Hawaii

The final 1000 miles to Guam were easy, comfortable, and quick. We enjoyed cruising downwind and got a nice push from the current. As we approached Guam in very settled conditions, we rinsed the salt off the outside of Starr. After more than two weeks of ocean travel, everything was salty. Guam comes into view after 18 days and 3300+nm Our destination was Apra Harbor, a huge, breakwater-protected harbor that caters primarily to commercial and…

Note: this was written last week but we forgot to post it. We’re now en route from Guam to Okinawa and will update the blog over the coming days. One of the challenges we’ve had is figuring out what time it is. Apple devices, it seems, have pretty limited time zone choices. It’s a bit of a guessing game to figure out which city is in the same time zone as we are. If we…

Day 16 15-15.4N, 150-35E 2967nm from Hawaii, 366 nm to Guam I got up at 0500 to relieve Sam. My watch starts at 0600. I did the Engine room check going thru the same motions we do every 3 hours. While the check list is useful, even more so is to listen, smell and visually inspect. Thankfully, our engine room checks have not revealed many surprises. After making a cup of coffee I say good…

Every now and then on ocean voyages sailors find themselves in Perfect Conditions.  We are presently in a time and place that is just right for “M/V Starr”. Keep in mind that Starr is a motor vessel and the conditions that define perfect for Starr are not the same conditions that sailboats are looking for.  Our position (as of 1500 local time, February 18) is 19-29 North, 171-15.6 East.  We crossed the International Dateline 2…

I (Don) was woken at 0100 by Celeste saying we have a problem. The boat was stopped and the engine was in neutral. We were rolling 40+ degrees in the 20-knot breeze with 10-foot-at-10-second swells. Water washed over the side decks and unsecured items flew across the cabin. A check of the engine room confirmed that we had no water ingress and no apparent mechanical problems, other than whatever seemed to be wrapped around the…

The first few days of a passage are often the hardest. It takes a little while for the body to adjust to constant motion, strange sleeping patterns, new noises. My mind takes a few days to adjust, too. Do we have everything we need? Is that belt throwing off more dust than it should? What about the generator, is it running too warm? Are the fuel filters starting to clog up? Over the course of…

This our second Blog and my first of this voyage aboard “M/V Starr”, bound from Honolulu to points West. We departed the Waikiki Yacht Club at 1003 on Wednesday, February 8, 2023, with a favorable weather forecast and a crew anxious to be underway and done with the endless details associated with life ashore. Our timing was excellent.  We started with 20-25 kt. Tradewinds that gave us a nudge along our planned route, aided by…

Starr motored away from Waikiki Yacht Club at 1000 on Wednesday, February 9th! Friends joined us on the dock beforehand to wish us a safe, pleasant, and fun trip. The last few days before departing on a major cruise always seem exhausting. At times it seemed like there would always be “one more” shopping trip. As the lockers, fridge, and freezers filled to overflowing, we said “enough!”  It’s not just food. Spare parts, consumables, cleaning…

We are preparing to take Starr on what will most likely be our last significant passage. I’m turning 80 next month and Sharry is three years into being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.  Sharry and I have been holding hands for 60 years. While we are both grieving the loss of her memory, we also want to keep living our lives the best that we can. We are told that the best thing for Sharry is to…

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Sharry and I are back in Hawaii with Starr and planning our next nine months of cruising. The plan has been to sail the Hawaiian islands until the weather in the North settles down and then head to Kodiak or Prince William Sound on the Alaska panhandle for the summer. But recently looking through old photos; reminiscing about the past, we came across images of our year cruising Japan…

Don’s post, Sunday, August 25 We have been underway for 5 days with 7 more to go to Hanalei and are 650 NM off the coast of California having run 1000NM since leaving Seattle. As I am writing this, a school of dolphin came to play with us. We have only seen two ships since leaving the coast, both of them today. We are running two radars, one a Furuno FAR 1518, set at 12NM...

This is Noodle’s 24 August blog post:“8/24 0900 position 42-06N 134-29W. Wind N@4kts. Seas 2 ft.Yesterday morning at 11AM we passed our first bit of floating debris. I couldn’t tell what it was, but it looked like plastic. Sharry and I saw another, a piece of styrofoam, this morning as I was typing this. Nothing else sighted. We also haven’t seen any ships in a couple of days. At some point we will be crossing...

This is Noodle’s personal blog post on 8/22. You can follow his blog at noodlesnotes.com.“0900 position 46-03N 126-22W. Wind N at 12, seas confused.Starr’s short stay in Neah Bay worked to perfection. We got the last of our engine maintenance done, the entire crew had a nap, and we had a pre-ocean lunch of vegi pizza prepared by Donna. All this occurred while a front was passing overhead heading east, and by 130PM when we...

