1. Hawaii to New Caledonia – dodging the hurricanes

Jul 23, 2009 to July 31, 2009:

On July 16, ADAGIO’s population increased again when we were joined by Leo Foley, Commodore of the Cruising Yacht Club of Tasmania (Hobart, Tasmania), and fellow OCC sailors Penelope and George Curtis (Oxfordshire, UK).

We’ve had eleven days in Hawaii to prepare for the passage to New Caledonia via Western Samoa. Admiral Dorothy has been performing actual miracles provisioning ADAGIO so we will have fresh and yummy food for five people for a passage that could easily take more than three weeks. As we did for the San Francisco to Hawaii passage, we have converted our freezer to function as a cool-store veggie box. The freezer function for meat has been reassigned to the bottom drawer of the fridge. So we have lots of cubics for fresh veggies. We shall keep you informed on whether we are digging out the tinned green beans as the passage is ending.

Isn’t passage-making mostly about good food? We think so, and from our time together here at Ko Olina, Oahu, it seems that George, Leo and Penelope agree. So we are all looking forward to more-cooks-in-the-galley (and Steve is looking forward to more-dishwashers-in-the-galley). The Bosch dishwasher has defied heroic efforts to restore it to full health — entirely due to the challenge of servicing 240VAC/50Hz appliances in the land of 120VAC/60Hz. Parts are non-obtanium and service techs are either much-too-busy or not-willing-to-work-on-boats or we-don’t-do-240-volt.

The mainsail batten pockets have been reworked by North Sails Hawaii, who somehow managed to get our main onto the loft floor in spite of Honolulu rapidly filling up with Transpac race boat arrivals. “THE LIST” of maintenance items that MUST BE DONE is done. All we need now is reasonable weather to sail the 3,400 rhumb line nautical miles to Noumea with a shot at a peaceable equator crossing and as little ungentlemanly upwind sailing as we can arrange. We expect to sail a good bit further than the rhumb line for the usual reasons, including a stopover at Apia in Western Samoa, managing the ocean currents and winds that don’t seem to have read our optimum routing plan, finding a narrowish waist in the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ), and missing a number of lovely tropical islands and rocky bits that clutter the ocean between here and there.

As we studied the patterns of tropical storms and cyclones heading our way, ADAGIO’s long-time weather router/consultant Rick Shema has been a big help. In July, the risk of these storms being dangerous (if they make it to Hawaii) is typically not very high. That said, if the Tropical Prediction Center (National Hurricane Center) is forecasting a named storm to intersect our planned track, then we prefer to sail into the not-yet-known risks. Recently the intensity of convection in the equatorial region west of us went from relatively quiet to relatively active/high. Which means more squalls, thunderstorms and just generally not-nice weather ahead. We are watching for predictions of a quieter convection phase on our planned route to Western Samoa.

We are also dealing with an intensifying El Nino, which is not what we want for the passage, but it is what we’ve got. As Rick noted via email:

El Nino implies higher that normal sea surface temps in equatorial EPAC and lighter trades there. Also, enhanced convection and precip in central North Pacific waters. There is a correlation with increased tropical cyclone activity in EPAC. About three times normal.

By July 21st the convection on our track is moderating a bit, and the approaching cyclones look to be offering us a “passing lane” to get out of Hawaii before the next TC gets organized. So we firm up the departure date/time with Rick so he has time to prepare a WX departure package for us.

On Thursday July 23rd we take on a full load diesel fuel at Ko Olina Marina, which with a full day tank, is almost 1,600 litres. It is impossible to predict on a long passage how much motorsailing we may want to do. So Skipper Steve reckons the least-worst-choice is to push the weight of maybe-not-needed fuel along, rather than get stuck in a hole sailing at 3 kn for a week because we don’t wish to risk our reserve fuel in order to scoot out of the hole. By 1000 we are underway into about 7kn of true wind from 150T — i.e., a light headwind. As we sail out of U.S. waters, we are motorsailing under full main and jib, easy sailing at 6 to 7kn into one meter seas.

With a few squalls and visiting boobies, these will be our conditions until around 0900 on the 24th, when the true wind has built to 17 kn and we are Rocketing along on a tight reach. Seas are down from the overnight light winds, but are building quickly now that we have steady 17-18kn TWS. With luck wind will starting backing soon so we’ll get aligned with the bumps. We’re starting to reach the upper wind limits of the reacher – will have to head off a bit if wind builds further.

Following are a few tidbits from ADAGIO’s log:

July 24, 2009

1039 This is good tradewind sailing. We furled the reacher and set the jib. Boat speed down a knot, but much more comfortable ride. Full main sail. Booby continues to circle the boat, landing on the eyebrow awnings occasionally. Outdoor temperature is 82 deg F. Blue sky with cumulus all around and some showers off in the distance. The deepwater buoy Y”51003” is due west of us at 34 nm distance. High cirrus clouds in the north astern of us. We need a diamond shaped yellow sign saying “Boobies aboard”.. Our booby has perched on the starboard bow pulpit and is preening its feathers, enduring occasional spray from the sea.

1350 Comfortable under jib and full main. Third boobie aboard, liking the spray on pulpit.

1444 Spoke to fishing boat passing close to starboard, heading to Hawaii with his catch. Booby departed.

1603 Change apparent wind angle ( AWA) from 70 down to 80 – noticeably better ride.

July 25, 2009

0924 Our red-footed booby has moved to the port stern pulpit. He/she preens feathers full-time. Seas are still a bit confused; sun is shining; mixed clouds of fair weather cumulus ahead; cumulus and stratus on our port side and astern. All crew members come up for breakfast and visiting. Two-hour long watches is certainly wonderful. We are all rested and enjoying the ride. Outdoor temperature is 81 deg F. We are passing through an area of many seamounts with names such as Hassayampa Seamount, Monsoon Seamount and Sea Dragon Ridge.

1950 We received an update from Rick Shema advising us to travel to longitude 175 W before turning south through the ITCZ. So we have furled the jib and unfurled the reacher to alter our course to more westerly. We changed the next two way points from 170 W to 175 W. New course to steer is 241 degrees.

