You get a sense of the vastness of the Pacific as you fly across it from the US. As the hours elapse in flight you begin to comprehend the long journey back at a pace not measured in several 100 miles an hour, but the hope of 100+ per day. A 2,400+ mile journey at sea with a daily goal of progress back towards land that involves a full team sailing around the clock.

There is a peace to this broad expanse of blue from the vantage of an airplane window as the hours go by, and then the realization that each moment of flight will be exchanged with hours of strong winds and often turbulent seas to make the long path back from Honolulu. First heading North, harnessing strong Easterly Trade Winds that will power the start of the journey, closely hauled, to the north of the Pacific High where winds bend back to the east and allow a measured return to the US Coast. A path followed by mariners for centuries. As the approach is made to the US coast at nearly 40 Degrees North Latitude, the consistent Pacific circulation pattern allows a turn South, with winds to stern, and the passage south to Southern California, our destination.

As we prepare to step aboard this storied boat for the journey ahead, there is comfort she has made the journey on many occasions before with many crews and captains. There is the expectation of both heavy weather and seas and then the calm deep and endless blue of the Pacific at its most gentle at the center of the Pacific High. Endless deep blue – a sea and sky that often cannot be separated by the eye. We also step aboard as a crew of strangers with only the commitment to the boat, to the adventure, and each other to complete the journey together.

As the sun rises on Honolulu and the boat and ocean await, we all prepare to step aboard and Cast Lines to the shore for the journey ahead.