Majuro to Pohnpei

At approximately 3 a.m. EST/ 6 p.m. (vessel time) on Dec. 14, Nordhavn entered the harbor of Lele on the island of Kosrae. Tropical Depression #31 has been careening all around the region for the past five days and was right on top of the boat upon its arrival. They had 30 knots of wind on their stern with higher gusts and torrential, radar blanketing, rain that made the approach and entry difficult in the fading light. The harbor is safe and calm and they'll stay put until this monster decides what it's going to do and either dies or leaves the area. Kosrae is a classic Pacific island - volcanic with high mountains and surrounded with coral reefs. The delay is not favorable, but the guys will have fun sightseeing during this layover.

Back at P.A.E. headquarters in Dana Point, CA, Jim Leishman monitors the weather service closely. It had predicted that this would develop into a full typhoon with winds up to 80 knots. It did reach the status of tropical storm but de-intensified and is currently a tropical depression with a further prediction to return to tropical storm status within 12 hours.

The storm was predicted to move quickly to the north and then shoot off to the west which would have allowed Nordhavn to run from Majuro directly to Pohnepi without feeling the storm's effects. When the vessel left Majuro, the storm quickly began to move to the east. The boat sought shelter at Ailinglaplap (about 140 miles west of Majuro) for approximately 18 hours and when things began to look better, it departed for Phonpei.

Again the storm turned east so Leishman routed them down to Kosrae (about 100 miles south of the direct line between Majuro and Pohnepi) thinking that the weather would not extend that far east. As they got within 100 miles of the island the storm continued to lose power but was moving east fast…headed directly for them.

The past few days have been challenging for Leishman and weather forecaster Walt Hack as they've tried to figure out the best way to deal with this storm which has proven too unpredictable to try to second guess anymore. Meanwhile, there has not been a peep of complaining from Dave Harlow, Tom Selman, Ray Danet or journalist John Woldridge (he'll have a lot to write about). To further demonstrate the absurdity of the storm, the current forecast shows it building and moving about 150 miles northwest, then turning back to the southeast and then re-approaching Kosrae on the 17th.

Once again, aside from horrendous weather, everything is well. The boat is doing great with no problem or failures. The heat has been uncomfortable and Leishman now re-thinks his decision to not install air conditioning - in at least the sleeping cabins. The air temperature has been in the high 80s which is not too bad if the doors and windows can be opened but with the torrential rain fall, the crew has to close everything up and it becomes very warm inside. With the shorter passages Nordhavn has from here on out, fuel consumption is not an issue and the boat could be running with the generator freely and keeping cabins cool and dry. This is a learning voyage....

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