s/v RAYNAD – Marshall Islands to Honolulu
March 16, 2012
We left Aur at about 2:00pm this afternoon and are briskly on our way to Midway. We had a wee toast of bourbon – compliments of Doug – which we shared with Neptune:) So far conditions are perfect and our current speeds are 7.5-8.5kts! It’s 6:30pm and our position is :08:39.405N and 170:53.079E on a course of 336. Once we get above Moelelap, we’ll turn as much east as possible. Doug’s in the kitchen cooking up pasta for dinner, John just finished a shower, and a beautiful sunset colors the horizon.
2012/03/16 ( 08-42.32N / 170-51.83E) COURSE: 337T, SPEED: 8.4
03/17/12
We’re doing fine, just bouncing along heeled over running 3hr night watches and 4hr day watches. It’s really nice to have Doug on board to share the schedule and also to help John with repairs and sail adjustments. Our drama yesterday was to have one of the strips for bracket holders in the refrigerator break free and cause all the stuff in the fridge to collapse. Much to my relief Doug and John were able to fix it.
2012/03/17 18:49 ( 12-11.58N / 171-32.77E) COURSE: 000T ,SPEED: 6.9
03/18/2012
It’s been a good day. For awhile we were making a bit of progress to the east, the seas have been much calmer and our boat speed mostly good. Doug caught a large MahiMahi this afternoon! That was exciting as everyone got involved in trying to get this large, thrashing fish landed on the boat. Looked like a crime scene after we were done! Great eating tonight – Doug cooked it with a bit of garlic – super yummy. We’ll have several meals off that one fish, so we are no longer at risk for starvation.
2012/03/18 06:40 ( 13-20.87N / 171-55.05E ) COURSE: 013T ; SPEED: 5.2
2012/03/19 05:53 (15-02.35N- 172-46.71E ) COURSE: 097T ; SPEED: 5.0
WIND_SPEED: 30;WIND_DIR: NE ; WAVE_HT: 4.0M ; SWELL_HT: 3.0M Storm really kicked up – very rough
We are totally getting slammed right now with an unexpected storm. The forecasts all said light winds 10-15, but we are currently in 30-35 and big seas, not my favorite sailing. We have three reefs in the main and only the staysail, but are really pounding into it. Keep your fingers crossed for smoother seas ahead. Doug’s on watch now, so he’s the one getting drenched…I’m up next.
Position: 15:02.206 N / 172:47.654 E
03/19/2012
It was in fact a total surprise to get hit with such strong winds, they topped out at 45kts with the boat slamming into the waves. Fortunately after about 5hours of that, the winds began to lighten until we spent the night with mostly 15-20kts and now this morning have very light 5-10kt winds and the seas are much calmer.
03/20/2012
So today was high adventure on the fishing rod. First a fish hit the line and it gave such a battle that it took ALL of the line and snapped the final knot! All was lost. So Doug and I rigged up a whole new line and lures to try again. Second catch of the day was a sea bird!! Doug was on watch and saw the bird approach and then just dive for it and come up with a terrible shriek. Poor thing was terrified. We all hustled- Doug was finally able to safely get ahold of the squawking bird while John tried to take a photo and I tried to get the hook out with some pliers. The hook had gone through the cheek, just behind it’s beak. After much trying, including the bird angrily snapping at me, we finally got the hook out and with a gentle toss it took to flight and went as fast as possible away from our boat! I don’t think that bird will be trying again to catch food near boats. We’d been watching various birds come by and show intense interest in our lure bouncing on the water, but we really didn’t think that one would go for it. So, now we’ll reel it in if we see another one come towards the line. We get a lot of booby birds flying by and circling the boat, craning their necks to look at us – its’ very funny:)
2012/03/20 21:02 (15-08.46N /174-58.35E ) COURSE: 113T;SPEED: 6.3
Calmly rolling along w/ light winds
We’ve had a rather nice day of sailing, fairly light winds and not as much speed as Captain John would like, but we are making our way eastward which is great and I really like the calmer seas:)
After a couple of tacks last night, we are continuing to make easterly progress. The seas are calm with long, rather large rollers, however, we’re able to keep 6+kts of speed with only 12-15kts of wind. Current plans are to maintain our easterly course for about 200 miles, or as long as the winds are favorable, and then hopefully tack northward. It’s becoming less likely that we will achieve Midway so will either transit between the outer islands, or even make landfall in Kauai. All depends on the winds and currents. Fortunately, we have the time to alter our routing with the wind/sea conditions. For now, it’s very pleasant sailing along at this latitude:)
2012/03/22 02:27 ( 15-28.78N / 177-42.53E ) COURSE: 054T; SPEED: 5.2
Variable winds and speed.
