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Hawaii to Seattle – 2300nm
Day 10  – 543nm to go to SBMC, Seattle

4/20/16, 1700Z
45 03N, 133 54W
COG 062 deg T
SOG 8.5 kn
Wind SE 17 kn
Seas 2 ft (off our Port aft quarter)

(The first three Blog entries below were written on April 19 when the wind and seas were still strong and rough.)

Don’s Blog:  Only Three Days to Cape Flattery.

Sharry is frustrated with banging into 18-25 kn headwinds and seas.  I can’t say I blame her.  We have had only a few meals that were cooked on the stove.  Most of the meals have been grazing on pita bread, microwave Udon soups, nuts, yogurt, dried fruit and stuff like that.  It’s a regular health food cruise, thanks to both Sharry’s and Donnas’ provisioning.  Joe has been freezer diving looking for morsels of frozen meat.  I might add that in spite of the weather, we have had cocktail hour a couple of times.  Our hard drinking crew each has their own special concoction.  Sharry’s is Pear Ginger balsamic vinegar with soda water…Joe’s is Blackberry Ginger balsamic and soda. Donna prepares crushed candied ginger with honey, and mine is Blackberry balsamic vinegar with soda.  These are hardy, hard drinking mates!

Our non-alcoholic cocktails

We have been running the engine at 1600 rpm, which is 100-150 rpm higher than our normal cruising speed.  In flat water, 1450-1500 rpm gives us 8kn, and 1600 rpm gives us 9kn.  With the head seas and the engine at 1600 rpm, we would punch into a wave and slow down to maybe at the lowest, 5kn, and then slowly grind back up to 6.5-7.5 kn. Yesterday I stepped out onto the aft deck to check the aft running light and got soaked from the bow spray coming all the way to the stern.

The boat is heavily incrusted with salt.

Better seas are coming and hopefully the fish lines will soon go back out.

Only 3 days until Cape Flattery.

Sharry’s Blog :  YUCK

Grey, grey, grey . . .

We have been at sea for 9 days now with 5 days of seas so rough that we were unable to cook dinner.  Here are some of our Log entries:

4/18-2000Z-Joe
“Looks like another 2 days of bumps”

4/19-0400Z – me
“A real slog! YUCK!”

4/19-0700-Joe
“Yah Sure You Betcha-Smoothin’ Right Out (NOT)”

4/19-1600Z-me
“Grey Sky! Grey Sky!

4/19-1900Z –Joe
“Much More Pleasant Seastate”

I guess that Joe and I are the only ones writing down our grouchy feelings, but I know that everyone has been thinking the same as us. 

I have been wondering why I haven’t been enjoying this passage as much as I usually do.  Here are some reasons:

1.  We are going the wrong direction and too early in the season.  It is much nicer to go from cold to warm and last time we made this trip it was in JULY of 2013; we arrived in the Pacific NW in SUMMER.

2.  The air temperature has gone from the mid 70’s down to the mid 40’s.  The sea is warmer than the air, high 70’s to mid 50’s. 

 We would usually cruise with the Pilot House doors open, or at least partially open.   The PH doors have been closed tight for days because of the cold outside air and the seas beating against the sides of the PH doors.  It was necessary to turn on the heat inside when the PH temp read 44 degrees at the beginning of our night watch.

3.  We haven’t seen the sun since 4/18

4.  Starr is a GREAT ocean-going boat, but the wave action is erratic and it has become very difficult to walk about the boat. 

It is our rule:  “one hand for the boat”.  It takes more than one trip to carry a sandwich and a bottle of water from the galley to the PH.  

THE GOOD NEWS IS:  the weather appears to be settling out.  We hope that it will be smooth sailing from here.  It’s like giving birth; one forgets about the pain not long after.  I will be ready to make another crossing by next Fall when we head back to Hawaii.

A little Happiness along the way:  a perfect loaf of bread

Donnas’ Blog:  Booby on Board

After two days of fishing, the winds came back up so it was time to stow all the gear. We went outside to the back deck, and there was a brown booby! It saw us and quickly scuttled to the safety of the space under the ladder. I watched it, took a good look and decided it was a juvenile, so cute! From my previous passage-making experience, I assumed the standard ships’ protocol regarding boobies on board was as follows: 1) admire the booby, 2) check on the booby from time to time to see if it is still on the boat. I was quickly corrected in my assumption when Don rounded the corner.

Don: Did you get rid of it?

Me: What? Oh! How would I do that, poke at it with a stick?

