Adrift in the Molokai Channel; A Lesson in Engineless Sailing in the Hawaiian Islands | SEA TRAILS

Hello friends. Good morning. It's a very dark morning right now. It's about 1 30 a.m on a Sunday, and we're about to untie here at the Hawaii Yacht Club. It's been a very nice stay here. Got a bunch of stuff taken care of, and it's time to push for Molokai. There's like a little bit of wind tonight. Literally a little bit. There's like maybe 10 knots out there. So we're going to try to use the last of that little wind to sail across the channel, and for the next several days the winds are switching to Kona winds, which are south winds, and all of the islands like Maui, Lanai, and Molokai are all going to be in the wind shadow of the big island. So I don't have to just motor across the channel tomorrow. I'm going to go ahead and leave now and try to get some sailing in. So everything's ready. Put some oil in the engine, and now it's time to place the mainsail, start the engine, and let's get out there. So it's 6 30 in the morning. Very slow going. We're doing like two knots motor sailing. We've gone like seven miles I think since two in the morning, and now the wind is clocked like it was supposed to. We're taking it right on the nose. It says 17 knots on the nose. We might just sail for Lanai because I'm not sure. We're like way off course. I just don't know if we can make Molokai, but it's not a big deal. Lanai, we're going to Needles to anchor eventually anyway, so but Hydrovane's been doing good. Trying to keep us on course. See her fighting back there. She's been steering us all night. Big seas. That's what, that's the problem is like beating into these big seas, but yeah. So now I need to tighten up this headsail and get back to my watch. Well, the engine just died. We're like right over the penguin banks, and it says we're 19 miles from Molokai. Don't have a ton of wind. There's like 12 knots of wind, so I'm just going to be slow sailing, beating into these seas. We've been doing all night. Some people fishing out here on the penguin banks, and probably shake the reef out in the mainsail. The winds aren't forecasted to really come back, so we'll see how it goes. Boy, today has been very frustrating. I've been becalmed for hours and hours and hours, just bobbing in circles. The wind just came back. It's blowing 11 knots, which is good. We're pointing for Lono Harbor. Not really sure how I'm going to get inside Lono. Once I get there, I might just anchor outside of it and try to rig the dinghy up. The engine, I changed the fuel filter. There was like a clog in the fuel line again with the nasty tank stuff, but when I was trying to bleed the engine, the starter was smoking, so I don't know if that thing shot. So I'm just going to try to get to Molokai. I'm like 14 miles away. I might get there at dark, which sucks, but it is what it is. Tell you though, this afternoon has given me new respect for all the engineless sailors out there. Sometimes you just got to like take a nap and bob in circles until the wind comes back. So we are back on track for Molokai. Fingers crossed. So we're like three miles from Molokai, from the point of Molokai, and like seven miles from where I need to anchor. The wind just went from like 19 knots to four knots. We're just going to keep crawling. My current plan is to try to get close in to Lono Harbor, if I can, and then drop the anchor on the outside of the harbor, and then get the dinghy off the boat, tied to the hip with the outboard on, and try to motor her into the harbor with the dinghy. But with like no wind, I don't even know how we'll get there, so wait and see. It's 3 a.m. I'm just becalmed and bobbing off the coast of Molokai. I used a little bit of wind around sunset to creep away from the coast because I couldn't get in. I got stuck in like a two knot northbound current, which was very unusual. I thought the current would run the other way. So that's when I realized there was no way I was going to make it to get close enough to anchor tonight. I just moved away from shore. I've had the alarm set for every half hour. I get up, look for ships. Not much I could do but calm on the beach. So yeah, just bobbling around trying to get some rest. Kind of mellow night. Lots of clattering, of course, but no wind. The current took us like five miles north of our position when we lost wind last time, and then it brought us back like four and a half miles south. It must be with like changing the tides maybe. It was interesting, but just sitting here hoping some wind shows up. We're not forecasted for much, so I think I'll, if I can get any wind, I might try to sail back to Waikiki so I can get my starter situation worked out. Molokai is awesome, but there's not many facilities and it seems like the getting into the little nooks and crannies is very difficult without an engine. So that's what I'm going to do. We'll see. We'll see what the wind does. I'm 40 miles from Lahaina, which would have been a good spot to go to because even then I could have flown back to Oahu to get parts, but this is what I've been dealing with. But since I'm 40 miles from there and I'm 20 miles from Oahu, it makes sense to just sail back to Oahu. That's what sea trials are all about. People did this for a very long time on big boats and small boats, just like you're at the mercy of the wind. You sail when there's wind and you sit when there's not, so I'm not sad about it. But hopefully the wind will pop up and I can go get the engine sorted out. I've been bobbing about all day long, only getting pushed north by the current, maybe a south swell. Like 11 miles from land right now, 19 miles from the diamond head mark. Just rigged up the spinnaker. Very frustrating rigging up a spinnaker solo. But got it up and she's drawing. Doing okay actually. We're doing like two knots generally, which is cool, in about five knots of wind. And we're moving in the correct direction. So yeah, we'll see. Just trying to inch our way back, claw our way back. I just want to get back and get anchored at Waikiki and then go from there, figure it out. I could use some serious rest. I don't know how many hours we are in right now, put it on the screen. But it's like 1 p.m. now, so well into a very long trip. But that's what sea trials are for. Figure out what's wrong before I get out into the real wild, you know. And the Iron Ginny is up and running again, flying the spinnaker. It was lovely out, but then that even that wind died and I was just like coasting too close to shore. So I went down and re-bled the engine like four more times, just over and over, putting my ear to the secondary filter and listening for anything and actually could hear it on this one. So I just kept doing that, kept doing that. Took me so many times to get it bled. But yeah, she's running, so that's good. Still need to clean that fuel tank out because that's like a big problem. So I'm gonna head into Angkor Waikiki and kind of regroup. So yeah, been a wild passage. The passage to nowhere. The last few hours of this adventure found me with a beautiful sunset with a gorgeous view of Diamond Head. 42 hours after I left the Aloai, I returned. Tied up and got some serious rest. If you enjoy the content on this channel and would like to contribute, you can consider joining the Patreon crew. Thanks for watching. Fair winds until next time.