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Sunday May 18, 2008

Understandably I missed a day or two. Landfalls are just like that. Late Friday we sail down the lee shore, west, of the Big Island until it was dark. Often the vog or weather cuts our visibility of the island all together. The only way we know it is 3 miles east of us is its large looming image on the chart plotter. Just before darkness a cruise ship passes us port to port on its way to Tahiti. Making 20 to 30 knots and on a straight rum line its journey will be just 2000 nautical miles, not the 2462 nautical miles it is taking us. The cruise ship will be in Tahiti in 3 days or so. It is taking us 14 days. Our trip is best; Donna may not agree with me.

 

 At a point about 15 miles from Kailua Bay we see the mass of lights of Kailua Kona. Thank God the clouds are lifting so we can see the island. Soon it is apparent that a grouping of bright lights is a baseball field on the mauka side, towards the mountains (volcanoes), of our Kona hale, home in the huge park created from the old Kona Airport abandoned in 1971. At exactly 9:08 PM we point Bella Donna towards the shore in front of our hale lanai, turn all the deck lights and honk the new fog horn mounted half way up our mast. We have arrived. After an appropriate celebration we return a short distance to Kailua Bay and anchor. Dead tired we manage to grill the steaks and vegetables the agricultural officers will confiscate in the morning and try to find the strength to eat a late dinner. We are too tired to even have a glass of red wine. We talk about how light the wind is and how flat the sea is. For a while we worry about a lee shore situation with the sea breeze blowing us towards shore; however the light land breeze soon stretches our anchor chain in a makai, towards the sea, direction. With the anchor watch GPS set we will sleep well; no anchor watches will be required tonight.

 

After a hard sleep we are all awake before 6 AM to do a little cleaning before the customs, immigration and agriculture officers arrive at 6:30 AM. First we have a cup of French press coffee on the bow near our poor somewhat passage damaged trampoline. Kailua Kona is waking up in the haze. Deborah remarks that she can smell the tropical flowers. People are starting to gather on the dock, not to stare at us although they do, but to set up for the first interclub canoe races of the year. A catamaran like Bella Donna is a rare sight in Kailua Kona Bay. Life is good!

 

As the coffee cups are cold and empty, we lower the dinghy and John bathed and decked out in his cleanest best looking Bella Donna polo shirt and shorts heads off to the dock to fetch the various officials. The remaining crew scurries around to clean up the decks strewn with dirty Coleman grill and fishing lines and lures that were left from the land fall celebration the night before; no flying fish were found to throw overbroad, an unusually good thing.

 

The officials call our mobile phone to say they are just leaving their office at Kona Airport, 10 miles away, and will be 20 minutes late. John in his hurry forgot to take a Bella Donna phone or VHF radio with him. Hand signals will not work; however, the girls arrive from the Kona Hale and call us so we can deliver the message. Three Hawaiian officers arrive and the flurry of paperwork fills the salon as John works with 2 very nice young male officers while Deborah takes the one equally nice female officer down to the galley for an agricultural inspection. What, they have to confiscate all our milk. We have 26 liters of unrefrigerated milk in our bilge. We have tried to eat all the fancy French cheeses which may cause us to become lactose intolerant, but we were not told about the milk as well. After a long discussion between Deborah and the officer concerning mad cow disease, we will be allowed to keep any dairy products but they will be restricted to be consumed onboard; we may not take any dairy ashore. So mad cow disease risk is restricted to Bella Donna I guess. An hour later we are checked into US water for the next calendar year. Life is good!

 

The only problem is we are unable to leave our dinghy at the dock and go ashore. The canoe race security people will not allow it. It is understandable as there are a lot of young Hawaiian canoe club kids swimming getting in and out of the limited race canoes preparing for their race. I guess sharing Kailua Kona with John and Deborah will have to wait. John and Deborah are so excited to see a Polynesian canoe race their first day in Hawaii, but it will have to be at a distance from Bella Donna. The races should end around 3 PM.

 

We end the day with dinner at the Kona Hale. Talking with our next door neighbor, they thought they saw a party boat come close to shore last night. I apologized to her for any noise and told her it was just us celebrating Bella Donna’s land fall from Tahiti. Immediately she wanted me to meet one of her house guests who was from Fiji and had extensively traveled the South Pacific. The guests name was Tavita which is Fijian for David. He turned out to be a very uplifting person. He had such a warm happy way about him that came across in his smile that seemed so never go away as it spread from ear to ear. We talked for almost an hour; I kept waiting for John and Deborah to show up and talk with him. We agreed that we would all talk later as we both will be in Kona till the end of the month.

 

Sleep came early last night. This lead to me to waking up at 3:30 AM in time to see an almost full moon casting a bright light on the Pacific Ocean where Bella Donna honked her horn 27 hours ago. The clouds and vog were gone. Today is a beautiful day.  The trade winds have returned.

