Like Dennis Bruckel, I choose to give the PUP board a passage report as a summation rather than daily reports along the way and I'll try to keep it brief. Flat Earth, a 2003 Nordhavn 50, completed the passage from Long Beach to the Waikiki Yacht Club yesterday at 1700 HST, June 26. Passage statistics: Total distance 2290 NM Time of transit: 14 days, 7 hours and thirty minutes Fuel consumed: 1055 gallons with 385 gallons remaining on arrival (generator consumption, about 3 hours per day, included) Miles per gallon: about 2.16 Average speed over the ground for the trip: 6.7 kts Engine RPM: We started at 1100 RPM for the first half of the trip which should have given us 6.78 kts in calm waters. Actual speed was reduced early in the passage by 12' swells and a north flowing current that held us down to 5.5 to 6.0 knots. We maintained 1100 RPM to about the half way point where we inched it up to 1200 RPM as we were more assured of our fuel reserve. The 1200 RPM by this time gave us about 6.5 kts. Two thirds through the passage we increased power to 1300 RPM yielding 7.0 to 7.5 kts. The last few days, we actually splurged on fuel, running our generator for air conditioning and the engine at 1500 RPM which gave us 8.0 to 8.5 kts. Fishing: During the day, we ran two lines trolling at cruising speed with lures. With the waters running about 65 F off the coast of California, we had several hookups with bluefin tuna. None were large, no more than 10 lbs and we only kept one for consumption. As the temperature of the water rose, we lost the tuna and began catching Bonito of about the same size. Once the water temperature began climbing past 72 F we began picking up only dorado. They were only a few at first with single hookups. As we got closer to Hawaii, the hookups came more frequently and doubled up. Close to Hawaii we began getting hookups every hour or less and I had to reign in our fishermen a little. The fish, too, became larger with more spectacular coloring...and an attitude. We'd let them of the hook and then they would swim back and jump in the air as if they were flipping us off. These fish were averaging about 15 to 20 lbs. Again, we only kept one. Weather: Just about perfect although the ride could have been better. Only one little rain shower along the way which didn't even wash off all the accumulated salt. Winds started out of the North at 20 kts and then built up to 25 kts. As we got farther south, the winds began veering around more out of the East and dissipated to 15 to 20 kts. The chop generated by these winds were more responsible for a marginal ride than the seas themselves. As we got within a few hundred miles the Islands, the wind died down to about 10 kts and the seas smoothed out considerably, allowing us to push our speed up more. The swells themselves were 8' to 10' for the most part with 8 to 9 second intervals. Their direction closely mirrored the wind direction and at times they approached 12' to 14'. As the winds died down to 10 kts or less, the seas laid down to 4' to 6'. The boat: It worked like a clock. Virtually nothing went wrong. We had gone through all of the systems in detail servicing everything that we could think of to service and changing all of the filters possible. We changed and service the oil and filters to the stabilizers, the engine oil system, the fuel system, the generator, and the wing engine. We bought spare parts for all of the filters and fluids we could think of, including a spare starter and solenoid for the main engine. (That monster is at least 60 lbs. I wonder if we could really install it at sea.) The boat performed like a well oiled machine. The only glitch came during the night after we arrived when the water line to the ice maker popped off and drained all 200 gallons of the main water tank down into the bilge. We were very lucky there; it could have flooded the saloon. I have said that the boat performed without a hiccup on the way over here and then barfed all over us after getting here. In April, the question was proposed as to what equipment cruisers were selecting to be installed for passages. I responded with the list of new equipment that we planned to install in Long Beach. In May, we made the passage from Portland, Or. down the coast to Long Beach with stops along the way in Saucelito and Monterey. We took about a month for installation of the extra equipment both in Long Beach and Dana Point. Some of the equipment such as the Jordan Series Drogue generated quite a bit of debate. The following are issues that have been addressed as discussions by this forum and the way we approached them: Jordan Series Drogue: I installed a low profile deck box in the cockpit and made it home for the series drogue. Since the drogue is quite large, 490' and about 150 lbs including the weighted end, it occupied virtually all of the deck box. Even so, the arrangement works well and the box makes a great bench for seating. The two legs of the bridle are 1" braided line and 40' long each. They are attached to the lead end of the series drogue which is at the bottom of the box while the eyes of the bridle are snaked up the sides of the box. The series drogue itself is snaked into the box backwards so that the front end is in the bottom and the weights on the tail are on the top. Deployment is a simple matter of attaching the bridle eyes to the boat and throwing the weighted end in the water. The drogue then snakes out of the box on its own, a procedure which is safe, easy, and quick in nasty weather. I lost my resolve to test deploy it enroute to Hawaii. It just seemed like better discretion to keep on plugging along, rather than to stop and play with a new toy. Another time,maybe, when I have less to worry about. AIS: What a wonderful piece of gear. While the passive units probably will give you 80% of the value for 20% of the price, we did enjoy the active unit. It served as an ice breaker. Several of the big boys would call us by name on the radio just to talk and essentially say, "Say, what's a little feller like you doin' way out here? You lost?" time SSB: I wanted to try out the sail mail email service but with over a week to process my application, they couldn't get it authorized prior to departure. We had a ham radio operator as crew and he was talking to others as far away as Norway. It was a well done installation and worked well. I'm sure it will be a great safety backup. Iridium: What a marvelous piece of gear. While still a little spendy for air time, it works very well. Simple emails are relatively inexpensive for position reports and updates from weather services, not to mention family communications. While we never had to use it for emergencies, it would be a quick, easy and reliable tool to get information out or in. The Iridium's ease of use is what relegates the SSB to a backup role. Weather Services and weather fax: We got the weather fax working that had never been installed properly. I think a weather service like I use (realwx) is a necessity. However, the quality of the weather faxes was so good that none of what our router had to say surprised us. Both are useful. Watermaker: I know that Sea Recovery is not on Mike's list of approved devices, but I have been very impressed with the company, the product, and the service so far. I installed the company's new Aquamatic which is touted as being virtually maintenance free and totally automatic. Apparently, I'm not the only one who noticed as the company is having a hard time keeping up with demand. One of my crew, Cal Massey, owns and captains a Nordhavn 40 that has another brand of watermaker. He also confessed to being suitably impressed. Oil checks and engine shut downs: We changed the oil prior to departure and determined that there was no need for a change enroute. About one third of the way across both of the Racor filters had fouled, so we decided to shut down the main engine and run on the wing engine. While I changed the fuel filters, my brother checked and added oil. I switched fuel filters from the 2 micron units that PAE installed initially to the 10 micron units Lugger recommends. No more fuel filter changes. Entire evolution lasted less than ten minutes and the engine started up perfectly. We shut down the engine twice more during the trip and added a total of 1.5 gallons of oil. It holds a total of 6 gallons and some change. We are now due for an oil change here in Hawaii. Phil Eslinger Flat Earth