Sail Cutthroat

29 April 2007

Lat N 21 15

Lon W 156 02

For the first time during this trip, my time zone clock has adjusted to what I know to be local time. Wow…what used to be the 4AM starting gun (PV time) is 11PM Aloha time. Makes me realize that I really do need to get some sleep after this watch is over at 2AM. I keep thinking that it’s time to start making breakfast for everyone. John’s just as confused however, because he keeps wondering where the coffee is when he relieves me.

I can see the shoreline of Maui. It started with the lighthouse on the eastern tip and has now blossomed into the north shore coastline. More and more lights are appearing every minute and there is a steady stream of jet traffic above heading east to the mainland. It’s hard to imagine that those folks will be back in LA or San Francisco before we get to Honolulu tomorrow afternoon. So the tip in the cruising guide about if you get lost, follow the jet streams is pretty accurate.

In less than two miles, we will mark our 3000 mile point. Should I ring the ship’s bell or somehow wake all hands alerting them to this significant milestone? I think yes.

As we approach the islands (we’re about 25 miles offshore) the swell is increasing again. The last couple of days has been so benign that it was like being in a different ocean from what we experienced the previous 2 + weeks. Now the washing machine has kicked in - only on the gentle cycle. It remains pretty much like this until we arrive in Honolulu…actually Ali Wai Harbor where we dock at the Waikiki Yacht Club at 4:40 local time on the 29th of April after 19 days of traveling 3105 miles. I’ll provide some statistics on our trip later.

Since this is now such a late update - it’s actually 2 May at 0500 hours and I’m finally getting around to the final underway update. Let me fill you in on the last couple of days…

We arrived in Honolulu with great fanfare. As we entered the harbor, two boats passed us going the other way, honked their horns and congratulated us on our passage (I thought that was pretty entertaining in itself). Turns out they were from Waikiki Yacht Club and had heard of our pending arrival. I contacted the Port Captain at WYC for dock space a couple of days out. While he initially had no place to put us, he suggested I call him back the next day. When I did so, he said come on in and that we would side-tie to a beautiful Passport 47 (also a blue hulled vessel). Our arrival couldn’t have been nicer. Nancy flew in from San Diego with her friends Ken and Carol and they managed to find their way down to the WYC and along with Jerry’s wife, Audrey and the owners of the Passport, Brent and Susan. We were met with Champagne and Hawaiian leis. What a treat this was, and we couldn’t have felt more welcome to be there. This little party went on for quite some time and we finally all ended up at the yacht club for dinner.

We did manage to call Customs to notify them of our arrival and they actually showed up sometime between Champagne and Gin and Tonics. Unfortunately, Customs never relayed the message to Agriculture, so we are still awaiting their arrival to inspect our food supplies. I tried to tell them that after 19 days out at sea, there really wasn’t much left in the way of fresh produce…but they still want to come see. They are pretty insistent, saying that we can’t buy anything fresh here yet and to save our garbage too. I’m real excited about that…there is still one bag left in thedinghy just for them. Since we’re mostly eating out, it hasn’t been a huge problem…

Yesterday, we moved the boat to our new home in the Ko’Olina Marina on the west end of Oahu where we will probably remain through next winter. It’s a beautiful facility adjacent to the JW Marriott Resort complex. The downside is that it’s fairly remote out here and there is no high speed internet or wireless available at this time. The WYC had internet but it was a very weak signal. Hence, the delay in getting this information out to everyone. I did put in a Yotreps Position Report, but according to some of you, that didn’t take. Not sure what the problem is there (most likely a user/operator issue).

So our immediate challenges are:

• Laundry
• The Agriculture people…
• Get John and Ed to the airport…
• Cleaning the boat
• Internet Connection
• Finding a gym
• Fixing a few things
• Rest………

Love to all,
Crew of the Cutthroat
Elise, Roger, John, and Ed