God Bless Bella Donna

 

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Friday May 16, 2008
Last night the watch is more than ideal. The sea is flat. There is a gentle cool tropical breeze caressing your skin. The rhythm of undulating sea swells gently rock Bella Donna. This is our last night before landfall. The moon not yet full but so brilliantly bright that it looks like daylight with very dark sun glasses on, you can see the whole sky from horizon to horizon, every cloud is visible and every wave in the ocean can be seen. For a while we all sit in the fly bridge and talk before John and Deborah try to grab some sleep before their watch. If we were not on passage this would have been the perfect romantic moonlit night following pupus and sundowners that the girls would enjoy.

An hour after dark I am facing the stern trying to capture a high definition movie in my mind of this experience. Suddenly a white hot burning light falls from the sky into the water some immeasurable distance behind Bella Donna. My mind tries to make sense of what I just saw. At first I think I see a shooting star. Then I try to make sense of it as a distress flare launched from a stranded boat or even a drifting life raft. A flare would not have been falling so fast, a life saving flare has a little parachute on it to slow its fall. My mind returned to a shooting star and I thought of space junk that has fallen out of orbit and returned to earth. That is ok as long as it falls at an unused spot in the ocean. The whole experience is sort of star trek.

Friday morning is just the ideal continuation of the night before. The sea is flat; the 7 knot true wind is on our stern so with our speed of 7 knots over ground the apparent wind, what our sails and ourselves feel, starts out at zero making sailing impossible and even the cool morning rather warm. The progress is slow, but we are anxious to make landfall.

The wind has picked up, but a current is helping to push us along at almost 9 knots. We will be in Kailua Kona about 9 tonight. We can see the Big Island now. At first it appears to be a huge cloud. Even now we are less than 10 miles from its shore, but it is hard to see through the clouds and vog.

God Bless Bella Donna

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Thursday May 15, 2008
It is hard to internalize, fully understand, the shape, the size and the distances of our home, planet earth. One could cross the continental US by air, car or train; however, if one does it on a bicycle or on foot the appreciation and understanding is more vivid and real. For one thing you certainly have the time to observe, think and internalize the experience, aches, pains and blisters. Taking the 2 week 2,400 mile passage from Tahiti to Hawaii at a constant speed of 7 to 9 knots is such a journey. At best at any point of time we see 10 miles in every direction before the curvature of the earth hides what is over the horizon from view; thus at any point the best we can do on land or sea is see a circle of planet earth 20 miles in diameter, our view window from Bella Donna. This is not quite always true as the higher you go the farther you can see in clear weather. Like from the top of Mount Whitney, 14,415 feet, I once saw the Pacific Ocean. Even if you are at sea level and an object is tall enough you can see part of it more than 20 miles away. The highest point on the Big Island is 13,700 feet. If the sky is clear we should be able to see at least the top part of it from a great distance. We are 309 miles from Kailua Kona as I write this; I can't help but look ahead every once in a while. It is still cloudy on the horizon.

We are starting to dream of the pleasures that the Hawaiian Islands have in store for us. I can't help but think of my favorite first day treat, poke. It is a mix of oils, spices, seeds and vegetables that is predominately chunks of raw ahi tuna. You buy it by the pound at the supermarket fish display. It is prepared in several different ways. My favorite is Sesame Ahi made with sesame seeds, olive oil, onion and maybe something else. Add a little soy sauce and/or wasabi and put it on a cracker. I know that John and Deborah are looking forward to a morning, afternoon or anytime coffee with pastry treat. What we all will enjoy is our sundowner in the fly bridge after the anchor is well set.
God Bless Bella Donna

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Wednesday May 14, 2008
Today is a picture perfect day. With the sun shining so bright the sun screen is out and my vitamin D deficiency is not a problem any more. I hope it stays this way for the next 2 days. Gentle swells are lifting our stern as we imitate a surfboard again and again gliding gently to Kona. Yes we have decided to just head directly to Kailua Kona and use Hilo as a place to go to if there is something difficult to deal with in Kona. Deborah just put Jehro on; the Hawaiian music has started.

We did have a setback last night and this morning; the wind died and we started to fall behind with Bella Donna just bobbing around in the Pacific Ocean. Later in the morning weak trade winds did return. The forecast is for weak trades all the way to Kona, so it looks like we are likely to arrive after dark on Friday. We will not anchor after dark in a place we have never been so we will hold off and sail up and down the island until first light Saturday morning. We can talk on mobile phone and wave at loved ones on the Kona house lanai in the moon light from the fly bridge with our first drink and pupus since departing Tahiti. We are still going as fast as we can but Mother Nature is making it hard. At least the sea state and weather is pleasantly allowing us to forget any agony we went through getting to this splendid point.