I motioned toward an 8’ long aluminum pole tied to the side of the boat which seemed to be about the right length for confronting a booby…

Don: No! You grab it with your hands!

Me: EEK!

At that point, Joe took charge and showed me how it was done. He donned a pair of orange rubber gloves that looked to be about two sizes too small but perfectly adequate for a booby extraction. Then he walked over to the booby hiding place and reached under the ladder. There was a mild scuffle and the sound of toenails scraping on the deck presumably the bird’s. Joe lifted the bird up over the railing, said a few words of encouragement, and dropped the booby into the big blue. The booby flew a safe distance from the boat, sat on the water, then turned and watched us as we drove away.

That was a good lesson for me. Next time there is a booby on board, I’ll know just what to do.

Joe Releasing the Booby

Joe’s Blog:  A Little Battered . . .

Day 10, ahoy from the MV Starr, a little battered but making good progress home.  As my mates have relayed we have had a couple of bumpy days, many of you know what I mean, the boat moving in unpredictable ways which require baby steps and having a hold of something secure, occasional moments of weightlessness and bruises showing up in mysterious places.  I am careful not to dance across the galley with a cupboard door in my hand that I have inadvertently ripped off its hinges. 

Joe’s “owie”

With calmer seas and true wind down to under 10knots I soon forget the past days of bucking straight into the waves and relish the beauty and vastness that is the open ocean.  Now that wasn’t so bad after all was it, life is good.  I am still bailing my way across the Pacific, emptying the Nalgene bottle we set up to catch water in my stateroom from a hull window with a catheter attached to a fitting screwed into what’s left of the shelf we ripped with the Skill saw and bailing with a sponge.  The flatter the seas the less the water comes in. 

You sailors out there would be really impressed with Starr’s upwind VMG numbers, this baby will go to weather like no sailboat I have ever been on hour after hour and day after day.  The last week or so on a sailboat I would have been thinking “I can’t get there from here”.  Although I miss being outside I don’t miss putting on my “foulies” and long underwear to stand my watch and after my watch going below to wash the salt build up off my extremities and out of my eyes. 

Starr is steady on toward Cape Flattery and the welcoming light of Tatoosh Island.  How soon this marvelous adventure will be over.

Blog 16
Hawaii to Seattle – 2300nm
Day 4 – 1540nm to go

4/14/16, 1900Z
31 57N, 150 00W
COG 26 deg T
SOG 7.9 kts

Wind SE 5 kts
Seas 2-3 ft, (on our starboard aft quarter)

Sharry’s Blog: What I Love Most About an Ocean Passage.

April  14, 2000Z

Sharry on her Morning Watch

I am on my Morning Watch. Today is Day 4 and everything is now settling down.  Don, Joe, and Donna are on the back deck fishing.  Before I started my watch I made our normal calm-weather breakfast, a “green drink” smoothie of fruit, veggies, and yogurt.  (We have become addicted to this breakfast drink) and then cleaned up the galley, did my Engine Room Check, and made my pre-watch Log Entry.

This morning I am finally entering into “Boat Time” which is what I love most about an ocean passage.  It would have happened sooner, except that being tossed about by the rough seas and the need to respond to the water leak in the main guest stateroom postponed the ability to enter into this state of inner calm and sense of peace.  It’s a little like meditation, a state of mindlessness.  What I like best is that with a morning watch at 0900-1200 and an evening watch at 1800-2400 (with daily chores and a nap in between) I lose track of “real time” and enter into a state of “no-time”. 

The Pacific Ocean

Part of the problem has been that I don’t have access to my classical music, which helps the entry process into “Boat Time”.  I forgot our iPod with our iTunes Library at home.  We have become so accustomed to streaming music on Starr that somehow our personal music was left behind.  I found a partial iTunes Library on an external HD, but haven’t figured out how to access it yet.  In the meantime I enjoy my morning watch, soothed by the rhythm of the gentle ocean swells, somehow heightened by the absence of sun, a uniform dull grey with a band of blue at the horizon and finally layers of white and grey clouds.  The “sameness” of it all somehow contributes to the quieting of my mind.

I love the night watch even more than my morning watch.  At night I am by myself, enclosed in a circle of darkness disrupted only by the dim light of the radar and navigation screens.  Lights in the Pilot House are all turned off, which enhances our night-vision and ability to see ships that might appear on the radar screen or outside in the dark sea.  I have had the company of a sliver of a waxing moon on my watch, which has grown to a half moon.  I am alone, but not lonely and my sight turns inward.  It is a very rare opportunity to be in a place in this busy, noisy world where the disruptions have all disappeared and all that remains is an almost complete darkness and silence. 

