Daily Log Page 24
22 Sept 2007  Position at 21:00Z 01 deg 19'N, 160 deg 48'W.  Course 043 deg true, speed 4.5 knots.  173 miles to go.  Had a fairly mellow night of motor~sailing and were able to head more and more east of our line to Fanning as the winds veered more SE.  At one point we were 20 degrees east of the line and feeling pretty good.  We continued motoring until 7:30 am, when we fell off 15 deg and started sailing without the engine.  Making well over 5.5+ knots and still a good 6-7 degrees east of the line.  About 9:15 a wind shift hit us for the worse and headed us, so we fired back up teh Yanmar and are now pinching again trying to get more east of the line as insurance for later.  The gribs show that the farther north we are the more southerly component the wind has so we keep going.  Fuel is getting lower but at a fairly slow rate since we are using the least RPMs needed to keep us from getting pushed back by the current.  3 Cheers for Phil and Marie in Kona for trying to line up a shipment of some supplies we dearly need. There's a supply ship coming to Fanning soon, but not sure if it will arrive before we leave....but we gotta get there first!  Might have to continue livin' on coconuts!  Caw! R
23 Sept 2007  On the Home Stretch!!!!  Got lucky yesterday and only had to motor sail for 1 hour, and winds veered more SE and have stayed there. 77 miles to go at 21:00z this AM.  Position 02 deg 38'N, 159 deg 52'W.  Course is 033 deg true and the bearing to Fanning is 023 deg true.   We're staying east of the line for insurance and will bear off when we get closer.  The tide at the pass is best for us at 8AM tomorrow morning and at our current speed, that's when we'll arrive.  We've put in our ballots, and this passage takes #2 for roughest in our over 20,000 sea miles in the last 4 1/2 years!  The #1 is still the Hawaii to Tahiti passage.   #3 is the New Zealand to Tonga passage we made in winter (late June~early July) a few years ago.  It's going to be great to get the anchor down   at Fanning Island!  Message for Phil and Marie: Our emails to you are all bouncing back.  Is your mailbox full or something??  We are receiving yours.  Check it out and let us know.  Caw!R
24 Sept 2007 THE ANCHOR IS DOWN IN FANNING!!!!  Arrived at 8:30 AM local time after being hove~to for about 6 hours before dawn.  We arrived too early so drifted outside the pass until dawn and the slack tide at 8:30.  Total miles for the trip= 1334. This is to cover the 840 miles distance from Kanton to Fanning. Total time was 3 hours less than 14 days.  Went into village and checked in with Customs and met Bob who is manager of NCL Norweigan Cruise Lines.  They used to have cruise ships stopping
here and are quite set up.  The whole island is out of propane, which we desperately need, but they do have plenty of diesel.  We have virtually no cash and there is no bank, so we have written a personal check to the clerk of the island who is contacting Christmas Island's bank to try to clear it and give us the cash for diesel.  It's all a big hassle but we're pressing on to get home somehow.  We'll keep trying various methods to "git 'er done"!  Anyway, we're here and that's what matters.   Caw!
2 Oct 2007  Farewell to Fanning Island, we're getting our "fannings" home to Hawaii!  We are now using Hawaii and mainland dates, so it's Tuesday.  We arrived at Fanning with no diesel, no propane and hardly any food or money.  We now have full tanks, full propane, well stocked fridges and even some extra money!  The folks on Fanning rely on ships to   receive their goods, and they are very infrequent.  They love to trade and buy items from yachts without having to pay shipping or duty.  So it was a win~win situation for everyone.  Made some great new friends both on shore and on yachts and really enjoyed hanging out there.  Now it's 1040 miles to Honolulu.  Departed the pass at 11:15 AM local (Hawaii) time.  Position at 1:00 PM  03 deg 57'N, 159 deg 20'W .  We've set a waypoint at 10 degrees N, 150 deg W as a rough guideline to make our easting before the NE trades kick in.  This will hopefully allow us to fall off the wind a bit when we get further north and encounter the trades.    Aloha to all.  R
3 Oct 2007  Great Sailing!!  True SE winds at 15 knots with 1 meter seas, and we're making nice time.  No crashing or splashing.  Made 132 miles in 1st 24 hrs. with 90 of them VMG to Honolulu.  Making good easting and the current has almost disappeared. Some light squalls and rain, but no dramas so far.  Boat speed is 5.5 to 6.5 knots and position at 11AM is 05 deg 16'N, 157 deg 49'W.  We will most likely stay on this course if possible for about 3 more days before we're tempted to head north to Hawaii.  The horse is starting to smell the  barn!  Caw! R
04 Oct 2007  Makin' Time!!  We've been doing between 6 and 7 knots now for the last 24 hours.  842 miles to go to Honolulu.  We've covered 285 miles in the 1st 2 days and gribs show more of the same.  Position at 11 AM 07 deg 14'N, 156 deg 12'W.  Speed is 7.2 knots with SE winds about 16= knots.  Seas are up to 2 meters so we do have some spray and waves coming aboard, but not too bad.  We put up with it since we have good
speed.  Course now is 040 deg true so we're still making pretty good easting as well as VMG to Hawaii.  Fax shows some lows developing in the ITCZ in the next couple days so we'll be watching those.  They did however state that conditions are not favorable for tropical cyclone development.   We made 153 miles in the last 24 hours with 113 of them VMG to Hawaii.  We hope to be able to keep up these kind of numbers to shorten the
voyage.  Many Caws! R
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