Stuck in Hawaii till next year

No more sailing on Mintaka this year. I finally decided to leave her in storage in Kona until next year. Presumably, we'll continue on to the Northwest then, but it always depends on which way the wind is blowing. Check back next May.

On the hard briefly in Hawaii

We ended this leg in Honokohau Harbor (Kona, Hawaii) on June 8th, hauling out to the storage lot on the 9th. This was a near-perfect passage: good wind, few squalls, no mishaps. We repeatedly set new personal records for speed and distance. It was a pleasure overall. No matter how many passages I might make in the future, I doubt I will ever have a better one. My crew and I each went home to our families, in my case only for a couple of weeks. Although I don't yet have crew arranged for the final leg to Washington, I expect to be sailing off again towards the end of the first week of July. This last leg should take about four weeks. I expect it to be more difficult than the previous one, but much less so than the first one. Stay tuned to find out.

We're about 75 nm ESE of South Cape right now, stomping along in these enhanced trade winds. We've averaged over 150 nm per day for nine days now. We expect to be in the shelter of the Big Island a bit after midnight, and hopefully in port tomorrow afternoon.

Conditions are a bit better today, although even with hardly any sail up we are still romping along at 6-7 knots. We are using the staysail, but only for the sheet-to-tiller self steering; all the drive is coming from the smaller jib and the reefed mizzen. We did 158 nm to noon today, and have averaged 147 nm over the past eight days. Barring something big, we should be in early on the 8th.


We've finally gotten out of the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ). This is a zone where the trade winds of the northern and southern hemispheres converge, creating high precipitation. (Check out the link at left for more info) There was never a doldrums calm -- we sailed continuously from the SE Trades into the NE Trades -- but there was a wide band of snotty weather. Squalls and rain, alternated with squalls and rain for a couple of days.

Bronson has also written some blog entries, viewable by clicking on "comments" below my posts.

Our charms wore off last night. It was a foul, dirty night: lightning, rain, wind, endless squalls. We still made some miles, though. Today has just been rainy. I'm not going to update our position on the Yotreps website today, but our noon position today was North 08 deg. 54 min, West 145 deg. 38 min. 850 nm to go to Hilo.

We have been living a charmed life with squalls and winds. Listening to everyone else's complaints on the net makes me wonder whether we're on the same ocean. We are in the NE trades now, and have 974 miles to go to Hilo, Hawaii. We're on a reaching course, making 6-7 knots in 15-20 knots of wind. We've been doing 150-mile+ days, so could be in as early as the 8th. More likely later, though.

Great Sailing

We have been so unbelievably fortunate with the weather. The fleet ahead and behind have been complaining of squally conditions and higher winds, while we have had near perfect sailing conditions for the past six days. Ten to fifteen knots on the beam, four to eight foot gentle swells, cloudless nights, no squalls at all -- I know I've said it before, but it doesn't get much better than this. In the past four days, only one of our noon-to-noon runs was less than 150 nm. One of them was 165 nm -- a new record for us.