OK, we're really going to Hawaii now!

Seriously... finally today, on March 21st, after delays, doubts and a last minute crew change, s/v Gemini is set to depart Southwestern Yacht Club in San Diego, for Honolulu, Hawaii. Unfortunately, Chris got called for a job and had to stay on shore. Chris is a great guy and crew member and we will miss him.

Luckily, Kristle just happened to be around and looking for a boat going to Hawaii. Even more lucky for Greg, she plays the ukulele.







Please follow us at: https://share.delorme.com/GregoryMartin

We expect to get to Hawaii on or about April 10th. Aloha!

Set back...

Well, we tried to sail to Hawaii on March 7th. The weather wasn't so great that day. In fact it was a storm. But we weren't going to let that stop us. We have to be ready for whatever, and that's what happened. Just outside of Point Loma, we got hit by a squall with our sails up and our main sheet traveler broke. If it would have happened further out we have just jury rigged something, but we were still so close so we decided to turn back for some easy repairs. While in port Chris and I came to the conclusion that we weren't going to make it to Okinawa before typhoon season. We officially missed our season window for Okinawa. We could get to Hawaii, but we really needed to get to Okinawa for job reasons. So what to do...

For the next few weeks Chris and I struggled with the possibility of not being able to complete the voyage in the time frame that we set. It was the most depressing time of all. We did some local sailing around San Diego and up to Mission Bay. Even thought about giving up and staying and working in SoCal. But so much has been put into this project, and passion is a hard thing to kill.

   

Ready to go!

There's something about a schedule when you're sailing. Sailors generally avoid keeping a schedule, but we need to depart on this voyage as soon as possible in order to get to Japan before typhoon season. I don't think you can be prepared enough for a trip like this, but these past few weeks I think we have prepared as much as we could.

Greg and Chris in San Diego

The voyage of s/v Gemini will depart sometime on Wednesday March 7, 2013 from San Diego, California for Okinawa, Japan via Honolulu, Hawaii and Chichi jima Ogasawara islands. On this awesome adventure, Chris Rohe will join me, Greg Martin as crew at least to Hawaii and maybe all the way to Japan. Of course everyone else is invited to join in spirit and will be in our thoughts along the way.

s/v Gemini at SWYC

s/v Gemini is just a 35 ft sailing vessel but we have done our best with what we have to make this as safe as possible. If you ask ten sailors I'm sure you'll get ten different opinions on what is "essential" to bring and do to prepare. We've read all the books and talked to a lot of experts and quite a few people who have done this kind of trip. What we consider essential first and foremost is to have a strong and seaworthy boat, which s/v Gemini, a full keel Alberg 35 with new standing rigging certainly is.

Wind Pilot

Also important is a good self steering wind vane system. s/v Gemini has a Wind Pilot Pacific Plus which operates an auxiliary rudder to steer the boat independently from the boat's main rudder. Not only will this act as the boat's autopilot, which doesn't draw any power, but it also serves as an emergency rudder as a simple redundant backup system.  We will also carry some of the latest technology in navigation and safety.

Solar powered satellite communications

We have four separate GPS units operating on two different navigation platforms. We will keep in touch with a new satellite communication system called InReach that uses the Iridium system to allow us to use our regular smartphones and Nexus 7 Android tablet to send and receive text messages via satellite in the middle of the ocean.

Everyone is invited to follow the adventure as we track our voyage online at this link: https://share.delorme.com/GregoryMartin

When we get to Hawaii we will upload details and photos from our voyage. Until then... Sayonara San Diego and Aloha Hawaii...