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Normal conditions and assuming you don,t spend too long without wind in the lee of Maui (or motor through the light spots ) you will be probably under way for most of a 24 hour day.
Depends on the size of the boat, the wind conditions and the ocean conditions. I've sailed from Oahu to Lanai in 26 hours and I've done the same trip in 7 hours, it all depends on way too many factors to come up with a precise number.
I Have Just Bought a 30 foot C&C Lancer, it is over in Koneohe Marine corp base, and I want to sail it over to the big Island..I have some sailing experience here around the Big Island, But have Never sailed Between!!!...I am A Bit Nervous, BUT STILL want to try!!!!....Its December 22nd....should I wait until Summer??? Or Just wait for a Break in the weather and Steer Wide out to the west????
Hi Donstrong!
Need some crew for such trips? I'm a Royal Yachting Association (Australia) certified skipper that's been sailing since I got my first boat at age of eight, and that was more than thirty years ago. I stopped logging miles once i passed 3000 NM, but of course, the more I sail, the more I realize that there's so much more to learn.... Ahh... such is the intrigue of sailing!
I've just returned from three months sailing my catalina 320 from Florida to the Caribbean, where I have her docked for the hurricane season. I'm now living in Kailua, and keen to hit the water again!
cheers
paul
I would love to sail the islands in Hawaii that has been my dream for 40 years now Iam retired and 65 still in pretty good condition and would give anything to just relax sail, fish and enjoy being free to do what you love. Iam going to sell my ranch in Oregon and think about picking up a seaworthy sloop or ketch and spend the rest of my life living my dream. In my younger days I had a 28ft hunter and enjoyed sailing on the Columbia River though it was somewhat limited it gave a sailor experience tacking and handling the sails and spiniker. Every summer we went up to washington and sailed the San Juan Islands and spent the best two weeks of our lives as a bunch of rowdy misfits. I learned a lot of deep water sailing and the effects of weather on the boat. Sailed through gail force winds 59mph+ Had the main reefed on the last ties, lost the engine do to a wave breaking over the stearn letting a bit of water in and had to sail into the mooring cove on susha Island and had a hell of a time dropping anchor, sail and turning into the wind all at the same time to grab the bouy. This is no tall tail this really happened.
If you plan on getting a slip at any of the state docks, sign up now, the waiting list can be several years long depending on which harbor. The hardest part of having a boat in Hawaii is finding a place to keep it.
I liked it when they used to post on the news about Young Brothers "losing" a container overboard from the barge.
Aloha and okolemaluna
I can remember two incidents where barges carrying cars got wrecked. These barges have superstructures of girders, something like one of the railroad cars or trucks that carry loads of cars from the factory -- except they're much larger and hold many cars.
One time, the wreck occurred off the Hamakua coast on the Big Island, and the aerial photos showed a coastline of cliffs with large boulders at the waterline. The boulders were mixed with mangled cars that had floated to shore. They were all mangled almost beyond recognition. It all looked surreal, because the cars were about the same size as the boulders, and looked as though they'd been tossed around like so many pieces of driftwood.
The other incident in the early seventies, a similar barge got into rough weather between the mainland and Hawaii. This time, the barge didn't lose all its cargo, but it was all out of kilter with several cars hanging on by a single wheel. The barge was about 5 levels deep, and cars were just hanging on every which way. It was pretty funny looking, actually.
FWIW, IIRC, the word alenuihaha (the name of the channel between Maui and the Big Island) means "use great caution". You can tell it's pretty mean if you fly over it. You can see waves, and whitecaps. When you realize how large they must be, it's pretty impressive. The swells that have been travelling across the oceans for thousands of miles, when they hit the islands, they "bounce" off, just like any wave does when it hits a wall, it sort of sloshes back. Those waves echo all over the place in the channels, and when they combine, they can form rogue waves. And those big boys are commonplace in the channels.
If you want to sail in Hawaii, I'd still want to encourage you to do so, because the islands are SUPER impressive looking from the water! I mean SUPER impressive. The easiest, safest sailing would probably be out of Lahaina or Maalea, between those places and Lanai and Molokai. The surfers call this area "Lake Maui" in derision, because it's generally ... fairly ... well protected, most of the time. When I say "safest and easiest", I don't mean "safe and easy".
It was one of my first surprises about Hawaii, the lack of small craft in the water. Coming from Seattle, where everybody puts a boat in the water on summer weekends, I expected boats everywhere. But no, there's a reason. In Lake Washington, it's recreation. In Hawaii, it's survival.
The only person I ever knew with a boat in Hawaii totally lost his, sunk while taking it from Oahu to Maui the day after we had dinner. He was travelling with friends in a 2nd boat and was rescued, but boat totally lost.
Location: not sure, but there's a hell of a lot of water around here!
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Razzbar
k. But no, In Lake Washington, it's recreation. In Hawaii, it's survival.
Few years back some boats started mooring right off Kama'ole Beach One, my normal put in spot for surfski paddling. First there were two or three, then six, finally got to over a dozen boats parked right off shore.. DLNR was starting to get a little ticked off, was going to enforce some regs. involving long term mooring off a public beach. They didn't have to. BIG Kona storm blew in, most of the boats ended up off Charley Youngs, some further north off the Bowls. A real pity, as the cleanup was a major pain in the kekake, and some of the boats were almost new, most of them being in the 36-42 foot range.. Some folks just don't get the ocean. It is sad that Hawaii doesn't have better facilities though..
Soon as your boat leaves the harbor in Hawaii, you are pretty much in open ocean sailing conditions. Should you be on the leeward side of the island, the conditions are a bit calmer, but should something happen to the boat you're left drifting away from the islands. Which if it continues long enough, the boat is fine but you probably aren't unless you have a lot of food and water. If you sail out from a windward harbor, the ocean conditions are a bit rougher but if something happens the boat is drifting towards land. Which hopefully you'll be able to reach by somehow getting over the surf and rocks. So, more than likely you will survive, however, the boat most likely won't. It is difficult to anchor offshore, too, since you usually need at least several hundred feet of anchor rope, a good sized anchor and about fifty feet of heavy chain. The ocean floor falls off pretty quick once you leave shore.
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