2151 Quiet watch; smoother ride; reacher doing its work

July 26, 2009

0359 We are sailing under full main and reacher. TWS varies from 17 to 21 kts; boat speed varies from 9 to 12 kts. Our red-footed booby is sleeping on the port stern pulpit this evening. All is steady: wind speed, boat speed. Seas are not so rough as during the day. A little lightning in the sky off our port stern in the distance. It is a very black night. Radar is clear. 733 nm to our turnig point before we head south across the ITCZ.

0511 We just surfed at 16.5 kts. Not sure what the true wind speed (TWS) was, but as soon as we stopped surfing the TWS was 18 kts.

0925 With a steady TWS of 20 knots, and our boat speed 11+ knots, I came down 10 degrees to 150 degrees apparent wind speed (AWA) on the pilot.

1218 Put 4th reef into mainsail with boom 24” above the coach roof. Furled nicely all the way from full hoist to 4th reef. Overtrimmed reacher to partially backwind the main. Main traveler car at centerline. Set jib and reacher wing-on-wing. Very comfortable ride. I discovered that the fourth batten from the top of the mainsail has chaffed through the sail and the chafe tape, from the main sail bearing on the upper shrouds. I stuck on a long piece of Kevlar sticky back sail repair tape on top of the chafe guard tape already on the sail.

1748 Our red-footed booby whom we have named Albert, sat on its perch throughout the sail changes, tolerating noisy electric winches and our movements inside and outside of the cockpit. It’s a brave bird. Occasionally Albert will fly away for food, and then return after about 10 minutes absence. Following seas boost our speed every few minutes as we catch a surfing wave. 637 nm to our turning point when we will head south across the ITCZ.

1757 Under twin headsails, Adagio is enjoying a lovely downwind sail. Albert disgraced himself by chewing the line attaching the webbing to the aft steps and was chased away. He returned briefly whilst the webbing was taped but has now left us. We miss him!

2225 Chasin’ moonbeams (between clouds)

July 27, 2009

0011 Bright stars overhead. Radar is clear. Seas are from astern and regular. ADAGIO has found a comfortable groove with winged out reacher and jib and 4th reef in the mainsail. We are sleeping well. We are on course with 570 nm to go to our waypoint AP1, where we turn south. Still no sign of Albert.

0150 TWD has backed 15 degrees, from 71 deg to 60 deg, so our heading is slightly south of our course to steer. Stars are now covered by clouds.

0401 Quiet watch; stars shining

1041 Still a smooth roller coaster ride with occasional underwing slams. Steady trade winds with following seas. We could not ask for more.

1243 After analyzing the text weather forecast, we decided to head directly for AP2. This will let us avoid an area of thunderstorms that lay across our track to AP1. In addition, by heading SW now, we can make it through a gap in the ITCZ that is located south and southwest of us. I sent an email message to Rick S. describing our analysis. Steve sent a message to Rick describing our altered course. Rick agreed that a southwesterly course is good, and that we should make the best speed possible, within the bounds of comfort.

1303 Sailing under reacher and 4th reefed main.

July 28, 2009

0159 Phosphorescence – we haven’t see that for a while!

0258 TWS up to 25 knots. Rounding up on pilot = NORM, so fall off 10 deg; ease overtrimmed reacher.

0454 Squall overhead at 0440; wind up to 28 briefly, some rain. No problem really. Bear away 10 degrees.

0604 Sunrise just beginning as the clouds are clearing astern. TWS 16 to 23 kts. Boat speed 8 to 13 kts.

0704 How quickly things change. A band of rain clouds is approaching from our port quarter, a bright spot on the radar, bringing more showers, perhaps, or maybe not.

0748 We have entered the region of the ITCZ. The rain clouds passed overhead leaving a rainbow in their wake. No dramas this time.The radar shows more shower clouds coming towards us, but they have very little convection.

0849 Rain squall brought gust of 30 kts. I came down 10 deg AWA to 143.

0932 Sky has cleared. Convection clouds off to port are moving away.

1237 Dodged up to AWA 110 to miss two wet squalls, down to 120 which seems about the right course now.

1624 Wind speed is decreasing and backing. I decreased the AWA to 100, which brought us back on course, then beyond. So I increased the AWA to 105 and we are sailing close to our course. With the wind becoming lighter, the boat is moved around by the waves a bit more.

1730 Full main; fall off 5 deg; ease reacher.

1845 Mainsail first reef taken in and reacher furled to slow down as suggested by Rick.

2006 Steering to SHOAL Waypoint then to new AP2 latitude 00N longitude 169.5W.

July 29, 2009

0202 Tonight we have the brightest display of stars ever. A few lightning flashes off our starboard (stbd) stern in the distance. No threat to us. Sailing under jib and one reef in the main sail. Three more days sailing before we reach the equator, at the present speed.

0354 While watching the stars I saw a plane fly over, high in the sky, lights flashing. TWS from 10 kts to 14 kts.

0600 Stars still shining; quiet watch

0653 Wind headed. Squall 4 miles astern

0839 Set full main + reacher

0954 Huge wind veer

1036 TWS up to 25, furled reacher; set jib. Wind probably due to squall to port

1229 We were triming the reacher with the stbd tweaker, and the double turning block for tweakers on the stbd stern pulled out of the deck. The generator stopped running. Two unrelated events. We furled the reacher.

1442 Underway again, genset fixed, stbd reacher sheet block jury rigged.

1452 Reacher furled; port engine started; wind is dying.

1544 After a couple hours of frantic activity in the hot sun (89 deg F) we all tucked into banana icecream thanks to Dorothy’s gelato ice cream maker! Adagio is underway again all systems go!

1657 Furled main about 4nm before rain squall.

1811 George and Steve have cut out chafe from the port reacher tack line, rigged short piece of hose pipe and used a piece of line to tie off the stbd reacher tack line to prevent chafe.

2004 Port engine temp went to 90C so switched to stbd engine to see if it is the same in this 84F water.

2214 Mostly 5 kts true wind speed, except when a grey cloud passes over the boat and then the TWS increases to 15 – 16 kts. Six or more small cloud targets on the radar to port. Quiet evening. No sails set, motoring as we are expecting some turbulence during the night. Quarter moon and stars shine between the clouds.

