SVSoulsticeAdventures: Our Pacific Ocean Passage: Mexico to Hawaii

Soulstice in Reed's Bay, Hilo

Mauna Kea in the clouds unseen but beautiful rainbow

Mexico to Hawaii in a 40 ft Monohaul

My last blog entry was leaving San Jose del Cabo to start our passage. Once we left San Jose del Cabo the washing machine started. Big swell, cross swell, and heading up into the wind. Scopolamine patches came out even for Stephen and me who had not worn them since coming down the coast from Seattle.

Getting around the cape is always a challenge as you have wind that is funneling around from the Pacific side of Baja and then the wind funneling around from the Sea of Cortez side. If you looked closely at our tracker you will see we almost went back to the marina. We were considering returning for a night and starting over the next day but conditions did not allow it.

We knew we just needed to get past the landmass and then the water will be less confused and eventually get into the rhythm of the ocean currents and winds/ aka the Trade winds. It takes about a week to get to this point.

We tried to sail on the most comfortable point which included making southing and northing. If you followed our tracker and perhaps you did not but I made daily commentary on our passage. The comments I felt captured the day’s highlights: yummy food, good weather/wind, dorado on the line, an unsuspecting encounter with flying fish to the day’s challenges: big swell, cross swell, boat movement that is relentless in balance testing and trying to sleep with a cacophony of noises of the rigging and hull.

Once past 300 miles, offshore the chance for helicopter rescue is not possible. This also was in the back of our minds when encountering bigger conditions at sea. Your mind races about gear failure, sails blowing out, and other catastrophes. We were very grateful for our conscientious preparations for blue-water passage making. Soulstice was given sincere attention regarding all aspects of a large passage in regard to safety and redundant efforts for safety.

Our passage overall was fantastic! It was a jumbled start so to speak and then we got our groove. We had a few no-wind days but overall the wind became consistent and began to fill in nicely. Nearly 1100 NM into the passage the isobar gradient tightened and the Trades began to become reinforced. The winds were not overwhelming by any means but we had not yet sailed where seas had been exposed to the mid 20’s kts and occasional low 30’s kts for over 4 days. These winds blowing consistently over the water allowed the seas to build up to 9’ with a number of 12’ seas. There was some concern as to whether or not our autopilot would be able to keep up with the increasing sea state but as Soulstice has proven many times before, she rose up to the challenge and dug in. Soulstice’s ability to charge on with the autopilot working like a dream reinforced our confidence in our boat's ability. Soulstice was AMAZING! She was up to challenge and again we are grateful we chose a proven Bluewater cruiser for our passage. The Hydrovane, our self-steering wind-vane, that requires no amperage, was a proven steerage champion until the cross-swell. She does have difficulty with correcting the rounding up into the wind, and I guess not fast enough for our liking ( this could also be our need to continue to work with her). Our SIMRAD autopilot, a hydraulic RAM, was the chosen one for the rest of the passage. She uses 5 amps an hour on average but she could steer better than any one of us!

Our sail configuration was initially a close haul/close reach even as the winds were on the beam due to the apparent wind. Eventually, the winds started to veer in our favor for a sail configuration of a broad reach & downwind sail. The whisker pole came out on the port side of the boat and stayed that way for the rest of the passage. Changes made were having a reefed main to start to help with roll to eventually bring her in completely ( we have in-mast furling) and the full spectrum of the genoa - full to handkerchief size.

