Smiles for miles. Honolulu to Van Isle in 24 days.
Our multi-month adventure has come to an end, so I created this video so I can keep reliving it!

A big thanks to Josh for joining us as crew and to Dan for helping me edit it together:)

We made it into home waters! Thanks for cheering us on, it feels good to be surrounded by land again. We are now transiting down to Comox over the next couple days. Stay tuned for our trip video by the end of the week!

The sea is greener, the air smells different, and we are starting to see more signs of life. We have yet to come in sight of land, but should be able to see the light on Cape Scott tonight.  I was hoping to have the grand moment of Land Ahoy! today, but life doesn’t always work like that does it?  Regardless, we are itching to get off the boat and our view in the morning is going to be a sight for sore eyes!  We ended up coming as far as 51 degrees north, due to consistent winds that pushed us up here.  We will still have three days of travel to get down to Comox once we round Cape Scott but it already feels like we are home.

I was holding off writing this post until we saw some whales, but couldn’t wait any longer.  I ended up spotting two spouts today from a distance but given that I was the only one to spot them, I’m starting to wonder if my brain is tricking me.  Just like I sear I saw Santa when I was little.  Believing is seeing? 😉

We are currently 150nm from land, with no sight of it yet (hopefully by tomorrow evening!); however we did see bull kelp!  Most people who spot a piece of bull kelp drifting through the water wouldn’t bat an eye, but this was a good excuse as any to jump up and down in excitement, as far as I am concerned.  I yelled out KELP! before quickly realizing Farrell, who was napping, may think I am yelling HELP.

We had an exciting night of flying along on a beam reach reaching up to 7-8 knots.  It feels good to be moving quickly as we race towards the finish line.   We are about to feast o our last tuna of the trip, nothing like fresh fish tacos!

The closer we get to land the more loco we get.  21 days with three people on 34 feet of boat …Muy Loco.  We can only read so many books, master so many sudokus, and play so many games of crazy eights before the monotony of it all has gone to our heads.  So instead we let our imaginations take over, we let our six year old selves take the helm.  Here’s some of the craziness that has ensued over the past couple of weeks and is quickly becoming the norm:

• I have rekindled my love for opera singing, much to the joy of the other crew
• Josh has accidentally tied himself to the boom while attempting to reef the main (stay tuned for video footage proof)
• we have been planning what we are going to dress Mr. Says in for the party once we are back

Amongst other things!  288nm until Cape Scott, where will be rounding it to continue homeward!

Christine’s note:  Still keeping an eye on the weather and am so grateful that I am not worrying about the systems hitting Hawaii right now.  Phew … they are almost home and my weather watch is almost over.

My favourite time of day on the ocean is in the morning.  Everyone else is asleep; it’s just my coffee, the sunrise, and me.  This morning was even more magical than most, as we had special guests who joined us on our transit.  A fin burst out of the water off our stern, as I was looking out for the freighter a few nautical miles behind us.  Was I seeing things?  Perhaps it’s just the chop on the waves.  The fin looked like an orca’s but would orca be over 400 nm from the coast?  I yelled out to the others, as we have a rule that if there’s something exciting we can wake each other.  For the next half an hour, three sleek giants lumbered along beside us, startling us with each poof of exhale as they broke the surface.  I’m not sure what type of whales they are, fin or minke perhaps?  But we were honoured to be considered part of their pod as we cut through the waves with them regardless.  Maybe they they thought we were one of them?

Christine’s note:  It was fun to get Kay’s excited text about the whale sightings today.  Even more exciting for me to starting teasing them about their wish list of food I am to bring with me when I meet them at the dock.  Any guesses?

Yesterday’s attempt at charging batteries lead to another dirty fuel filter and an innovative fix on a broken o-ring.  We all jumped to it:  Farrell got his hands greasy, Josh cut apart his leather belt to make a new o-ring, while I adjusted the sails and Mr. Says to accommodate the quickly increasing winds.  With one spare fuel filter left, we are hoping this fix is semi-permanent and are grateful to be a sailboat!

I have learnt that along with inconsistent winds come short tempers of the crew.  We all were a little testy this morning as we took turns attempting to balance out the sails and set Mr. Says (the self steering device) to keep us on a good course and good speed.  Fortunately, after a few patience testing hours, the wind has steadied up, which of course means we are all a little cheerier.  It is still over cast, chilly and damp, which I have also noticed has effected my mood.  It’s amazing how 18 days of being at the mercy of the winds and weather can determine our moods and brings so much more in touch with nature … Even if that means a few bad moods here and there.  Nothing a nap can’t fix.

We have gotten to the point of the trip where we are obsessively doing two things:

1.  Moving the waypoint to check the exact distance left. (We are currently at 841nm!)
2. Discussing exactly what we are going to do once we get on land.

We’ve spent most of the day inside, as the conditions outside are far from enjoyable.  We are currently beam reaching to 20 knots of wind in an East direction , anticipating arrival even more with every mile notched into our hull.

Christine’s note:  Yahoo – look at that circle close!  We have set the date for the welcome home party!

And here is a peek at Predict Wind, which I have been using to help the FWL crew learn about what is coming up for them. A day or so more of strong winds then hopefully it will ease a bit  … the good news is they are heading in the right direction.

After 15 days of sailing on a starboard tack, cooking on a starboard tack, life as we know it has literally flopped around.  We are now heading in a NE direction, aka home, and it sure feels good!  We motored throughout the night, amongst glassy seas and a dark sky.  The fuel line plugged up at around two in the morning, meaning Farrell had to  change the fuel filter, which added some excitement to our night.  We are daydreaming about an uninterrupted 8 hours of sleep.  Josh says 10 would be preferred.

It pays to have your nose out of the sudoku book once in a while, as we were treated to an incredible dolphin show around mid-day.  Twenty dolphins twisted and turned off our bow keeping with us for around half an hour.  Truly one of those magical moments in life.  Josh  and I managed to get some awesome underwater footage of the dolphins with GoPro, and have been reliving the moment with the footage afterwards!