2330 The biggest squall came upon us from port aft quarter and port side. Wind speed steady at 20-23 kts, on the nose, so boat speed down to 4 kts. Waves boisterious. Good thing that we have no sail up. No rain, just wind. Big clouds come out at night. Now it’s raining.

July 30, 2009

0030 Wind dropping all the time; no more squals visible on the radar for 20 miles.

0200 A few stars have appeared and the radar is still showing no squalls – a quiet watch

0440 Radar shows no rain. Bright light baring 61 deg and 5 deg above horizon. No radar return. Could it be the reflection of the sun on a sattelite? No. it is a planet; very bright when just above the horizon.

0538 Messages received from and sent to Rick.

1040 Full main and jib

1145 Full main and reacher are driving us smartly over the water at 8 to 9 ktsw.

1726 Squall at 1700 meant reacher furled, and motor sailing. Wind did not return to previous strength after the squall had passed.

1831 Line squall with heavy rain flattened seas, and crew happy to be motor sailing. After, put 1 reef in main. 30 minutes later, 12 kn true encouraged the reacher again. Nice! 7+ knots boat speed and feels good.

July 31, 2009

0034 Line of rain squalls 12 nm to starboard – about 8 squalls.

0114 Prepare for squalls – furl reacher, 1st-reefed main to centerline. Reefed upwind in about 10 AWS. Switch pilot to compass steering.

0135 Squalls petered out at our position. 35deg veer but TWS maxed at 16 for first squall. Now there is a line of squalls.

0319 Motor-sailing; Large squall passed across our bow. Now clear, but wind only 8-9 knots.

0400 Motorsailing under the Milky Way. First reef in the main sail. Headsails furled. There is a squall on the radar, 12 nm ahead off our port bow. I’ll keep an eye on it. We are still monitoring the genset every 30 minutes. . Urgent message on the Inmarsat C terminal: “TROPICAL STORM LANA NEAR 13.3N 144.6W AT 0900 UTC JUL 31 MOVING W OR 285 DEG AT 17 KT.” Our position is latitude 3 deg 53′ N longitude 170 deg 59.6 ‘ W.

0447 Squall 3 nm off our port bow. I have headed up 20 deg to try to miss it.

0746 Reacher set; speed increased to 9kts.

0833 Changed to jib.

1751 Conditions stable, no sail changes, beautiful afternoon excellent visibility. Two white morph boobies landed on the sea nearby and gave us a lovely aerial display before flying away. No squalls since dawn.

2121 No squalls on radar, wind has backed/lifted about 20° in last 2 hours – makes the ride noticeably better.

2334 Quiet watch under a (not quite) full moon.

More to follow, next we cross the Equator…

4. San Francisco to Hawaii

ADAGIO made landfall at Ko Olina, Hawaii at 0857 July 12th. Our GPS log shows the passage was 2208 nm and 12 days passage time (with 6 days of sloooow motorsailing on one engine). Our average daily run from San Francisco to Oahu – 186.3 nautical miles.

As we sailed past Honolulu, a “flock” of about 20 tiny, silver flying fish took off from the water and fluttered together across the waves. They were much smaller than most of the flying fish we usually see. It is the sort of wildlife sighting that occurs very quickly, and when it’s over you can’t believe that you saw it, and you are happy that you happened to be looking in the right direction when it happened.

We made landfall in excellent weather conditions, in daylight, and to a welcoming, modern marina, surrounded by civilization. We immediately began to research how to get our main sail repaired in time for our departure for Samoa.

Shaun unpacked our garden hose and thoroughly scrubbed and rinsed the salt from the decks and hardware. Then he hurried off to Honolulu where he will spend the next several days as a volunteer with the race committee, greeting the Transpac Race boats who are beginning to arrive from Los Angeles.

When I spoke to Rick Shema, our weather router, he told me that the 100 foot long super-maxi yacht named ALPHA ROMEO broke all records winning the Transpac Race this year. The owner runs the Alpha Romeo and Mazaratti dealerships in New Zealand and Australia. He knocked 25 hours off of the record set by the 80 foot yacht MORNING GLORY in 2005. ALPHA ROMEO sailed from Los Angeles to Hawaii in 5 days, 14 hours. By my calculations, the boat was maintaining a boat speed that was more than double ADAGIO’S boat speed. It must have been a heck of a ride.

Here’s a summary of our daily runs over 12 days:

Day 1 – 154 nautical miles

Day 2 – 222

Day 3 – 190

Day 4 – 157

Day 5 – 157

Day 6 – 151

Day 7 – 154

Day 8 – 205

Day 9 – 193

Day 10 – 194

Day 11 – 204

Day 12 – 227 nautical miles

Here is a sampling from the ship’s log over the last few days to the passage:

July 11 2009

0011 Shaun moved the tack of the reacher way up to windward. The boat is loving this wind and sea state. Quiet speed. 269 nm to Oahu. 30 hrs to go at this rate.

0124 There is a ship behind us that does not show up on the radar. I see its lights clearly. I woke Steve and he retuned the radar. This ship allowed us to verify that the AIS is not working – we had no way to verify 7 days with no ship traffic. We found two more ships 20 nm behind us as well.

0319 Wind veered to 80mg – head up to AWA 120

0352 Cluster of 3 rain squalls on radar at 7 oclock

0420 Squalls on our tail – wind rapidly up to 28-29kn – down to AWA 150 to cut apparent wind speed. Pilot to DWIND.

0429 Up 10 deg. Squalls have passed us to stbd – TWD backed about 20 deg – gradually over 20 minutes

0840 Prolonged squalls follwed by a calmer period.Computer fell over – now taped. One ship seen.

0913 Wind is coming back. Last 24 hrs we traveled 204 nm. 190 nm to go to Oahu, approx 23 hrs. Showers all around. Blue sky ahead also some tallish cumulus. Rain showers on the radar show a squall off our port stern 8 nm distant and heading towards us.

