Sabra Log 11,12 July 82

11July- Sunday. I believe I slept 7.5 hrs. How wonderful. I got up at 0730 hrs, put the coffee on and cut up potatoes, and listened to the weather. Jean on watch, Mike asleep. I go on watch at 0800 hrs. Jean finished cooking breakfast. A double strike on the fishing lures but lose both. So stay with eggs, hash browns, onion and toast. I was starving.

We have been set west for several days to stay away from the high and ridge, so now we will have to start heading back east. Long. 159.59’ which puts of west of the island of Kauai. This is our farthest westerly position and the deepest waters to sail in: ~ 20,400 feet deep. We reset the vane and head 0°Compass Course. We are on a broad reach, port tack, the 160 pulling nicely with 10-12 wind and 2-3 seas.

We all bathed, transferred all the juice from the icebox( in head area) to the ice chest(no ice) in the cockpit. Put all the liter water bottles in the icebox, cleaned cockpit, galley, separated out all the wet potatoes that got wet yesterday from the leaky filter. I sat in cockpit and scrubbed all the potatoes, towel dried them and re-stowed them. I was washing my well worn bathing suit and t-shirt when Jean and I had strikes. It ran 7/8 of my line out, my reel was hot and I was tightening my drag and lost it. Jean got hers close to the boat but the lure pulled out. We have lost 4 big ones today.

A big glass fishing ball from Japan floats by our stern within 5 feet. 

I put on nice new clothes and everyone is shocked to see me so nice.

Mike is tackling the SSB antenna so hopefully we can transmit tonight.

Today has been delightful, no problems, beautiful sail, overcast so not hot. Our bathing salt water is cooler and takes your breath away with that first bucket.

Practiced taking sights today. I  lie down to take a nap at 1430 hrs but Mike come below to check out the SSB radio, which is at the Nav station and next to my bunk. I pull the radio out and he says all the connections look good.

1600 hrs- A strike on the new purple lure on the hand line after Jean put it out. 2.5 ft Mahi~10 lb. Jean fillets it and it is in the skillet cooking along with onion, cabbage ginger  and soy. I baked bran muffins in the oven.

My first time to bake muffins

Mike repairing vane a few days ago

Finally got a call through to Joyce, my boss and friend in Hawaii. She will call family and others who are on the call roster. The PT clinic has a big chart up with our updated positions. The soldiers are enjoying this nautical event. My mother is most concerned about this voyage as she is  keeping Jean’s daughter Erin. She states that she worried twice about me:  this trip and when I was stationed in Viet Nam in 1969-70. The first time I called her on this trip to give her the lat/long she did not have a clue as to what I was telling her. It never occurred to me to explain to her how to write down lat/ long. Degrees, minutes, seconds, North and West. Her first position was questioned by several of my nautical friends. We live and learn. Speaking of learning:

Mike showed Jean and I how to use his HP calculator for Rhumline and sight reduction. Really neat and so fast.

2135 hrs- What a great day! Going to my bunk.

12 July- Very rolley during the night. Not much sleep and I am tired this morning. Mike stepped wrong and pinched his meniscus in his knee so he’s resting in his bunk and can’t bear much weight on his leg. 

Today Jean and I poled out the 130 to starboard and the 160 to port and dropped the main. Lots of sail 10 wind and 2-4 seas.

The 130 poled out to starboard
Vane steering from westerlies

A nice day, Mike hobbled to make grits for breakfast and I cooked chili, onions and cheese for lunch. Our first canned meal.  NO fish today, our first without. On course to Cape Flattery. Nights are getting cooler, but still warm in daytime.

Was clear all day, no rain squalls. It is so pleasant and smooth. It seems as tough we are all tired every other day, so I am looking forward tob e rejuvenated tomorrow. Listening to KMI which is not clear tonight.

