Preparing for departure

I’ve been living and sailing in the Hawaiian Islands for six months now. It’s been a wild experience. The islands and the water surrounding them have become familiar. I have sailed nearly every channel, and visited nearly every island. I have circumnavigated the island of Oahu several times now. If you look at our tracker, you will see lines going up, down and all around the Hawaiian Archipelago. I have become familiar with the culture and the people here. Friendly people have made it easy to feel at home. I feel I can visit nearly any island and have a friend to call. People have been incessantly supportive of our mission in Hawaii. It’s clear that people here care deeply about the environmental health of these islands as well as the importance of preserving Hawaiian culture. Anywhere you go, you will find people and organizations actively working to do so. Hawaii has been a great location for Apparent Winds to follow through with our mission and I am excited to share all of the interviews and content we have collected over the past six months. There is still plenty to cover here, but soon it will be time to depart. 

This past Monday, I returned to Honolulu from Hanalei Bay, Kaua’i. Although, Hanalei is likely my favorite anchorage in Hawaii, I couldn’t avoid a mild anxiousness to get back to Oahu. This minor anxiety and excitement was absolutely due to the fact that  J. Henry is nearing departure for the Aleutian Islands, Alaska. The return to Oahu marks the beginning of my final preparations for that passage and a highly anticipated continuation of the Apparent Winds journey.

It’s funny, we never planned to come to Hawaii. I was actually pretty resistant to the idea initially. Over time, it became clear that Hawaii was our best option, and so we sailed. Now, it seems that coming to Hawaii has begun to open up opportunities for Apparent Winds to grow into something greater than I had imagined . It seems likely that our mission will continue on after the return of J. Henry to Charleston later this year. I have become grateful for these unforeseen changes in our route. 

As future plans begin to form, I am ready to get moving onto what comes next. My last weeks here will be filled with boat and passage preparations, final interviews and filming on Oahu, and solidifying plans for the coming months. 

Once we are sailing again, our pace will be similar to our pre-pandemic sailing.  I have learned that a journey around the world should be done slowly in order to truly get to know and understand a place, however there is an absolute thrill in moving quickly; nearly every morning pulling up the anchor with my imagination racing through what the new day may bring. I can hardly wait! 

There will be some old and some new faces aboard J.Henry for the remainder of the year. I’m thrilled to have folks from home joining in along the way. It’s been a year and six months since I left. Familiar faces aboard will undoubtably add to the giddiness that is already building inside me for that long-anticipated sail back into Charleston Harbor. 

Please keep up with us as we sail. Thanks for staying tuned to Apparent Winds. 

Aloha from Honolulu, 

Tripp