Bill’s Sailing trip from Hawaii to Vancouver.
Bill flew into Honolulu on June 14th late at night.
6.10am the next morning we cleared the harbor breakwater.
What a perfect tropical day. Already it was high 20’s with a light breeze. With the waves breaking over the harbor walls the surfers already up. There must have been 20 or more of them out there.
My new boat is an Island packet 40. An ocean going sail boat.
We turned under the warm sun and headed for Kodiak island Alaska. Straight North.
The main weather pattern in the summer is a large High siting in the middle of the Pacific ocean, so we need to get north of it then head down toward Vancouver island.
That way you get the wind at your back on the way north then you can catch the westerly’s to blow us home to Vancouver.
First 5 days out of Hawaii it was nice and warm.
We have had mostly winds of 20 to 30 knots so good power in the sails but also 3-meter waves on the nose so we were being pummeled.
One wave snuck up on us and drenched us in the cockpit.
Our first few days out we averaged 158 nautical miles a day. So good running on a close reach.
Our wind came down to 15 to 20 knots but the seas died as well so we were able to make better time and made our best day speed so far of 162.8 n miles.
Day 6. We really gad a great day as far as our sailing and we made 179.6 n miles.
At last we are clear of the Hurricane zone.
We entered the high on Day 8. The wind died to fewer than 10 knots and we had to put the engine on. So slow and noisy.
It seems strange to non-sailors but the most challenging days are always the low wind days rather than the high wind days.
Day 16 was Happy Canada day.
The wind remained fickle but that’s July for you. You would get better speed and winds in February but I think I still prefer a Summer crossing.
Day 20 saw us enter Neah Bay, which is at the top of the Juan De Fuca straight.
Day 21 saw us pull into harbor having done 2971 n miles with an average speed of 6 knots. Not a record but a good turn of speed for a cruising boat.
It was truly magical out there on the high seas. Not without danger but like any challenge it was so worthwhile. When it was done!