11 Jul shows our most westing
from Kauai

Sabra Log 9, 10 July 82

9 July- Hauled in a long skinny fish ? Name. Had the drifter up for an hour 0745-0845 hrs.
I cooked toast, bacon, eggs and coffee for all. (A side note: I had sailed some with the Sailing Granny of Australia- Ann Gash. After sailing around the world in her 20 ft Folkboat,  she came through Hawaii a couple of times in her newer 24 Folkboat. She taught me to put all the bread out in the sun to dry it out. It is then hard and won‘t spoil, and when placed in the skillet with a few drops of water and butter, it makes the best toast. Thanks Ann.)(my hard dinghy, Ilimetto, was hers that I bought…of course there is a very long story about that)

Busy day- retaped the chafe at the bow pulpit. Hooked up a block and tackle from the topping lift to pull the vane back up into position. Re-secured  that with new gaskets. Took one and half hrs. NO wind so it was easy to work. All the sails were taken down and we were just drifting. The mahi and ahi were diving and jumping around the boat. We changed out our fishing reels and just clamped the reels on the boom gallows’ uprights.  Makes for an easy stable way to bring these babies in. We can stand and lean against the gallows  for support.

We motored for 4 ½ hrs because of zero wind.
We took salt water baths on deck. Feels so good to be clean.
1430 hrs- slight westerly wind came up so we put the 160 back up.
Mike found more goodies that people had stashed aboard.
We are now 521 nm from Hanalei. Only put on 94nm yesterday. Averaging about 132.75 nm /day. From Kauai. Hopefully this light westerly wind is an indication that we are moving out of the high and ridge. But we are still pretty far south to be picking up the westerlies.
The sea is so blue; the sky overcast all day- recauked the port winch base which is still dripping water on my bunk below. I like being at sea when its comfortable- getting into a nice routine-we are all happy and having fun with lots of giggling.

Ahi continue to swarm the boat all day- sometimes you can see 10 swimming within 6 feet under the surface an both sides of Sabra and off her stern. We put on 2 new lures and at 1700hrs and  Jean got a strike in 2 minutes and a few minutes later we has a double strike and landed both ahi at 1730 hrs--just as we were contemplating dinner. Mike and I went below to fire up the stove..fried onion, cabbage and left over bacon from breakfast. Made soy and hot mustard mix, while Jean cut up the ahi. We sautéed some and ate some raw. There is nothing like ahi sashimi.. We have enough ahi for another 2 meals.. Each one weighed about 10 lbs and was feeding on squid. As Jean was cleaning up the lazerette, she tossed the lure over to rinse it off and immediately got a strike on the lure as it was hanging in the water. In came another 10 # ahi, but it was returned back to its home. We will only fish when we are out. It is unreal how plentiful the fish are. We have caught more in 4 days than in the last 4 years.

More fish
Nice Ahi-had to gaff this big one

It is now 2130- I just went out to readjust the wind vane for Jean. The wind is returning and holding 10-12 mph and is westerly. It is early to be in the westerlies but good old Sabra can’t be becalmed too long. She is picking up smartly and we are again headed with pride north on course.

We finally practiced some sights with the sextant. Jean and I had more accurate sights than the ole salt Mike, and with his calculator we get the answer in less than 2 minutes.

1900 hrs- we are not able to pick up our loran signal- also approaching the upper range of the signal area, but somewhat premature.We have had a glorious day in spite of no wind and having to motor for 4.5 hrs. But it is great we got the vane re-positioned. The night is really black with cloud cover- you can hardly see the bow. The days are warm and the nights are cool, but still warmer than when we left HI.  We just need a few clothes on while in the cockpit. The weather cloths and the dodger extension really help keep the weather off us. 

I am so glad to be doing this- life at sea can be really pleasant- once one is out of the turmoil the islands make of the seas. This has got to be the most pleasant sailing I have ever done in my life. I even enjoy cooking and can stay below without any complications.

Will begin my watch at 0000hrs.

10 July- Resumed good loran fixes thru out the night. Terrible watch-no wind. I hand steered and trimmed sheets for light air. Finally after one hour of critical trimming was moving the boat through dead calm water, like glass. I went below to run a fix only to find out I had made 1 nm in the last hour. During the short time I was below I returned to the cockpit noticing that Sabra had turned herself off course and was heading south. I started the engine but after a long delay and screeching noise. I figured it might be the starter generator belt. I ran the engine for 2 ½ hrs and then later Mike picked good wind 10-15 mph at 0530 hrs.