Honolulu to Prince William Sound to SitkaJune 27, 2018We left Honolulu on Starr heading for Dutch Harbor on May 28. I didn’t know it at the time, but there was a ghost on our ship. As we departed Honolulu, there were five of us on board: Don and I, and our guests/crew, Bill Leary (Noodle) and Clay Huchinson (both from Kaneohe), and Kyle Kim (from Honolulu). The “Ghost” was just a dim shadow at departure,...

This is Noodle’s daily blog.This morning’s dawn brought the best weather we’ve seen since leaving Hawaii. The wind is calm and the skies are clear. It looks like a beach day from inside Starr’s wheelhouse until you glance at the thermometer. 43 degrees is a bit cold for a beach day.We are seeing lots of bird life now. Flocks of puffins take flight as Starr’s passage disturbs them. These stumpy parrot like birds work their...

We are 291nm and 36 hours from Dutch. The wind has backed down to around 15kn from the WNW. I am an optimist so I’d like to think that the worst is behind us. Let’s do a brief review of what has broken or gone wrong.1st. There was this itsy bitsy 24vdc hot water heating fan that quit running and put out a lot of smoke. There were no visible signs of any burnt parts....

We didn’t want a repeat of yesterday’s joust with King Neptune, so Don experimented all afternoon with different headings and speeds. As a result we zigged and zagged and didn’t have a stellar day with the milage, but we did avoid getting whacked by any more waves. By late afternoon the seas had moderated a bit and we were back up to speed on a direct heading to Dutch Harbor.About an hour after the incident,...

This is Noodle’s daily blog on 5 June1200 position 47N 163W. 450 miles from Dutch Harbor“What should be the title of today’s blog?”, I asked Sharry.“Gray”, she replied. It’s an accurate description of what it looks like out here. The ocean is gray except for the breaking white caps. The 100% overcast sky is gray.The wind has increased and clocked around so that it is now coming out of the west at about twenty five...

This is Noodle’s daily blog on 5 June1200 position 47N 163W. 450 miles from Dutch Harbor“What should be the title of today’s blog?”, I asked Sharry.“Gray”, she replied. It’s an accurate description of what it looks like out here. The ocean is gray except for the breaking white caps. The 100% overcast sky is gray.The wind has increased and clocked around so that it is now coming out of the west at about twenty five...

This is Noodle’s daily blog1200 position 41N 162W, 790 miles south of Kodiak, AlaskaI think Starr would be more accurately characterized as a small ship rather than a big yacht. She has most of the systems of a ship and is nearly as complex. Let’s consider her hydraulic systems. Starr’s main hydraulic system is powered by the main engine. It provides power to the bow and stern thrusters and the anchor windlass. There is a...

Sunday June 3.The port stabilizer is making more chattering noise, where the torque arm is reversing direction in incremental amounts several times per second rather than making long smooth strokes. The starboard stabilizer is making a similar noise but to a lesser degree. I have reduced the Naiad Datum sensitivity settings to bare minimum with better results. The Velocity is at 40 and Angle, Acceleration and Heel are at zero. The port stabilizer is now...

This is Noodle’s daily blog on 6/2/18.We are smack dab in the middle of the North Pacific high pressure area now, but it is strangely overcast. Normally here in the high we would have clear skies, but the cloud cover has been almost 100 percent for a few days now. Otherwise it is typical high pressure weather; light airs and flat seas. We’ve expected to see the fabled North Pacific garbage patch, but so far...

This is Clay’s May 31 blog entry. M/V Starr is currently sailing through an area defined on nautical charts as the “Musicians Seamounts”. The average depth in this part of the Pacific is about 17,000 feet, but some of these seamounts rise to a depth of 5,200 feet. The field of seamounts runsg South to North along our course. Our position as of noon Thursday, May31 is 31-03N 160-03W and we are passing a bit...

MV Starr, Friday, June1.34 09N, 161 37W801nm from Honolulu1234 DTG to Dutch HarborBoth Sharry and I have just finished reading, “The Thousand Mile War” by Brian Garfield, published in 1969 and updated in 1995. The story is a factually accurate and riveting tale about the battles between the United States and Japan that took place in the Aleutian Islands during WWII. The descriptions of the weather and hardships, even in the summer months, had both...

