The Next Adventure

Now that the big bike ride is complete, it is time for other adventures.

My USCG license application is still very slowly making its way through the process but in the meantime I am going to continue to go sailing.  Right now my focus is on compiling additional offshore sailing time so that once the license is finally in hand, I will be well on my way to upgrading it to allow me to do near coastal charters.  This is what I will need in order to take folks out sailing in sunny warm places like the USVI.

The next step on that journey starts Friday with a flight to Honolulu to meet a 37 foot Island Packet sailboat for a trip back to Seattle.  I'll be helping to deliver the boat back home after the owner has been out for the last year.  This trip should take 3-4 weeks but may be as long as 5 depending on the weather.  I haven't made this trip before so I am looking forward to the experience on this route.  There will be three of us on board for the passage.

The owner will be coming along and he has been with the boat for a few weeks in Hawaii already.  We'll be spending the 4th of July at the Hawaii Yacht Club (which apparently has a  nice view of the local fireworks) and the weekend will be spent provisioning the boat and going over all the gear.  Our third crew member will arrive on Monday and shortly after we will leave Oahu for the Hanalei Bay on Kaui as our jumping off point.  After that, the next landfall should be back in Washington.  There is nothing in between for several weeks.

After the lack of communication opportunities on the recent bike ride, I decided to pick up som enew gear to try out on this trip.  I'll be using a new satellite messaging device (DeLorme InReach Explorer) to track the trip and provide two way messaging capabilities.  Ironically, this trip will be much more isolated than the last trip but I should have much better communication coverage. The solar panel I used for the bike trip will now be repurposed to power the satellite tracker.  Hopefully it all works well (and Julie is happy with the ability to get in touch whenever she likes).