We can't wait to see the Big Island with its two 13,700 foot volcanoes. I wonder if we will see the steam and gases, vog, where the lava is flowing into the Pacific Ocean adding acreage to the already Big Island.

We just finished a remarkable lunch, sesame chicken and salad; Deborah is amazing how she can produce such gourmet meals on an ocean passage. The other night Bella Donna lurched unusually in the sea while Deborah was cooking Ono fish tacos and painfully burned her hand. John is busy washing salt of the stainless steal railings with a bucket of hot water and a rag. Our crew deserves some tender loving aloha care when we arrive in Hawaii; both of them have been exceptional.

I have 2 fishing lines out. I had better go watch them. IZ is now playing on the sound system. We can't wait to get there.
God Bless Bella Donna

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Tuesday May 13, 2008
Ah, now this is the life. Sitting at the table in the fly bridge composing the daily blog, it is not the always sunny day I would prefer; the cloud cover is still almost 100%, but the visibility is good (6 to 8 miles) and this is the first day in a long time, no rain. The fishing lines are out; I have to catch a fish for our arrival. There are several birds circling around the stern of Bella Donna. I think they are far from land and want an easy meal. We lost about 12 hours in the last stormy weather before the turn. It now looks like we may arrive in Kailua Kona too late Friday to clear customs, immigration and agricultural inspection. We have an appointment early Saturday morning for clearing on Bella Donna anchored in Kailua Bay. There is a direct flight arriving about 9 AM in Kona from Japan; if we don't clear early we will have to wait several hours. John called the Hawaiian officials; we will get a year for Bella Donna in US waters. All meat except fresh fish plus all fruits and vegetables must be dumped before we can be cleared into Hawaii. We are still doing our best to hurry along the way so as to clear Friday.

We are beginning to get into the American Polynesian mood. All we need is a sight of the Big Island, blue skies, blue waters, sun shine, tropical warmth (It was cold, 2 blankets, last night) and puffy white clouds to start the music playing. Actually any of the above would be appreciated. A passage to Hawaii does not happen every day; we want is as picture perfect as possible.

John found the current leak very quickly yesterday. He isolated it to the Stay sail furler that is located in the center beam on the bow. This beam had been pounded repeatedly into the ocean for days. Current leaks are bad for metal boats as somewhere, usually at the weakest point, the metal starts to undergo electrolysis which over time means terrible trouble. We know of one boat where it was ignored for a long time and one day the rudder fell off. We keep anodes at various places under Bella Donna's hull to be sacrificed as the weakest point to the sea gods. We have to replace them regularly. Our decision on the Stay sail furler is to not use it and turn off its breaker for now. There is no way to work on it at sea. Now we are glad John was able to hand make brushes to fix the Genoa furler as that is all we need at the moment. Not to worry, we can still use the Stay furler by turning the breaker on and off.

Yesterday's sunset was marvelous. The skies had turned blue just in time and the clouds near the horizon were bright gold for a brief time.
God Bless Bella Donna

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Monday May 12, 2008
My doctor says I have a vitamin D deficiency and I need to take a supplement pill every 2 weeks unless I am on Bella Donna where he says I should get plenty of sun. Maybe I should email him and report I have not seen the sun in days. I gave up on applying the sun screen a few days ago. Maybe this deficiency and not my age leads to things like sending 2 posts in a row labeled Saturday; what happened to Sunday?

We have reached our way point at 10° north latitude east of Hawaii; goodbye to the convergent zone. There is a big low forming behind us; we are glad to be out of there. We have turned to the northwest towards the Big Island; we have made enough in the northeast direction to set up a swift approach to the Big Island. The big question is the weather. It is still poring down rain here; everything is very wet. The wind forecast is as we expected although light winds are forecasted to lessen as we get south of the Big Island. We will still call and check in with the Kailua Kona Harbor Master, but the forecasted swell conditions in Kailua Kona do not look bad at this time. However, we were told they could only predict 24 hours in advance.

Now that we have made our westward turn the wind and the ocean swell are not pounding Bella Donna anymore. She is gliding through the Pacific smoothly with just a gentile swaying motion. Every once in a while the hull is slapped somewhere just to remind us the ocean is still boss and still there 24 X 7. We have killed our starboard engine that has with minimal RPM satisfied Bella Donna's electrical appetite to this point as well as providing some welcome forward propulsion. The port engine is now working to finish the passage. John is going to electrically shut Bella Donna down for a short while to find a voltage leak we have developed. It is amazing with all the rough pounding we have taken this is our first one. Every circuit on Bella Donna must be tested. Somewhere there is something shaken loose or has gotten damp.

Our next waypoint is about 1 day out. All conversation is focused on Hawaii.
God Bless Bella Donna

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Saturday May 11, 2008
Sail for a while in very cloudy conditions. Take the sails down to run under a low cloud that brings squall winds, rain and unruly sea. Repeat this pattern day after day, 24 hours a day. That is what we do. This is not unusual near the equator. Starting after my post yesterday and into today the sea has pounded strong Bella Donna. A fiberglass hull would have taken serious damage by now. Forget about sea sickness; we are so used to the rotating thrashing plank that we live on that we are sure to become land sick when we experience terra firma again.

