Crew Blog by Nāʻālehu Anthony

Aloha kākou,

Today was a transition day in the weather and therefore one for us as well. We have moved through this region with an abundance of caution as the wave heights and wind strength have both been high for the past few days. With 100% cloud cover much of the time, we’ve seen just a few patches of stars or other celestial bodies as clues for sometimes just minutes. Hoku paʻa or the North Star has been especially shy. We use Polaris to measure our north latitude progress as we make our way back to Hawai’i to confirm our dead reckoning, so it is a really important star to see and measure as we sail mostly North.

This morning, however, brought us some sunshine, breaks in the clouds and some calmer seas. All of these are a plus for all of us. The sun beating down helps to dry out our drenched souls. The wind is getting colder and colder as we head North, and the Sun also helps to combat the cold wind. The clouds are starting to give way to blue sky, allowing the navigators to get a better mark on the all elusive sun and Mahina the moon. But the swells calming down are especially important. We have been literally covered in salt spray for days and getting around our small canoe has been real work without getting tossed around. Sleeping in the bunk is more like trench warfare, as we cling to the walls of our bunk for cover on what I swear on the big bumps feels like we’re up at 45 degree inclines. All of this takes energy and effort 24/7. The calmer weather lets us get back to the normal stuff; showering without a safety harness on, or washing clothes that now may have a chance of drying.

The meal tonight deserves a mention. While every meal is a gift, the one tonight may have topped the one I said was the highlight of the trip, the last one about the big ahi. J-Boy had pumpkin and onions already prepped for a night of curry and rice. All of a sudden, both port lines hit! Kawai made quick work of the short line with a 10 lb. ahi and the long line with a 15 lb-er. The boys rushed through the cleaning, and J-boy did a 180 on the meal now that fresh fish was on the menu. Somehow he took 26 ahi steaks, seared them, and whipped up an onion, ginger shoyu sauce in the same amount of time it would have taken for the curry. Poke with inamona was prepared as an appetizer, and the whole meal was served with pumpkin and rice as the vegetable and starch for the meal. Meanwhile, Kealoha was playing with our last cake mix, whipping up a pineapple upside-down cake for the crew. He’s still working out the logistics of getting these cakes to pop out of our pot that he cooks them in, but what was lacking in the precision of the upside-downing of the mea ʻono was more than made up for in flavor of the dessert. Dishes were cleared and washed as the whole crew worked to clean up before the darkness of the night, which makes things infinitely harder.

All in all today was a great day of being on the water.

SB 72,
Nāʻālehu

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