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Saturday, April 26, 2014

Lost race buoy search and rescue.

 I guess we were having too much fun after the race as I forgot to pick up the race buoy.  About 5:30AM I bolted awake thinking ohh %*!% I hope the buoy didn't float away in the night.  It was still dark, so at first light I looked over toward where the buoy should be and much to my dismay it was gone.
The weather was pretty bad with frequent squalls and bucketing rain, regardless we needed to find the $300 buoy that went walkabout on my watch.  We hoisted sail resolved to the fact that we might need to circumnavigate the entire inside of Majuro lagoon during our search, a 40nm mile endeavor.  The wind direction was perfect to carry the light weight float the entire length of the 20nm long lagoon.   As we got under-way we started texting and emailing everyone we knew who lived on the downwind side of the lagoon.  Karen on s/v Seal contacted the local radio station and sent out additional email and text messages, a full fledged search was under-way.   Within a few hours a sighting was reported by Pete Metclaf.  I called up Pete and he could still see the buoy in the middle of the lagoon and gave us us a good fix.  

By this time LightSpeed was 3 miles downwind searching the shoreline, so we dropped sail and began to motor directly upwind searching intermittently between intense squalls or blinding rays of early morning sunlight.  Based on Pete's good line of position report from shore we were able to spot the buoy at 2nm with the binoculars, but then would lose it in squalls.
Kathy retrieving the buoy, apparently the anchor line chafed through on something sharp.  So, our next mission is to find our dinghy anchor. Owing to the fact that Karen on Seal works for the Marshall Islands Journal, I'm pretty sure she'll find this news worthy:)

Catamaran Classic race in Majuro Lagoon

 Photo Credit:  Nige Deacon
  Photo Credit:  Nige Deacon
 Photo Credit:  Nige Deacon
Sailing catamaran Lady Nada just after the start of the 1st annual catamaran classic in Majuro Lagoon.
 Ute, Tiffany, Kathy and Linda aboard LightSpeed for the Catamaran Classic race.
 Getting the BIG spinnaker ready to hoist.
 Ute and Kathy sort out the spinnaker
Kathy keeps the sail tamed as we head for a downwind turn.  We already had a nice lead when we launched the spinnaker, but it was fun to fly it anyway.

Thursday, April 24, 2014

ANZAC day at Wallaby Downs Majuro, Marshall Islands



Friday April 25, 2014
This morning we crawled out of bed at 5am to head over to the Royal Australian Navy’s Wallaby Downs compound to join a sunrise service commemorating ANZAC Day.   It was a nice ceremony with flag raising, speaches and prayers followed by a tasty breakfast.  Festivities continued throughout the day for the intrepid, but we decided to be more productive and headed home before the party started in earnest.
ANZAC (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) Day is the anniversary and day of remembrance of the landing of troops from Australia and New Zealand on the Gallipoli Peninsula, Turkey, in World War I on April 25, 1915.

Saturday, April 19, 2014

Marshall Islands Sailing Canoe

Photo:  Mark Ward s/v Radiance
Traditional Marshall Islands Sailing canoe buzzes LightSpeed as Kathy tosses the guys a few baseball caps.

Majuro Lagoon Shoreline Dock

April 20, 2014

LightSpeed at the RRE Shoreline fuel dock Majuro Atoll, Marshall Islands.




 Shoreline is the most popular dinghy landing

RRE Shoreline.  Dinghy landing on left center and the fuel pier is on the right at about mid-tide.

Friday, April 18, 2014

New Simrad GS25 GPS

I just received a new $300 GPS to add to our $9,000 Simrad autopilot and Instrument system.  I was really excited as now I'd have super fast position updates coming from the new NMEA 2000 Simrad GS25 GPS.  

I plug in the new Simrad GS25 GPS and here is the position it displays.  S152 53.811
 Yep, it says we are at SOUTH 152 degrees?  WTF!  Where exactly is that?
It took a few weeks and WAY more time and hassle than it should have, but Navico came through and shipped me a working GPS 25 unit.  






Sunday, April 13, 2014

El Nino 2014 Majuro Storm tracks

NOAA is predicting El Nino in 2014.  Check out the latest 


and: http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/analysis_monitoring/enso_advisory/index.shtml

Cool interactive historical tracks data:  http://csc.noaa.gov/hurricanes/

...and some cool history of storms in the Marshall Islands




Historical storm tracks within 200nm miles of Majuro atoll.  http://csc.noaa.gov/hurricanes/

In 1905 a severe storm killed 227 people including 70 inhabitants of Nadikdik atoll which was remains uninhabited still today.  In 1918 a severe storm devastated Majuro atoll drowning 200 people.  Check out this link for more great info. http://marshall.csu.edu.au/Marshalls/html/typhoon/typhoon.html


 Majuro Atoll, Marshall Islands

Majuro is the yachting center of the Marshall Islands.  Many sturdy moorings are available for rent starting at $1 per day.  Check-in is easy and visitors from nearly any country can extend their visit up to 1 year for only $200 payable to immigration.