July 10th

Hi Everyone,

We arrived at Majuro in the early morning [of July 10th] after slowing the boat down to a crawl during the night so not to arrive in the dark. Majuro is a small Island Atoll in the North Pacific with approximately 30,000 people in a 1300 acre area. It is about 27 miles long, but less than 1/4 mile wide at any one place. It is the major entry port and was a breeze checking in and out. The islanders are pretty laid back and don't sweat the little stuff. The cruisers there are really nice. They are very helpful and they are like one big family. We were told not to judge the Marshalls by Majuro. The outer Islands were lovely and pristine. We regret that once again work dictates the McKibbin's schedule and we are on our way to Fiji where Dick will fly back to AK for one more day of the W word. Then perhaps we can slow down and take some time for ourselves. We will let every one know when we get to Fiji. Laurie will be joining me for a few days in Fiji and I am looking forward to that.

Peg and Dick

SV Katmai

 

Majuro IslandJuly 10th

Arrived safe and sound at Majuro Atoll, in the Marshall Islands.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

July 9th

POS 2pm local time is 8° 08'N, 171° 550'E

Great sailing, reaching at 8-9 knots. About 65 miles to go to Majuro. Will need to slow-up and maybe sail in a triangle for the night to time an early Tuesday morning landfall in Majuro. Making a night time landfall would be fraught with danger of putting the boat on the reef.  These atolls are only a few feet above sea level and have a very narrow entrance into the inner lagoon. The entrance channel cuts through the corral reef which is pounded by the pacific swell on both sides of the channel making accurate and visual navigation critical.

 

July 8th

POS 2pm local time is 9° 28'N, 174° 00'E.

Typhoon developing 1800 miles west of Katmai heading away to the northwest. This is however causing a belt of very squally weather in the vicinity of Katmai. Katmai saw 45 knots and blinding rain last night. Conditions have improved dramatically and this morning there are very thin and high clouds with 15 knot breeze from the northeast. Dick and Peggy are fine and sailing towards Majuro. No weather charts predicted this line of squalls developing in one of the long spiral arms of the above mentioned typhoon. They are however very visible on the satellite infrared loop.  In the picture to the right Katmai is in near the dark blue blob to the right of center and the developing typhoon is to the left of center. Again, the track of the typhoon is to the left in the picture and will NOT be a problem for the crew of Katmai.

 

July 7th, Saturday

POS 7pm local time is 10° 29'N, 175° 12'E.

Significant local squalls, sailing on heading of 250M will head more southerly. Sailing >8 knots with just a bit of the headsail out, wind gusts to 45 knots.  Making great time, but horizontal rain and tropical squalls are not fun.  300 nautical miles to Majuro, Marshall Islands, still anticipate Monday arrival.

 

July 5th (Crossed the International Date Line and lost July 4th to the wind)

Our position this morning at 8:30 local time is 12° 52.2'N, 177° 43.5'E. Good sailing through out the night, most of the time in excess of 8 knots. Still looking like Monday arrival.

Dick

 

July 3rd

POS 16° 02.29'N, 179° 32.03'W

Spoke with Peggy on the sat phone today. All is well on board. Very nice tropical trade wind sailing now. Winds 10 to 15 knots from the east. Peggy is now spending the nights sleeping under the stars in the cockpit while Dick is on watch. The new laptop they bought to send emails via sat phone is on the blink a bit. So if you are expecting an email from them be patient and don't worry.  They expect to be arriving in the Marshall Islands in four to five days. Life onboard is good! - Eric

 

July 2nd

POS 20° 09.1'N, 178° 15.1'W

We are changing course from 180° to 200°. Barometer up. We are heading more west. The winds have gotten better and the big nasty clouds that pass over us didn't come with the normal heavy wind last night. Instead they sucked all the air out of the whole area. I'm not sure I have ever experienced that before.

Peg

 

July1st

POS 22° 15.5'N, 178° 04.7'W winds 25 to 35 knots, seas 10 to 15 feet, barometer dropping.

Barometer dropped 3/100 yesterday and today each. Expect to be near 19 degrees latitude tomorrow pm. Squalls are frequent and ride not too comfortable. Getting tired of combat sailing....got any smoother water out there some place?

Eighty five degrees and very hot inside boat, but cannot sit outside without becoming a salt pillar. This is a very wet boat! I know you said that, but had no idea. Thanks for the update on weather. Seem to be able to get weather only once a day (night time). Six charts were unavailable today.  ---- Peg

The Adventures of a Broken Starter Motor

Katmai left Midway Island at the end Hawaiian island chain a couple of days ago, following an ‘emergency ‘stop.  The engine starter was destroyed when it engaged while the engine was running due to faulty ignition switch.  Of course everyone is OK, the boat is fine too and never in any real danger, other than not being able to start the engine again and charge the batteries (it is a SAIL-boat after all so it can still travel most anywhere), but it is not particularly prudent or pleasant to cross the high seas with out navigation equipment, HF radio, water maker, or refrigeration etc.

