Friday, June 20, 2014

Doing What She's Meant to Do

It's nice to have a floating condo, but it's best to do what she's made for and go sailing!

Our friends Jared and Nathalie sent a note that Jared's brother Scott relocated here in April for his Navy job. Scott sailed with the University of Washington's sailing Navy sailing team and that's all I needed to know that I'd have another hand to help me get her docked. 

Our slip gets a pretty steady tradewind exposure, pushing away from the pier. So, it helps to have a second hand to get her back in the lines on the return. 

We went straight out of the harbor entrance and set up the sails and away we went on port tack, beam reaching toward the SE. Maybe with a little more effort than that, as this was the first time I sailed her by myself, which required some time to learn how it all works. And, apparently, the main halyard was finished off, not on the mainsail, but on the starboard safety lines. I finished it there again at the end of the day when I heard it banging steadily in the evening trades. 

Anyway, three hours of tacking, gybing, and sailing around Mamala Bay was a great way to spend the afternoon. three plus hours and back at the pier without incident. 



Saturday, June 14, 2014

Mahina Nani Nui!

A big beautiful full moon rising over Waiks last night. Nani nui!




Thursday, June 12, 2014

Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Puhi!

Walking back from surfing this morning and I saw a puhi hunting in the low-tide rocks, along the quay wall. I went back to get my camera and in less than two minutes, the wind had picked up, rippling the surface, and Mr. Puhi moved to deeper water. Bummer. He was a beauty, too. Over three-feet long with big brown and small white stripes. 



Tuesday, June 10, 2014

Shine On, Waxing Gibbous Moon

Aw, poor neglected blog. I've been a bad blogger. Life has swept us up and pushed us along at a steady clip for two months now. We are adjusting to life on the boat. Kris had it alone for a while last month when I had to travel, and now I'm running things while she galavants for work. We'd both rather spend our time here, but life calls you out sometimes.

We have our insurance now, so expect to be sailing much more now. It's summer so surf is bigger on our side of island, and will have to be factored into our decisions. Also, I understand that our harbor entrance can get closed when surf gets too big.

I regularly surf the break right at the harbor mouth and I have seen a couple of the swells get bigger and make the ride in a little more thrilling for some of the small boats. From watching and reasoning it out, I think you'd wait and watch the sets roll through and time your run to move through that part of the channel nearest to breaking waves on a lull. There are some pretty regular lulls in the South Shore swells. The surf on this side is typically long-period ground swells that come from way down in the Southern hemisphere. So, the quiet spots in between sets is not too crazy with shorter period, wind-driven local swell.

Maybe sail this weekend.

Here are some shots of the waxing gibbous moon, from last night. Shot from our berth.

Aloha!