1004 Winds 19 to 25 kts. Boat speed 10 to 16 kts due to a small cell passing over us.

1053 Pilot is set to 125 app wind angle for the lulls; change to 135 or 145 for the puffs/squalls. Up in the lulls; down in the puffs. Sky is clearing to windward.

1507 Constant conditions moving us closer to our destination. 110 nm to go in 11 hours at this speed. ETA in Ko Olina approx 0830 Sunday. Deep blue seas sparkling in the sunshine, blue skies, pufy white clouds. No squalls; no ships.

1840 As we put the first reef in the main we noticed that the battens are poking through the sail just aft of the luff tape. It was first evident on the second batten from the bottom a few days ago, now is showing on several battens, and the second from bottom batten has almost poked through the fabric.

2347 30NM to go to Kawi channel. Picking up Molokai and Oahu on radar. Continued wind variation up and down. Occasional showers.

July 12, 2009

0029 Cruise ship coming out of the channel will pass us port to port at 5 nm away. 23 nm to Kaiwi Channel. Winds 19 to 22 kts. Boat speed 9 to 15 kts.

0053 Another boat ahead to stbd. Radar won’t track it yet. Reacher and 1st reef in main.

0215 8.66 nm to first waypoint southeast of Oahu; 1 hour. ETA 0315 to waypoint. A few lights ahead. I can see the street lights of Oahu.

0520 Passed Diamond Head 10 min ago.

0857 Arrival Ko Olina, Hawaii – reported in to US Custom CBP Officer Lavally

All the best from ADAGIO and her crew,

Dorothy, Steve and Shaun Peck

s/v ADAGIO

Oahu, Hawaii

Latitude 21 deg 19.736 minutes

Longitude 158 deg 07.110 minutes

3. San Francisco to Hawaii

Friday, July 10,2009

Before going off watch this afternoon, Steve put out our fishing lure. While he slept, we hooked a mahi mahi, and by the time Steve had finished his nap, Shaun and I had subdued the fish, filleted it, iced it down, and cleaned the blood from the stern steps. We won’t be having chicken for dinner tonight or tomorrow as planned.

We continue to make good progress towards Oahu. The trade winds have filled in, and the seas have come down. As I write this, we are 404 nautical miles from our destination. Winds are 18 to 22 knots and boat speed is 9 to 13 knots. We have been sailing under our large reacher most of the time plus full main or main with first reef.

Occasional showers rinse the salt water from the decks, and a full moon casts a silver pathway for us to follow.

Here are some excerpts from our navigation log:

July 7, 2009

2048 Small squall passed thru – max wind about 23-24kn but also veered to TWD 69mg or 20deg veer.

2325 One very heavy rainshower with wind to 22KN. A second squall to 21 KN without rain.

July 8, 2009

0014 Mostly cloudy with moon peeking out occasionally, rain cells here and there on the radar. We are making good time. A little bumpy. No ships on AIS. A rollicking good ride under full main and reacher. I am ready to furl the reacher if a squall comes through.

0536 In the light phases of wind cycle need to hot up the angle to 130 or 125. Then down to 140-150 when wind gets back up in the 16-20 range.

0837 Mostly moderate wind with 130 W/A but last 20 mins 20-23KN and steering 150 off wind.

1143 Wind speed has leveled off to 18 to 22 kts Boat speed is 9 to 11 kts, with surfs to 13 kts. Squalls cross our wake, and cross ahead of us, so none are threatening. Seas are more boisterous. Cumulus clouds are growing as the day goes on. Still some patches of blue, and occasional sunshine. Model shows us arriving in Oahu on July 11. But things can change to put is in on July 12. It is lovely out here on the ocean.

1403 Gybed the boat onto port – maybe the last gybe before Hawaii. at TWS 20kn we’re needing about 3-4° of rudder to offset weather helm from the main. Wind is on a backing trend – 30° over the last 2 hours.

1729 Wind variable 17-22KN. Steering angle 140. 150 with stronger wind. Batteries charged.

1847 Sea temp is 75 deg F. Beautiful sailing under fair weather cumulus and blue skies. Boat speeds 9 – 10 kts. Seas a bit confused. Full main and reacher.

2102 622nm to Diamond Head. Coming on watch I set pilot down another 5deg to 150 AWA while wind is up in the 18+ range. We are really rockin ‘n rolling close to rhumb, with a fair bit of surfing in the 12 – 14 kn range when wind gets to 19+. Sitting in cockpit reading Beth Leonard’s new edition before my watch was most pleasant, with the sounds of surfing much more fun than piloting from the nav station!

2113 Our new Garmin GPS log just turned over 3000nm. These Garmin’s only have 4 digits so we have to keep track of the 10,000s. And also the unrecorded miles when we have forgotten to reset the GPS on rollover, or when GPS has failed.

2159 MacENC shows AIS is not working. Reboot MacPro – nojoy. Reboot AIS.

July 9, 2009

0232 Wind increases every 1/2 hr or so. Boat speed up to 17.3 KN on one surf.

0334 Seas really rolly and wind speed is down so we started the port engine, furled the reacher, set the jib and hauled the boom down to prevent slatting. Hopefully the seas will settle down soon. The past 3-4 hours have been quite rambunctious. 618 nautical miles to Oahu.

0631 Beautiful nearly full moon ahead. Seas are still confused.

0830 Pilot 2 to NORM. We are rockin ‘n rolling close to rhumb again. I struck jib, set reacher and full main for about 130 AWA. Still steering compass 220 until it’s clear what AWA is doing at higher boat speeds. Wind has veered to 78T / 66 mg offering hotter angles on rhumbline.

1456 We furled the reacher and turned dead downwind to quiet the motion of the boat while Steve went into the engine room to replace a filter. Even so we continued to make 7 kts boat speed. Now with the reacher set, we are making 9 to 10 kts, depending on the wind speed. I am making bread again.