Don’s Blog:  A Great Day to Be on the Water!

4/14 2200Z

We’re clicking along at eight and one half knots.  The sea is glassy with a Northerly 8ft/8 second  swell and there’s no wind.  That will change soon enough. 

Joe , Donna and I just set out two fish lines and our hi-tech fish alarm is activated.  We need the “fish-on alarm” because we can’t hear the reels screaming when we have a fish on. When the line starts running out it trips a switch and activates a 12 vdc beeping sound which is loud enough to hear from the wheelhouse.  Sharry requested that I set up all the stuff that is needed when we get a hookup.  The list includes the following:  Fish cleaning table, short gaff hook and 8ft gaff, Billy club, a towel to put over the fishes eyes to calm it down, and Mount Gay Rum to pour down it’s throat to kill it (or for Joe to take a shot to calm his nerves)

Don on a successful fishing day

Donna’s Blog: My Main Job on Starr
Friday, April 15

My main job on Starr is to stand two 3-hour watches per day, 3am-6am and 3pm-6pm. Before each watch, I do an engine room check. I put on a headset to muffle the roar of the engine, walk into the 109oF room and close the door behind me. I check all the instruments, dials, levels, and valves and then crawl into the lazarette in the very back of the boat to look at the water makers and the steering rams. If everything looks ok, I walk up to the pilothouse to relieve the person on duty and begin filling in the logbook which requires that I record about 20 pieces of data regarding our current status such as Lat, Long, heading, boat speed, fuel usage, wind, wave, and water conditions. Then for the next three hours I keep an eye and ear out for boat traffic, debris in the water, and any problems with the boat. So far all my watches have gone smoothly and I’ve figured out that I can stay awake for my graveyard shift by consuming 2-3 bowlfuls of snacks and listening to my iPod jogging music.

Donna – Making her own music Off Watch

Joe’s Blog: “Mother, Mother Ocean”
2316UTC, 14/April/2016-On Watch

Ahoy Mates:

Day  5 and still being held hostage (in the best way imaginable) on the fine ship MV Starr.  I couldn’t be happier, crew is great, food is gourmet and life is good.  Our first few days were a little bumpy, found a leak in my stateroom (on this size yacht we have staterooms), we have dealt with it short term and now we are in the Pacific high and wind is light, rollers gentle and well spaced, all in all a most comfortable ride.  Today we rigged the fishing tackle, a new experience for me to be trolling at 8.5knots, and hoping for fresh fish.  We are respecting the weather and working our way north of the rhumb line to make for a more pleasant approach to home waters.  There is always something to do, it is amazing how once in the rhythm of the watches minutes, hours and days tick by.  Missing my sweetheart but headed in the right direction.  I am very grateful to the Stabberts for inviting me along on this adventure; it has been too long since I have been to sea.  “Mother, Mother Ocean” as Jimmy Buffet says. 

Joe with his favorite “gourmet food”

Goodbye for Now – from all of us on STARR

Hawaii to Seattle-2300nm
Day 3 – 1900nm to go
4/12/16, 1900Z
26 27 W, 153 43, N
COG 40 deg T
SOG 7.8 kts
Wind NE 20-25 kts
Seas 8-12 ft ,  (on our starboard fwd quarter and bow)

Departing Kaneohe Bay on Oahu – 1900 Z – April 10

21deg30N/157deg49W

Today is the start of day three.  We have covered 380nm on a rhumb line to Seattle.

Joe Golberg has done numerous ocean passages on sailboats, and now is doing his first extended passage on a powerboat.  Joe commented how much there is to do, even though our watches are 3 hours on and 9 hours off. 

Here are a couple of examples:  the water makers would run a short time and then shutdown due to inadequate sea water flow. We re-cleaned the already clean sea strainers, and back flushed with a garden hose to clear any possible obstructions.  The seawater feed line is completely clear, yet the water makers continued to shutdown.  We have finally come to the conclusion that due to our pitching and rolling we are just picking up too much air into the system. 

Yesterday afternoon Joe was headed to his bunk for some shuteye and found his carpets wet with seawater.  Here is Joe’s take on that: 

“I thought that on a powerboat we just set a waypoint for Cape Flattery and watch the waves go by”. To find the leak we ended up removing paneling, a shelf under windows; we used a 5½in skill saw to rip out the old shelf, a Fein saw, hammers, pry bars, and wedges, major demolition!  (Sharry was practically in tears watching our beautiful guest stateroom get trashed.)