This has been a strange day- no one felt like eating-all out of sync. We had to clean house, throw out some rotting food. Everyone slept their time off.

1345 hrs- we crossed the 33rd parallel. 

1400 hrs- Mike and I started to see what was happening with the starter generator. The belts were loose and no slack left in the bracket. I had purchased new belts prior to leaving. 3 hours later we completed changing out the belts. Had to dismantle the alternator to do it. Engine is the original Volvo MD2B. 

We had 20 mph winds and 2 ft seas- now on a westerly port tack. Several rain squalls with winds gusting to 30 but the seas are now flat. We are still carrying the 160 and full main. Don’t you just love it? The boat is healed slightly all day and as we were sitting on the floor working on the engine I noticed some liquid on the floor. Humm. It could be salt /freshwater or urine, the test is in the taste. I try to convince Mike to take the taste test, but no luck. I taste it and it is fresh water. Whew.

I unscrewed the water tank (flexible) floor board to find the water oozing at a constant rate with each movement of the boat. The fresh water galley pump had not pumped for a few days but I thought there was perhaps air in the line or pump. I opened the galley locker and found the fresh water filter had come undone from the hose- as the boat heeled the water would ooze out of the filter top. After taking all the stores out of that locker and re attaching the hose to the filter. Then put all the goodies back, re screw the floor boards, put all the tools away. I then crawled up and under the v-berth filler board, removed all the items stored there, I lifted up the cover on the flexible forward water tank to see about one gallon left in the tank, which meant we had lost about 20 gal. We are not concerned however, so far we have used about 4 liters of bottled water for drinking, coffee. We will keep a close watch on the water supplies. We are bathing, washing dishes and brushing our teeth in salt water so have minimal fresh water demands except for drinking water. I will add to the list to check that filter attachment. It is amazing how the action of the boat does undo things. The main sheet unscrewed the top to one of the jugs of diesel that is in the cockpit. This happened twice in one hour, so we readjusted the traveler. 

I am on watch now, pleasant 10 wind, seas 2, wind out of the west and we are on a beam reach port tack. Gentle sailing, partly cloudy skies, no moon, pitch black, a few stars, lots of phosphorescence. The vane working nicely. Only used 5 liters of fuel with 9 hrs of engine time. (Sabra’s aft fuel tank is in liters and the forward tank is in gallons. This drives me crazy, as I am continually computing fuel from liters to gallons)

I am pleased to have picked up the westerlies so early- makes for a nice ride. A low pressure area is north and west of us which will bring 30 mph winds which should scoot us along. Will start thinking about falling off at 35 north and start our trek eastward to make progress in longitude. A hurricane Daniel is brewing off Mexico but is much too far away to affect us.

We left Honolulu a week ago and it seems like forever. We are making decent time considering the light winds and the high and ridge. Will pick up speed after we pass the high which is 33N. We are just above it.

We are having a good time and all of us love being on the sea. It is calm and peaceful. I had pictured huge seas and big winds, but it has been very comfortable ever since we got out of the turmoil of the Hawaiian waters… My watch is up in 45 minutes at midnight. The time has flown fast tonight for me. We opened another of Windsong’s gifts. It was a book on logic and problem solving. Gosh, I think we have enough of our own problems to solve without reading about other scenarios. Other gifts have been a collage of our Maui cruise, an ahi flag, banana chips, and logic book. They are all neat ladies. I will miss them. Just finished watch and went below, but smelled alcohol. Found a leak at valve stem which tightened up nicely with wrench. Can’t believe I am doing a repair a midnight and enjoying it.

I am becoming more in tune with Sabra daily. I no longer get ruffled about the amount of time and energy that it takes to stay on top of things. The significance of tending to chores early is critical and magnified out here. We have to keep tending to her every need as she is our survival. Without her being ship shape, we cannot exist in this environment. She is truly so alive in the ocean. She’s made for the sea, so beautifully balanced. Sparkman and Stephens knew what they were doing when they designed her.

