Day 3, Sat February 24 2007

Day 3 of sailing trip

We woke at first light and started preparing the boat for departure. We had one more stop in Maui'i, one more dose of civilization, and then we set off for 2-3 weeks of the open ocean. I climbed to the top of the boat, dove in, and un-tied the mooring ball. The cool water knocked any sleep quickly from my body. I was starting to fall in love living on the boat and with the sailing life style. It had only been a couple of days but there is a freedom in living aboard a sail boat. I have always loved the ocean for the absolute freedom that it represents. You can get on a boat, go into the ocean, and literally go anywhere you want. The ocean is so massive that if you don't want to be found no one can find you. You do what you like when you like. There is something liberating about living aboard the Nomad (I'll talk more about this later).

We waved goodbye to the Molokai locals, raised our sail and pulled out of the channel. As we headed out an endangered Hawaiian monk seal jumped out of the water directly in front of us. It came to the side of the boat and seemed to escort us out of the channel. As soon as we reached the open water in dove down and disappeared.

The water was relatively smooth (3-4 foot waves) and I went to the very front of the boat. Only our main sail was up so I grabbed onto the head sail mast and bounced up and down with the boat. It was a gorgeous Hawaiian morning (almost all mornings are in Hawaii) and we were sailing directly into the path where the sun was rising. It seemed as if the sun was lighting a path for us to follow. While I was standing at the front of the boat all I could hear was the sound of the boat slicing through the waves.

Directly from my journal

"This is it man, this is the life. Complete freedom sailing the great blue sea going wherever the wind takes us. Life is truly wonderful. We go where we want when we want and we arrive when Mother Nature allows us."

I stayed at the bow of the boat for an hour or so but as we got farther out from Molokai and closer to the Maui'i Channel the waves and wind started to pick up. Before we knew it we were in the same nasty weather we had been dealing with for the last few days. The waves were not quite as big but they were coming from all directions. The wind was having gusts up to 40 knots (about 40 MPHs). As we slammed into waves the water would fly up into the air, get caught by the wind and slice into our skin. The temperature must have been 85 degrees or so but I was wearing my ski equipment that has kept me warm in negative 15 degrees. The closer we were to the channel the rougher the weather grew. The channel is narrow so the wind and waves pick up as you enter it. I was trying to shield myself from the weather and track our course from points on land. After a few hours of doing this I could not tell if we had gained ground or lost ground. Not knowing what else to do with myself at this point I headed below deck scrounge something to eat.

I am always hungry and the fight against nature was making me even more so. I decided to make some PB & J sandwiches for everyone. This however was much easier in thought than in deed (I have not spent anytime talking about what it is like below deck in 25 foot waves yet so I will spend sometime on that now.) When you are on deck you have to hold on to something at all times. You never know where the waves are coming from and can be caught off guard and thrown overboard at anytime. Below deck it is even worse. There were objects flying all around the cabin. When you walk you have to take 2 steps at a time and grab onto something with both your arms to wait until the boat rights itself again. Using the head is an experience all in itself. Both hands need to be used to hold yourself up and your head needs to be used to keep the towel cabinet from flying open and knocking you down. It is a constant struggle to keep yourself on foot and safe from flying objects.

So, my decision to make sandwiches in this weather might not have been the best choice. A few times through out the preparation the jars of jelly and peanut butter went flying across the cabin. A task that would have normally taken me 2 minutes took well over 20 minutes to complete: they sure did taste good though.

After I made the sandwiches I decided to try to read. I was below deck and sat down on one of the bunks. I put my feet against the wall to keep my body from flying across the cabin (the boat is constantly tilted). I read a few pages and then gave up. It was too difficult to stay on the same line with you eyes. Not wanting to go above deck and freeze anymore I decided to try and sleep. Amazingly I fell into a deep sleep (filled with bizarre dreams). I slept for a few hours only waking from time to time when I would be launched off of my bunk onto the ground.

When I finally awoke I made my way topside to see that we had actually made some ground. We were in between Molokai and Lanai'i and making our way closer to Maui'i. We could see up ahead that the weather was taming some. As we approached Maui'i we could see the coastal city lights on a back drop of large green mountains. We were surrounded by whales and were inching our way closer to land.

Sometime around this time Kevin went below deck to discover a rather large problem. Our computer (which is our main navigational system and contact for weather and email) was attached to a desk. Sometime throughout the voyage the board the computer was attached to had ripped off and flew across the cabin. It had smashed into a wall and landed on the floor. It was beyond salvage. We were not sure if it was the flight of the computer in the air which ruined it or the pool of salt water it landed in that finished it off (the hatches of the boat had been leaking all day long leaving pools of water in various places). This was a big problem; without an electronic navigational system it would be hard to make the journey.

As we approached Maui'i we called the harbor master and requested a slip to dock at. Lucky for us there was one slip left, slip #99. As we were approaching the harbor our engine died. We got the engine started again but this posed yet another problem. The engine was brand new and should not be dieing out on us. We were about to head into an unknown marina filled with boats. If the engine died while we were making port it was possible that we would float into another boat or worse yet, float onto the reef and slice open the bottom of the boat. The captain ordered Rocky and me to the bow of the boat: "stand by on the anchor. If the engine dies drop it at once."

Luckily for us the engine held out and we docked up safely. We docked up, cleaned down the boat, and head into Lahina to have a cold drink and some warm food. With the new problem of the navigational system being down and not knowing what was going on with the engine the length of our stay was unknown. We had made it safe to Maui'i and that was good news. Also we had been blessed in a way. If we would have had good weather our first few days and then had bad weather once we were 1000 miles from land in any direction it could have been much more disastrous. We would be able to get everything fixed here and head out to LA shortly. For the meantime I was going to enjoy Maui'i.