We found what we think is the culprit:  a hull window that is awash as we roll and power through the seas.  The Good News is that we think we know where the water is coming in; the Bad News is that it will have to wait until we are back in Seattle for repairs.  It appears that the water has been coming in for a while. 

Don trashing the guest stateroom, looking for the seawater leak.

Joe helping

Sharry helping with her 51/2  inch skill saw-not very happy!

Additional problems for Don & Joe:

We have also been dealing with pesky technology with bugs in satellite communications, weather routing etc.   In trying to get it all sorted out it seems that all of the parts should talk to each other seamlessly, but they never do.

And even more fixes: 

On day one, when it was very hot, our new 3-ton Northern Lights Technicold chiller died.  It has been making funny grinding noises since it was new, and lucky for us it is under warrantee, so Northern Lights has a new replacement waiting at the dock when we get home to Seattle.  Lucky us, Don had a backup spare, which is working fine. 

On the recommendation of Brian O’Neill on Shibui, Don purchased 2 new fancy-smancy personal Ocean Signal MOB-1 ebirbs that attach to a lifejacket and activate immediately on immersion, giving an AIS signal and a piercingly Loud DSC alert on our VHF radio.  Donna was able to get one working and other will go back to West Marine to be replaced. 

The GOOD NEWS IS:

The Espresso Machine is working great (but it has been too rough for Sharry to drink coffee) and the Soda Stream is making lots and lots of bubbly water. 

We have lots of food that you don’t have to cook in rough seas.

Donna has done a really good job revising out Starr Operation Manuals in Power Point to make it easier for our friends/crew to know what to do in the Pilot House and Engine Room.

We are a really compatible 4-some and thoroughly enjoying cruising together.

More later.

Don, Sharry, Joe & Donna

We are ready to depart Honolulu this Friday, April 8th, for the 2400nm passage back to Seattle.

The Weather Outlook

We are well aware that the weather is still a little dicey.  There are some large low-pressure systems still coming out of the NW.  The reason for our leaving this is early is to be in Seattle for Seattle Yacht Clubs Opening Day on May 7.  Sailors from Summa Yacht Club in Kobe, Japan (Seattle’s “Sister City”) will be in Seattle for a sailing regatta with SYC.  In 2010-11, when we were in Ashiya, Japan on Starr they rolled out the red carpet for us and made us feel very welcome.   We would like to host them on Starr for Opening Day.

Suma Yacht Club Welcomes Starr – February 2011

We are using every resource available to us to analyze the weather. We download reports from Predictwind on a daily basis, but more importantly we have a weather routing friend who will be helping us stay on top of things.  We also look at the weather picture using Windyty

Our CCA friend Joe Golberg just flew in from Lopez Island to join us for the trip; Donna Lee, our Paddling buddy from the Waikiki Yacht Club, is also joining us.  We thought you might want to know a little about them so we asked them to write a bio for us:

Don, Sharry, Donna & Joe

Joseph W. Golberg BIO

I was born in Seattle Washington, a leap year baby on February 29, 1948, the son of a mother of a sailor. My first 18 years I lived on Lake Washington in Bellevue close to Enatai Beach. From the time I could walk I spent my summers cruising with my grandparents on our Owen’s Cutter in northwest waters. My grandfather had a Flattie (Geary 18) and he drilled me on righting the boat by myself and practice, practice, practicing landings. He used to say any idiot can sail this boat across the lake and back. Early on he bet me a 2hp Elgin outboard that I couldn’t swim from our dock to his, a couple of days later I jumped in at our house and swam to his dock, walked up to his house and made him take me to Sears to claim my won bet. My summers were spent leaving with my Grandparents in the spring and returning in the fall cruising Pacific Northwest waters from Olympia to the Broughton Archipelago in British Columbia. I started racing at Corinthian Yacht Club as a junior and crewed on many larger boats, Gary Philbrick from Mercer Island had a Geary 18 and I was his crew, our parents would to trailer the boat to regattas and drop us o for a week of sailing (and other mischief) as we weren’t old enough to drive.

After graduating high school I went to Alaska on a King Crab processing boat the “Deep Sea” and spent the summer northeast of Kodiak Island before returning to Bellingham for college. There I joined the Western Washington University sailing team. The next summer I returned to Alaska on the “Akutan” another processor and spent the summer out on the Aleutian Island Chain so early on had Seattle/ Alaska/Seattle trips by sea.

