South Seas Adventures, Leg 5-1998, Log 13

Sept. 13, 1998 0600
At anchor, Soso Bay, Naviti Island, Yasawa Group, Fiji
17.08S, 177.13E, Log 17,178, Baro 1015, Air 77F, Water 77.5F

More Fijian Adventures!

After a whirlwind 6 day round trip jaunt to Sweden to speak at Hallberg-Rassy's annual Open House held during Scandanavia's largest floating boat show, I landed back at Malololailai Island in time for our marriage on the beach.

We then sailed off into the sunset for a few days honeymoon, joined at anchor by Amanda's folks plus brother and girlfriend on their boat for the last day before we sailed to Vuda Point Marina to pick up our eager Leg 5 crew.

Here they are:

Carol Hasse, 47 (hard to believe!) is co-instructing with Amanda on this Women's Expedition. Carol first started teaching sail-training with me in 1985 and has taught sail selection and repair in more than 50 of our weekend Offshore Cruising Seminars. She lives near Port Townsend where she owns Port Townsend Sails, repeatedly recognized as the top cruising sail loft in the world.

Ginny Harvey, 33 of Woodinville, WA is a Physical Therapist and mother of two young daughters. She and husband Michael purchased a Wauquiez Amphitrite 43 a year ago from Mike Locatell at Discovery Yachts in Seattle and are planning on leaving on an extended cruise in the near future. As a publisher's rep of children books she brought and donated much needed school books to Soso Village in the Yasawa Islands.

Janelle Lee, 33 is a neighbor and best friend of Ginny's, and is also a Physical Therapist. She and husband Daniel just purchased another excellent offshore cruising boat, a Wauqiez Pretorien 35 which they intend to sail offshore once their two children are out of high school.

Jan Moore, 55 recently retired as an RN for Kaiser, moved with her husband Pat from Portland to Florida where they are looking for a catamaran for extended cruising.

Kaaren Sherrell, 38 handles special projects for Shuttle Express, is a competitive team roper in rodeos and is preparing for extended cruising with husband Jim on their Baltic 51.

Teresa Wilsdorf, 40 of Henderson, NV cruises Lake Mead with husband Charles on their Hunter 37. Charles is interested in ocean cruising, Teresa is checking it out.

As with the Women's Expedition in 1997, these women are totally interested in learning everything they can about all systems related to ocean cruising and are more comfortable learning from Amanda & Carol than from their husbands. Prevailing winds of 30-35 knots have given crew excellent heavy weather experience.

Kaaren:

My most empowering experience so far was when we were ending a day of sailing to windward in 30-35 kts of wind and were about to enter the "Blue Lagoon", our anchorage for the night when Carol decided to show us how to heave-to and then followed with a Lifesling overboard procedure. Here we were each saving our "husbands" (actually a wad of newspaper) by singlehandedly sailing circles around them in 29 knots of true wind and 3' - 4' seas. It was fun, easy and thrilling. I have gained a lot more confidence in being able to handle an emergency situation.

Janelle:

Being assigned navigator of the day yesterday allowed me to accurately learn many navigational tactics. The fact that we were sailing on a fast (7.5 - 8.5 kts) reach in an area of many unsurveyed waters and reefs, this skill became highly necessary. I certainly was able to obtain lots of practical experience!

Carol:

This capable, fun-loving crew is growing into a smooth working team with the confidence that only experience can bring. We're all excited to go home and strip and clean our winches as Amanda has just taught us this morning.

South Seas Adventures, Leg 5-98, Log 14
Sept. 25, 1998 2030
17.46S, 177.11E, Log 17,415, Baro 1015, Air 80, Water 78
At anchor, Malolailai Island, Fiji

Leg 5 crew wanted to learn and do it all, and they did! They squeezed in tons of sailing, much of it in 30 knots and more of wind, an overnight passage rough enough to send much of the crew to buckets and lots of Lifesling overboard and heaving to practice, right to the end of the expedition! Six out of seven (including Carol and Amanda) even did a short scuba course in the pool at Musket Cove, followed by an open water 40' dive with Api an excellent Fijian dive master. For several this was their first ever scuba instruction, and they loved it!

The weather was flawless, not a single drop of rain, low humidity and great winds. Here are a few of their last observations:

Jan: I feel ready to go cruising now. It was so important for me to do this trip without my dear husband.

Ginny: Thanks for letting me go all the way to the top of the mast. Thanks< for the MOB drills and heaving to practice. Thanks for the patience and repetition, and thank you most of all for your confidence in me. I'll always remember this trip!

Janelle: What a learning experience! Now I can go home and tell my two daughters all about diesel engines, and show them how to take apart a winch and put it back together again.

Carol: A special joy for me was watching each of the women grow as sailors and in their understanding of the skills of a mariner. Wow! What a trip.

We are now recharging and getting ready for our Leg 6 crew arriving in three days. Our first passage will be to Luganville on Espirito Santo island in Vanuatu, an historic area during WWII.

Due to cancellations, we now have two berths open on Leg 7, our challenging passage from Noumea, New Caledonia to New Zealand, via Norfolk Island, Oct. 26 to Nov. 9. This leg should provide it all! Coral piloting, mid-ocean landfall, heavy weather and plenty of time for learning, practicing, and tropical adventures, all in just two weeks! If you're interested, e-mail or call Tracy in our Friday Harbor office: sailing@mahina.com or 360-378-6131 and she'll pass your e-mail address to me via satellite so I can reply directly to you.

To the next log entry Leg 6: At sea between Malekula and Efate Islands, Republic of Vanuatu