Cruise 2026 Ends in Shearwater
We departed Bellingham June 21 after our arduous haulout work. We were exhausted from that effort, so we took our time heading north.
Chronicles of Rainshadow
Haulout 2024-2026
When we hauled out in August 2024, we didn’t realize Rainshadow would be on the hard until mid June 2026. A variety of events lead us to not sail at all in 2025. We did work on Rainshadow in 2025, but the brutal work started in April 2026.
Trip to Haida Gwaii
Summer of 2024 had some memorable moments – some good, some bad, some terrifying.
Passage Back to the Pacific NW
Rainshadow has done another long passage, this time from Hawaii back to the Pacific Northwest. The most common question we get is, why sail her back across the North Pacific to where we already spent so many years cruising?
Getting a 49 y.o. boat ready for a passage
Rainshadow has undergone a refit while moored in our current Hawaii homeport. But Hilo is where wind goes to die so it’s past time for Rainshadow to have a new homeport, which means another passage.
Replacing the Cockpit Canvas
The original cockpit canvas (that is, the canvas at the time of our purchase) didn’t fit well and was starting to fail. So we decided to make some design improvements and construct a new one.
Portlight Problems and Solutions
Our boat has 10 portlights, 5 on each side of the cabin. We learned on our recent passage to Hawaii that they are leaking. There are multiple reasons why.
How a 42 y.o. Nic 38 faired crossing the East Pacific
Rainshadow safely took us on our first passage from the Seattle area to Hilo Hawaii, but not without some failures. Here’s the list of things that broke while we were underway. [Editor’s note Dec 2022: I have updated this original posting with how we addressed each failure.]
2016 Passage to Hawaii: Days 20-28
This is the final segment about the saga of our first passage. Short version is – we made it. Long version is told here.
2016 Passage to Hawaii: Days 10-19
At this point in the passage, we are in the Horse Latitudes – that is between 30-40 N. Exhaustion is really setting in, and we are not jovial.