5 Jul- North from Hanalei Bay Kauai 

Sabra Log 7,8 July 82

7 July- 0000hrs taking watch from Jean. Fishing vessel off port, collision course, I flip on tricolor light. Full moon with good visibility. She passed our stern ¼ nm.
0130 hrs- 2 lights ahead; 1 to port, and 1 to starboard. A rain squall blocks my vision. I get Mike and Jean up to help me. After a short rain both boats appear very close off starboard bow- It is now abeam ~ 1nm away. The wind is lightening and somehow Sabra falls off course and I turn around seeing she is heading due south. I am bringing her back up to north heading and realize we are converging rapidly with a vessel. I bring Sabra up, up, up rapidly and pass fishing vessel on its port qtr ~ 1/8th of a mile. Within 15 minutes of when you see their lights they are on you.  At night it is very hard to see the lights, you can’t see if they are running nets, you can’t determine the course or the speed. It is just plain and simple: a difficult task.

0500 hrs. Jean spots a freighter steaming from east to west at about 26 N. passing our stern. A good watch is critical.
0800 hrs- At 26°36’ N and 263.9 nm from Hanalei.
Tried to call KMI on the SSB radio twice but no contact. (this is a radio telephone company. We were trying to call friends and family)
The sailing this morning is idealic-20mph and 4 ft seas.
Heated coffee tasted good, finished off Brownies that a friend had made. Also each had a box of raisins. They were made up as leis, so if needed be you could wear your raisin lei around your neck and nibble away. Friends are priceless. I can move around the boat better with some degrees of stability.
Feel good after a good sleep. I wrote in the log for yesterday, today. May even change my shirt and brush my teeth.
Sabra is doing so nicely. She really is an ocean vessel-driving thru the seas like a sharp knife, no pounding or hobby horsing. At times you are not even aware of the motion, she is heeled slightly and she slices thru the waves at a steady rate-driving- really beautiful to see.
Dolphins came at sunset and played off port side of cockpit yesterday along with a few birds.
This morning I am so peaceful and restful. I was beginning to wonder about this sea business. I’m not so sure I enjoy being bashed around. God’s it hard-so many bruises- my seat is sore-my muscles ache, but today I feel a peace, I’m getting my sea legs.
1600 hrs- a double Mahi strike- lost one pulling him onboard, but other was 2 feet long and about 15#
We got the one prepped and in the skillet immediately. How delicious- what a pig out- our first big, hot meal…oh my gosh. It’s like heaven.

1900 hrs- We have had a gorgeous day- 20 wind and 2 ft seas. Full main + 130%
Tried to call KMI again but no contact. It’s disappointing
There is a sunset tonight so have to go out to see. I feel so much better. Making nice time-all is well. Everything is getting easier to move about.

We are loving it.

This is what it's all about.

8 July- No vessels sighted during the night. Winds lightened 10-15 mph, 2 ft seas.
0600 hrs- hooked up with another mahi about the same size as the other one. They were traveling in pairs, but second one did not strike. Jean cleaned him and placed in a pan. I made coffee, and cooked toast, left over mahi, onion and eggs. Yummy.

Jean happy with fishing results.

We are busy bathing, drying out bed sheets. Finally got around to brushing my teeth for the first time.
Only making 4 k- weather is getting cloudy. Probably should put up the 160 jenny, but so many things that need to be done.
We are on auto pilot, as the bungee doesn’t hold the course in light winds.
Put duck tape on the pee bucket-Mike sat on it and put a crack in it. It looks quite fancy and am pleased with my surgery on it without the sterile environment of the OR.
Should hit the 30th parallel tonight.
It is amazing how Sabra just keeps driving ever so easily and we keep putting on the miles north. Its fun to turn on the loran and in a few seconds we have our position, push another button and we have our distance made good from Hanalei. We plugged in 30 North latitude for a way point and can get reading for ETA, course made good and speed made good. We haven’t taken a sight yet- each day it clouds up so haven’t messed with the Celestial Navigation yet. Will start practicing to cover us when the loran goes out of the 4990 chain.
1000 hrs- had a very busy morning so far.
1100 hrs. Got the 160 set, full main, wind 12mph- 1-2 ft seas. What a beautiful ride. Lots of flying fish.
All bedding dry. 130 is stowed-had a small tear in upper panel which I carefully repaired. Had to bring it back to the cockpit to sew and then fold.
Will leave 160 as long as winds don’t exceed 30 mph.
Very comfortable…A beautiful sail.
Logged 146.3 nm since noon yesterday-best run- current is assisting us.
We are at 29.25.8 N and159.11.7 W. Have traveled 432.5 nm from Hanalei
Had short nap while running engine for 40 minutes.
The captain and crew of Windsong, Cal 25 has given us all kinds of wrapped gifts to be opened on certain days. Today was a can of cookies and one can of banana chips…no one in Hawaii would jinx your boat with banana items. That is a no- no..Bad luck for fishing. So the chips went over board.
We have been playing the music from the Chariots of Fire.
Still unable to reach KMI on the radio. Nice night- we took 4 hrs watches for the first time.
At 2000 hrs we were over the 30th parallel.