1559 Wind is up, boat speed is up, occasional surfing to 11 kts. Small rainshower ahead to port.

1925 First reef started in 22kn at 20” pilot AWA 150 (should have tried 165)- first batten was pressing hard forcing track to rotate way around to stbd. Increased boom to 24” went smoothly then. Traveler up to center, couldn’t bankwind with jib – had reacher up. To start put mainsheet on traveler winch – made it much easier to raise boom another 4″. Also engaged pawl at start so at reef mark just released furling line and tensioned luff via halyard. Shaun was disappointed because he had been having great fun surfing ADAGIO at 14 and 15 kts.

2158 Beautiful, soft sunset. The seas are down, and the wind is down, so tonight will be better for sleeping than last night.

2324 The wind has piped up, so we are moving faster towards our destination. Oahu is 467 nautical miles ahead, ETA about 55 hours at this speed. The stars overhead are spectacular!

2355 Wind trend is up a bit, continuing to veer almost to east True.

July 10, 2009

0254 Stunning cloud formations backlighted by almost full moon.

0542 Suprising swings in wind speed and direction. One rain shower. 415NM to go to Kawi channel.

0604 Boat speed steady 9 to 13 knots. Wind 17 to 24 kts. Still sailing under reacher and first reef in main. Earlier today Shaun found a black plastic ring on the stbd trampoline. Tonight Steve determined that it had fallen off of the light on the front of our mast. Cloudy skies clearing ahead.with bright moon.

0822 Rainclouds ahead to port. Miles traveled past 24 hrs is 194. Sunrise astern and on the tops of the rainclouds ahead.

1501 Wind fairly steady. Caught a approx 8 lb Mahi Mahi. Cabin temp 81F

1617 Wind has eased and boat speed is down. We received instructions from Rick Shema regarding our approach to Diamond Head and on to Ko Olina. We are studying the charts now.

1955 Set full main & reacher

2322 Some lively surges with surfs up to 15 KN. Sea state much more kindly than two nights ago. Less cross sea.

We are certainly enjoying a fast downwind ride to Hawaii. Shaun is a pleasure to have aboard. He quickly picked up the sail handling and our navigation techniques, and is carrying more than his share of the work load. He also seems to be having a good time.

We can comfortably sit in the cockpit to read or socialize while sailing. We sail with the back door open, day and night. Cooking has been a bit of a challenge today, with the motion from the seas, but not really a problem.

We can’t hear the ukeleles yet, but I think I occasionally catch a whiff of tropical flowers. A gannet circled the boat today, so that’s a sure sign of land ahead.

Here are our daily runs:

Day 1 – 154 nautical miles

Day 2 – 222

Day 3 – 190

Day 4 – 157

Day 5 – 157

Day 6 – 151

Day 7 – 154

Day 8 – 205

Day 9 – 193

Day 10 – 194

2. San Francisco to Hawaii

July 7, 2009

We have found the wind and fine sailing conditions. It’s not the fastest way to Hawaii, but one of the most comfortable and beautiful ways. At 5:30 PM when I am writing this, we are 865 nautical miles from Diamond Head, Oahu, about 5 days sailing. The sea sparkles all around us. The air is dry. The air temperature is comfortable for short sleeves and shorts and sunscreen.

The following excerpts from our navigation log were written by all three of us, Steve, Dorothy and Shaun:

07/04/09
0536 A quiet watch. Barometer down again. Moon now clouded over. Charging at 26.8 Volts steadily.
0805 AIS reported on a ship 225 nm to the north of us. Beautiful sunrise at 0700 astern. Blue skies with cottony long, low clouds . Undulating soft rolling seas, pink in the sunrise. A dark colored shearwater bird has been circling the boat as it fishes in the troughs of the swells — very pretty. Shearwater?s long, high aspect wings allows it to soar and turn with its wingtip just touching the surface of the sea. I took some photos of the shearwater and of the sunset. Air temperature in the cockpit is 64 deg F. A beautiful, quiet morning, as we motor towards Hawaii. Distance traveled so far is approximately 723 nautical miles. Distance traveled since 0800 yesterday morning is 157 nm. We are due north of the Moonless MOuntains McKinley Seamount.
1150 Range under power estimated at 1562nm + daytank. Alpha regulator may be failing. On my 0300 watch Link10 indicated 29.4VDC overcharge. Fiddling with throttle and stbd engine I got it to stop overcharging
1514 Steve removed Alpha regulator. Now we need to generate power from Genset only. Getting warmer 77F outside and 80 F inside.
1630 Happy US Independence Day! At the current speed we will be at sea for 8 more days. The peaceful Pacific Ocean. Soft, long swells come from astern and lift us forward. The light breeze is cooling us, as the outdoor temperature reads 75 deg F, warming up as we head south. I need to contact Pantaneus to tell them that we are at sea again. I?ll also send an email to Ko Olina Marina giving our ETA.
2045 Trying motorsailing full main + jib + reduced revs. Guess boat speed up ~0.5kn. Avg course is 15 to 25 deg south of Rick?s routing.
2056 Test no revs – engine adding roughly 3.5kn
2204 Motor sailing – full main and jib. Calm sea. Full moon at times.Warmer 69F
2337 Lighter wind again. Steering to compass course.

070509
0016 Quiet night, with a nearly full moon off our port bow. Motorsailing in the best wind we could find. 1244 nm to Oahu. That would take 6.6 days at this speed, ETA July 11, Saturday next week.
0526 Wind light in 3-5kn range so motorsailing = balancing on razor blade. Can?t steer to AWA – unstable. Until wind increases to 8kn+, steer to TWA around 75 (AWA around 40)
0617 Found an area of rain squalls with a bit of wind – up to 12kn @ 350mg – fall off and ease sails
0631 Coming up as wind veers – don?t think this is going to last – left squalls at 0700 direction
0759 Reset course to 240. Set Reacher. Stilll need motor. Temp 69F
0953 It is good to be sailing again, albeit motorsailing under full main and reacher. Steve says that motorsailing on one engine we have sufficient diesel fuel to make it to Oahu. Sky has cleared; swell has gone down; wind ripples on the water?s surface. We are almost to our halfway point to Oahu. Forecast is for more light wind around 10 kts.
1730 Fishing line out. 75.4F outside. 78.8F in cabin.
1851 I have calculated that the half way point our log will read 2548. We are approx 86 nm to half way pt. I am baking a banana cake, and have prepared dough for tortillas for dinner and pizza dough for tomorrow.
2111 No luck trimming main to exploit wind increase and veer to 9kn – slight sea knocks wind of main every second or two
2223 15kn winds not till 7-7 0400. Set course for AP2- given we are motoring this is fastest route to the 15kn+ wind zone. D/L new GFS model, ran new routing