Matt and Amahra, our crew/friends from Alaska, enhanced our passage with friendship and camaraderie. We cannot thank them enough for participating in our sailing journey. They were rockstars and always emanated positive energy. I will include personal writing of Amahra on a dark, stormy night… she admits she had some fear and wrote for some comfort as well as documentation of her feelings. I personally feel she is an incredible hidden talent and should pursue continued efforts at her writing and consider publishing:)

Author Amahra Kalush:

“And so I find myself tethered to the helm of a 40 ft monohull in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. More than a thousand miles from land in any direction. The inky black night envelopes me. The sliver of the last quarter moon is hidden by a thick blanket of rain clouds. No stars peak thru to keep me company. It is utter darkness but lacking sight my other senses seem amplified. The night air hangs heavy with humidity., thick and sticky. The boat swings like a pendulum below my feet and all muscles tense to remain upright. The smell of the ocean spray is crisp and salty on my lips. The swell has grown today steadily with the wind, and thick walls of foaming water rise up behind the stern threatening to spill into the cockpit. The sails are reefed down tight until just a tiny handkerchief remains presented to the wind. The sound of the ocean surrounds, lapping at the hull, waves breaking on all sides. At no time have I felt smaller or more insignificant in comparison to the raw power of Mother Nature. I am a tiny blip, so inconsequential that the ocean could swallow me whole and not have even begun to wet her appetite. The wind whines thru the standing rigging and I think why am I here? What do I have to prove? What is wrong with me that I am compelled to push the limits of what is possible. I remind myself that this is the feeling of being truly alive. Standing at the precipice. And then as if a sign from the great beyond, a bright star peaks from behind the veil of clouds, a welcome beacon of light guiding me forward on this journey across the ocean.”

WOW!!! I loved it! Hope you did too! Quite talented my friend and feel blessed to have her and Matt as friends!

Total passage time: 23 days and 8 hours

Total Nautical Miles from San Jose Del Cabo: 2558 nm

Arrival to Hilo, HI

**Big thanks to Bill Hickey who we chatted on SSB daily and via satellite email correspondence. We are able to download GRIB files for weather with Predict Wind on our Iridium Go, but Bill generously supplemented weather forecasts almost daily. The big difference is Predict Wind via satellite can only give you a 50K resolution at best ( with internet can get 8K to 1k depending on model used - they use multiple and we found ECMWF European Center for Medium Range Weather Forecasts most accurate but we always compared a few when doing forecast to look for similarities/disparities). Bill has a HF radio in Tucson that has amazing range & power and with good propagation and Soulstice's HF radio capabilities, we were able to connect daily with a clear signal on the majority of days! Also the kind folks at Pacific SeaFarers Net who additionally did a check in with us via HF radio and tracked us too on ShipTrack, an additional tracker. **

Plan: Enjoy Big Island and head East to Maui

Next Plan:

Be thoughtful about the Alenuihaha Channel crossing!!! When next weather window of slack in the trade winds so we can overnight at Nishimura Bay and head to Maui. This crossing is known to be worst in Hawaii and in the world by some - high winds that 2x prevailing winds/ large wind waves. This is because you have winds funneling between 10,000ft Haleakala and the 5,000ft Kohala Mountains. We will plan for slack in trades for xcing.

Will include a Big Island blog post after this too:)

One more provision!

Hydrovane ( has red paddle), Blue blag has Jordon series drogue named Mary ( like Hail Mary and we never want to use her), & 2 handlines off the stern flossing the Pacific as Amahra liked to say:)

Navionics on my iphone

Lovely Amahra

DJ Matt- he always had music to complement his watch

Cpt Steve - Log book and Go Pro ( we have some video- just need to upload- I am lazy blogger)

Notice the lack of short sleeves/shorts- was chilly majority of the time

Dorado!

One of tanker encounters- pretty close!

Info we see and name to hail them on radio

Navigation station. Matt had some Bose headphones - game-changer for reducing SSB noise in the background for those who were trying to sleep. Checking in on 14300 USB daily - Pacific Seafarers Net

Cinco de Mayo and 1/2 way point celebration with 1 bottle of bubbly

Radar shows squalls - see little blobs at 3:00 and 5:00

We did see some birds greater than 1200 nm out - WOW!

Apparatus hanging off the boom with red line is our homemade boom break - prevents accidental jibes

Matt and Amahra resting up in salon - we made this their sleeping quarters- aft cabin too cramped for them. Danger lurks above with our freshies hammock that could swing violently. No injuries except head bonks for the tall folks when walking by or climbing onto their bed ( not for Jen - ha!)