Starr’s galley is about the size of my kitchen at home, but the ice box is bigger and the finishes are nicer. We have all the necessary appliances; stove, oven, microwave, coffee maker, toaster oven, trash compactor, etc. The galley is separated from the great room (salon) by a granite bar with some bar stools. Sharry and Lori did a great job filling the boat with tasty food. We are on our own for breakfast...

We are slowly settling in to life aboard Starr. It’s the beginning of our third day at sea now and the crew are getting their sea legs. The wind and seas are beginning to moderate a bit as we approach the North Pacific high pressure area. In a day or so it should be flat calm. Barometric pressure has risen from 1013 to 1021mb.Four of us, Sharry, Clay, Kyle and I, are standing 3 hour...

It was relatively pleasant even after we got out of the lee of Oahu yesterday, but as the afternoon wore on the winds and seas increased until it was pretty uncomfortable aboard Starr. The winds are up near 20 knots now, as forecast, but it is the seas that are bothersome. We are headed north, and there is a moderate swell form the north east, no doubt the remnant of wind from that direction a...

V Starr is underway on her adventure to Alaska! We cast off from the Waikiki Yacht Club this morning at 810AM, and as I write this we are moseying north along the Waianae coast about a mile offshore. Starr’s cruising speed is a bit less than eight knots. We can go faster, up to about thirteen knots, but at the higher speeds we burn a lot of fuel and would run out half way across...

We are underway for either Unalaska/Dutch Harbor or Kodiak, depending on the weather.  Sharry and I planned on departing a week ago but postponed the departure so we could fly back to San Clemente for my cousin Karla Gellers memorial. We are fortunate our friends who are crewing for us are all from Oahu and were able to rearrange their schedules so the Monday 28 departure worked out.Joining us for the passage are 3 great...

Sharry and I are preparing to take Starr from Hawaii to Kodiak, AK (2200nm) this May. We'll then continue to Prince William Sound.Although we've been silent on this blog for too long, we've been busy cruising Hawaii!Here's a bit from the last year...Nautical Miles run: 1900nmNights at anchor: 89The 7 principle Islands span 325nmOur trips included the following:Some of our tracks in and out of WaikikiKaneohe, a five hour run from Waikiki. Note the depths...

Sharry’s Thoughts:My Last Night Watch of this Passage November 12, 2016 2100-2400    Supermoon I’m sitting on the step on the port side of the wheelhouse, both wheelhouse doors are open and the warm night air at 78 degrees is cooler than the temperature of the sea at 82.5 degrees. I am barefoot, dressed in shorts and a tank top, and the warm night air wraps my body in a soft caress. The “super” moon...

Last Landfall November 13, 2016 – Approaching Diamond Head-10nm ahead Day 18    Lee Hillman Brown Starr is one hour from Honolulu after an eighteen-day passage from Seattle. For me and Lee this will complete our last voyage together. For me it has been a trip of intimate memories: of other passages, of night watches, of the night sky and “our” constellation, Casseopia, and of just the two of us sailing Wings together, watch on...

Cassiopeia and Time and Shame November 5-6, 2016 - In the Great Pacific Ocean Days 10 and 11    Sunset November 6 Brownie’s Post – Early Morning of November 5 Cassiopeia As we make our way on a vector from 31 to 21 North and 129 to 158 West, on the midnight watch you can lean out either of the wheelhouse doors and see the brilliant stars free from obscuring pollution. To port is Orion’s...

Day 6, 1120 NM from HawaiiTDG 6.5 daysDTG 1241 NM Weather Report: 4/16/ 1630Z37 22'N, 146 29'WETA WPT 40 22N, 142W, 18/0200ZSOG 8.2ktCOG 46TSky. 6/8 cover, 10nm visWind W 20-25 few gusts to 30Air.sea, 49F, 58FBaro. 1018MB holdingSea/Swell/period NW 6'/ NW 12', 10-12sec Comments:Brian O'Neill asked about our new personal DSC, AIS's devices. We picked up 2 of Oceansignal's Rescueme MOB1 personal AIS's at WestMarine for $250 each. One is installed in a self inflating...

Blog 16Hawaii to Seattle - 2300nm Day 4 – 1540nm to go 4/14/16, 1900Z31 57N, 150 00WCOG 26 deg TSOG 7.9 ktsWind SE 5 ktsSeas 2-3 ft, (on our starboard aft quarter) Sharry’s Blog: What I Love Most About an Ocean Passage. April 14, 2000Z    Sharry on her Morning Watch I am on my Morning Watch. Today is Day 4 and everything is now settling down. Don, Joe, and Donna are on the back...