Sabra Log 6 July 82

6 July- Seas and wind are down 20 mph wind/seas 6-8 ft. We dried the survival suits out after a cold and wet night and without much sleep. Everyone is taking 2 hr watches. We are exhausted and finally are able to go below to get some sleep. Bunks are wet but new wool blankets are the trick.

Humpback the Auto Pilot       A Very Tired Hira

The Gale has quieted.
Our First Mahi- Mahi 

Loran is working like a charm. What an investment- the way to go as it is always updating our position.( in 1982 Sat Nav was new and you had to wait 45 minutes for the satellite to go over to get a position., so I had a loran installed.)  A Hawaiian ti leaf is attached for blessings and we bow to it on a regular basis. Ti leaves adorn the auto pilot, the vane, and the man over board pole.
Eating fresh fruit, PBJ sandwiches. We had to throw out the rotting celery and lettuce.
It is still difficult moving about and going to the bathroom is such a chore.
1400 hrs- we shook out the second reef in the main

Sabra Log 5 July 82

5 July- At 1130hrs we weigh anchors, hoist the sails and depart Hanalei Bay. We decide to go with a 130 % jib and a single reef in the main. Winds are 30mph.

Departing Hanalei Bay
Freddy the wind vane

1400hrs- riding nicely with 130 and single reef, winds 30 mph with large seas. I notice some trouble with the vane brackets holding the shaft and see the vane start to slip downwards. All hands on deck. We got a line on the vane and I took several wooden clothes line pins apart--they make great shims. I hammered them in only to see them work out. I have brought some extra pieces of wood and cut them into larger wedges of about 7 inches long. And hammered them into the bracket gasket attachment to the vane shaft. The upper bracket begins to shear and move at the through bolt. We are taking big seas on the aft lazerette which is making stern work wet and difficult. . We loose a pair of vise grips overboard. All three of us take turns lying on our stomachs, reaching out under the lower rung on the pulpit to work. I make a hand steered down wind course change to open the lazerette .We empty the lazerette out of all the carefully stowed items,  Mike crawls inside it which is very large and comfortable while I steer and Jean is working on the outside bracket. Between Jean and Mike they get all the thru bolts re-tightened and the vane secured.  .  I bring Sabra back up to weather and get her back on heading 0N.  Since we had been running fishing lines, there is a nightmare to untangle. I climb back on to the lazerette and spend an enormous amount of time sorting out the mess. I remember thinking how patient I was. A new decision was made no lines at night and only one with high winds. I watch the waves demolish the wood wedges and I hammer a new set in. I watch in disbelief that this new set works out and is swallowed by the deep blue Pacific Ocean. The vane starts to slide downwards again. I get new lashings and tie the vane in a lowered position and the brackets are holding. We will leave it this way for now. Sabra is being steered nicely with my $ 2.00 bungee cord. Meanwhile back to the fishing lines and after 30 more minutes they, too, are secured. After 1 ½ hrs of vane and fishing line work  we all feel exhausted.


The weather is worsening 35mph wind, 12-15 ft seas rolling with good distance between them. We put a second reef in the main and continue with the 130.  Looks like a long night ahead. Sabra is driving like crazy. She is loving this. As you know, Finnish boats love that wind and waves of the north seas. We all remain as a tight little group in the crowded cockpit. The dodger extension and the side panel weather cloths keep the majority of waves off us.