070609
0228 Quiet watch. Bright moon. Great Banana cake. Connected to Winlink K6CYC on 40 Meters (7-7.3MHZ) to
1247 Daytank refill. We have traveled 29 nautical miles beyond the half way point of our passage. Steve and Shaun think there might be something caught on our stbd rudder or propeller, so this afternoon when it is warm we will stop the boat and Shaun has volunteered to go over the side to have a look and cut away anything that might be there.
1542 Motoring on stb engine now. We stopped the boat and visually checked the rudders and propellers and concluded that there is no debris caught on them. TWS has eased a bit. Cargo ship passed 14 miles in front of us but we never saw it. I am baking Boatmeal cookies. EGC message describes a tropical storm named Bianca forming off the coast of Mexico, near Acapulco. We plotted it on our storm plotting sheet and will follow its progress.
2135 We received a new routing report from Rick calling for some downwind sailing beginning tomorrow. We had dinner in the cockpit today. All hatches open to catch the breeze. Pretty red sunset surrounded by pinking fair weather cumulus clouds. Moon has risen and is peeking through the clouds to port. Gentlly swaying ADAGIO in the slight seas. Outdoor temperature 72 deg F .

070709
0520 Quiet watch. Waiting for wind to fill in. Warm night with full moon.
0625 Full moon ahead, beaming a path across the water for ADAGIO to follow. Dawn beginning to break astern. Boat speed has increased a little.
0731 Ship TORM ROTNA will pass us at 8 nm CPA. Rain squalls astern (10 nm)and to stbd )15 nm), coming towards us, visible on the radar, 12 miles astern.
0850 Ship TORM ROTNA is now visible on both the radar and with my eyes, astern of us 9 nm. CPA 7 nm. Dark clouds and showers astern and to stbd, seem to be getting closer so we are likely to get a little rain.. A few cloudy areas visible on the radar.
1011 Wind speed up to 15-18kn for almost an hour. Now back down to 6-8kn just as I was about to set jib to weather, reacher to leeward. Rain squalls about 240mg 11nm ahead
1236 Set full main + reacher on stbd jybe – doing about 70% of target VMG target speed about 9.5, doing 7.5. Sailing 25deg north of rhumb
1559 TWS increasing, now is 17 kts. Boat speed is increasing, occasionally to 10 kts. Fair weather cumulus clouds and a blue sky.
1734 TWS is decreasing, so boat speed is down. We might have been the cause of a DISTRESS alert on our EGC satellite email broadcasts.

First LES 7-JUL-2009 08:37:04 625981 SUBJECT: **POSSIBLE VESSEL ON FIRE**
MESSAGE: AT 0800 UTC 07 JULY 09,THE US COAST RECEIVED A REPORT OF
A POSSIBLE VESSEL ON FIRE BY A PASSING AIRCRAFT IN POSITION 25-33N 150-15W.

Then LES 7-JUL-2009 10:57:25 639170
THE U.S. COAST GUARD HAS RECEIVED A REPORT FROM AN AIRLINER SIGHTING A
BRIGHT ORANGE VESSEL, POSSIBLE ON FIRE, APPROXIMATELY 1275NM WEST OF SAN DIEGO, CA IN POSITION 31-08N Eik 138-59W.

Finally: Eik LES 7-JUL-2009 11:31:48 642461
RCC ALAMEDA IS CANCELING THE SAFETY NET 639170. THE LIGHTS OBSERVED IN
POSITION 31-08N 138-59W HAVE BEEN ATTRIBUTED TO DECK LIGHTS AND NOT A
VESSEL ON FIRE.

ADAGIO was in that area and I had the deck lights turned on to check the set of the sails. Shaun had said that he had seen several commercial planes fly over. It’s good to know that some one is paying attention up there.

We wish you were here to see this beautiful ocean and sky.

Love and hugs,
Steve and Dorothy
s/v ASAGIO
Pacific Ocean
latitude 28 deg 40 min N
longitude 143 deg 59 min W

1. San Francisco to Hawaii

Friday, July 3, 2009

Hello from Adagio on day 3.

We are having a fine passage. I just calculated our daily runs.

Day 1 – 154 nautical miles
Day 2 – 222 nautical miles
Day 3 – 190 nautical miles

Today we have almost no wind, and a low, smooth rolling swell, with wind ripples on the surface. We have furled the sails and are motoring on one engine. Air temperature outdoors is 71 deg F. One ship in the distance on AIS. None close enough to be seen. Rick Shema sent new route changes, putting our route more on the rhumb line to Oahu. Light winds are forecast for the next 2-1/2 days. Second loaf of bread is in the oven. We finished the first loaf at lunch today.

Our first three days at sea were a rollicking good sail. We were truly “ocean walloping”, with wind speed up to 27 knots, and boat speeds up to 16 knots. The seas were 3 – 4 meters high, but not breaking, and they just lifted ADAGIO like a feather, and then thundered under her.

I have been having this “Ahah” moment several times a day: That I am traveling to Hawaii in my own home! What a delightful concept.

Here are a few notes from our log:

6/30/09 Tuesday:
0753 Just crossed under the Golden Gate Bridge.
0946 Set full main and jib, close reaching in light stuff, steering for Rick’s waypoints north of rhumb line.
0958 Ship on our track per AIS, not on radar at 12nm scale. Redo the setup ‘adjusting tune/video’
1311 TWS decreased to 8 kts; sails were flapping. So I turned on the port engine at 1500 revs. Boat speed improved. . After about 15 minutes the wind increased to12-13 kts. Steve set the AWA on the pilot to 80, which helped the sails to fill. Our boat speed increased to 8 kts.
1404 TWS up to 13 – 15 kts. Boat speed is up to 8 to 9 kts. Sleigh ride! 3 ships approaching the GG, but nowhere near our course.
1641 Furled reacher, trimmed main, port engine on to 2500 trying to reach the windline to the west sooner
2115 So little wind that we have changed course to point directly at our waypoint. we should have more wind by morning. Several ships around, but not threatening.

