SailBlog

My apologies for not updating this section of the blog in about a week!!! Once arriving into Majuro Atoll and getting reconnected, I updated my social media feeds and the blog at sailquiver.com, but this "passage blog" had gone ignored again. Thanks to my buddy Rob McFarlane for reminding me to update it!

As you can see, QUIVER has arrived safely into Majuro Atoll and is out and about, exploring some of the outer islands of this atoll. There was no drama in the closing stages of the trip, just a NE tradewind breeze that steadily increased until I was seeing 26 knots true wind speed upon approach to the main pass into Majuro! Once I reached into the channel and then came up on the breeze, I had to sail upwind 12 miles (inside the lagoon) to reach the mooring field(s). With two reefs in the main and a #4 jib, QUIVER handled the last 12 miles and got us to a mooring ball off Uliga Town/ Uliga Dock. (the main harbor). Some cruisers helped guide me into a ball and I was home safe! All under sail, too! I had to motor to actually pick the ball up, after two unsuccessful tries under sail in the puffy breeze, but the rest was all under sail. We burned about two gallons of fuel since Kauai.

Initial impressions of the Marshall Islands after a week are VERY positive. The people are amazing, the islands are massive and incredible, the weather has been great so far. There is a cool cruising fleet here, and also food and goods are easy to get here. (US Postal Service runs here). Fresh produce is hard to get here and they don't have the land mass to grow much here.

My girlfiend Kristen flew in to visit me for six days and we are currently having a great time. We've found some waves to surf and are currently moored off a small private island, about 6 miles from the main harbor. The local yacht club (I will get their link and plug them later. I'm going to join and support them, for sure) has set up a series of mooring balls around the islands, using UN grant funding, so that cruisers can conveniently come moor their boats without tearing up the reefs.

My crusing plans are already changing a bitÉ. With two SUPs and an inflatable kayak, we have plenty of ways to get 2 or 3 people ashore, but the reality is that a dinghy would be very nice to have. I have decided to stay in Majuro a bit longer and build a hard, nesting dinghy out of plywood and fiberglass that both rows and sails. I have made some cool contacts and the guys at the Marshall Islands Canoe building shop are going to help me and let me use their shop and tools.

When I finish the dinghy, I plan to do a sea-trial and then pack it onboard QUIVER for a surfing trip to the nearby Arno Atoll. Once I return from Arno Atoll, Kristen should be flying back in and we plan to go up to Ailuk Atoll and drop off some sails for the sailing fleet up there and then sail to Likiep Atoll to explore, cruise and take some supplies to that island as well. Both of these islands are a couple hundred miles north of Majuro.

About to go paddle board the lagoon and then sail back to the harbor and pick up some people for a Friday afternoon day sail.

Loving the Marshall Islands, make sure to check both this page AND sailquiver.com, as sometimes i'll be in Wi-Fi range or out of Wi-Fi range when i'm uploading the blog.

Yakwe from the beautiful Marshall Islands!!!

Yakwe is like aloha. Hello, good bye, good sentiments, etc.

Well, it certainly feels like i've been out here for a minute - half a month as of right now - and at long last, I am finally approaching my destination. As of this writing, QUIVER and I are just 188 miles from my waypoint into the reef pass at Majuro Island; the most populous island in the Marshall Islands. Based on somewhere between a 5 and 6 knot average speed, plus the additional 15 or so miles upwind to reach the town on Majuro, I am anticipating a day time arrival on Friday. I do not know exactly what the procedure will be, but i'll be trying to clear customs, or at least check in on Friday.

Weather still looks good, I am reaching Majuro at the high point in their season, and I can see why. This is apparently the dryest, nicest, most tradewind-iest time of year in this part of the world, and while I am not quite to Majuro, I can confidently say that this is a very consistent tradewind belt. I have already come to terms with the fact that i'll be surfing in a lot of side-shore wind conditions. When it goes glassy in the squally, grey, morning sickness that it tends to do, that's when i'll be getting on the surf at Alinglaplap AtollÉ. I digress. As you can tell, i'm ready to reach the Marshalls, get off the boat, and surf for a bit.

Last night was quite windy, probably sustained breeze around 22-25 with gusts higher. With just a #3 jib poled out, QUIVER was launching wildly on surfing runs while I enjoyed a book, movie and meal down below. Tanguy continues to steer brilliantly well. Today and tonight are lighter, but just on the cusp to where I start contemplating adding more sail area and getting us moving faster. Making the boat go 7 knots feel like you're really pushing it; hard on the boat and not that comfy down below. Making the boat go 5-6 knots feels pretty mellow; easy on the boat and quite comfy down below. So in these light conditions, considering that they are dead downwind, there is little incentive to even carry the main. When reaching or upwind, it's obviously a different story. But in going downwind to the Marshalls in the trades, I am somewhat surprised to find out that my most common sail plan was a poled out #3 and no main. Considering that this is the most tired, old, next-to-be-repla ced sail in my inventory, it's good to see how important this sail is early on in the voyage. I will certainly be trying to come up with money for a new #3 this year, though i'm currenlty getting great returns on my current one!

I still can't pick up the Majuro morning cruiser's SSB net on my shortwave radio. This thing has proven underwhelming in it's performance, but it's all I have out here, so c'est la vie. I have managed to consistentlhy pick up English-language broadcasts out of China and New Zealand. The Chinese one certainly has a government propaganda feel to it, while the Kiwi one reminds me that come two days from now, I am going to be in a very different place than where I left. I'm traveling again. Out of America. New places and expereinces.

Aloha from s/v QUIVER, Ronnie

As you can see from the title and my position, QUIVER's longidutde now ends with an �"E' and not a �"W'. Another fun and exciting milestone to meet, QUIVER has now crossed the international date line. As such, I have set the ship's time to Majuro time, which is 2 hours behind, or more accurately, 22 in front of Honolulu. We have also crossed under the 500-to-go threshold in reacing Majuro.

Today has been much slower than the last few days - the trades have gone soter around my location - but this was in the forecast, and that same forecast shows wind strengthening pretty significantly over night and then staying strong for longer than it will take me to reach Majuro. Going wing-on-wing or super deep was very lame in this light of wind, so we are instead two-sail broad reaching to keep the boat moving, although our heading suffers as a result. There is no free lunch.

Fishing operations have just resumed onboard, and I will be dragging the Marauder lure behind the boat at sunset. An ono (washoo) would make this passage simply perfect, but I won't sneeze at a mahi-mahi. I have had enough skipjack tuna for a while, though I wouldn't turn down a small ahi. These are truly first world third world problems to have.

Being surrounded by the sea, the fish, and yes, even the birds has been invaluable in again freeing myself of the realities of the so-called �"real world' and re-gaining inspiration and motivation for this journey. Sitting in traffic, sitting in a class room, staying plugged into the 15-minute news cycleÉ It all seems so distant yet so close. It's only been two weeks since I left society alone, and yet QUIVER is appraoching her first real landfall of this voyage, close to 2,000 miles downwind. From Honolulu and university life six weeks ago to the outer islands of Maui and Kauai, and finaly a long ocean crossing before reaching a remote series of coral atolls on my sailboat; my life has changed significantly in the last few weeks. Most of the fear, anxiety and uncertainty surrounding this plunge into the unknown has already been alleviated by stoke for the adventures and experiences that lie in the near ftuure.

Stoked to get to the Marshall islands and advenure for a bit. Ready to get off the boat for a minute.