Thank goodness I had prior notice of the lunar event of the century that was going to take place tonight. A lunar eclipse, the longest in a century was happening starting at 1918hrs and continuing until 0040hrs 6 June. As the eclipse progressed, we could not see each other across the cockpit and in spite of the stormy night the skies were open enough for us to see the whole eclipse. The moon became reddish brown. It was very interesting and eerie to see. One is really never prepared for the total darkness of night sailing. You have to trust the wave pattern is favorable and steady, the winds remain constant, and the red light of the compass is your only clue as to what is happening and God forbid hitting or being hit by some ship or object. Sabra is like a thoroughbred horse at the Kentucky Derby. She has her bit in her mouth and galloping full speed ahead through un-seeable waves. She is out in front and nothing is going to pass her. This boat gets my juices flowing and tonight, while being exhausted, I rest comfortably in the exhilaration of this special moment.


As I type these notes, I am reliving her/my love story. She was my dream come true. I longed to sail the oceans and always wanted a world class sailboat. When she and her previous owner sailed into Honolulu from a south pacific storm, I fell in love with her the moment I saw her. On our sea trial, which still had moderate winds and big kona seas from the south, the owner put up the full main and a 170% genoa. I gasped when he shared his sail selection for the day. I could not believe how this boat sailed. It was the most exciting boat I had ever seen or been on.


The first 24hrs we logged 140nm at 5.9k.

Sabra's Log Book July 1982 Honolulu, Hawaii to Tacoma, Washington

Many people have wanted to read about my 1982 voyage on my Swan 36, Sabra. I have re-typed the entire log as I have more time on my hands now that winter is shoving his face into our spring. I hope those  reading this will enjoy it, as it was a dream come true for Mike, Jean and me.. I am so grateful for having Sabra in my life, as well as, Jean and Mike. We were Sabra's companions of the way...and still are, even though Mike has since  passed on.

A Turning Point In My Life

Where Does It Really Begin?

Dreams Full Filled

I was terrified as a child after watching a movie in which Bette Davis played both parts as a twin. On one stormy night, she and her twin while sailing were caught in a storm and one of the twins was swept overboard. From that day forward I was afraid of sailing and stormy seas. Whether this event was the cause of my fear or whether the event triggered a past life fear is unknown. At any rate, my fear was real and I knew I never wanted to be on a sail boat.

When I was stationed in Viet Nam in 1969 and dating a Navy Lt. who taught sailing down at the Qui Nhon beach, I decided that it was time to get over this fear. At every spare time off, we would swim out to the moored Rhodes 19 and board her. After a few sessions I was hooked, and while all the seas in the bay were calm, I was having feelings of wanting to learn more and go farther than the machine gunned patrol boats would let us. Then one day while lying on the beach, off on the horizon I saw a large sailing vessel. I sat up and wondered who would be sailing off shore in a combat zone? Wouldn’t it be fun to sail on a large ocean? Had they seen me lying on the beach they would have wondered why was this lady sun bathing on a remote beach at a Leprosarium in a combat zone?

Jean, my twin, was a Captain in the Army stationed at Tripler Army Hospital in Honolulu. She was learning to sail and had bought a Cal 20. As twins go, we both sent each other letters across the Pacific Ocean saying, “guess what I am learning to do”?

Mike, an old salt, learned to sail at age 19, was a retired Air Force Captain and Captain of the Hickam AF Base’s 40 ft Tamerlane Ketch. He ran day sails for the military. His life long dream was always to sail across the ocean, but when asked why hadn’t he done it. He would reply, I haven’t found anyone that I would be compatible with for that long a time.

By the time I got to Hawaii in 1978, Jean was a civilian, married and a mother of  7 year old daughter, Erin. She had her Captain’s license. Jean jointly owned a Cal 2-27 but, upon my arrival, we bought a Pacific Seacraft 25 together, named Double Trouble. We all had taken numerous courses in seamanship, celestial navigation and diesel mechanics from the Pacific Maritime Academy and the Bishop Museum. Mike owned a Cal 29 and all of us were members of the Waikiki Yacht Club.