The progress is slow as the weather forecast is for east north east, ENE, winds but the winds are a bit more northerly pinching our course making a 30 degree angle to the wind. With just the Stay sail up we are trying to make our waypoint that is east of the Big Island and turn left, to port, to head to the Kona Coast of the Big Island; the turn should happen tomorrow morning. This way we are hoping to catch the usually present north east, NE, trade winds that usually blow to carry us at a good speed to Kona. The weather forecast 200 miles south of Hawaii is similar to the rain squally weather we are in. We are hopping for better weather near Hawaii. We still plan to make our land fall decision, Hilo or Kona, based on conditions forecasted one day out.

The nights have been cool enough that I have slept in my cabin with the hatches closed although I do turn a fan on low. During the day the heat and humidity do rise to a level that any movement makes your skin glow. Near sunset it cools right down and a wet due accumulates on everything. By morning everything is sopping wet.

Today we plan on making some fresh water from sea water and maybe washing some clothes if the sea state is calm enough. John wants to briefly turn Bella Donna downwind, which is SW, less rocky and more level for us to stick the fuel tanks; he does not trust the fuel gauges. We have much more fuel remaining than you would think normal after so many days at sea. These new Brunton props just may be much more efficient and they are quieter than the Gory props we have had since launch.

Donna has ordered fish, I am sure preferably tuna, so I guess we should put a line in soon.

God bless all the Mothers out there; it is Mothers' Day.

God Bless Bella Donna

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Saturday May 10, 2008
Ah Saturday, don't you just love Saturdays. I hope yours is better than ours. After my last post we hit the typical convergence zone stormy weather. The seas are moderate to rough. Bella Donna is going to need some tender loving care, TLC, once she hits the mainland. As the sea pounds her the beautiful redwood interior is complaining, but she is holding up well. We have continuous rain and 100% cloud cover. The barometer plummeted to 992. Starting at 10 PM last night John's watch is miserable. The constant lightning strikes start. John moves to pilot Bella Donna from the salon chart table where it is dry and safe from the dreaded lightning strike. Deborah starts watch at 2 AM at the chart table finding only the minimal electronic instruments are running; John is trying to protect some of them from the possibility we are struck by lightning. Our 110+ foot mast is waving in the sky saying catch me if you can. We do not have the chart plotter, radios, radar and navtex. All the hand helds are again in the microwave oven. We do have auto pilot and wind speed and direction, so we know what direction we are headed in and what the wind is doing. No sails are up; we are motoring, a stink potter until we clear this foul weather.

It is about 6 AM and as we all share morning coffee a streak of lightning traverses low in the sky above Bella Donna from one cloud to another. The wind speed, direction and depth instruments on the chart table instrument panel squeal and stop registering. A look at the top of the mast that is barely visible in the clouds, the wind speed equipment does not look damaged. Maybe they will resume working after the storm as they have before. In fact an hour later the depth instrument starts to register; however, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean it is so deep there is no meaningful reading. Now we are down to only knowing our compass heading. We don't know exactly where we are just that we are north of where we were an hour ago. It is a very good thing that we are not in a large cargo ship area.

After lunch the rain stops and there is a small patch of blue sky showing. The weather forecast indicates we will be in the convergent zone, doldrums, for another 24 hours. In five days the patch of ocean we just went through is to develop into severe thunderstorms. I am glad we will be long gone by then. Still very little wind; our diesel Genoa is moving us forward. A smaller sail boat might spend several days playing his sails milking the wind to make it through this area.

God Bless Bella Donna

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Friday May 9, 2008
The equator is behind us; in the northern hemisphere we find the convergence zone that does not have the very light winds associated with the doldrums. As soon as we passed into the spring hemisphere the temperature and humidity dropped. We were looking forward to the doldrums to wash clothes, make some ice and clean Bella Donna a little as the giants shaking the plank (see yesterday's blog) would be sleeping. I guess that is not going to happen now. The forecast is very good, moderate wind and sea conditions with showers to cool things off.

We are spending a lot of time furling and unfurling sails to match the whims of the changing convergence zone winds. Usually when you sail under a rain storm cloud there is a lot of wind that can change direction. When you exit the cloud the wind dies and gets fluky until it settles into a pattern.

The seas are calmer now so we can turn on the fresh water makers. The full tanks we left Tahiti with are running low. It is absolutely amazing how fast salt water can be converted into fresh water.

