Anchor Down, Hanalie Bay
Not the most picturesque of approaches. The island is blanketed in cloud. Rain. The bay water is brown from run-off. Ex-Howard is passing through.
But we’ve arrived.
Departed Neah Bay, Washington 7/22/16, 10:20am.
Anchored Hanalie Bay, Kauai, 8/7/16, 4:50pm
Total Miles: 2585
Duration: 16 days, 6 hours
Miles per Day: 159 (fast!)
Many thanks to Kylie Teele for her help in posting my daily blogs. I send her photos (one per email, and each takes 15 minutes to transmit over the GO!) and my ramblings, and she compiles all onto this site…seven days a week. Well done.
Also to friend, Jim Walter, for helping me with weather information W of 140W. I couldn’t get Saildocs to work for this region, and so would have been flying blind without his assistance.
A beer, some clean up, and some non-timed sleep.
Na Pali Coast appears briefly from beneath the cloud.
Quite literally the last beer aboard. And it happens to be Alaskan! Seems fitting.
Well done, Captain Randall!! An outstanding passage. Apologies for the trouble I caused.. or at least my namesake caused. – Howard ( and Steph too, S/V Holy Grail)
Ha! You were no trouble, in the end. Just a bit of a wet noodle. 🙂 Thanks for following. Best to you both.
Randall, can you direct me to more info about the “Go!” thingy you mentioned?
Their site: https://www.iridium.com/products/details/iridiumgo
I bought mine from these guys: https://www.predictwind.com/iridium-go/. Doing so gives you a small discount on the map thingy I use on the F8 site.
If you buy from PredictWind, your contract will actually be with these guys: http://www.satphonestore.com/tech-browsing/iridium-nav/iridium-go.html. *Actually*, it will be Atlantic Satellite Technologies, or some such. Predict Wind is just remarketing. SatPhone Store seems to be one of the big players with pretty good prices generally. GO pricing and especially their monthly subscription seems flat with little real discounting available.
**I also bought the external antenna and wiring for same. Around $400. Expensive. VERY LIKELY you could buy the cable and antennal for less from a non-name brand source. The GO must have direct view of the sky, and putting an $800 piece of equipment on deck during boisterous weather seemed crazy. Also, I had to leave it on 24/7 for the map function to work. So, for me the antenna was a must.
I found this review from John and Phyllis of Attainable Adventure to be quite helpful and (from my perspective) pretty accurate. I found the unit’s software easier to install and to”learn” then they. Their best piece of advice: have access to good wifi on your laptop for software/app install. Don’t try to install underway or from the boat. https://www.morganscloud.com/2016/03/15/iridium-go-review-6-myths-busted-and-a-purchase-recommendation/
Quick and Dirty Review:
-It’s a wallet-sized unit that needs power and (for me) the external antenna and nothing else. The hardware install is dead simple.
-I pair with an iPhone 5s and a not-recent-version iPad. Seemless. Have not had any issues with pairing.
-Uses little power. Had mine on 24/7 for the Flattery to Kauai run and did not even notice the draw.
-I didn’t have trouble with the software install. The Iridium apps are like V1 of most any software: feature-poor and clunky. Tiny example: the INBOX for Iridium email puts newest at the bottom and cannot be resorted. If you like to keep everything, then you are scrolling to the bottom of the inbox ALWAYS to read email. (The app does have foldering functions that could ameliorate this somewhat.)
-Can be used with SailMail and SailMail’s Saildocs weather suit. Big plus.
-Can be used with Saildocs weather suit WITHOUT Sailmail. This is how I use it. Saildocs is email driven. Way easy. NOAA text emails and GRIBS can be received. **If using without Sailmail, then for GRIBS viewing you will need to get (likely purchase) a GRIB reader app.** I use Grib Explorer downloaded from the App store. But there are tons of these. Recommendation: download several; pay the $14 or $7 or whatever, then pick the one you like best. You do not need to subscribe to these GRIB app subscription services, which subscription usually only gets you access to the GRIB data, which you are getting from Saildocs. (Sorry, sounds complicated. Isn’t.)
-Sure, it’s slow … compared to anything accept SSB’s Pactor (not complaining; love SSB’s Pactor). It’s roughly twice to three times as fast as SSB. (OK, still slow.) No hunting for a station. No multiple attempts. No infernal modem noise. 🙂 Speed example: the photos I send are small files, roughly 450 pixels wide. Each photo takes about 10 minutes (plus or minus) to send. A GRIB file can take 5 minutes to download.
-Expect dead zones or dead times, even at sea. How this can be I don’t know, but occasionally I will be unable to send/receive. Longest period to date is about 20 minutes.
-Web surfing: haven’t even tried. Seems pointless.
-Emergency app is driven by GOES. I’ve not signed up as I have a PLB and inReach.
-Messaging: very unreliable in my view. Often I’ve sent and is never received. And vice versa. ALSO, cool feature–you get 1000 characters rather than the inReach standard of 145. BUT I have have found that only the SENDER (you) get 1000. Your recipient replies are limited to the standard 145. I’ve stopped using this feature.
-Phone: expect dropped calls. On average (I’ve only used this three times) I get a drop every 2 – 5 minutes. This will depend entirely on your signal strength, which is not anticipatable. Not a big phone guy, so GO phone performance is OK for me.
-Facebook feature does not work. Facebook discontinued this feature over a year ago, yet it is still in the GO literature.
Hi Randall. I was thinking about you as we vacationed in Alaska last week. While in Homer we did a day in kayaks. A water taxi carried us over to an island where we kayaked. The water taxi captain, a young fellow, remembered seeing your boat and reading the sign about your voyage. Happy to hear you are resting in Hanalie.
Hey James, glad you got to see Homer. You probably did more exploring in a few days than I did in months. Sometimes I think I travel the world to see the inside of my boat. Hope you had good weather. The mountains and bay are majestic, in my opinion. And glad you got to get on the water. Thanks for the good wishes re resting in Hanalie. Enjoying so far… Best to Ann.
Very impressive average speed, Randall. You should be happy with your boat.
Hey Kurt, I sure am pleased. Now, to be fair, the racers I’ve met here say it was an exceptionally fast year. Everyone sailing from the US had a good run. Apparently a new record was set in the TransPac from SF–in a Moore 24, of all things.
The boat I hung out with, a Beneteau 45, did the passage in 11 days, next to which my 16 days and change from Flattery still seems quite respectable.
Hope all’s well.
RR
Randall,
I’m following your progress and am quite impressed! It must be come with some serious satisfaction to have broken into the voyage. I look forward to seeing and hearing news as your story progresses.
Respectfully,
Brian Thom
SV Nomad
Santa Cruz, CA
Hey Brian,
Thanks for the thought and thanks for following along. Yes, am pleased with the performance of the boat so far and my ability to handle her largish sail plan.
And yes, it does now feel like the F8 is a reality, which is sometimes exciting and sometimes quite daunting.
Hey, did you get my communication from Neah Bay re the Brewer ketch you’re looking at? What are your thoughts now? Though not right for me, I really liked the boat.
Best,
RR