07/01/09 Wednesday:
0644 Shaun and I set full main and reacher and turned off the engines.
0734 9 to 10 knots boat speed; waves washing up the windows, underwing slams. Sunshine at last!
0849 I put the first reef in the main sail, furled the reacher, and set the jib. The boat’s motion is more comfortable, and we are still hitting 9 knots from time to time. Leaking right side window over the nav station; only drips.
1320 Wind dropped. Port Engine on. Now have full main and reacher
1347 Port Engine off. Full main and jib. Ocean walloping now. A few minor hatch leaks (drips). Shaun says that this is the sailing he came for, like the ocean racing he has done in the past.
1732 We reefed main to first reef – height = 17?. Set pilot onto TWA = 165. Set jib tight to backwind the main. Traveler up to center, stablized boom with preventer
1857 Confused sea, wind waves atop swell – bumpy but fast on first reef and jib.
1949 Beam seas are really bashing the boat. We’ll try steering off 20deg and see how that rides. Set pilot response = NORMAL.
2251 Wind fairly constant 19-23KN. Boat speed up to 14 KN surfing down waves at times. Boat well under control.

07/02/09 Thursday:
0007 One reef in main and jib. Boat well under control in a large cross swell. Boat speed is 10 knots.
One reef in main; jib. Wind is still up. Boat is moving fast; fewer underwing slams than 2 hours ago..TWD steady. O ccasional speed of 13 or 14 kts, but mostly 9 to 11 kts. A ship 20 nm to our south is going to cross our bows. Need to watch it carefully. All is well.
0227 TWS 20 to 27 kts. Seas might be decreasing some what. Boat speed still 10 to 14 kts. All is quiet.. Trimble is beeping — messages received?
0316 Fast and bumpy- new Rick Shema forecast just received = OK to set CTS to 235T = 220M
0321 Steve Surfed to 16 knots.
0351 Falling off for easier ride by 10 deg to 220M
0805 Boat maintaining steady course with no sail or rudder change on this watch.
0952 Sea is now BLUE! Not much has changed over the past several hours. Seas are still moving the boat around, but the auto pilot manages to keep us on course. Still cloudy . Baro is rising now. Ride is more comfortable than it was last night. No ships on the AIS.. Several of the small port hatches are leaking slightly — drips: over nav station, in the shop, in the master shower. Shaun as had a very few tiny leaks from the hatch over the guest bed.
1231 Strike jib, set reacher – traveler up to weather about 2-ft. Main still first-reef.
1551 Shaun & Steve shook out first reef –> full main and reacher. Very little speed improvement so far.
1810 Shaun and Dorothy put the first reef in the main. Dorothy making bread.
2027 Wind is easing, beautiful sunset with beams of light rays spreading from the bases of clouds to the ocean surface. Long, soft clouds, pale blue sky. Much quieter tonight than last night. We have traveled 480 nautical miles from the GG Bridge.
2249 Finally! 1/4 waxing moon visible!

07/03/09 Friday:
0136 Wind getting lighter. Reacher tack more to windward. Steered 10 degree more to stbd.
0352 TWD is moving around. Difficulty keeping the sails full.
0818 Furl reacher which doesn’t work motorsailing light air deep angles (standing on a razor blade).
1411 Low, smooth rolling swell, with wind ripples on the surface. Air temperature outdoors is 71 deg F. One ship in the distance on AIS. None close enough to be seen. Rick Shema sent new route changes, more on the rhumb line to Oahu. Light winds forecast for the next 2-1/2 days. Second loaf of bread is in the oven. We finished the first loaf at lunch today.

We have traveled 623 nautical miles since sailing under the Golden Gate Bridge. About 1400 nautical miles to go.

All is well. We are having a fun passage. The Pacific Ocean is being good to us so far. ADAGIO keeps us warm and dry, and performs beautifully — our magic carpet to Hawaii!

Love and hugs,
Steve & Dorothy
s/v ADAGIO
Pacific Ocean
latitude 34 deg 22 min N
longitude 133 deg 50 min W

Pogue's Top Ten Tips for Digital Photography

Nine of these ten tips are excellent. David Pogue’s “Top Ten Tips of All Time” are from his new book, David Pogue’s Digital Photography: The Missing Manual.

Yosemite

When not adventuring on ADAGIO we leap on such invitations as joining a retreat to Yosemite – and we were so lucky with the April weather. On Friday, it was snowing as we entered Yosemite by the 6200-ft pass at the Big Oak Flat entry. It was raining very wet, big drops when we unloaded in Camp Curry. Then by the time we were exploring around the Ahwahnee Lodge grounds before dinner the rain had turned to sun – which prevailed for the weekend.

Dinner that night at the Ahwahnee was as memorable as our last visit nearly 20 years ago. The main dining hall of the Ahwahnee may be the most glorious situation on Earth – for the task of eating. Then on Saturday morning the multi-family fun started….

Michael Daley, an Electronic Engineer recommendation

The ADAGIO crew has had the good fortune locating exceptional marine services talent in various parts of the world – ranging from Hobart, Tasmania to Sitka, Alaska. Recently we had an especially good experience in San Francisco that I just want to mention briefly.

ADAGIO has two Electrodyne 70A, 24VDC brushless, roller bearing, heavy duty alternators. The Electrodynes function primarily as a backup to our 10kW Panda genset, but of course keep the batteries charged up if we are motor-sailing. Since we are accustomed to such as autopilot, radar, and fresh-baked bread, we like to be confident that a genset failure that we cannot repair at sea doesn’t cramp the electrical consumption too much.