John wrote:
4:58am and It is my watch as we motor through glassy seas under a starry sky and warm breezes too thin to use the sails. First time we have used the engine in eight days. The Big Dipper and the North Pole Star have kept me company showing the way home. Kris is asleep. The sky in the east shows faint shadows of clouds that in 90 minutes will be pink and fluffy but now are dark shapes against the earliest light of the dawn. We have 1200 miles to go of the 2000 miles that make up the first of the two legs of our trip to Seattle.
Kris and I always lose weight on a passage like this, but this time we have caught two huge MaiMai and also a seabird (Tropic Bird) that took our lure and had to be hauled aboard and de-hooked. It made its objections well known, pooped and squawked like there was no tomorrow and then when released, flew off and repeatedly shook its feathers, shook its head and screamed at the top of its lungs. Being so pissed off, we have not seen it since but the presumption is that it is fully recovered, I though of Kay and her skills nursing the budgies.
Only other vessel was a derelict Chinese fishing boat. We hailed them on the radio and got a clean clear Chinese voice back saying something unintelligible. We had briefly thought – ‘pirates’ and reviewed our on-board armaments (none) but they floated on across our bows looking even more derelict than ever – typical piece of junk that litters the sea beds around all the harbors here, blocking the access of other commercial traffic.
03/22/12
We’ve been motoring since about 3am when the winds dropped too much to sail, but the swell is still rolling by so we are at times really rocking back and forth. Looks like some clear skies for the morning. Yesterday we had some comfortable, fast sailing with mostly clear skies. All is well onboard Raynad.
03/24/2012
We’ve had a lazy night and day with motoring all last night and some easy sailing today, but now we’re back to the motoring for tonight because the winds have dropped so much. We crossed the dateline last night, so are having our second Friday! At least we are able to continue going eastward which is usually what causes problems since the winds and currents are usually west setting. Looks like the trip will take us many more days than expected though. We’re already out over one week and still have about 1100 miles to go before getting to Hawaii. 
So, we just go with the winds and currents and see how we progress. Forecasts are for strengthening winds turning to the east and then northeast, so it’s to our advantage to continue going east before the winds force us to head north. Kind of nice to be out of the heavy storms that are happening north of Hawaii. Hopefully they’ll calm a bit before we get up there.
2012/03/24 22:25 (18-07.07N / 176-40.71W ) COURSE: 036T ; SPEED: 7.1
WIND_SPEED: 20 ; WIND_DIR: ENE ; WAVE_HT: 2.0M
Briskly sailing northward at 6.5-7.4kn with winds ave 20kt, heeled over with rougher seas, but ok. I did enjoy the calmer seas for a couple of days, the swell was still quite large, but still much easier than what we have now!
2012/03/25 19:34 (19-51.28N / 175-32.45W ) COURSE: 035T ; SPEED: 5.7
WIND_SPEED: 30 ; WIND_DIR: NE ; WAVE_HT: 3.0M
Tempestuous seas
Winds here have picked up and the seas roughened – NOT my favorite sailing weather. Doesn’t look like we’ll make landfall in Hawaii but just pass through the outer island chain. Already dreaming of landing at the dock in Washington!?!?
2012/03/26 17:14 ( 21-23.83N / 174-59.86W) COURSE: 016T ; SPEED: 4.7
All is well, a bit rough, but the boat is coping much better than me! As the winds blow, it looks like we will neither stop in Midway or at any of the Hawaiian Islands. Disappointing for sure, but either stop would be significantly out of the way now since we are currently on course to go between Laysan and Lisianski Islands in the outer chain (or there abouts.) The winds have dropped a bit and the seas are slightly less, so we are making better progress. Last night was pretty boisterous, we hove-to for an hour in order to run the generator and watermaker, which was a pleasant reprieve. We’ll heave-to again tonight for an hour break. Really nice to stop bashing for awhile.
