We made it to Hawaii!
Our total trip LA to Hawaii took a solid 15 days, 07:58 hours. We sailed 2654.92nm at an average of 7.27kts. It felt like a wonderful Sunday sail that just seemed to be extended a little longer. Dina and Rani hit the provisions out of the park preparing the right amount of food to last us the two weeks. The highest VMG of 14 kts(!) was hit with Yoav and Maks at the wheel (interesting story to be told in person). Thankfully there were no major incidents and there was lots of wind to be had!
Hawaii was bitter sweet. Such a beautiful island but so short on time. We made the best of it by working extremely hard the day we landed. We cleaned and decluttered the boat, and had our new crew waiting for us to go on a Costco run. We planned our next day on the island wisely and even checked out of the country for a Sunday departure.
Once the boat felt sorted the crew were able to enjoy some of the lush landscape Oahu had to offer. Activities included going to the North Shore with a visit to the Botanical Gardens, a bit of surfing/night swimming and even some karaoke. Emails, social media, texts and phone calls were all made.
Now it was time to leave for Japan and BOOM! The wind generator made its introduction to Yoav’s forehead. Blood everywhere!! Medics, Lauren and Maks on the scene. I can’t tell you what a luxury it is to have two doctors sailing with you. Within no time they had the situation under control and a plan to get our good man stitched up properly. With 5 stitches and a good day of observation of mental status, Yoav was given the green light to continue the sail. It was then time to untie the lines and before you knew it, we were off the dock and on our way to Japan.
This log now finds us on day 4. The wind has been pleasant at about 15kts however not from the direction we initially hoped for. Finally, in this last hour the wind has come up ENE and we are finally able to sail on a good 280* toward Japan. We expect to see strong winds this weekend with gusts up to 35 kts. We will prepare Yankee 3 and be ready to throw the 3rd reef in the main. Reef often, reef early, as they say.
Keep us in your thoughts as we go through these next three days.
Til next time,
Melissa
Skipper
SV Discoverer
Thursday, April 26, 2018
Lat: 21*09N Long: 167*05
True Wind Direction: 102
True Wind Speed: 11.1kt
True Wind Angle: 107*
COG: 284*
SOG: 97.2kts
VMG: 7.2ktsClick here for the latest weather forecast provided by Weather Routing Inc.
Last Days Run: 192.43
Days Average Speed: 8.0
Total Distance Run: 602.59Nm
Distance Remaining: 3017.41Nm
Total Average Speed: 6.03Kt
Time enroute: 4 days, 3:55hrs
This morning on deck I put on my swim gear for the last time. I can see the shore, the buildings and Queens Beach where I will make landfall. The last piece of equipment are my fins, I wrote on them a message in memory of my close friend Gino. I slowly slide in the … Continued
Before I worked on this project I was no stranger to filming ocean expeditions. I have been a part of teams that explored newly discovered coral reefs at the mouth of the Amazon, conducted the first manned submersible dives in Antarctica, and hunted the depths of the Humboldt current looking for cannibal squids. Despite all … Continued
As we got closer to Hawaii, a plane form the US Coast Guard flew toward us, circled the boat twice, then went back to where it came from and disappeared at the horizon. They probably had been following us for a while and conducted a customary fly by surveillance. We waited for a call on … Continued
Another 487 nautical mile to land. Although quite far when you think about it, land feels very close these days, with an increasing amount of albatrosses, petrels and whales around us. And, now that we escaped the ferocious gales in the North, you might even spot a pair of tropical birds on these more Southern … Continued
Each day of The Swim the crew cast a net off the side of the boat, not in the hopes of catching fish but to collect microplastics. When plastic enters our oceans, it doesn’t break down but rather breaks up into smaller fragments from the combination of exposure to the sun and waves. They’re a … Continued
Education, spreading awareness and collecting scientific data, sounds like 3 things completely related. And they are. But, as I experienced during The Swim when you want to reach the three of them at the same time, there are some difficulties or at least some differences to keep in mind. Focused on plastic pollution in the … Continued
My attitude towards plastic has drastically shifted during my time on The Swim. I joined the expedition not knowing much about ocean plastic aside from rumors that there’s a great Pacific garbage patch somewhere. Every Captain and mate laughed and told me that they had never seen a “plastic patch” crossing the Pacific or other … Continued
For the past few days, our focus has been on collecting samples and data, doing observation and progressing toward Hawaii. We still encountered squalls and had to change sails back and forth. Those squalls brought with them winds and rain with such intensity that it felt like the rain was horizontal and painful when it … Continued
Today is one of my saddest days ever. Gino, one of my closest friends died. I met him through this project 7 years ago when he asked me if he could meet me on a beach in Alabama to take some footage of my training. Like many others, Gino volunteered his time and expertise, he … Continued
Day 174-175 In the first two days, we experienced big swells coming from a huge low pressure system north of us that had travelled hundreds of miles to get to our location. But that didn’t affect us much. However, we frequently had to make sail changes because of squalls. They were coming and passing bringing … Continued
It has been 100 days since we left Yokohama the last time, this means that we have been at sea and not been on land for that long. It is a little odd to me because it doesn’t seem that long. I have lost all references of time, every day looks the same. There is … Continued
On day 169, we passed the dateline it was on November 19, and the following day it was still November 19th, we lived the same day twice. I spend my days at the helm, from sunrise to sunset. All day long I can only skim the surface of the ocean since I don’t swim and … Continued
Get in touch with the team! We'd love to hear from you; Whether you have a question, want to schedule an interview, or become involved in the project.
We are proud to have the support of our strategic partner
