this crew sailing the boat in varied conditions and on all possible sail configurations. In practice this activity is more available to crews who regularly sail together on the same vessel, and a cruising vessel would be strongly advised to make the effort before relying on generic polars. For our delivery crew who had one quick shake-down sail, it might be best to stick to the "south till the butter melts, then turn right" route. If the winds allow.

HOPES AND DREAMS: As of this writing, just over 60 nautical miles remaining to waypoint "ALOHA", the northern entrance to Kane'ohe Bay on the North-East side of the island of Oahu. Planning to make landfall at first light on 14/July.

GOINGS ON: Flurry of finishing course work for the American Sailing Association (ASA) in celestial navigation and offshore cruising. We've tried to document our work and practices to fortify and enhance the course material for future participants. Our ship's time remains in the Pacific Time Zone, but we've travelled so far west and south that dawn isn't until around 1000. There we have a detailed list of tasks to tidy and prep the boat, aiming to get Craig all set up to remain at anchor until his crew for the return voyage move aboard. The delivery crew will depart the ship at the fuel dock and make preparations to fly home.

Iain

Day Fourteen

Day fourteen and one more day to go! We are trying to pace ourselves so we arrive the morning of 14th because Kaneohe is a reef strewn shallow bay. I have been in there twice but would rather daylight to see reefs and get our bearings. We plan to fuel and clean the vessel once we arrive and leave Craig to get things sorted before his guests come on Tuesday. Today was rather uneventful other than some PILOT WHALES! Just after finishing dinner I thought I saw a shark (too much shark week as a kid) then we saw some big slashes in the distance and eventually identified them. Hard to explain how exiting that is when we have been our only company for so long. Iain and I also saw a beutiful long tailed sharp winged bird after the other watch went down. The closest I could find was a tropic bird. Some things cant replace a book. Bird books are one of those things that the internet cant substitute well. Okay enough complaining about this internet connection in the middle of nowhere.

Day Thirteen

Not much to say sports fans.

We finally convinced a fish to get on the hook but it took the hook and now we have nothing.

Overcast so not sun sights or Polaris and only excitement was getting the Gennaker in this evening. Now we are under jib and jigger (mizzen and staysail.)

Allswell

Until 4 am

Day Twelve

~~o~-

Sun glimmers on gentle waters
Sailors study on deck
Shade of a big white sail

~~o~-

Three sextants peer at horizon
Hunting for sun
Local area noon approaches

~~o~-

Tantalizing aroma engulfs the cabin
Crew in anticipation
Fresh bread in the oven

~~o~-

After a day of deep sleep
Wind goes back to work
Veer, back, veer, back
Forgot how to do it

~~o~-

A school of fish does a victory lap
Around white hull of the boat
“Try again tomorrow!”


- Kirill

Day Eleven

VIVACE HAWAII - SITREP 2024-07-09 - EVENING WATCH REPORTING

CONDITIONS: After the past couple days of beating hard up an unfavourable southerly wind, weathering 30 knot+ wind squalls, and eventually being left with empty, slatting sails as the wind died off, we've been motoring at our best endurance speed towards the high pressure easterly "trade winds" that will carry us the rest of the way to Hawaii. Hot and sunny weather with occasional rain squalls that bring a touch of wind and some temperature relief. Even the most stalwart pant-wearers are now in shorts 24/7.

CREW HIGHLIGHTS: Kirill started us off today with a delicious breakfast of syrniki pancakes while Iain baked off some bread. With the engine running 24/7 and the mercury rising, it's warm below decks. The wind was almost completely still after our delicious panini lunch so we decided to stop for a well-deserved recreation break. All hands (but not all at once) enjoyed a second swim in the 82F, 17000+ ft deep Pacific Ocean. Iain had a close encounter with an Albatross that landed to investigate the swimming "safety" bouy behind the boat. It looked like it meant business so we gave it a wide berth. Craig broke out his inflatable foiling wake board and fashioned a tow line and handle bar. Unfortunately either the small stature of the inflatable board, or more likely Iain's driving of the 55' sailboat-turned-ski-boat made it challenging to fully achieve lift-off. Kirill did his best to troll for fish but has disappointedly declared there must be none left in the Pacific, at least that won't bite at our home-made lures.

Fizzy mocktails! One of Craig's many galley improvements is a water fizzing station (CO2 injection) and a wide selection of concentrated artisanal flavour syrups. These powers combined with a little ice transform the ship's quite palatable plain tank water into delicious beverages that can be enjoyed at any hour. While hot tea or coffee was a popular kick-off for the bleary-eyed night watch, now it's all about the delicious iced drinks in the rapidly increasing temperatures.

HOPES AND DREAMS: The morning watch is excited that the wind should pick up by dawn and build throughout the day as we continue to make our way south, with forecasted ideal 15 knot conditions and a downhill sail for the rest of the voyage.

GOINGS ON: The recreation break afforded an excellent platform for celestial navigation practice in using the sextants to measure accurately the "solar noon", which allows us to (insert MATHS HERE) to calculate our position on the face of the earth. Practice makes progress, and combined with finally being able to measure some stars at dusk/dawn we're increasingly confident and noting an improvement in consistency. Backup navigation could probably be achieved. If it wasn't cloudy all the time. And if we had the precious worksheets and sight reduction tables.

The recreation break also afforded a test flight of a camera drone, finally resulting in a SpaceX-inspired capture-landing after the drone gained the self-awareness level and attitude of a toddler refusing to go to bed. Hovering 10 feet off the water but refusing to move as the boat drifted slowly away, we quickly pulled in the tow line, fired up the engine, and maneuvered underneath for a hand-capture off the starboard bow. Success with only minor injury.

Day Ten

Last night was the first of some pretty hard sailing. For 24hours in squalls up to 30 knots and lulls as low as 7knots we sailed. One hour I remember making only three miles and wind shifts of 50 degrees to add to it and in total darkness under hard downpours. More tacking than we have had to do far and all to reach a point we could comfortably motor or remaining range underpowered keeping a %30 reserve. 

We are motoring now and just finished the first night class of shooting Polaris. We haven’t had this much clear sky the whole trip. 

I think we all feel like we paid some dues last night and are actually appreciating motoring in flatter water so we can catch up on celestial navigation studies. 

Hopefully, we can get the line in the water tomorrow because I know Kirill would really like to cook something that’s not frozen.

Rhys

Day Nine

The only way to offset the discomfort of beating into 20 knots is to make Sous Vide steak diner.

The sweet downwind dream has passed for the moment.

We have a reach ahead so only a night of tacking.