In 1979 I started looking for a good ocean sailing sloop that I could live aboard and keep for a retirement boat. That’s when Sabra sailed in from the South Pacific and I fell in love with her at first glance. The previous owner had renamed his Swan 36. At first she was named, Mi Novia. His Jewish  fiancée was in the Israeli Army and after she was killed in the 6 Day War, he renamed her Sabra, which refers to a woman soldier in the military. How perfect was this Swan? With a fitting name, she was tailor made for all my dreams and life style.

I had my retirement boat, and in 1982 I knew I’d be getting orders sometime during the summer. I asked Jean and Mike to go with me and there was no hesitation on anyone’s reply. We all had sailed many a mile together, so compatibility was not an issue.  The issue was to convince the Chief PT at the Surgeon’s Generals Office in Washington DC, to write orders for me to go to Tacoma, Washington, so we could all sail there. We had lots to do to get Sabra ship shape for this upcoming voyage, so we started making out our lists and checking them off.



I was confident that I would get my first choice of assignments, as I always had my whole career. The orders never came, but I never gave up hope and finally 6 weeks before our departure I got my orders. I flew over to Tacoma, bought a house, flew back and we were on our countdown. The car got shipped and would be there waiting for me, the new house was ready when we arrived. The furniture scheduled for delivery, but wait, I’m getting ahead of myself. We still have to sail across the Pacific Ocean.

Sabra is a Sparkman Stephens designed Swan 36, built in Finland by Nautor. Her hull number is 74 and 100 were made, but some were lost in a factory fire, so the final total was about 90. Some were shipped to Michigan and sold as Palmer Johnson PJ 36. She is long, sleek and a fabulous sailing vessel. She is made for the north seas and she is capable of handling any storm. The bigger the wind, the better she sails. She can carry lots of sail. She is safe and I had no hesitation to sail her on the open ocean. The previous owner had made 2 south pacific trips from California on her before bringing into Hawaii Dec 1979. By 1 July 1982 everything is done and we are on our final countdown. We leave in 2 days.

Haulout and Survey Honolulu 1979
An Exciting Day

The Log of Sabra

Honolulu, HI. to Tacoma, WA

3 July- 31 July 1982

Hanalei Bay to Cape Flattery

5 July- 27 July 1982

3 July 82- A wonderful farewell champagne party was held at La Mariana Sailing Club, Keehi Lagoon near Honolulu Harbor, Island of Oahu, Sabra and Hira’s home port.  Many tears, joy, sadness, but there was a prevailing spirit of adventure, pride and admiration. I was leaving beautiful Hawaii, where I had been living aboard Sabra and had been stationed at Tripler Army Medical Center for 4 years. I was sailing to my new duty station in Washington.
Dr. Mitsuo Aoki delivered the blessing while well wishers watched.
Aloha Oi was sung; well wishers were hugged and kissed. Mike, Jean and Hira boarded Sabra, untied her dock lines and departed LMSC, at 1200 hrs. The leeward Keehi Lagoon was calm, however gale warnings were in effect, 35 knot winds and 22 ft seas awaited us outside the reef.  Mike had the first watch, then Jean and next me. We would have 4 hour watches with 2, 2 hour dog watches at 1600-1800 and 1800-2000hrs. We would rotate around the clock 24 hours a day, someone was always on watch.

Watch List
the "B" is for Hira's watch

Two boats joined the exodus. The friends on a Morgan 30 followed us as far as Pearl Harbor and another boat went as far as Pokai Bay on the western shore of Oahu. We are enjoying the blanketed gale on this lee side of the island and have calm seas and light winds of 13-20 mph winds.

Hira, Mike, Jean
bottom photo

Stores
 Where did the waterline go?

Hira holds the master stores list. Each item has a locker number assigned to it and quanity.