We are fast trying to consume our fresh produce before it goes bad; we eat a lot of salad while we can. We were really looking forward to slicing the large tropical avocados we bought at Carrefour in Tahiti. Can you believe they are still not ripe after sitting for a week in the heat and humidity in a wire basket above the wine glass shelf in the salon? They should be ready for guacamole by the time we reach Kona.

We now have noticed a pattern. In the cool of the early morning light we always see flying fish. They launch and fly low over the water for 100 to 200 yards before diving in again. In the cool of the evening we see birds. I wonder how long it has been since the birds have seen land and where do they go during the heat of the day. We did see one bird this morning as a rain cloud darkened the sky and cool wind blew making it look like evening. The bird circled Bella Donna, flying over the bow I think it wanted to drop in and stay with us for a while.

Our fuel situation is extremely good. We have switched to the port engine which has a full tank. This should get us to Kona; we are half way there now. The starboard engine has taken us from Tahiti to this halfway point and has used only ¼+ of the starboard tank according to the usually accurate gauge. The sails and the wind have saved us a lot of money appealing to the cheapskate sailors aboard. The world's yachts are divided into stink potters (power vessels) and rag pickers (sailing vessels). With the cost of fuel today, I like sailing.
God Bless Bella Donna

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Thursday May 8, 2008
No thunderstorms and no lightning; the night was uneventful, boring; life is good. We did not fly any Main sail as the forecast is and was thunderstorms likely. The morning sunrise was magnificent and the day is beautiful blue sky and seas. Even though we are close to the equator, we will cross after sunset today, the south east trade winds are still strong, no doldrums. The brunt of the doldrums and convergence zone has probably moved north of the equator.

This is day 6 of constant motion. While we never walk far the energy and muscle tension required to just cross the flat moving surfaces is extraordinary. Think of it as walking across a wide plank over a stream while two giants lift, drop, tilt and shuffle the plank. Every once in a while the giants slap the plank with their big heavy hand throwing you off balance. Now think of living on this plank 24 hours day after day, in daylight and dark and awake or asleep; you never get to the end of the plank. When you lay down you are quickly rocked to sleep. When you sit and read or work on a computer, you acquire near motion sickness; by now we have our sea legs, but some things still break down our defenses to motion sickness. Eventually the mind accepts constant torture and gets on with life. Passages are not everyone's cup of tea I am sure.

We are having Poison Cru for lunch from the uncooked left over tuna from last night's meal. Besides being one of the favorite dishes the fish is cooked using lime juice; this does not heat up the galley and salon you see.

It is not too hot and humid today. Maybe we are getting used to it. Also we have allowed ourselves to open hatches and doors as long as the sea state is tame. The only problem is the salt air puts a film on every wood surface. Everything outside is covered with a salt crystal crust from when the sea state was violent. Bella Donna will need a good clean before we present her for inspection in Hawaii. Unless we are on a dock with water, I think the outside will retain the salt and grime of a passage.

God Bless Bella Donna

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Thursday May 8, 2008
No thunderstorms and no lightning; the night was uneventful, boring; life is good. We did not fly any Main sail as the forecast is and was thunderstorms likely. The morning sunrise was magnificent and the day is beautiful blue sky and seas. Even though we are close to the equator, we will cross after sunset today, the south east trade winds are still strong, no doldrums. The brunt of the doldrums and convergence zone has probably moved north of the equator.

This is day 6 of constant motion. While we never walk far the energy and muscle tension required to just cross the flat moving surfaces is extraordinary. Think of it as walking across a wide plank over a stream while two giants lift, drop, tilt and shuffle the plank. Every once in a while the giants slap the plank with their big heavy hand throwing you off balance. Now think of living on this plank 24 hours day after day, in daylight and dark and awake or asleep; you never get to the end of the plank. When you lay down you are quickly rocked to sleep. When you sit and read or work on a computer, you acquire near motion sickness; by now we have our sea legs, but some things still break down our defenses to motion sickness. Eventually the mind accepts constant torture and gets on with life. Passages are not everyone's cup of tea I am sure.

We are having Poison Cru for lunch from the uncooked left over tuna from last night's meal. Besides being one of the favorite dishes the fish is cooked using lime juice; this does not heat up the galley and salon you see.

It is not too hot and humid today. Maybe we are getting used to it. Also we have allowed ourselves to open hatches and doors as long as the sea state is tame. The only problem is the salt air puts a film on every wood surface. Everything outside is covered with a salt crystal crust from when the sea state was violent. Bella Donna will need a good clean before we present her for inspection in Hawaii. Unless we are on a dock with water, I think the outside will retain the salt and grime of a passage.