2012/03/27 05:38 (22-26.09N/ 174-33.41W) COURSE: 034T ;SPEED: 6.0
Lovely watching the Laysan Albetross
Woke up this morning to sunshine sparkling on the water, calmer although still rolling seas, and the prospect of making it through the outer islands sometime tomorrow, so progress is being made. We’re hoping to have the wind more behind us as we progress northward which will be a nice relief from the current pounding into the wind and waves. We hove-to last night at sunset just to give everyone a break from the pounding and allow us to run the watermaker and for everyone to have a shower:) Because we are so heeled over, the watermaker sucks in air and gets plugged if we try to run it while underway. We are all disappointed not to be able to make landfall anywhere along the Hawaiian chain without making a detour south. In order to get to Honolulu now, we would have to tack about 500miles.
2012/03/28 20:05 (25-12.20N / 172-53.62W ) COURSE: 010T ; SPEED: 4.3
Very light winds and calm seas
About midnight last night the winds dropped and now this morning we are sailing along at 4-5kts with light winds and nearly flat seas. We’re almost to Laysan Island which would be great fun to stop at, but unfortunately it is a nature reserve and the US Fish and Game may take a very dim, even aggressive view, of our stopping there especially since the rare Laysan Albatross are probably breeding there right now. We’ve seen a few of them, especially when the winds were stronger, as they soar by like giant glider planes. I’m hoping that we’ll spot more whales too, but so far only one last night. Doug is making buttermilk biscuits, John is walking the deck, all is very leisurely on board right now. We know this calm won’t last as the forecast is for us to be moving into some pretty strong weather systems in the next day or two. It’s getting cooler every night as we continue progressing into the north, just enough to need a polar fleece and a little cover for sleeping – still pretty warm and sunny during the day. Tomorrow we’ll likely get into rain.
2012/03/29 17:13 (26-11.27N / 171-30.20W) COURSE: 059T ; SPEED: 5.0
Booby Bird hitchhiking on the solar panel!
We have acquired a hitch-hiker on board Raynad….a booby bird landed on our solar panel last night during my 7-10pm watch and has taken up residence there it seems:) It’s really funny, it preens itself, tucks its head under its wing and sleeps, squawks a bit when the boat rocks too much, and this morning is still there just watching the other birds fly by! It’s really funny. 
Not looking forward to cleaning up the bird poo but it’s sort of sweet to look back at our new companion seemingly quite happy to just go along for the ride.
We’ve been motoring all night, no winds, super flat, mirror-like water last night. It’s starting to pick up this morning, so I think we’ll be sailing shortly. We’ve passed through the Hawaiian chain of outer islands, including a pretty close pass to Laysan Island, but alas no stop-over since it’s not allowed. The sky was filled with birds at sunrise..lots and lots of Laysan Albatross, it was really magical.
So, feels like we’re on the second half of the voyage, although statistically we’re not quite half-way.
2012/03/30 06:31 (26-25.56N / 170-59.74W) COURSE: 181T ; SPEED: 1.8
WIND_SPEED: 35-45 ; WIND_DIR: NE ; WAVE_HT: 5.0M
Hove-to due to stormy seas
We are currently hove-to about 60 miles from Laysan Island. Winds are strong out of the NE so we were really pounding along. We’ll hope for a wind shift by morning. The sea birds LOVE this wind – so it’s at least been entertaining to watch them.
26-21.97N / 170-53.73W ; COURSE: 042T ; SPEED: 6.5
WIND_SPEED: 30 ; WIND_DIR: NE; WAVE_HT: 4.0M
Great seabirds! Sailing onward bashing away hard on the wind. 25-30kt winds making 6+kts with just the staysail and 3-reefs in the main! Pretty hazardous walking around the boat – I’m back to bed after sending these emails.We did hear the Yakwe net this morning, others came in loud and clear, but no one seemed to be able to hear us.
