S/V Acacia

Our first week on the ocean. We have had had good wind all day and are making good speed in a good direction. We don’t know if it will last, but it is good now.

Yesterday evening we saw a some sort fishing boat. They didn’t respond to our VHF radio calls so we don’t know what they were up to. They did have a lot of lights turned on, we were able to see them for a long time. I guess we aren’t as alone on the ocean as we had thought.

Our big milestone for the day was crossing 30 degrees North latitude. Still a long way to go, but it’s nice to be in the thirties.

Bob
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At 9/1/2009 (utc) our position was 30°30.55′N 155°12.39′W
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Very similar to yesterday. We had wind last night through around noon. Then it dies in the afternoon. At the moment we are becalmed. Hopefully it will pickup in the early evening. We have decided to not motor and wait for the wind in order conserve fuel for charging batteries. No serious shortages, just being conservative.

I made the first contact with the Pacific Seafarers Ham network. We will try to do a daily check in. The net comes on in the late afternoon 6pm HST. It nice to have people to talk to and we may hear from other boats in this area of the Pacific. They can also do phone patches and it might be possible to do a phone call home via the radio.

We tried to use the Asymmetrical spinnaker to see if we could get a little more speed. It turned into a bit of a fire drill as we lost the halyard up the mast and the spinnaker got caught on the spreaders. Chris went up the mast and got the sail down and retrieved the spinnaker. We then tried again and got it up successfully. Then as on script the wind died. Maybe another day.

We also caught a small piece of old fishing net on the rudder. It was easy to get off with the boat hook. We will be bringing it home with us as it’s really to have this stuff floating around in the ocean catching fish forever.

In our current becalmed state, Chris and Steve went for a quick swim. They said it was very enjoyable and reported that the boat’s keel is still attached

Bob
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At 8/31/2009 (utc) our position was 28°18.39′N 155°43.71′W

Yesterday was mixed. We had wind in the morning, and had to run under engine in a calm afternoon. Chris caught a Mahimahi in the morning while sailing. We decided to give the engine a rest and grilled the Mahimahi in the calm. It was excellent! I don’t think we can use the grill underway, but it did make up for the calm seas.

As it got darker, the wind came up and we were able to sail all night. This morning it looks to be another calm hot day. We appear to be in the Pacific High, not where we want to be, but where we are. It’s hard to order up new weather.

The birds have left us. For a while we had three on the bow pulpit. They were all pointing into the wind. I suspect we have moved out of their normal area. But only they know….

All are well. Lots of food and water. Unless the weather changes, this is looking to be a long trip. Hopefully, things will pick up a time passes.

Bob
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At 8/29/2009 (utc) our position was 26°31.67′N 156°18.56′W

We are sailing on a wide blue sea with all sails up going a little less than 5 knots. It seems like we are the only people in the whole world. Except for birds, nothing else than us, the sea, sky, and sun. Only a few clouds in the distance. It’s hard to describe the overall grandeur.

That’s the good news. The bad news is that the wind is blowing out of just about the exact direction we want to go. We tacked this morning to go more easterly and are now going about 10 to 15 degrees south of east. Not exactly back to Hawaii, but it feels that way. If the wind doesn’t shift, we will probably tack again to resume our more northerly track once we get more east.

Think of birds, we had two ride with use all night. One on the rail at the front of the boat and a second on the outboard motor in the cockpit. While it was nice to have some company, they left lots of “white stuff” to remind us of their presence. I guess they wanted a rest.

Bob
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At 8/27/2009 (utc) our position was 24°38.03′N 158°43.88′W

We have now been at sea for over 24 hours. Everything is well and we are making progress north. Our general plan is to sail north until it’s possible to start sailing east. We have the services of the “Weather Guy” who is doing weather routing for us. He sent us an initial course to sail and will send up periodic updates and adjust the course based on the weather. It should take some of the chance out of the journey.

Last night we had some squalls with rain and wind, but not too bad. Today was sunny and warm and the wind pretty steady. It’s not coming from the direction we had expected, but will have to do. Hopefully it will be more from the east tomorrow.

We had a Gannet land on the bow pulpit today and it’s still there as I type. I guess we have a new crew member

Bob
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At 8/27/2009 (utc) our position was 23°47.35′N 158°43.86′W

This will be short. Not acclimated yet.

We are now out of the lee of Oahu and the wind and seas picked up. The isn’t from the direction we expected. Hopefully it will shift as we get further north.

Everyone well and Acacia is doing fine.

Longer report tomorrow.

Bob

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At 8/26/2009 (utc) our position was 21°55.60′N 158°26.06′W

We departed the dock about 10am HST. It tool us a little longer than we expected, but every thing is fine. The crew and boat are in great shape.

We had a crazy day yesterday buying food for three weeks, getting it stowed, doing a million small things to get ready, and returning the rental car to the airport. The boat has full water and fuel and water tanks and an empty holding tank. The way it should be.

We are on our way.

Bob