Sailing Adventure on the Windward Side

Marlon and I had a great adventure yesterday. One of my co-workers has been asking if I would be interested in crewing on his boat. Normally Marlon's commitments to the Hawaii Youth Symphony Orchestra and his and Noe's Science Olympiad dates have provided ample conflicts. Well - yesterday did present an opportunity to sail a race from Kaneohe Bay to the Diamond Head buoy. To make a long story short - stiff winds, high seas, fast currents, a little seasickness, aku birds, no fish on the line, big knock down from the spinnaker catching a stray breeze, slow motion beating back upwind, flying fish, turtles, smoother water, drag racing and back on land! Mahalo Frederic for the opportunity to crew!

Weta Sailing Once Again

Our local MWR has two Wetas in their rental fleet. I finally got of my butt to get checked out to sail the boat. Actually my bum hip has been acting up again and that's why I haven't been anxious to get back in the cockpit. La had set up a family day at the Marina through Pearl Harbor Yacht Club to get more people interested in racing in the HYSA events. With us being there already, I figured I should at least get this done. Now on a weekend with some spare time, I can take the family out on a fast boat! I miss sailing our Weta - but with our life over the past few years, there was no way we could have kept it. Having this option is a wonderful thing!

Noe Sailing

La has the kids in sailing lessons, but they have classes on different days. I got a chance to see both of them this week. This was Noe on Monday. I'll post some of Marlon when I can get to the pictures on La's phone... didn't I just say that.... Update - Here are some more pictures of Noe sailing from La's phone.

The Hobie Adventure Tandem Island

Oh yeah!!! This is one great, fun times boat!!! Super easy to set up, and even easier to sail. Fraction of the time it took to set up the Weta (but it also only has a fraction of the performance of the Weta - which is ok). This boat belongs to the Uyeda Brothers (Gareth and Kevin) and they have modified it heavily. Interesting to see the mods people make - shows you how they like to fish. They hadn't had the boat in the water yet after a couple of weeks or so after picking it up from Windward Boats. Gareth and I went out and this boat handles really well. Where the Weta was more like a technical road bike - fast, precise, demanding - the Hobie was the mountain bike - fun to ride, forgiving and waiting to see if you can go harder than it can. The Mirage pedal drives are really efficient - on the way out it was just me paddling and I did not have a problem going into the wind, through chop and all with decent speed. After sailing around under a reefed main, I asked if we could open it up and see what she can do. With a full sail and stiff trades (17-21 or so) the boat took off and showed it can hold speed. What an amazing ability to have three modes of propulsion - the sail, the Mirage drives and a paddle. Landing couldn't have been easier - retract the centerboard, pull up on the pedal drives, undo the rudder lock and DONE. You'll never worry about dinging the bow since it is rotomolded polyethene and not fiberglass. Everything about this boat is fun and relaxed. I believe we are going to have to get one... (bye bye motorcycle...) to sail, have picnics on offshore islands, to surf and to fish for pelagics. Super fun boat!!!