2012/03/31 20:02 (27-44.18N / 168-48.97W) COURSE: 057T ; SPEED: 8.1
Great sailing!After heaving-to we’ve now had a couple of days of brisk sailing, this morning being the best with sunshine and 8.2kts boat speed! Probably won’t last more than a day before the next front hits but we’ll sure appreciate it while it lasts. I think this trip will take much, much longer than we had estimated using the “trip planner.” At least Doug is flexible enough to stay with us, not that he’d have a choice now anyway!?!?
We are still being followed by one beautiful, large old Laysan Albatross. He’s really fun to watch gliding across the water pausing to take a look at whoever is in the cockpit when he passes. We’ve tried getting photos and even a video of the birds, but there is SO much motion in the boat it’s pretty impossible. The seabirds have been a real fascination. I can only imagine how cool it would have been to anchor near Laysan and watch them. Midway is supposed to have some unique wildlife too, including some special sea lions…oh well. I could say next time, but I’m not planning a repeat performance of this trip!
04/01/2012
Always changing is my description of this sail so far. Yesterday started out with great winds and speed, then the winds collapsed and kept switching so we got to endure the slamming sails, then the wind switched directions but gave us some decent sailing and now this morning we’re into the squalls and back to beating into the winds and waves. I’m doing ok, although only by using the patches – 1/2 over 3-days overlapping for 1 day. I don’t like the side-effects, but not using them is even worse (tried that.) We calculated 28-34 days for this trip, but we’re not even half way yet and are already on day 20. When I’m feeling good, I dream of food, otherwise I just dream of landing at a Q-dock!! Mostly, I try to keep my anxiety level under control since every time we look at the grib files we see new storm developments up ahead.
2012/04/01 19:30(28-39.89N /166-39.21W) COURSE: 074T; SPEED: 5.6 After a super day of sailing yesterday, we had a night of wind fluctuations – even motored through some calm, and yet at the moment we are hove-to again with 45kt winds and accompanying seas!
For all of our concerns about “easting”, now we’re struggling to get north and out of the edges and squash zones of the weather systems. Not fun – hoping it won’t last too long. Nonetheless, we are all fine just dreaming of some nice, consistent winds. We’re still rocking and bouncing around in tough weather and seas.
2012/04/03 05:14 (28-14.01N / 165-56.20W) COURSE: 134T ; SPEED: 6.4
Sailing SE – Back to squalls and beating
Big highs and big lows north of us, so we are kinda in the wrong area,and it has forced us to reconsider our plan to sail to Seattle. The strong weather systems in the North Pacific so strongly on the nose, heading us such that our only angles on the wind are either a southeast course or a northwest course. We’ve chosen to take the SE and go ahead and stay below as much as possible. Statistically we should be getting into westerlies, but the weather has a different idea. Even on this course we are beating into the winds and waves so it’s quite a rough ride. We’re having a bruise counting competition! That is if you can manage to hold one position long enough to bother counting. Doug is doing great – strong and young, he isn’t bothered at all by sea-sickness and is coping amazingly well with us two old folks.
He’s happy to cook, which is good because he is doing most of the eating:) We really appreciate having him on crew, especially during the cold, rough weather. It’s definitely nice to share the watch schedule among three too, everyone is getting some decent sleep, all things considered.
2012/04/03 21:12 (27-17.48N / 164-46.63W) COURSE: 134T; SPEED: 5.6
Seems we’re on the edge of the storms with strong winds driving us SE
We were hove-to night before last for about 12 hours and unfortunately the winds and seas were so strong they actually pushed us backwards at 3kts! Consequently we basically had to regain our 30nm once we were sailing again, so it looks like we didn’t move much, although we did only in a repeat fashion!?! The weather isn’t great and the trip is taking much longer than expected. We aren’t even half-way yet and have used up 22 days.