God Bless Bella Donna

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Wednesday May 7, 2008
God bless Bella Donna and its great crew, John and Deborah. The area of the ocean near the equator is unpredictable. Last night just before dark we were approaching an area of lightning as we had the past two nights. We were watching the sky above and in front of Bella Donna for stars as sailing under a cloud can bring high winds. With stars visible the apparent wind speed increased from the usual 17-18 knots to 25; we reduced the Genoa. Quickly the wind increased to 30+ knots; we furled the Genoa and took in on the Stay sail. The wind quickly increased to 34-35 knots; we reduced the Stay to a minimal non-driving amount and depowered the 2 reefed Main sail. With the boom now all the way to port and no Stay to speak of Bella Donna is healing a little with a speed over ground from 8.5 to 9 knots. The wind now gusts from 36-40 knots. With no stars visible, nothing but darkness, no radar echo and frequent lighting with no thunder ahead, John decides it is best to take the Main sail down. This is not easy Deborah must keep Bella Donna head to wind according to the now port side boom while John climbs the mast and downs the main securing the halyard. The wind gusts, sea and the massive forces we are dealing with on a vessel as large as Bella Donna make this exceedingly hard. However, Deborah and John coordinate the moves without talking as the wind is howling. The left hand and the right hand know their job and do it well. The good news is the sudden bad storm was not active long enough to generate high angry seas and the lightning although threatening above in the clouds was not striking down to the water very often. If we were struck it would be fate. The critical electronic hand held devices were in the microwave with the circuit to the microwave disabled. We huddled in the salon to wait out the worst of the storm.

This morning the sky is beautiful blue with puffy white small cumulus clouds. It is a morning much like or better than days past. The small cumulus clouds will grow larger and darker as the heat of the day wears on. At dusk when they are giants and the cooling winds meet them there may be another storm. This is what being near the equator is like.

Other news is we sighted our first vessel off our starboard. Being that it is estimated to be 3 to 4 miles away and not showing on radar we try to raise it on VHF 16; we get no reply. It looks like a sailboat with no running lights, just a single bright white light.

Just got the latest weather forecast, we have 3 days of probable thunderstorms in the evening ahead of us.

God Bless Bella Donna

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Tuesday May 6, 2008
Not much to report; boring is good. Looks like thunder storms are in our future; I just hope there is not any lightning. We have been seeing some distant lightning at night. The wind is still blowing, but with just the Stay sail out we are doing 7+ knots. We were doing 9+ knots with the cutter rig; Genoa, Stay and 2 reefed main. However, the occasional cloud would gust the winds to 27 knots that would stress Bella Donna too much, so we eliminated the Genoa.

The weather has cooled off some and the humidity had dropped below the levels we experienced between Tahiti and our position report given yesterday. It does not make any since, but the last time we crossed the equator we had cool weather. I have read somewhere that global warming if it occurs will not affect the equator much.

No fishing today; we do not have storage room for any more fish at this time. Now that I know I have a lure that fish like, we will put the line out when we need more fish to eat. I just wish we could catch a tuna; however, the red and white lures are looking less attractive.

Till now my best sleep is in our house in Kona. There is the sound of the sea swells crashing onto the lava and the soft cool tropical breezes. The birds are singing with first light and last light each day. Now I am experiencing the fly bridge sun pad on Bella Donna. There are the sounds of the sea, the strong trade winds and the mostly gentile rocking of Bella Donna. Oh, the night sky is incredible. Not only are there many more stars than you see on land, but the stars are presented in 3D space so that you feel like you can reach out and touch them. About 2 AM I spot a huge series of stars forming a perfect arc as if flung outward from a big explosion, maybe it was the big bang. The stars look they get farther away from one end of the arc to the other forming a dramatic 3D effect.

Today about 10 AM we finished the first 25% of our passage to Hawaii that took 87 hours.

God Bless Bella Donna

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Monday May 5, 2008
At 7 PM tonight we will have been on passage 3 days; it seems more like 3 weeks. We are making good progress the southeast trade winds of the southern hemisphere are blowing 14 to 25 knots at times. Bella Donna loves the cutter rig and as heavy as we are with a full load of fuel, water and other provisions she move through the sea smoothly at 8, 9 up to 9.7 knots. We have cut the one engine back to minimum rpm, about 1500, just to keep the electrical stuff happy. The main still has 2 reefs, but with the wind tunnel affect os the two head sail cutter rig we get more than enough boat speed. Also we can leave the main sail up at night without worry. If we pass into a squall in the darkness the main with 2 reefs is fine and we can quickly reduce the Genoa headsail.

I may have to reconsider what is "the middle of nowhere". It may have less to do with distance than how may other boats, fish, birds and evidence that life exists. On the longer, 3000 mile, passage from Galapagos to Marquesas we saw many other cruisers, sea life and birds. In almost 3 days we have not seen another boat. From the SSB role call we think there are 7 other cruisers traveling between Hawaii and Tahiti; 4 of those are going from Hawaii to Tahiti. The likelihood we will see one of the 7 is very small. There is the occational cruise ship, but they probably go in a straight line from between Hawaii and Tahiti. Sailboats have to travel a curved line to get angle on the trade winds. We did see birds at dusk yesterday; we were about 100 miles from the Line Islands, Christmas Island, and not too far from the Tiamotus. I think this spot can be called "the middle of nowhere as well".