The Dick and Peggy on Katmai could not at that time send a photo of the broken starter’s cast iron nose cone for identification, but they did have a model number and a phone number for Kaestner Auto Electric, which was written on the side of the starter.  It turns out the one on Katmai was a rebuild from a shop in Waukesha, Wisconsin, Kaestner Auto Electric - not a marine center, nor a Perkins dealer.

First we tried the Delco Remy dealers in Honolulu thinking they are closest, no luck. Next we called the Delco Remy corporate office.  After many emails and phone calls the corporate office arranged a teleconference with their best and most experienced engineers and customer reps, but they couldn’t figure out why the model number didn’t match our description.  It translated to a starter that was never going to work (too many teeth on the pinion gear)!….We even tried Perkins (the diesel engine manufacturer) in the US and UK and the sailboat builder in France, Beneteau.  Useless, and lots of precious hours lost. 

All the experts at the manufacturers and engineering shops, literally from around the world, were scratching their heads.  It did not make sense to them, as the model number from the broken starter gave a very different description for number of pinion teeth, pinion size etc than were actually on the unit.  To them, that meant the possibilities were too limitless to fathom.

Did I mention that Katmai was going to make an emergency stop at Midway (requiring emergency approval from the US Coast Guard and the Fish and Wildlife Service)?  On Midway are 30 FWS people and 2,000,000 nesting albatross on about 2 sq miles of sand and is located smack-dab in the middle of the North Pacific Ocean.  The new starter absolutely needed to be in Honolulu for the next FWS flight out in a few days time, one of three flights per month!

Anyway, you can imagine the surprise on at Kaestner Auto in Waukesha, Wisconsin, when Eric called (nearly 15 years after the now broken starter was built by them) and said:

“Hello, my name is Eric, I am calling you from Australia“ (of course it is 1 am in Perth).

Kaestner Auto Electric: “Yesssss……. how can we help you?”

“I own a sailboat that is in mechanical distress in the middle of the North Pacific Ocean and the nose cone on the starter motor has self-destructed and has the phone number to your shop printed on it!”

Silence

 “Is there anything that we can do to repair it? Maybe with Epoxy, or anything like that?”

 Kaestner Auto: “No-way, not a chance! There is too large a load on it”. 

 Eric: “Do you by chance have sales records back to about 1990 to help me figure out what starter I need?”

 “Sorry”

After a few more calls with further questions, Eric ends-up talking to Joe Bradish at Kaestner Auto Electric and tells him he is desperate for help in trying to determine what starter Katmai needs.

Suddenly, a bazillion brilliant questions about angles, bolt patterns, dimensions and pinion gears and over the course of couple of days and nights Joe came back and had eliminated all but four potential choices.  Two were eliminated right then and there while on the phone with Eric.  Then Joe emailed pictures of the remaining two nose cone options to Australia, which we then sent to Katmai via satellite.  After numerous terrible voice connections via Iridium satellite telephone with Katmai and through shear diligence from Joe and his desire to help, we narrowed the choice to one.  In the end Joe built a custom starter (on his weekend) that he overnight express shipped to Honolulu and from there it went by small plane to Midway Island.  Best of all - it WORKED PERFECTLY! - Joe is our hero, he solved the puzzle that no one else could!  If you ever need help with a starter, call on Joe at www.kaestnerauto.com.  Without him, Katmai would still be stranded in the middle of the North Pacific. (OK, so in the end it will be the most expensive starter I’ll ever hope to own)

So a huge thanks to Joe Bradish at Kaestner Auto Electric in Waukesha, Wisconsin.

Joe and his wife know a bit of the allure of long distance travel them selves….They set off on their Harleys for a 4000 mile trip to Newfoundland yesterday!

While all this was happening on shore with phone calls going around the world, Dick McKibbin on a small heaving sailboat in the middle of the North Pacific managed the impossible!  He reassembled the bits and pieces of the broken cast iron nose cone from the old Delco Remy starter with JB Weld, drill bits as stiffeners and Epoxy.  He kept saying, I’m going to get at least one more start out of this piece of …. And you know what? True to his word, we get a satellite phone call in the middle of the night with Peggy excitedly yelling “do you hear it?” “Do you hear it?” “The engine is running!!!”  Dick got one final start just outside the entrance to the Midway Atoll and was able to motor under Katmai’s own power to the dock.  Now that gets the MacGyver award of the century!

____________________________________________________________________________________

 

June 29th, Midway Island

The Battle of Midway was said to be the turning point in World War II.  To see the island and the history that is left 60 years later left us with a feeling of awe.  How could such a major battle have taken place in a spot that is now so peaceful and tranquil?