2012/04/04 18:22 (26-01.78N /163-29.60W) COURSE: 177T; SPEED: 5.7
Due to the weather and sea conditions which have kept our mileage low and sailing rough, we have decided to head to Honolulu. I need to be in the USA by no later than May 1st to report for jury duty in Sitka (crazy, I know,but I’ve already postponed and reschedule), so I’ll fly to Sitka from Honolulu. John and Doug will rest a week or more, and then set out to complete the journey to the PacNW, hopefully to Alaska. Doug can visit his girlfriend in Hilo, John can fix a few things on the boat and we can get some fresh fruits and veges. Hopefully by then, the conditions will have settled a bit. At least John and Doug will have a more flexible schedule. I’ll be sorry not to make the entire trip, but I will also be very happy to get away from the storms.
2012/04/05 20:49 (24-52.47N /162-00.31W) COURSE: 160T; SPEED: 5.6
Making progress toward Honolulu. It’s about 580 miles from where we turned, so a passage in itself.
2012/04/06 18:48 (23-16.44N / 160-53.98W) COURSE: 138T ; SPEED: 5.3
Funny how even though we decided to drop down toward Honolulu, we’re STILL sailing. Seems like it’s taking forever – hard on the wind, heeled over, bouncing along…getting more bruises! Hopes are to arrive in a couple of days. In the meantime, we are continuing to try and eat up any fruits,veges, meats, etc that Hawaii might confiscate. Had a great pork BBQ last night.
Doug caught yet another MahiMahi yesterday! It was a large and beautifully colored fish. Always quite an ordeal to gaff and get safely on deck, then fillet – looked like a massacre on deck! 
Fortunately, Hawaii will allow us to keep any fish that was caught offshore, so the guys will have quite a lot of fish to eat through after I leave. Since Doug is a good cook, they will not survive on noodles and peanut butter alone.
04/07/2012
No land birds yet, but lots of seabirds. The tropical bird and shag were really checking out the boat as a landing craft! But, the winds are strong, the boat heeled over and bouncing, so they had to work incredibly hard to catch up with us and then I think they realized that they’d probably get thrown off if they tried to hitch a ride. The lovely albatross (both Laysan and a very striking brown ones) are still with us. Sometimes they fly by really close and even stall a bit to give us a super look. They are the highlights of this voyage. We have winds hard on the nose so we are sailing but it’s very hard going – my bruises are multiplying exponentially! Can’t wait to pull up to the dock and get a full night of sleep on the flat without interruptions for watches. We’re all looking forward to it now…funny because we have about 160 miles left which is a typical passage between islands, so I’m trying to view it that way and not get too impatient.
2012/04/07 17:41 (21-52.62N / 159-36.53W) COURSE: 119T ; SPEED: 3.1
Land-Ho Kuaui!!…. but sadly we must continue to Honolulu for check-in.
We are cruising along the coastline of Kauai, not able to stop yet because we must go into Honolulu first to check-in which is still 95miles away, so even though we are near land, we must continue for another day. Beautiful though to cruise along the coast and view the lovely green farms and villages. We’re motoring right now so we can have coffee, etc, but will raise the sails soon and try to sail as much as possible, although the wind is on the nose again. Seems we can’t get away from the close-reach/ beating into the winds. All is well, we have cellphone signals now!!
04/07/2012 ARRIVAL OAHU 4:30AM !!
Doug steered the good ship Raynad into the marina and we tied up to the dock. All aboard were ecstatic at our arrival, Kristy even kissed the dock!
Champagne toasts – lots of happiness and big hugs.
Now we are ALL ready for a good CALM sleep:)
04/14/2012
We came into Honolulu, went through all of the customs and immigration check-in procedures, but are staying here for awhile. Turns out that we need to complete the documentation to import Raynad,in fact the USA only gives us 2 weeks from our arrival at the first port of entry into the USA to submit the paperwork. It’s just as well that we have the time and also have the resources here in Honolulu to make that all happen. This involves using a broker and of course paying the import duty. I’ll leave next Thursday to fly to Denver and then to Portland on April 26th and on up to Sitka arriving April 30th. We’re at a really lovely marina and are enjoying exploring around the island, sunset walks and having access to great food:) John and Doug will go over to Kauai for a couple of days and then start their way up to Kodiak, Alaska!
Click here for – Part TWO: Passage Hawaii to Alaska!