Hawaii to Seattle-2300nm Day 3 – 1900nm to go 4/12/16, 1900Z 26 27 W, 153 43, N COG 40 deg T SOG 7.8 kts Wind NE 20-25 kts Seas 8-12 ft , (on our starboard fwd quarter and bow)    Departing Kaneohe Bay on Oahu – 1900 Z – April 10 21deg30N/157deg49W Today is the start of day three. We have covered 380nm on a rhumb line to Seattle. Joe Golberg has done numerous ocean...

We are ready to depart Honolulu this Friday, April 8th, for the 2400nm passage back to Seattle.    The Weather Outlook We are well aware that the weather is still a little dicey. There are some large low-pressure systems still coming out of the NW. The reason for our leaving this is early is to be in Seattle for Seattle Yacht Clubs Opening Day on May 7. Sailors from Summa Yacht Club in Kobe, Japan...

WE ARE HERE! Starr Arrived at Waikiki Yacht Club dock yesterday, October 12, at 1430 Hawaiian time after 18 days of dodging Oho and other tropical depressions. We traveled 3109 nm We used 2400 gallons of fuel and have 1200 gallons remaining.    Starr’s Arrival at Waikiki Yacht Club It is sunny and beautiful and HOT here in Waikiki. WYC and CCA friends with bags full of fresh Hawaiian fruit met us at the dock....

21 26N; 136 54W COG 268 degrees True DTG 1171nm TTG 5.4 days ETA Honolulu, Monday, October 12th. We still have the ships clock on Seattle time, but we do our weather reports in UTC time (aka Zulu (Z) time, aka Greenwich time). Wednesday Oct 7. Day 13 since departing Seattle and 5.4 days to go to Honolulu. This was planned to be a 12-14 day run, and now going to be closer to 18-19...

   Hurricane Oho I received a status update from Starr yesterday evening, and thought people might enjoy seeing that all is good aboard Starr. They don't have much in the way of communications capability, so the message is succinct: "We have made the turn toward the islands DTG1300nm, SOG9kn, Eta 6 days"

Don tried to send a picture of Tropical Storm Oho but could not get the picture to send due to his limited internet on the boat. I grabbed a couple of pictures that show the storm, and how it is working its’ way northeast while Starr is working its’ way southwest. Hopefully these are somewhat reminiscent of the pictures Don was trying to send.        These pictures explain why Starr is moseying south...

1100nm west of Laredo Mexico 27 45N, 133 36W 1012 hPa SOG 7kn Wind: N 9kn DTG 1600nm with WP 25N,135W; 23N,136W; 21N,137W; 21N,145W; Hawaii 21N,158W rpm 1150/4gph Fuel on board: 2600usg Fuel range at 6-7kn; 3900-4500nm Fuel range at 8-9kts; 2600nm Over the last 192 hours we have only run the gensets about 10 hours since leaving Cape Flattery. Our trusty 175 amp Leece Neville alternator is carrying the whole boat load at 27Vdc...

33 17N, 131 24W; 18Z, 1100pdt 750nm W of LA, 1076 from Seattle 185nm/24hr; 7.7kn/hr; 0.69g/nmWinds are still behind us, or on one aft quarter on the other; we are very comfortable. We are happy with our Nav systems so far. The Furuno 2117 is working well. We like the fact that we can mirror a mark whether it is ARPA, AIS, or any other mark directly onto the Coastal Explorer. The Coastal Explorer is...

We have been running the rumb line from Cape Flattery to Hawaii with the engine at 1500rpm making 8-9kts at 1g/nm. We had a North wind on our stern at 20-34kts, which on Starr wa a very comfortable ride. The sea water temp has gone up from 62f to 67.5f. Starr 30/13Z, (0700PDT) 39 43N, 129 50W670nm out of Seattle350nm WNW of San FransiscoUsed 500usg out of 3600usg of fuel. Our weather guru has advised...

August 16, 2013Latitude: 39deg.12 N/ Longitude: 143deg, 56 West1094nm to Anacortes1351 nm under our keel from Kauai We are seeing a lot more debris from the Japan Tsunami. This morning I made a small course adjustment to go around what looked like a small patch of kelp. While passing, I saw that it was a submerged fish net that was about 6-8ft x 12ft, it was a brown blob-like shape. Later this morning we altered...

August 9, 2013 Starr is heading back to Seattle    We have spent the last three weeks at anchor in Hanalei Bay, on the North Shore of Kauai. Starr departed from Nawilliwilli, Kauai today at 1330, and will make the two-week run back to the Pacific NW. We hope to join our CCA friends on the Pacific NW Fall cruise on the Sunshine Coast of BC before returning home to SBMC. It’s been two short...

