February 11, 2000--Moving Again; 6 days since departure

Source: Sam Low

After breakfast every day, as the sun rises off the starboard beam, Nainoa calls a crew meeting. We generally assemble slowly--finishing chores already begun, on this day, for example, Pomai puts away galley utensils as Tava finishes washing dishes and buckets laid out on deck. Nainoa patiently allows the natural morning rhythms to complete themselves so that we are all ready to listen and exchanges ideas with each other.

Shantell Ching presents the Navigation report: "Our estimated position at sunrise is 10 degrees 11 minutes S. We had a good sailing day from sunrise, February 10th to sunrise, February 11th--76 miles N. We made up some easting and are now 16 miles W of our course line. We still have 2200 miles to go. We will try to hold Na Leo/Na Lani--2 _ houses E of N. Last night we got a fix on Kochab giving us a position of 10 degrees 30 minutes S. Our dead reckoning position is 10 degrees 11 minutes S, so the two are in pretty close agreement. We are doing great."

The calm days we have experienced in the last few days have actually been somewhat of a blessing--except for the heat, which is largely diffused by the twin shades over our decks. We've been able to take time to get to know each other better--to talk story, sing songs--at least some of us--and even try our hands at cooking a special meal. Last night Mike cooked fish (not fresh, unfortunately but a gift from Kamahele's freezer chest) taro, rice, fruits and a mix of spices, which he will not reveal. We wash clothes--Hokule`a's rigging is festooned with T-shirts, pareos, whatever. We read. We talk to our families via single side band phone patches and we talk to various school classes by satellite phone. We fish--but at this speed there is little chance of catching anything--and we plot ways to scoop up the schools of squid we have encountered almost every night. We take photographs and write in our journals. And that's just our recreational activities--activities that we actually have no time for when the wind is blasting.

When we are sailing hard there's much more effort extended in the basic chores of carefully steering the canoe, navigating, pumping the bilges, trimming sails and taking in and letting out the sails in squalls and all the other normal tasks associated with crossing 2400 miles of open ocean to find land.

Are we bored by the constant empty horizon, the repetitive path, and the--as it sometimes seems--slow moving passage of time? Hardly. There is always something to do, and we are always doing it with good friends.

All day yesterday was basically windless. We made perhaps a knot an hour maximum through the water. Sunset brought cooler air and a slight breeze allowing us to sail towards the N at about 4 knots. Today with the wind increasing we are steering Haka Ko`olau--one house E of N at about 5 knots.