Diary Entry

“Blog” means “web log” and in this entry I will stretch it to mean “web real-time diary”. This entry was made on the night of Friday 8 May..

The cruising ethos is about helping and contributing wherever you can. I have received all sorts of help from all sorts of fellow sailors whom I knew that I could not repay directly. But repaying directly is not the point: you take here, you give there, and it should all even out at the end. However, what could I contribute? Sure, I have some skills at the jack-of-all-trades level, but believe me, the cruising community has serious experts in just about any field that you can name. (Want an example? Sure. Charlie, Gordon's mate from the boat next to Pachuca was a nuclear reactor man in the US navy and he reckons that he could run any kind of nuclear reactor in the USA.)

Fortunately I seem to have stumbled onto a way of making a modest contribution to the welfare of fellow yachties here at Ala Wai Harbor. The process began when Arnold helped Mike get his ancient and neglected laptop up and running. Then he installed the C-Map chart plotting system on Mike's and Jimmy's machines. This is nothing less than every navigational chart of the world in fine detail.

Then I installed C-Map on Wally's and Jeff's machines. Then, inspired by my new Acer “Aspire” mini laptop, Mike got one too and asked me to install C-Map on his new machine. Then out of the blue this morning Ron, the US Navy veteran who tells the polite Japanese tourists that they can find the battleship Arizona “Just where you f*****g left it!”) visited me with his brand new Dell “Inspiron” mini laptop, unopened, and asked me to set it up and install C-Map on it. I was touched that he would entrust me with his new machine. Believe me folks, I tell people that I don't know much about PC's (which I don't). However, at Ala Wai I seem to be a big fish in a small pond. Fortunately Ron's new Dell had the XP operating system, which is familiar to me. The other good fortune is my new external CD/DVD unit which has enabled me to download the C-Map systems to these mini laptops that have no on board CD drives. Tonight at 9.45 PM Mike came and got his laptop and went away a happy little vegemite. At present it is 11 PM and I am waiting on the completion of the C-Map download to Ron's machine.

Ron and I had a good chat in the cockpit this morning. He offered to take me to lunch but I declined mentioning that he had given me plenty of help my lending me his Dremmel tool just when I needed one and taking me to Hawaii Nuts & Bolts that day. Ron is a thoughtful man. A few minutes later he asked where I was going to do my shopping for provisioning the boat. Costco? I told him that I didn't have a Costco card and that I would do a few bicycle runs to the local grocery stores. He then offered to take me to the U.S. Navy commissary. Wow! Forget the lower prices. It means that I can get really good stuff all at once with transport! ... Like I say, it all evens out.

My 5-month stay in Honolulu has been a mini-lifetime. I've become part of a circle of friends whom I've come like and value very much. I don't think that I've come across a dud amongst them. It will be difficult to say goodbye but that is the sailor's way and everyone accepts it. One door closes, another opens.

Yesterday I was on Joel's boat with him and Mike. Next week we will all be on the move. Mike will head for California to get ready for the bi-annual Transpac race and Joel will leave for a pretty extensive sailing adventure stretching from the NW Pacific to Central America. I expect to leave for Seattle within a week. I made the observation that we were like balls scattering across the pool table of life. Mike reflected on this and agreed. I replied “Yes, and watch out for that Eight Ball!”

To reinforce my observation, Sherry from the Fuel Dock and her husband Jerry sailed out this morning for a month of cruising around the Hawaiian islands. I said goodbye to them and thanked Sherry for everything that she had done for me (including loading up my $4.45 meals with extra heaps of meat and rice). Fortunately Audry had just returned to the shop after a two-week cruise with her husband Jerry that began in Florida, visited parts of the Caribbean, transited the Panama Canal, then visited ports in Central America before finishing in California.

Today I borrowed Wally's Dremmel tool and sorted out the problem of the mis-aligned storm trysail tracks. I took his advise and used the cutting disc to do the gross cutting then went to an abrasive head to finish off the join. It worked very well.

On the HF radio side, my confidence has been restored. A few days ago I managed to get Sailmail out via Friday Harbor, over 2000 miles away (with lots of retries), but I wasn't convinced. Then I was able to speak with Richard on Fire Water about 200 nm north of Honolulu. Last night I spoke with Jeff's father Charlie in Arizona on the 13 Mhz band and he said that because of my voice characteristics he could hear me better than his son Jeff who was speaking from his boat. OK, I'm convinced: I have a reliable industrial-strength HF transceiver. Tonight I spoke with Richard who is still inching his way forward in light winds.

I am ready to go. Dieter left two weeks ago, Richard is a week ahead of me in calm airs, and I am anxious to join them.

As far as I can see Pachuca is in the best shape she has ever been in. Her leaks have been reduced by rebedding of the stanchions, repairs in her ceiling, and major work way back in January on her chain locker bulkhead. She's better equipped with the Monitor self steering and Pactor-based Sailmail system. Her winches are in order. Her faulty rigging has been replaced. The radar failed then got fixed. Her spray dodger has been patched and reinforced. There may be weaknesses lurking (e.g. chain plates, D3 shrouds to the masthead which look a bit rusty at their swages even though they are less than 3 years old) but I am confident that everything will hold up until I get to Seattle.

I must confessed that I had been getting a bit apprehensive about all of the dangers posed by this impending leg to Seattle (e.g. falling overboard, failing chain plate or shroud, floating logs and “deadheads” as I close in on the NW USA coast). Maybe I've been spoiled by the comfort and security of Ala Wai Boat Harbor. Fortunately my friend Roland Collings braced me up with his report that a sailor had recently circumnavigated the globe – including rounding the Horn the “wrong way” - in a 25-ft “Top Hat” boat (See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top_Hat_25). It took him ten years but he did it It made me realize that if you reflect too much on the dangers and risks you'll never do it. You must reflect more on what you can do, and less on what might happen.