Passage to Alaska Part 2

Time: 2021/07/03 02:00:33
Latitude: 24-28.50N
Longitude: 160-9.00E
Speed: 5.0
Course: 340T
AWA 70 deg
AWS 20 kt
Comment: Some squalls, waves 1.5-2M from the E. Progressing towards 40N/165E but plan to turn E as winds allow.,


Here we go again. We had a fabulous 17 days in Hawaii, mostly spent in Waikiki Yacht Club in Honolulu where we were able to get loads of work done on Maple as well as meet new people, spend too much money on shopping and do a small amount of touristy stuff. We left the marina on June 28 and enjoyed a calm, easy overnight sail to Hanalei Bay at the north end of Kauai. It was lovely to be at anchor again in a stunning anchorage surrounded by lush green mountains. However, our time there was very short lived. We are losing precious days of summer in Alaska so it is time to get moving north again. And so here we are. We left Hanalei on July 1st at 1pm local time and it has been a fast, rollercoaster ride since leaving the shelter of the bay.

I will admit that I was really hoping for a repeat of our overnight sail to Kauai. Clear starry skies and calm seas. But alas, it is not meant to be apparently. We have managed to cover 128nm in the first 24 hours which is speedy for pokey little Maple considering she has three reefs in her main and one reef (at times two or more) in her jib. The seas have only continued to build over those 24 hours and most of the crew have endured more than their share of unwanted saltwater showers as white water crashes repeatedly into the cockpit. Sigh. I will admit that I am kind of over this whole upwind sailing thing. But I am just going to have to put on my big girl panties, grit my teeth and get the next 2100nm sailed regardless of what the weather and seas have to say about it. I am grateful for my new foul weather gear that I was able to buy while in Hawaii, it is already being put to good use.

One of many ways we parted with our money while in Hawaii is we bought a replacement computer for the one that kicked the bucket as we neared Honolulu. To further complicate things, we also switched programs that we use for connecting to the SSB to send email as the previous program was misbehaving. It meant having to import the address book, which to me is always a bit hit and miss if all the info transferred correctly. So here is hoping this email actually sends and is received as intended.

All is well with the crew. We all managed to get our sea legs back much quicker than when we left Tahiti so that is good news. We always love hearing from people, just a reminder to please either start a new email or be sure to erase my original email before sending a reply. And I know many of you have already found out the hard way, but Winlink does have rules against swearing over the public airwaves. I love how many of our friends admitted to getting their knuckles wrapped by Winlink for sending an email with "inappropriate language", clearly we are friends with a lot of sailors or sailors-at-heart. :)