We caught a 27 pound Wahoo or as the Hawaiians call it a Ono. Deborah says there are enough steaks from this one fish for 3 meals. We are having fish tacos for lunch. We had to throw out half of our precious ice from the galley freezer to make room. In 2 days when we hit the doldrums we will be firing up both engines which should allow us to use the ice maker while we must motor with no wind to sail. With frozen food eaten by then there is more room for ice; life is good.

Still hot and humid here. How is it where you are?

God Bless Bella Donna

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Sunday May 4, 2008
Saturday night we fought off sea sickness as the sun set. I spent too much time in the hot humid salon staring at a computer screen trying to get satellite or single sideband internet to send my post and an email to Donna. As the last light of the sun left the sky it was exceedingly dark; the crescent moon was not up yet. Our watch saw the winds go to 25 knots apparent. The trusty repaired furler did its job as we furled in the Genoa and replaced it with the smaller stay sail. During the day the world around us is all sea; we can see up to 10 miles; the curvature of the earth limits how far we can see on even the clearest day. On a dark night like tonight, the limit is the edge of dimly lit Bella Donna. Only the radar is watching out for objects around us. I think of the dead whale we almost hit last year in the South Pacific in broad daylight. The radar would not see a whale or a cargo container that had fallen off a cargo ship. I decide not to think about it.

The sea sick feeling stays until sleep overtakes me again. I decided to sleep in the fly bridge again as it is truly wonderful. We are opening our hatches in our cabins when we are in them, but I still prefer the superior breezes on the fly bridge.

Sunday, today is beautiful. The red sunrise brings to mind the sailor's warning "red skies in the morn sailors take warn". However, the day unfolds to match the weather forecast which is perfect. It is so good we plan to put the mainsail up today to try and hasten our passage. It is too early to discuss our expected time of arrival. Maybe after the doldrums on the other side of the equator we can estimate. Speaking of the equator, we do not have anyone on board to initiate this trip. Everyone one board has been initiated. I have to keep the details of initiation a secret so as not to have crew cancellations on future equator passages.

Fishing lines in, no fish yet. We saw a few birds, gulls, yesterday, but nothing today. We raise the main and test the new boom preventer that keeps the boom from swinging in rough seas. Ropes and pulleys capable of supporting 12 tons attach the boom to the new stern wench. This allows us to raise the main and achieve 8 to 9 knots even though the true wind is slowing.

God Bless Bella Donna

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Saturday May 3, 2008
We are "On the Road Again"; Willie Nelson filled the night air as we asked for permission to pass the ends of the runway on our way to Hawaii. Exiting the channel at the north end of the runway we head north on a line to our first waypoint. It is 2,400 nautical miles to Hawaii more or less. The barometer shows us near a high with the change over the last 12 hours flat, no change. The winds build from none to 14 knots from the south east, typical trade winds, as the lights of Tahiti turn into just a glow in our southern sky. We put out the stay sail as the wind builds. Given the problem we had with the Genoa furler, we decide not to deploy it at night. With no sail the one starboard engine accomplishes 6.2 knots. With the stay sail we get 7.2 knots or better. The seas are light to moderate with swell coming from the south east.

At 10 PM I decide my cabin is too hot and stuffy, so I decide to grab pillow and blanket and sleep on the sun pad in the fly bridge. The view of the southern hemisphere night sky is spectacular but unfamiliar. I think we spotted Orion's belt, but I am not sure he is even visible in the southern hemisphere. There are so many stars; there must be life orbiting around some of them. I have forgotten to grab my glasses after removing my contacts so the stars look like so many fuzzy cotton balls. My imagination runs wild as I identify and name my own constellations. Sleep takes me quickly; about 2 or 3 in the morning I wake briefly to pull the blanket over me; there is always a slight chill in the tropical ocean.

The beginning of Saturday starts as the sun rise glow starts to overtake the rising crescent moon. As soon as there is enough light we try to deploy the Genoa; it works; John's 3 days of genius hard work has turned into 8.2+ knots of speed worth at least 24 more nautical mile a day. Life is good.

As soon as the sun rises above the horizon the red and white fishing lure is out; watch out you tuna, Bella Donna's crew is after you. Once off watch I put the second red and white lure out. We will see.

In addition to just the leaving of French Polynesia the affect such people as Michael Moore, Jimmy Carter, Al Gore and various celebrities have on foreigners' view of life in America makes me sad. Michael Moore must have a new film out concerning health care in America. We met Matt, the WIFI man, and his 2 year plus one day old darling daughter; the general conclusions he drew from Michael Moore's new movie was that insurance companies were charging high prices and not providing proper health care to people who later died. While some care is experimental and not covered, this is hardly the business as usual impression Moore leaves. Then there is Al Gore's use of misleading computer simulated video in his movie "An Inconvenient Truth" where simulated environmental conditions are represented as real; what is true?