So we inquired around our network of experienced Bay Area sailors for a recommendation of the best engineer to give the Electrodynes a thorough inspection. More than a couple of skippers recommended Michael Daley. Coincidentally we came across an excellent technical letter that Michael wrote for Richard Spindler’s Latitude 38 of February 2009 — specifically on the topic of alternator reliability. OK – that made it an easy decision.

Michael was at the gate of Marina Village Yacht Harbor within 1 minute of our 0900 appointment. Over the next seven hours Michael and I went over that whole end of the yacht’s electrical system with a microscope.

Today via email we received Michael’s invoice together with one of the more extensive reports of our experience. This is what we should expect from all the technical staff that work on our boats — but in our experience it is exceedingly rare. Here’s the report:

PROBLEMS REPORTED:

Electrodyne alternator produces rated output only at excessive engine RPM.

Belt-dust reported.

Field-coil connections are a concern.

TASKS PERFORMED:

1) Inspect installation: Installation was professionally and competently done, except for the field coil connections. These use bullet connectors, and they do not match the wire guage, leading to corrosion at the exposed wire ends.

2) Measure pulley diameters and calculate alternator-to-engine RPM ratio: The ratio is too low to allow rated alternator output at the desired cruising engine RPM.

3) Inspect belts for quality, alignment and tension: The port engine has high-quality belts installed, but the Starboard alternator belts are not well matched, and are standard quality. Tension is sufficient for operation at moderate output without significant slippage, but higher tension is suggested (see recommendations, below). The surfaces of the pulleys are not as smooth as they ideally would be for longest life and minimum dust production. (see recommendations, below).

4) The port alternator field wire is not a quick-disconnect connector, as on many alternators, but it is also not on the stud-connector that Electrodyne typically uses. The field wire emerges from a hole in the alternator cover, where it is crimp-spliced to a short piece of wire leading to the bullet connector. This is problematic. Alternator was purchased in New Zealand.

5) Consult with Electrodyne factory: Factory suggested that the unit had originally been fitted with an internal regulator, which was removed in New Zealand when Steve ordered an externally-regulated unit. The field wire stud was not installed, as it should have been, but the wire was simply routed through the hole in the rear cover. The factory suggested disassembling the unit in the hope that additional field wire was available inside.

6) Remove port alternator from engine completely for access.

7) Disassemble port alternator to access field wire inside rear cover.

8) Unfortunately, there was no more field wire inside.

9) Extend field wire using adhesive-filled, heat-shrink crimp splice to allow a service loop for future work.

10) Delete bullet connector entirely — is unit must be removed, there is now enough extra wire to allow it to be cut and respliced.

11) Reassemble alternator.

12) Reinstall alternator.

13) Swap two belts, which had measured different tensions previously, and adjust tension.

14) Replace splice on starboard alternator field coil with adhesive-filled, heat-shrink crimp splice and extend field wire to allow a service loop for future work. Starboard alternator had enough field wire left to work with without removing or disassembling it.

CONCLUSIONS:

To achieve rated output at preferred cruising engine RPM, the alternator pulley ratio must be increased. The crankshaft pulley diameter must be increased to do this.

RECOMMENDATIONS:

1) Replace crankshaft pulleys (port and startboard) with a larger diameter. If possible, use an even larger diameter pulley that would allow the alternator pulley diameter to be increased also, which would result in longer belt life. Objective is to obtain 4800-5000 alternator RPM at cruising engine RPM. In any case, the alternator pulleys shoud be replaced, since the working surfaces are not as smooth as they should be.

2) Operate belts at a slightly higher tension than was found, at least until a larger alternator pulley can be installed. This will reduce slippage and dust production. The only downside is reduced alternator bearing life, and these units are beefy, and should provide long service life even at the higher tension. If a larger alternator pulley is installed, tension can then be reduced somewhat.

3) Replace regulator with Balmar Max-Charge, with optional battery temperature sensor installed.

4) Balance the alternator field winding resistances, as was discussed. The best way to do this is to run the engines at exactly the same RPM and balance the alternator output currents by adding resistance to the field winding of the alternator that shows a higher output until they are equalized. (I’d be glad to help with this if you like). Otherwise. a careful measurement of the filed resistances measured AT THE REGULTOR should be made, and these resistances balanced.

For any of your projects, you can contact Michael as follows:

Michael Daley
Redwood Coast Marine Electrical
1120 Brickyard Cove Rd.
Point Richmond, CA 94801(707)480-8517 (C)
(510)234-2827

Cloudy Bay Tasmania

Cloudy Bay lies at the very southern tip of South Bruny Island. It is a stunning place to anchor when there is no major Southern Ocean swell to spoil your comfort. And of course southerly wind is not a good thing either. So keep your eye on the weather if you decide to go into Cloudy Bay. You will be rewarded with some of Tasmania’s world famous scenery, and are likely to have the bay to yourself if you avoid the ‘silly season’ after Christmas.

Sometimes we get lucky, finding ourselves in the right place at the right time. That usually produces some of our favorite landscape photos. But we rarely invest the time to position ourselves for photography, then wait and wait for the weather and light. That of course is what the best photographers do.

The image at left is one of a remarkable portfolio of Tasmania images by photographer Jonathan Wherrett. You will definitely want to follow Jonathan’s work for architectural, commercial or weddings. Wherrett is one of the best modern photographers we have encountered.

We have never surfed Cloudy Bay, which is one of the famous Tassie monster wave spots, and home of the Bruny Island Surf Classic . The image at left is not ours, but will give you an idea what the bay looks like on a good surfing day.

Cruising guides and books for sale!

Adagio is preparing to sail west across the Pacific, so we have some 22 cruising books and guides available for sale.

Annotated by experienced cruisers as to the best routes and anchorages. Sailing Directions, Coast Pilots, Cruising Guides. Tahiti, Mexico, Pacific NW, Puget Sound, British Columbia, San Juan Islands, SE Alaska.

We have created a tabulation of all our books on offer — an Acrobat PDF file to ensure that everyone can read it without browser or Excel glitches.

Please contact us via email.  We are berthed in Alameda at Marina Village Yacht Harbor.
We also have for sale British Columbia, Canada Cruising Guides and Mediterranean Cruising Guides .