Boisterous! Rambunctious! Gnarly!

Aloha All,

Moved from Kawaihae to Nishimura Bay yesterday. Picked up Clay’s son, Jonathan, at Mahukona Landing after anchoring. It’s just a short dinghy ride away from Nishimura Bay. Proved most fortuitous for Puanani.  Jonathan is a great asset and crew mate.

The winds at Nishimura were strong and gusting stronger. We were tucked in relatively close to shore so the water was calm. It did give as a prelude for what we were in store for the following day.

Enjoyed an awesome ribeye steak dinner aboard Makaòiòi before retiring to our vessel to get some rest. First thing the following morning, we transported Bo’s wife, Marcie, to Mahukona. We then completed preparations for crossing the Alenuihaha Channel. Once ready, we pulled anchor and hoisted sail. Maybe a bit too much sail.

We started with two reefs in the mainsail and a partially roller furled headsail. As soon as we hit the wind line we took off at a very good clip. All was great, we thought. The ocean hadn’t cast its vote up to that point. When the wind swell kicked in we quickly found ourselves overpowered.

We tried to hold on to it, thinking we would get the hang of steering efficiently through gusts and rogue waves. The auto pilot had given up shortly after the wind line. After too many “round ups” we decided to put in a third reef. You know what they say, right? The best time to put in a reef is before you need it. Great!

Anyway, Jonathan, a great sailor in his own right, put his father and I to work and we accomplished the third reef with little drama. Shoulda woulda coulda done this twenty miles back and made it easier on the vessel and crew from the get go. We gained an incredible amount of control with no discernible loss of speed.

6 hours later and we find ourselves anchored in La Perouse Bay on the southeastern tip of Maui. Max speed over ground was 13.6 knots. Max wind speed was 45 knots. Max wave height was ¿? I was too afraid to look back! 

Boisterous? Rambunctious? Gnarly? All of the above!

Time for a sandwich and a nap! Take care and stay well.
logan

Puanani Chasing Makao'io'i Across Alenuihaha Channel


Noodle Confidently Navigates Hawaii's Most Notorious Channel With Ease


La Perouse Bay In The Shadow of Haleakala


La Perouse Bay; Calm Water But Gusty Winds

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Hele On To Kauai. Hanalei By The Bay!

Image
Aloha All, We spent a beautiful night in Waimea Bay preceded by a gorgeous sunset with a tinge of a “Green Flash.” We enjoyed a wonderful dinner aboard our buddy boat, Makao'io'i , before retiring to our respective vessels and bunks. An out-of-season north swell began filling in, naturally at 3am, making the anchorage slightly rolly but manageable. Everyone slept like babies right through it though. This evening, just after sunset, we’ll depart for Kauai. If our calculations prove correct we will be on the approach to Hanalei Bay at dawn on Saturday. Sorry about the current lack of photos. Seems we need a high speed internet connection to upload. Everyone take care and stay well. logan
Read more

Homeward Bound!

Image
  Aloha All, again, We did a little hiking along the shoreline of Waikolu Bay. The cliffs there are extremely dramatic. The trade winds blow in and get directed then redirected along the steep walls and shoot downdrafts onto the water’s surface. This makes for abrupt wind shifts in the bay. We seemed to be tucked into an eddy in the corner so it really didn’t affect us until later in the afternoon. Jonathan took an opportunity to launch his drone and capture some breathtaking footage of Puanani and Makaòiòi at anchor. I’ll share a link to the footage in a later post. We left Waikolu early this morning and immediately deployed the fishing lines. This is our last ditch effort to redeem ourselves and catch just one, please just one, real fish before arriving back at Kaneohe. I’ll update you before I close out this chapter on our COVID-19 Stacation Around The Islands Cruise. Everyone take care and stay well. logan Statue Found Hiking Along The Beach At Waikolu Bay Makao'io'i In The...
Read more

Skunked Again!

Image
Aloha All, Yesterday we displaced to a small bay 20 miles up (north) from Okoe Bay. This new anchorage was a bit challenging as the holding was not as reliable as was Okoe. Oh that’s right we grabbed an underwater fixed mooring at Okoe. Kind of cheating but one, you sleep better, and two, it saves the coral from your sweeping anchor chain. This new anchorage, I’m told, is known as Nawaawaa (sp). I can’t confirm that because it’s not on the charts. Anyway, if you drill down (zoom in) on our track, you’ll see that it appears that we were being chased by a swarm of bees. One of Clay’s good friends, let’s call him Bob. Has a house at Nawaawaa. Bob paddled out on his SUP to spend some time getting reacquainted with Clay. One of the things we were particularly interested in gleaning from Bob was his local fishing knowledge. Bob reviewed our techniques and equipment then assured us that we were doing everything right and should catch fish. We hadn’t! I mean a real pelagic fish anyway. The nex...
Read more