Gonzo Chronicles

July 20 2008

Will flew over from Oahu for a week or so to come sailing with us, and he and Brandon came down the coast with us to Nualolo two days ago. We've been fishing, spearfishing, and throwing net non stop. Tonight, we're chumming for sharks, and we've got two steel cables out with giant hooks and nenue's from earlier. Somethings gotta bite them. Had to repair the starboard rudder before sailing, and I think it should be good in the morning once some resin dries. We'll head back up towards Kalalau, since Will's never been there. I can't wait. The winds have been to strong until today when I noticed the loose rudder. I also noticed while diving that it was in fact my port centerboard that broke in half even with the hull last week when I was sailing and thought I had hit something. Big bummer. More projects everyday, the list seems endless. I just hope I get the arch up before summer's over, and having the engine run reliably would be nice too. Gonzo, gonzo, gonzo.

A 6 or 7 foot grey reef shark is cruising around checking out our shark trap. He's tested one of the bait fish, and then shredded up our chum back right below us under a flashlight. Pretty incredible... let's get him, i want some jerky.

July 21 2008

We ended up catching a little white tip and letting it go. Only about 3 feet or so. We decided it's time to go to Kalalau, but the wind line didn't look like it was coming all the way in to Nualolo, but we were able to get a tow out about a mile from one of the commercial zodiacs that we know. Then it was one to two knots of wind wing on wing, and it took us a little over two hours to go two miles, but it was beautiful out so we didn't mind.

July 22 2008

The wind came up over night. It was nasty all night long, and all day. 25 kts with building swell. Andrea and I slept up on the bluff, overlooking the whole coastline, beach, and valley. It was an incredible sunset, and we sat up there with our valley friends and enjoyed good music, stories, and food. In the morning, I hiked all the way to the back wall of the valley, and we found one of the fresh water springs. I thought it would be a large area of wet ground, just slowly dripping, but we found a section of rocks about the size of a door that was gushing water out. Pretty cool to see, and the water tasted great.

The next morning, I woke up at about 6 and decided it was time to go, since the others had to get back and the winds were light. I expected we find some gusts, so double reefed the main and rolled out half of the genoa, and then we pulled up the anchor and sailed. We cruised for about half a mile, and then it stopped completely. I saw the wind further out, and it slowly came in for us. Within 10 minutes, we had 35 kts and 8 foot waves to battle all the way back to Hanalei. It took about 5 hours, and it was the nastiest conditions I've sailed Gonzo in. I'm a little less comfortable on a cat than a monohull when it starts blowing like that. At one point my roller furling line snapped, and let out the full headsail. I was lucky it was between gusts, and we tied it up quickly and pulled it back in, then lashed the whole unit in place so it couldn't spin out again. Pretty fun being on the trampoline with waves coming clear to the cockpit. Good thing it's not cold here.

July 23 2008

Safe return, crazy return, Will's gone, Andrea's going to California, and I'm loaded with boat work. And hopefully a good charter day...

Gonzo at Nualolo Kai

Will and I, another sunset at at the office

Will and Monster in the green junker kayak, which sank the next day

Starboard sunset

Fire after sunset, Nualolo Kai

Will and Brandon, sailing down the coast of Kauai

Monster's Nualolo turtle friends

This is what confused Monsters do when

they find Monk seals and turtles playing in

tide pools

Nualolo Kai

This guy didn't want to play, and he barks louder

than Monster. Monster went completely nuts!

Nualolo

Andrea and me above Waimea Canyon

Monster caught peeing on the rocks at Nualolo

Another view of Nualolo...

The diving here doesn't suck

Dog nap on the beach

After Nualolo, it's back to Kalalau. Damn...

This week is completely filled up with boat projects and trying to find rides to the hardware store. A few breaks here and there to eat and sleep and play on the internet. Last night the Surfrider Foundation put on a film festival on the beach right in front of Gonzo on a huge projector screen. They played a few cool surf movies and then a great documentary on Nainoa Thompson, the Hokule'a, and non-instrument navigation. I was so stoked to sit on the front of the boat and watch all of it, about 100 yards outside of the crowds gathered on the beach. Pictures didn't turn out, but I found a few more older ones...

I'm still having trouble getting all my pictures off the camera, but they're awesome and they're coming...