It was inhabited by the Navy for many years but now is a Bird Sanctuary.  It supports the largest colony of Albatross in the world.  It also supports many other species of birds.  The Red Tailed Tropic birds, the Fairy Turns, Frigate birds, about 100 Canaries, the Petrels that burrow in the ground to nest, Mina birds and the Laysan Ducks which are on the endangered list.  Outside of the birds are the Monk Seals that are endangered and very well protected here by the biologists along with the turtles that nest on the beaches of the island. 

The Albatross mating dance is legendary with lots of head bobbing, foot stomping, and a sound called mooing.  The mating begins at the age of about 8 or 9 and is for life.  The mating, nesting, chick rearing takes about 7 or 8 months which leaves the adults free to relax and fend for themselves for only a short time.  In the mean time the adult birds take turns guarding the chick and flying sometimes 300 miles or more to find food.  Only 1 egg per year is laid and if anything happens to that one egg the season is over for that pair. When the chicks are of a certain age the adult leaves the chick to fend for itself and learn to fly or die.  Many of the chicks parish as a result of the heat and dehydration.  The chicks sit near the place where they were born and await the parents return.  The fledging stage of their life is spent learning to fly.   As the winds increase and the rains begin to fall the chicks begin to spread their wings and begin to hop and run trying to take off.  Some chicks gain altitude with great success just in time to loose control and land in a heap in a bush or on top of another chick who, by the way looks very indignant about the whole thing. 

Our reason for being on Midway, is as we all know that as much as we try to minimize things going wrong on our boats there is no way to prevent the little gremlins that mess with things when our backs are turned.  A faulty ignition switch caused an unplanned engine start and busted the nose cone on the starter.  Now who would have expected that?  With Eric and Laurie’s heroic efforts we were given permission by the government to make an emergency landing at Midway.  With their help we were able to get the parts needed and repair the boat.  In the mean time we were very well received by the people here. 

On arrival the boat was inspected for rats.  It was explained that the rat population here had been eliminated to protect the bird eggs.   Then we were greeted by John Klavitter of (Fish and Wildlife) and his wife Leona who monitors and is very protective of the Monk Seal.  We were taken to the Clipper House for lunch and then taken for a tour of the island by John Miller.  A very special couple that we met was the Physicians Assistant, Jim Cassell and his wife Nancy Wallander who took us under their wing and treated us to a shower at their home and a tour of the medical facility.  Jim and Nancy are keepers.   We were then given bicycles to ride.  The transportation there is either bikes or golf carts. 

We found that it was easier to weave through the thousands of birds with a bike than with a golf cart.  Many times you would see people get out and shoo the birds out of the way.  Bill in the mechanics shop was a big help in the repair of the Auto Pilot. 

All in all I would say our visit to the island of Midway was an unexpected treat.  We would like to thank Eric and Laurie for all their help with weather and their exhausting efforts in getting us everything we needed…..it is really great to have a shore crew that is there to help when needed, and thanks to all the people at the island that took their time to help us with repairs and seeing that we were okay.

We plan to leave today, June 29th to continue our journey to Majuro in the Marshalls.  Hope you all are having a really great summer.

Peggy and Dick

Aboard S/V Katmai

 

June 23rd,  Midway Island

Awaiting a new starter scheduled to arrive mid week.  Safe and sound tied up at the tug pier.  A huge "thank you" to the Fish and Wildlife Service for allowing this emergency stop, and for all their kind help and hospitality.

 

June 22nd, 120 nm NE of Midway at 29° 17.5'N   175° 31.5'W. 

Reaching at 6-7 knots in easterly winds 10-15 knots. ETA Midway Saturday afternoon.  Beautiful sailing, much warmer weather.  If only they had power, it would not be a problem to carry on to Majuro.  The USCG and Fish & Wildlife Service have been understanding and are allowing Katmai to come in to Midway for repairs to the starter.  Without the starter they have no way to recharge the batteries and can not run the engine. Except for marine emergencies Midway Atoll is off limits to visiting vessels due to its status as a National Wildlife Refuge. Nearly two million birds call it home for much of each year, including the world's largest population of Laysan Albatrosses, or "gooney birds".

 

Those of you with "Google Earth" installed on your computer it is definitely worth zooming in on.   28° 10' 50.6"N   177° 21'  17.1"W

 

Midway was the focus for the second of the Pacific War's great carrier battles.  The battle took place 4-7 June 1942. The perseverance, sacrifice and skill of U.S. Navy aviators, plus a great deal of good luck on the American side, cost Japan four irreplaceable fleet carriers, while only one of the three U.S. carriers present was lost. The base at Midway, though damaged by Japanese air attack, remained operational and later became a vital component in the American trans-Pacific offensive. More on Midway history.

