Paparazzi

We try to stay away from the Paparazzi...but sometimes they find us in the
most unusual places.

Laysan Delivery - A Summary and Some Stats

Here it is. The long awaited passage summary.

Our daily positions as we traveled from Majuro, Marshall Islands to Oahu, Hawaii

What a trip. Our first major passage in a power boat. And a huge success. Some stressful days as we wondered if we would make it given our fuel consumption. But after the winds and waves settled down we had a wonderful passage and made it to Honolulu with plenty of fuel to spare. We thought the boat was fabulous and would do it again in a heartbeat!

Here's some of the passage stats, for our fellow boat geeks:
The boat is an extremely capable Seahorse 50' Diesel Duck 462 Motor Yacht. It carries 1400+ gallons of fuel. We added 200 gallons in jugs on the foredeck for a total of 1600+ gallons. Water capacity is 400 gallons. We had very strong headwinds and opposing seas for the first 2 weeks, providing us with a slow speed over ground. Plus opposing current. It is not the ideal time of year for this passage. We'd never consider it in our sailboat. But MY Laysan handled the trip with grace and determination. We were proud to be her crew. We only wish that John and Kathleen could have come along for the ride!

Laysan tied up for a brief visit to Johnston Atoll

Trip: Majuro, Republic of Marshall Islands to Honolulu, Hawaii, USA
Dates: December 30, 2011 to January 21, 2012
Route: Rhumb line (with a short stop at Johnston Atoll)
Passage Days: 22 days total
Time stopped at Johnston: 32 hours
Total time underway: 20.5 days (496 hours)
Total Distance (travelling a straight line): 2020 nautical miles
Distance Travelled over Ground: 2156 nm
Engine Hours: 497 hours
Total Fuel Consumed: 1172 gallons
Average fuel: 1.72 miles per gallon (mpg)
Best 24 hour fuel consumption: 2.78 mpg
Worst 24 hour fuel consumption: 1.16 mpg
Best 24 hour Distance: 143 nm
Worst 24 hour Distance: 70 nm
Average speed: 4.1 knots
Books Read: 10 (me)
Fish Caught: 1 - smallish Mahi Mahi

John sprays rum into this Mahi's gills to ensure a fast, and blood-free death. We highly recommend this technique to keep the cockpit clean - especially if you have someone else's rum aboard. HA!

 Interesting notes:

• The boat arrived in Honolulu exactly 1 year after John (the owner) took the keys in China and began the delivery (in phases) to Honolulu.
• The only mechanical failure on this delivery was autopilot failure. No problem we quickly switched to the second unit, and were underway within minutes.
• Although the vessel has sails, they were hardly used. The majority of the trip was directly into the wind, where the sails were not useful. The remainder of the trip we used the mainsail whenever winds were on our beam!!
• We did not use the paravane stabilizers on the first portion of the trip as we did not want to sacrifice any hard earned speed. Even without the stabilizers her motion was comfortable enough. We did use the stabilizers during the latter part of the trip when the wind shifted astern and abeam and we found they were a welcome addition. 

Laysan is ready to leave Majuro with extra fuel stored on the bow.

To learn more about MY Laysan, her delivery from China and her future cruises, check out their blog: http://roundtopdr.wordpress.com/. Or to learn more about Seahorse Yachts, check out their website: www.seahorseyachts.com .

Since we've returned to land, a common question from fellow (sailing) cruisers has been: "Are we moving to the dark side?" I can say without hesitation that the answer is YES!! We've always loved power boats and love the idea of cruising on a trawler-style boat. Sadly though...the wind continues to be free, while diesel fuel is far from it. Free suits our budget. So, for now, we'll continue to sail.