In 1969 I was lucky enough to join the crew of the 6metre “Goose” and we were chosen to race against an Australian 6metre in San Francisco (representing the St. Francis Yacht Club as they had on 6metres) winning the first Australian- American Challenge Cup. I was inspired to “run away to sea” and left school for a sailmaking career first at Northwyn Sails in Seattle, then with Buchan Sails

where I was fortunate to sail with Bill Buchan and crew with him on his Soling in an Olympic campaign. We won the World Championships in 1975 and fell just short of winning the trials in 1976.

After my tenure with Buchan Sails I was recruited to manage and own North Sails Seattle sail loft where I spent the next 10 years. This opened up many racing opportunities, multiple SORC’s in Florida, Italian Admiral’s Cup Trials on the Mediterranean, Canadian Admiral’s Cup Team with John Newton on Pachena and many other wonderful adventures both locally and out of the area racing o shore and one design. Most of my o shore experience has been racing but in recent years I have done coastal deliveries on the west coast from Seattle to San Diego.

After my sailmaking career I was a manufacturer’s representative for Avon, Simpson-Lawrence, Whale, Marlow and other quality marine products. I have lived aboard and cruised a Herresmho Rocinante, Alberg 35 and a Cal 2-46, which I lived aboard for 12 years, moving from Seattle to Lopez Island where I have lived for 24 years. I sold the Cal and purchased an Express 37 (Carl Schumacher design) and fast cruised that (fast, fun and simple) for10 years locally, sold that and now have a Beneteau 42CC which I continue to cruise extensively in the Pacific Northwest.

I am a lifetime member of the Seattle Yacht Club and am honored to be a member of the CCA-PNW station. Currently standing by in Honolulu with Don and Sharry Stabbert on “Starr” preparing to depart for Seattle.

“The Sea’s in my veins, my tradition remains, I’m just glad I don’t live in a Trailer”

(Jimmy Buffet)

Donna’s BIO

Hi I’m Donna and I’m very much looking to doing this passage to Seattle with Don and Sharry.

I had a career in Florida teaching and doing research at UF as a professor of agricultural and natural resource economics. After 13 years in Florida I decided I really wanted to be to Hawaii so I put my Florida house up for sale and moved to Honolulu near Diamond Head and Kaimana Beach. Right away I got back to all my favorite activities snorkeling, canoe paddling, and sailing. In 2009, I was joining friends for a fun sail trip to Maui but when two sailboats were consolidated to one, crew quarters started to look very cramped. That’s when I met Don and Sharry. They were headed to Maui the same evening and were kind enough to ferry me across. I enjoyed a smooth comfortable ride and I got a good night’s sleep. In the morning they drove into Lahaina Harbor, pulled up to the stern of Dusty Cash. I climbed off, waved goodbye, and Starr took off like a shot. Ever since then we’ve remained friends. Recently we started paddling our 1-man canoes together. Our friend Brantly organizes an early Tuesday morning pup sup where she brings Poi and her SUP and we all paddle out together enjoying a fresh start on the morning. It’s always fun. We come across rainbows, turtles, dolphins, whales, Hawaii 5-0 actors, mysterious floating luggage, and even an occasional shark. We never know what we are going to get but for sure we always get to see the sunrise. The regular pup sup paddlers include Brantly, Donna, Dave, Don, Sharry, Pat, Nicole. Guest paddlers include Nic, Rebecca, Joey, Rob, Robin, Katy and several more.

For employment, I have positions with the UH and Maui college analyzing the economics of local food and innovative local food products in Hawaii, and assessing the benefits to producers, consumers, farmers, and workers.

In my spare time I enjoy playing ukulele with my friends in our Park Rats band. This past January 2016, I joined a local choir group, Voice of Aloha, and am having an amazing time rehearsing and learning about chorale singing.

In Seattle, I’ll visit with my cousin Terry. From there I’ll fly to the Bay Area to spend time with Mom, family, and friends in Fremont, CA, then I’ll fly back to Honolulu where I’m looking forward to paddling with my Ikaika friends, Nicole, Brantly, Dave, Katy, Karen, Rudy, John, Dan, Lorraine, Coach Shelley and Coach Phil.

Donna and the Park Rats ukulele band

Donna, Brantly and Poi at Tuesday morning Pup SUP paddle

Donna and the Ikaika paddling group in our new Stellar surfskis!

Stay tuned for more news . . . . .

Don & Sharry Stabbert

Joe & Donna