 

June 21st

Katmai and Crew are making a short stop at Midway Island to repair a broken starter. All is well on board, the sailing is good - reaching along at 8 knots in 70 plus degree weather. Dick has been working on the starter to get one more start out of it - if anyone can do it he can! Unfortunately without engine they are having to conserve on electrical power and so are sailing along in power conservation mode. I'm sure we'll get a full update of their adventures once they make landfall and have rested a bit.

 

June 18th

Hi everyone, Our position is 40° 41.75'N/170°30.69'W Since leaving Kodiak we have weathered two gales, broke the steering vane and the auto pilot. Not bad work for just a few days! Well, we do have the vane fixed, but auto will have to wait for parts. The Aleutians were interesting. Smooth mountains and hills with nothing growing but grass. Not much for wildlife unless you count the fishermen down at the docks. We met some lovely people there though and hope someday to see them again. We have finally started to see some warmer temperatures and finally found just the right amount of wind on the beam. Katmai is sailing along at 7.5 to 8 knts and things are looking up. I will send another up date some where along the line. Hope all of you are well and happy.

Peg and Dick on Katmai

 

June 16th

Position 43°N, 169° 30'W, Heading ~180°. The wind is gradually decreasing as Katmai is heading south and loosening her grip from a near by low pressure. The going has not been easy due to the rough seas and high wind. Dick and Peggy sound tired and are looking forward to the forecast weather improvement. The outlook for the next few days looks good with 15 to 20 knot winds and broad reaching conditions. They have been making very good southing.

 

June 15th

Position is 46° 55.513'N 167° 26.849'W On a heading of about 218° SW trying to put some distance between us and the low to the east of us. Junky and lumpy lumpy weather.  Winds are in the high 20 to 30 knots range.  Slogging through this area.  will write more in a few days

 

June 13th

Our position is 51°00.325'N 167°13.435'W Wind SW at 10 knots. Air temps at about 46 degrees. Not much exciting going on at this time. We expect to be sailing like this for the next day or so and then expect a mild low that will give us some higher winds so have been preparing for that. Weather transmissions are poor. Hard to read most of the time and untimely. They seem to just throw a weather chart at you once in a while. Will try Hawaii next. Will try to find time to learn how to send pics with this system in the next few days.

 

June 10th

In Dutch Harbor rafted up with the fishing fleet. Fueled up, last check of systems,  and plan on heading out tomorrow, weather permitting.

On the way in to Dutch Harbor, while still at sea we saw lots of birds and whales.

One whale was particularly interesting when he came up not 10 ft from Katmai headed right at her beam. I don't know who was more frightened....me or the whale.

He blew and with a flip of his tale that drowned me in the cockpit, he dove under Katmai without touching her.

In the mean time I was attempting to suck all the air out of the atmosphere.

And did I have my camera ready for that one?....NO!  That same morning we were sailing along through thousands of birds. Puffins, Shearwaters, Petrels, Albatross, and some others I am not familiar with. They were everywhere for as far as you could see.

 

June 9th

Anchored near village of Dutch Harbor, Alaska. Heater is fixed! the suction tube was plugged and it is now functional.

We are anchored in a place called Broad Bight about 25 miles out of town.  We are waiting till morning to run into Dutch to fuel up.  It is really dramatic.

Indescribable. I'm taking lots of pictures. Would like to stay in town for a day and do some laundry. We have lingered in cold country too long.

Plan on fueling up in Dutch Harbor and heading direct for Marshall Islands.

We were pretty tired after the gale with 40 knots so we hid out in the Semidi Islands and slept a couple days ago.  Temperatures are still in the low 40’s looking forward to warmer weather to the south.

The water maker is doing great...had a little problem at first with a water leak under bunk and at first it seemed to be sucking air so Dick put it through another start up cycle and that seemed to take care of the problem. 

We are using our GPS with the AIS system.  It works very well.  It is neat to see a big old boat out there and know the name size, position and direction.  Yesterday sailed with winds light to 16 knots. Monitor self-steering driving well and Katmai pranced smartly with 9 knots of wind we are doing 4 to 5 knots. Today had period of stronger winds again, about 30 knows but tide against wind so was lumpy.

________________________________

June 6th, 2007

Hi all,

Our position is 56.03.105N/156.42.199W On Semidi Islands. 

Hiding out here for a little while to rest up and get warm, dry out clothes etc.

Will push onward down the chain until we get to Dutch to refuel and then jump out there and go. Having to use engine to heat so will most likely stop in Dutch Harbor to refuel.  We saw between 20 knots to 40knts for hours.  Couldn't sleep or eat so we decided to take advantage of the little islands refuge.  Temps were in the low 40's. It is a good thing we have so much time to make Fiji.  We don't have to go out into bad weather for very long.  Saw the sun once....scared me....took a moment to remember that that bright orb in the sky was a good thing.

Peg and Dick