August 14, 2013Current Location: 935nm NNE of HawaiiLatitude: 34deg, 35N/, Longitude: 150deg, 30WDestination: Seattle We’ve been running for 5 days and seen zero signs of another boat. It seems like we should be seeing some soon, as we are nearing the shipping route for cargo vessels doing the SE Asia to Panama run. The first 2-3 days out of Kauai were sloppy, as we were getting the remnants from Hurricane Gill, which was downgraded to...

July 2011 The Problem: Seawater intrusion through the Port Stabilizer assembly. After departing from Ashiya, Japan on May 5, I noticed that there were a few drops of salty water dripping from the top of our port stabilizer. I first checked the torque of all of the bolts that were accessible, and then put a small bowl below the unit and monitored the flow hourly. This was a slow leak, maybe a tablespoon a day....

MV STARR: A Northern Marine 75’ LLC Starr’s Voyage to Hawai’i - Impressions of a Nordhavn Ownerwritten by Viktor Grabner   Starr at Waikiki Yacht Club - Viktor is the big guy on far left Nordhavn’s are built to cross oceans. My own Nordhavn 50, Loreley has a range of almost 3000 nm that enables it to reach any place on earth. Its build withstands the weather and waves the oceans might throw at it, and...

***** A FIVE-STARR PASSAGE April 30, 2011 Waikiki Yacht Club, Honolulu, HI 21degrees 17-12N/157degrees 50-35W   Gary & Jean and Don & SharryThe CCA was well represented at the International Date Line On February 19, 2011 Jean and I received an email from Don and Sharry on the M/V Starr to be crew on their voyage from Osaka, Japan to Honolulu. After about five minutes of discussion we decided this was a chance of a lifetime;...

21 April, 2000Z, We are at the International Dateline. Pos 22 12N/180E/W Nm run since Ashiya 2820Nm, 16 days running so far. Distance left to go to Honolulu, 1230Nm. 6 plus days left to finish. The generator only ran 17 total hours during the first 15 days. Due to the temperature and humidity, we have started the genset so we can have A/C and more comfort for sleeping.     We have been carefully monitoring...

Starr 10 April 10, 2011,0400Z 26 22N/144 46E We are 700nm SE of Ashiya. Yesterday at 0200JST, we pulled into Chichijima 27N/142E., 600nm from Ashiya and re topped off, loading an additional 2700 liters of fuel. We departed Chichijima at 1500JST, 13hrs later. Currently we are 150nm ESE of Chichijima. Our next way point is 25N/160E with 3162nm left to Hawaii. Don Notes from crew: This is Jean & Gary. We are with a great...

Sayonara Japan, Aloha Hawaii 5 April 2011 MV Starr is departing from Osaka this afternoon at 1230, Tuesday, April 5 in Japan We anticipate that the passage will take us 3 weeks, so our ETA will be sometime around 27 April to 1 May. You can follow Starr on our passage by clicking on the link directly above this entry in the website.     We have a very experienced and compatible crew: Gary and...

    Passage from Honolulu, Hawaii to Majuro, Marshall Islands February 5 (Seattle)/February 6 (Majuro) Lat/Long-11degrees4N/179degrees33E What do you do all day when Starr is crossing an ocean? Often people ask me this question, in particular my friends who have never made an ocean passage. The days are both the same and varied, and 24hrs. slides by much too quickly. I will describe a “typical day”. My day starts at 0830 when I get up...

Monday February 1, 2010 0600 HST, 1600Z. 17degrees20N/167degrees01W Today is our 4th day out. I’m on watch with the wheelhouse doors open, music playing and the moon going down. Mary Utley just went off watch and went below to join Dave, her husband, and get some shuteye. The most noise is the sound of the wave wash against the hull with the comforting low hum of the single main engine barley heard. The sea is...

Starr is leaving Honolulu this morning (January 29) heading to the Marshall Islands. We will cruise through the Federated States of Micronesia, Guam and the Northern Marianas Islands, arriving in Japan by mid-April. I have started a new Blog to allow our friends to cruise with us as we make this 6300nm voyage. Currently the blog is not ready for viewing, but if you register and ask to be notified by email, you will be...

Starr anchored off Marina Taina in TahitiDon and I flew back to Papeete via Honolulu. When our plane arrived in Honolulu at 1130, our new friend Paul Gay picked us up at the airport and took us to the Lanikai Canoe Club on the other side of the island. Don had received an email from Paul the week before; someone named Mary Moore had sent Paul a copy of Don's email "Rataro's Dream" (see profiles...