Aloha All,

We continue the continuation of the continuing Saga of the Voyage of the Puanani. Starring, the lovely Puanani. Narrated by your host, "Stinky Borinky.! Start the music...NOW!

When we last left off in our story we were sailing northward toward the Hawaiian Islands. We had departed Tahiti with sweet memories of laughter and friendship and a few challenges that were diligently worked through. We are now nearly 3 full days of sailing, actually 2 full days of sailing out of Papeete. One of those days was spent motor sailing when the trades veered to northeast and moderated to less than 12 knots.

The easterly trade winds are now back with us at a nice 18-20 knots with a few higher gusts. This is what a trade wind day is supposed to look like. Beautiful sunshine, small cotton ball looking clouds, and moderate seas. Just what Puanani responds to best.

I was fast asleep in the main salon, trusting "Iron Zane" at the helm. We were still motor sailing, a little after midnight, when all of a sudden, my gravity shifted heavily to starboard. Not good when we were sailing on a starboard tack! Springing to my feet, I feared the worst. The autopilot was malfunctioning again. You would not believe how relieved I was to find that the Iron Zane had 'fat-fingered" the wrong button on the chart plotter and inadvertently disengaged the autopilot, No worries. Easily corrected and back down in the bunk I went.

Fast forward to watch change at 0300 this morning. We are now sailing sailing with winds that increased to 16-18 knots. The engine was resting since at 0130. I can hear only the murmurs of "Stalwart Robert" and Iron Zane discussing the change of watch details. I drift back off to sleep. Once again, gravity shift! Oh noooooo! The pilot must be malfunctioning. There's no way that inadvertent button pushing could have disengaged the autopilot again, right? Sure enough, but it was Stalwart this time, pushing the exact same wrong button Iron had pushed less than 3 hours earlier. Main thing, the autopilot is working perfectly. It's my fat-fingered crew I got to fix.

Note to all. I've done this many times myself but I'm not telling Stalwart and Iron that.

Lesson learned: If you turn off the autopilot YOU MUST TAKE THE WHEEL or we will likely tack over and back wind the sails.

That is enough for now. Stay tuned so you don't miss a single episode of the continuation of the continuing Saga of the Voyage of the Puanani.

All our love.

borinki stalwart iron