We made it. It was a lot easier than one would expect. The trip to Molokai took exactly 12 hours. From 6:10am to 6:10pm. On the way there the seas were at about 4 feet and we had pretty good wind. We reefed the main sail (tied off about 2 feet of the foot (base) of the sail to the boom) in order to catch less wind because the waves were hitting us from the side and the gusts were strong. The combination of tilting down a wave and a strong gust could potentially push the boat over, although it would have been unlikely. Our plan, based on the chart, was to sail at an azimuth of 115 degrees. Once we rounded Mokapu Peninsula, we could see Molokai, so we just pointed on it. After about 4 hours of holding onto the tiller, I put a bungee on it so that all I would have to do is keep pressure on it with my foot. Two hours after that, I had an epiphany (i.e. I remembered reading about it somewhere): if we put the proper tension on the bungee cord, the boat would steer itself.
Viola! We were sailing hands and feet free! It was amazing, but it steered itself. If we went too far away from the wind, the tension would be reduced and the water would drag the tiller back until the bungee stopped it. If we went too far into the wind, the tension on the bungee cord pulled the tiller back to neutral. The tiller was constantly moving a few inches either direction, but the bungee never failed to bring it back neutral. The bungee was a better pilot than we were.
Once we got to Molokai, we tied off to the dock. Until we got the bumpers in the right place, we had a few scrapes against the cement. Luckily for me, my boat is already a bit beaten up (beauty/character marks?). No real harm done.
We got settled, walked to the beach, and watched the last of the sunset. When it got dark we returned to Madeline & Nine for our dinner of fresh fish. On the way down we were dragging a line and caught a Skipjack Tuna. It was fairly small, which was good because those things are spiny and it flopped around a lot on the boat. At any rate, I was the one to clean the fish. This was a big deal for me because I had never done that before. I was a bit hesitant at first, but once I got going it was actually kind of neat to see all of the parts of the fish. We had a little sashimi there on the spot and cooked the rest for dinner. It was just the right size to feed three. Afterwards we did a little star gazing and settled down for the evening.
The next morning we set off a little after 8:00am. Our friend Bungee steered Madeline home in about 10 hours. We didn't have to reef the sails, so we moved a bit faster. Unfortunately, we never saw the world's tallest sea cliffs up close. They were too far from where we stayed the night and we slept in a little too late to try to go see them. We will have to save that for a future trip. The trip was too short, but other than that it was beautiful. It was a great trip with some great people. 'Thank you' to Juliet and Patrick for making our first inter-island sailing trip such a success.
