North to Hawaii

Tuesday, June 17, 2025 | Sailing north to Hawaii

Yesterday (still not sure what day of the week that was) started with Alex heading out to Customs and getting us checked out of Kiribati. The crew had more down time—more naps, more reading, more swims, and definitely more showers. Adam walked us through how the steering mechanism works, Mary walked us through weather, and Alex got back in no time. Mary made some delicious soup (in fact, we may be having soup day and night for a few more days with how much we made) and took personal sandwich orders to have dinner ready for our sporty sail that evening. She scoffed at my request to put in ketchup; we have a lot to talk about!

We lifted anchor around 2:30 pm and set sail—full main out at first and quickly down to a double reef as we got out of the lee of the island in 22+ knots of apparent wind. We had some spicy sailing time for a bit—Jake and Adam called it “Cholula hot”—before the winds mellowed down for some “Tabasco level sailing.” Sunset was gorgeous with some dolphins paying us a visit and wishing us luck for our journey forward.

I’ve finally made my choice in answer to Mary’s hard question: If you had a choice between having large wings that you couldn’t detach, or having octopus arms, which one would you choose? I’m afraid I’ve gone with the much less glamorous but practical choice of octopus arms—and I’m in good company with Mary and Alex, who have chosen the same way.

The winds died this morning and we are motoring. We anticipate the winds should fill in later today. For now, it is time to get some soup…

- Richa

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- Mia (shore support)