Hikianalia Update | Aug 23, 2018: Opala
Hikianalia Update by Hye Jung Kim
Aug 23 | AM Update
We are sending aloha to all of our families and supporters – we are thinking of everybody often and we hope that each of you is doing well.
Here’s our navigation report for the morning:
Updates and navigation reports often make reference to “star houses” – segments of Nainoa Thompson’s Hawaiian star compass.
Our 6 p.m. – 10 p.m. watch headed Haka Koʻolau and with the leeway drift, headed ʻĀkau at 7 knots. We used the sun and venus setting to check heading and then used Hokupaʻa. We checked latitude again with Kamaka/Shaula and Kapoho/Sargas. Kapoho/Sargas was 16 degrees above the horizon so we estimate latitude of 31 degrees.
Our 10 p.m.-2 a.m. watch headed in the same direction as our 6-10 watch at 5 knots average, so they made 20 miles north in our 4 hours. We used Hokupaʻa when they could in between the cloud cover and rain. We also relied a lot on the swells. We were quite cold and changing the head sail to jib 17 made a difference in that time period.
Our 2 a.m.- 6 a.m. watch headed Nā Leo Koʻolau and with the drift was headed to Haka Koʻolau. We used the moon setting to set course at the beginning of our watch. Afterwards, we were lucky to have clears skies for a bit before the clouds and the squalls came through. We were headed in Manu Koʻolau for a little bit before we fell off a bit to average Nā Leo.
The temperature has gotten quite chilly and our crew are beginning to bundle up in their Grundens and Patagonia gear – both companies generously provided PVS crewmembers with gear to help us weather the wet and cold… Mahalo!
Aug 23 | PM Update
We continue to send lots of aloha back home to those who are preparing for the hurricane.
Today we caught yet another two mahimahi. One of them had an empty ōpū, the other one had a malolo and both with no plastic.
It is much colder today, but we tried to all take a shower while the sun was still out. Day by day we think it might be our last shower.
We caught opala today on our fishing line and we took some photos of the opala that we saw in the ocean. They were not close enough or safe enough for us to tag the opala yet but when we are much slower, we can try to look into it.
For our day in navigation:
Our 6 a.m. – 10 a.m. watch were heading Haka Koʻolau and with the leeway, headed ʻĀkau at an average of 6 knots. We used the sunrise and sun’s height to check our heading. After the sun got too high we used the Hikina swell and wind.
Our 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. watch held the same course at 5 knots. They saw many malolo and had clear skies. We changed the sails during this watch and we followed the wind during the watch.
Our 2 p.m. – 6 p.m. watch held the same course at an average of 6 knots. Changed the head sail to jib 21. We checked our heading with the sun getting lower at the end of the watch.
So as of 6pm today, we are at 33.5 degrees in latitude and we will check again during our next few shifts. The weather is getting colder and colder as we are digging out our warmer gear.
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