What a nice sail it should have been. In the telling of this, I feel that you will agree. It was a wonderful sail as they all are, when looked upon a certain way. It was a short journey when viewed telescopically bassactwards into forward. I may ask if you know Micro Bobby Pilau? You might answer, " I have heard of him" ! There is a Columbia "40", vessel called " Alice C ".berthed at Kehei Lagoon and I would ask you if you had heard of his owner/ skipper, Ron? And, once again, you would acknowledge! I, on a rare occassion might ask you if you had ever heard of me and you would simply say yes ! Quietly ! ........ In all seriousness, egos are special on boats! Micronesian Bobby made a small mistake on a fishing boat that he was skippering. He allowed one of his crew to leave his electric shaver next to the compass on the fishing boat he was skipper of. He missed his navigational point of reference by a couple of miles. Magnetic interference! It doesn't mean he doesn't understand the ocean and sky! He bit the bullet and did get fired! Doesn't mean he isn't a sailor! The owner of Sabbatical picked Jeff to be navigator for this particular journey. It was hard to believe this sailboat left Oahu bound for Hanalei, Kauai with three skippers aboard that had nothing to do with the owner, wife or navigator. My sister and her boyfriend, Ron, worked for NorthWest Orient , an airline, out of Hawaii at the time. Micro Bobby and me were free. Navigator Jeff is paid by Owner,Tony and wife, Nancy, who sailed with us on our way to Japan! The only reason I bring Nippon into the equation is because Ron, Rob and Bob, knew we missed the Kiluea Lighthouse and were on our way to Japan. Jeff, our navigator didn't have a clew!! I , to this day, have many questions that require answers? How can one miss an island that is 98 miles away would be one? Well. that will be part of this story. What is deviation or variation? What is a compass rose? What does the east is the least and the west is the best mean?
Damn it, we got three guys aboard the boat who can not only drive a proper heading but can read a chart! But no!!! -What would you do? It was really fun to hang out with people I don't normally sail with. Ron threw/ after sealing - an empty bottle of Crown Royal, wax sealed, " messager in a bottle", giving our location, latitude and longitude, seriously/humorous, like we were long lost at sea. My sister woke me up in my berth after me drinking that bottle of alcohol with Ron and announcing our purpose was to the sail the universe! She loved, as I do that sail. I think everyone aboard had the most fun. How many people that any sailors know can actually say, " Shit, We missed an island"!! Not many! I honestly can say I have missed a few! But not by much! Ha! RB " Good from far, but far from good!
Surfing Kauai defined me! Sailing the South Seas measured me. Commercial fishing fed me. The U. S. Merchant Marine showed me! Diving everywhere I have traveled allowed me to become something more and yet something less than the bird pile/fish feeding frenzy I have witnessed. What is above meets what is below, a paradox! No-balance.
About Me
- Robbin
- Sacramento, California, United States
- so salty pieces of coral from surfing Hawaii in the 60's and 70's getting reef pounded living in my body fall through my skin from time to time!
sailing to Oahu
Jimi Hendrix was playing on Oahu. I had never sailed. Surfed Mexico, California, Hawaii! Aw, how hard could it be to sail 90-110 miles from Kauai to Oahu? Piece of cake, right? Remember it was the 60's! This is so bad. We thought we were looking at Kaiena Point,Ohau, knowing we weren't going to make the concert! But at least we were in site of Oahu-wrong! Coy, who had never sailed before, me,who had never sailed before, jeff and Abbott etc. We were looking at the sleeping giant on Kauai! We had done three-sixty's in the night! We sailed on the only tri-marran I've ever sailed on ( except later ) in my life, missed the concert! It was at the Waikiki Shell Ampitheater ( Moon eclipsed . We finally made Nawilwili Harbor! The Skipper tried to give us his boat saying, " It's trying to kill me"! We watched him go stark raving mad not even realising that had we got caught in the channel current we were on our way to Japan! Remember it was the 60's and we were going to see Hendrix. I left out some of the good stuff but I will make up for it later!
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