It was a good run of 93 miles from Oahu to Kauai, and everything worked out fine. The trades are well out of the east and that means the Oahu mountains cast a long wind shadow out across the water. It ‘s interesting to be out in the middle of the Pacific, Oahu long out of view below the horizon, and there’s still no wind.
The forecast was for light trades at 15 knots, in the lee of Oahu that translated to 3-8 knots of wind and flat seas. After floating around for a while I finally put the motor on and we trundled on out to get clear of the wind shadow – that turned out to be 22 miles of motoring along in the increasing chop and reflected bouncy waves before the wind finally was able to wrap around Oahu and fan out into the channel. Then it got progressively windier, with 20 gusting 25 mid-channel and all the way to Nawiliwili.
I was on a directly course of 301T from Barber’s Point to Nawiliwili, and it turned out the Young Brother’s tug boats with large tows were on the exact reciprocal course on their way from Nawiliwili to Barber’s Point. There’s no ferry service in the Hawaiian Islands, which is odd as there’s significant ferry service in the Society Islands and the distances are comparable in Hawaii. To get from island to island round these parts people fly on the airplane and everything else goes by barge. The barges are large at 340′ x 90′, loaded with stacks of shipping containers, cars, trucks, and whatever else needs to be transported inter-island. The tugs towing them are 100’ 3-4000 HP boats set up with ocean towing winches and gear. It’s funny to look at the AIS a tug & tow coming straight towards you as it travels directly along the same route I had set up for me, it’s a good idea to get on the radio and decide if you’re going to pass port-to-port or starboard-to-starboard, particularly as I was going to pass starboard-to-starboard which is not the normal way to do things. Their maneuverability is limited compared to mine, and in both cases I bore off a bit to port to open up a half mile closest point of approach then came back onto course.
The old concrete docks in Kewalo are being dismantled, and this involves a lot of jack hammers, cutting torches, cranes, and a small boat with a lifting frame. These guys are standing on low floats in the water and are chipping away at what started as a four foot cube of concrete and rebar.
Short hopes like this are difficult for singlehanding as you don’t get into a sleep-pattern, and leaving late afternoon for an overnight run is more difficult as you’re departing after being up for most of the day. I got in 3 hours of sleep in the afternoon before taking off from Kewalo, but the guys dismantling the concrete docks next door were busy with the jackhammers on the concrete and that didn’t help with getting sleep.
Arlen stopped by around 3pm to say Hi on his way over to do the Friday night race at Hawaii Yacht Club, I got going around 4:30pm and headed out the door – hopefully Kauai will be a nice change of pace from the noise and bustle of Honolulu.
Once clear of the Oahu wind shadow the wind did pick up, I eventually dropped the main to the third reef and rolled out the no. 4. The wind was well aft which made it unexpectedly difficult to sail deep to aim at Nawiliwili without having the main blanket the jib. Off into the night we went. The stars came out in force as the bright lights of Honolulu disappeared over the horizon – it was nice to see all the stars again. Plus it was a super clear night, no clouds, no squalls, and later on the moon popped up – all that made for a good run over.
There’s a USCG small boat station in the harbor, they are located directly behind Beetle. The overcast has made it a dull grey afternoon in the harbor – I suspect there will be sun on and off throughout the day. Nice to be in!
Approaching Nawiliwili was a different matter – by then I was out in the trades, seas were picking up and I’m aiming at an unfamiliar harbor entrance. The airport at Lihue is easy to spot from a distance as you just track the airliners headed in for landing – the harbor is to the left (west) of the landing planes. There’s a 110′ tall light beacon marking the entrance to the harbor, that comes into view next, and then all you see are huge breakers crashing into rocky shoreline and you’re driving straight in at it while being pushed along with 25 knots of wind from behind – not the best situation should something to wrong, such as not finding the gap in the breakwater. Conveniently for me a tuna trolling boat powered out from behind the breakwater and that made it obvious where to aim. A couple of minutes of whipping in with the main up (I had rolled up the jib and turned on the engine) and Pop! you’re suddenly in the harbor behind the breakwater. Immediately to be met by eight 8 man canoes paddling like crazy out to sea on their Saturday morning practice run.
I spent a half hour in the outer harbor motoring slowly back and forth to drop the main, set out the docklines, rig the fenders, then slowly motored in to the marina – which is behind a second breakwall. It’s amazing how well the breakwalls worked – there’s large breakers and enormous amounts of energy striking the outside of the breakwaters, inside it’s flat, and inside the inner breakwater there’s not a ripple and hardly any surge – much better than Kewalo in that regard. It’s shallow in here, lowest reading I saw was 9′ 6″ at the entrance and that was at low tide. I’ve got two feet under the keel at low tide here in the slip, and these are the deep slips.
At the dock in Nawiliwili. Need lots of fenders here and tires aren’t covered with carpet – they leave black smudges when the hull hits the tires. Still need to re-flake the main and put the cover on.
Shortly after tying up and clearing the deck a big squall wandered over and Beetle got a good clean fresh water rinse – perfect for getting the salt off. It’s been grey and overcast all afternoon, I suspect we’ll get some sun later on. This side of Kauai is completely unlike being on the leeward side of the island (e.g., Honolulu) – it’s lush, green, very wet as the squalls roll through and the mountains strip off the water. On the dry leeward side of the island it doesn’t rain much and you don’t get the impact of the squalls – the hills block the wind and the water has already fallen. Being on the windward side would make it difficult to apply varnish without getting rained on.
The docks in Nawiliwili are same as Kewalo – fixed concrete, tires bolted to the concrete, cleats rusting heavily, and unlike Kewalo it’s quiet. I talked with Vince next door, he’s from Newport Oregon and singlehanded his 35′ double-ender here from San Diego via Mexico – his plan is to head over to Oahu soon to replace his tattered dinghy that he was able to scare up in Mexico after his new dinghy was stolen in San Carlos, on the Baja side of Mexico. Apparently there’s a nearby laundromat, lots of homeless people that like to use the sole shower at the marina, and a car rental agency at the cruise ship dock a short walk away through the harbor. I’ve got nothing I need to do today, and it’s great to be well-rested and enjoy the scenery.
– rob
Tiger Beetle Sailing 