May 21 2008
Wind is unfavorable. Unbeleivably calm out here. Motored for a while, then we here a loud cracking sound and bang. I was in my bed at the time, which is kind of under the transom. I ran outside, Dad and I look around for a second, then realize the motors gone... hmmmm. We look over the transom, and its hanging down there on the hinged mount. It is raised and lowered by block and tackle, the block attached to the transom had ripped clear out of the glass. After checking it out we saw whoever installed it skipped the backing plate idea. Surprising it lasted this long. We made a tempoprary rig for it, and ttried to get going, when we realize that we had jammed the throtttle cable beyond easy, immediate repair. So we wait for wind. And it comes. A little puff had us questioning where to drop Dad off, Lihue or Honolulu, and we went for it. This is when we learned how well our cat can go windward... it doesn't. It seems to me that with the same sail plan trimmed the same way as a monohull, we should make similar angles sailing upwind. On Del Gnar, my Columbia 26, sometimes it felt I could sail straight into the wind. Not so with Gonzo. It was going to be a bit longer back to Oahu than we planned, timewise and waterwise. Middle of the night, we turn back to Nawiliwili. We pulled into Kalapaki beach in front of the Marriott just after sunrise the next morning. Dad, Andrea and I wandered around until he had to catch his flight to Oahu and San Diego. We had a few good meals, and walked through the Harbor drooling at all the nice boats.
Now that Dad's gone, it's time to figure out what we're doing next. If we go to Oahu, we won't have a slip, most of our friends will be gone for the summer, the traffic will still be there, and Honolulu will still be dirty. If we sail around to Hanalei, we have a safe anchorage through mid September, a beautiful little town to get jobs in, and mountains towering above the bay with anywhere between 2 and 50 waterfalls at all times. Sticking around was an easy decision.
At anchor in Kalapaki Bay
View from the anchorage in Hanalei Bay
Dad at sunset, sailing to Nawiliwili
May 27 2008
We've been at Kalapaki for a few days, and I'm ready to move on. My friend Kiko, from San Diego, told his brother in law some of my stories of Kalalau a while back, and so now Matt Johnson is on his way to Lihue tommorow to sail around the island with us for a drop off in the valley. We've been busy here getting things and stuff for the boat. This morning, DLNR Harbor Police came by to tell us that we are moored illegally; we've got to move to the mooring balls across the harbor. I told them I'm working on fixing the throttle cable, and they gave me a six hour deadline. I hitchhiked up to Kapa'a, where there's a Honda Marine store, and got the replacement part. By the time I made it back and fixed the problem, it was dark, so I set my alarm for 6 am to move the boat before the Harbor Police come back. 6:15 was too late; when I got up, I looked outside and one of them was already on my boat! I talked to them for a bit, and they inspected the boat, and then gave us both tickets for being anchored there. Instead of a $25 or $50 ticket, we actually have to appear in court on July 7 to pay. Bummer. But the engine runs well, and we move over to wait one more night until Matt gets in and we can leave.
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