Even numbered storage Starboard
Odd numbered storage Port

Preparing to hoist sails
Keehi Lagoon

Underway along lee shore Oahu

Sabra, off Keehi Lagoon
Day of departure

Moving right along

3 July- Breaking Seas Reef Runway Honolulu 

At 1800 hrs we are approaching Kaena Point and put a reef in the main and still have her working jib up. This is in preparation as we pass Kaena point and face the full force of the gale force NE trade winds. At this point we will fall off to adjust our course for a broad reach run to the island of Kauai. One needs to sail west to Kauai to gain westing, so when we depart on our northerly course out of Hanalei Bay, Kauai we will have the pacific high well to the north and east of us. The intention is to hold a northerly course of about 1000 miles on starboard tack until you pick up the westerly’s, then reach off towards Cape Flattery and the Strait of Juan de Fuca. It sounds so easy.

I’m glad for the early reef, as we carried 30-40 mph wind all night and Sabra handled nicely as usual. I had never reefed Sabra before. This boat is the best sailing vessel I have ever been on. She is happiest with lots of wind and her 6000lbs of ballast keeps her stable.  As a tiller driven boat she is easily balanced with a simple bungee cord. We have a wind vane and an autopilot on board, which are called Freddy Fudd Pucker and Humpback, respectively.

Early reef and Anchorage at Hanalei Bay, Kauai

4 July- 0700 hrs  After sailing along the north shore of Kauai we enter Hanalei Bay. My favorite thing to do along this famous coastline is begin playing the soundtrack from South Pacific. The movie was made in Hanalei Bay and Bali Hi is playing, as we enter.  This anchorage is the best in the Hawaiian Islands and my favorite to come and hang out. We anchor with bow and stern anchors, make coffee and have cereal. We fall asleep for a short nap. We have friends who live on the island and others have flown over so we row in and have a great beach party. Afterwards we return to Sabra and tend to some chores:
1. Relash hard dinghy-Ilimetto on deck
2  re-track the gear on Humpback the auto pilot
3. Replace a screw on the wind vane Freddy
4. Discover a lost cotter pin on port clevis pin for shroud.
Swan 36 has aerodynamically foiled solid Stainless Steel Rod rigging. So, basically the entire shroud is tightened or loosened like a turnbuckle. Which means you have to have someone at the top of the mast and someone at the base and they turn the whole rod for adjustments? This is something I didn’t want to do at sea and was done earlier.

Honolulu( Keehi Lagoon) to Hanalei Bay, Kauai.
~129nm in 18 hrs- Average 7.16 knots

A note for future postings: The log book, of course, covered 24 hours for each day; 0000hrs(midnight) to 2400hrs(midnight). A Latitude/Longitude was recorded in the log every hour, while our noon position each day was plotted on the master chart and may have been a Dead Reckoning position(DR), a noon sight, or a Loran Fix,

Another Summer Adventure in the Plans

Shatoosh, Pashmina and Hira have been weathering our winter storms by planning another great adventure. We had some snow flurries yesterday and the week is filled with one pacific storm after another. I'm nestled down with the fireplace going and lots of research books and my summer trip is warming my heart. This one will be filled with history and I am not certain how to present it all in the blog.

220 years ago, in 1792, an historic event took place in the Pacific Northwest corner of the  United States of America. The British Captain George Vancouver, Captain of HMS Discovery and Lt.  and Commander William Broughton of the consort ship, HMS Chatham, entered the Strait of Juan de Fuca and began their epic exploration of the waters of the majestic Salish Sea searching for the illusive Northwest Passage which would connect the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

On 20 May 1792, Lt Peter Puget, with orders from Captain George Vancouver, set out in 2 longboats with a total of 20 men, to explore the southern waters to map, make contact with the tribal indians and to look for the northwest passage. They began their exploration north of one of my favorite places, Blake Island. They were to keep the continental shore to starboard and were instructed to return within a week.

Our banner  which reflects our mission and motto.

My boating buddy, Too Tall Tom and his 16 ft. Arima, Skol, will be joining us, as we replicate this exploration of the southern waters. Captain Vancouver named it  "Puget's Sound" upon the Lieutenant returning to the mother ship, the HMS Discovery, which was anchored off Restoration Point on the southern tip of Bainbridge Island. Lat 47° 35'N, Long 122°28'W  I hope I have peeked your interest. This will be fun and a great way to celebrate this historic event and Shatoosh's 40th year.