I just sent a report of our position; it should be after 21 hours at sea. I will be transmitting via short wave radio as our satellite connection will not send data for some reason. It still makes and receives voice and fax calls though.

God Bless Bella Donna

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Friday May 2, 2008

I have decided to post 2 days together. We depart today and in between getting used to the rhythms of the sea while avoiding the dreaded sea sickness and trying to contact communication satellites, I may be unable to write much.

 

Yesterday was a holiday; everything was closed and the Tahitian people were celebrating May Day or Workers Fiesta Day. On the side of every street vendors are selling Mugets or Lilies of the Valley flowers that the French men give to the women in their life. I understand the women in Hawaii get lays of flowers on May Day. I am sure the custom will soon be followed on the mainland USA. It is an excellent way to stimulate our depressed economy.

 

Yesterday many Tahitians were on the water. Fishing boats were going out all morning rocking Bella Donna as they sped by. Less rocking were the hundred or so outrigger canoes as they glided by. Paddled by one, two, four or more, they glided easily by. Tahitians love their pirogues, outrigger canoes. There is a tiki hut island boat that transports a party from one end of the anchorage to the other; it was very busy today. Locals were enjoying drinks served by a hostess as they enjoyed the holiday scene.

 

It is hot and humid again today, very hot and very humid. If you are thinking which day, Thursday or Friday, is he talking about, it does not matter. Thursday we worked all day. John had the hardest work; he had to change oil down in the hot engine rooms. We did end Thursday up on the fly bridge with a sundowner drink, our last; we do not drink on passage and tomorrow is our first day. The end of the day presents a cool breeze with cooler and seemingly less humidity. We are all tired and retire to bed early.

 

Well it is Friday and we leave early for downtown Papeete to check out with customs and immigration. Afterwards we go to the Hinano store to pick up some Tahiti souvenirs. The guys go to John's favorite coffee shop for a morning snack while Deborah continues to shop. It's a sidewalk thing on a walk street covered by huge shade trees. It is so pleasant having a tasty treat with excellent coffee and watching the Tahitians passing by.

 

We come back to go to the fuel dock. Fueling Bella Donna takes 2 hours. We also topped off our water tanks. I tasted the water to be sure it really was water. A boat had a million dollar mistake when at the fuel dock the water tank was filled with fuel instead of water.

 

All we have to do is go to the grocery store and pick up some provisions and we are ready to play Willie Nelson's "On the Road Again", make some offering to the sea Gods as today is Friday and sail north as the sun sets.

 

God Bless Bella Donna

 

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Wednesday April 30, 2008

No more little trips; we have to get serious about leaving. John has worked 3 days on the Genoa furler that stopped working 3 days out from New Zealand. There are tools and guts of the furler motor spread all over the cockpit. Finding parts for a furler installed in Europe is not easy or impossible. John has walked to several places in Papeete to try and find brushes that are as near the same as required. He is hopping that by replacing the brushes in the motor we can use the bigger Genoa head sail on passage to Hawaii. Without it we are limited to the larger Spinnaker or the smaller staysail, which will make the passage, but it would be ever so nice to have an in between or double head sail, cutter rig, option. John has found the almost perfect brushes, just a little grinding sanding and shaping is required to acceptably install them in the motor. He wires the motor into its place on the center beam and we press the switch from the fly bridge; it works! We all do a victory dance; life is good.

 

The day is hot and humid; it is fall here, equivalent to our October in the northern hemisphere. I think October is the hottest month in Hawaii which is roughly the same distance north of the equator as Tahiti is south. The new air conditioning in Bella Donna's salon works great. Every time we go outside to work we sweat profusely. Returning back to the salon for a break is like heaven. We are using the creature comforts to the max before we fuel up on Friday. Ounce we have our passage fuel aboard life will change radically; we have to conserve fuel for the trip so off with the air conditioning, the ice maker as well as most lights at night, only one per cabin. We will wear as little clothing as possible and use as little water as possible. Later in the passage we may have the resources to enjoy some comforts again.

 

Tomorrow is a holiday; all stores are closed, even the large market, Courfore, where we do our provisioning, so we do some provisioning today and we will finish on Friday morning before we leave. Our goal is to leave by late Friday. The Oceans weather report looks favorable for the first days of the passage.

 

I am going to try and attach pictures to this post that cover yesterday and today as we still have some access to high speed internet. As soon as we depart there will be few if any pictures as the cost to send over satellite internet is prohibitive. I included some pictures of some of the upgrades that were made to Bella Donna in New Zealand, the dinghy docking platform, stern winches, swim ladder, new shelves and the blessed salon American air conditioning system.

God Bless Bella Donna