Bareboat in Oahu, Hawaii

[Roman]

Hi, everyone
Just joined the forum and found it great for all kinds of information.
We are from Alberta, Canada and due to lack of oceans at our locale
we go for long cruising charters in the Pacific NW. (love it there)
We like performance sailing and pretty much charter Big Jeanneau's
each time (43'and bigger). They give us the speed and comfort at the same time. We also sail high performance planing dinghy for the rest of the summer on Canada's mountain lakes.

We have been looking for new cruising grounds with a bit warmer water
and living close to west coast, Hawaii is the prime spot. We reserched
all the info on this forum and others as well. We do not like the Caribean
as it has changed a lot recently
and Polyneysia and Australia is so far (expensive) away.
So Hawaii it is and we are willing to work a bit harder while sailing there.

There is not that much info on bareboat as Hawaii cruising requires advanced seamanship.
We are trying to find more about the bareboat charter company in Oahu.
It seems to be the only bareboat charter in Hawaii. Their web site is friendly but it would be great to hear some first or second hand experience. They have fast Bene's there which may be handy for upwind
work inbetween the Islands.

Also after looking at the weather stats and taking into account the price of charter we plan to charter there April or May. Which month would be
preferable considering sailing and snorkelling. There seems to be the jelly
fish migration starting in May. Is stinger suit required in May or just being carefull and avoiding the stingers is OK.

Thank you

Roman

Things do happed by chance - or it seems - but they get better when you ready.

[SkiprJohn]

Aloha Roman,
You don't need suits. About 10 days after the full moon the box jellies start to invade the beaches. If you wait a couple days they clear out. Lifeguards put warning signs out on the beaches.
I am not familiar with the charter folks on Oahu. There aren't many because of the state's attitude towards boating and boaters.
There might be some others in the forum that live on Oahu that can help with your questions.
Kind Regards,
JohnL

[Roman]

Thank you John for the good news. People do not like the suit much.
In your experience if you were to cruise the Hawaii Islands in April or May - what month would you prefer. Or you think it's a toss?

Thank you.

Roman

[Kanani]

As SkiprJohn stated, Hawaii is not very boater friendly and it may be hard to find a bare-boat charter.

My best friend is in Ala Wai Marina right now. If you find someone that is chartering, I can have him check it out for you. Be very careful with who you do business with there and always have an alternative plan, in case the boat isn't "As advertised".

April and May are just the same in Hawaii....80 degrees and sunny. Light trade-winds from NE to E. You get what you get and you can't predict or change it. Winds in the channels can be quite brisk at times but nothing unmanagable.

There is hardly anywhere to sail to in Oahu. You can anchor off of Waikiki or if you have plenty of coastal cruising experience and are good at charting, you can go over to Kanioi Bay (if they will let you). It's about an 8 hour sail over to Lono Harbor on Molokai and another 8 hours to Lahaina on Maui. Another good spot is Lanai Harbor on Lanai Isl. The diving there is great. The little harbor is quaint and quiet.

I spent a couple years cruising all over Hawaii. I'd be happy to answer any questions that you might have.

[SkiprJohn]

As Kanani said. April or May doesn't make much difference. During the late spring and summer the windward sides of the island, like Kaneohe Bay are open for the most part and fun to cruise. Anchoring and mooring is a problem and whoever you get the charter from should be able to let you know where it is legal to drop anchor.
My favorite anchorage is Hanalei Bay on Kauai. 22 hours sail from Waikiki. The sail back is beating to windward.
Kind Regards,
JohnL

[Stranded Mariner]

Originally Posted by Kanani

As SkiprJohn stated, Hawaii is not very boater friendly and it may be hard to find a bare-boat charter.

I haven't been back in Hawaii since the early 90's (I was working on Kauai on the power station) and back then I wasn't cruising. But just out of curiosity, why is it that Hawaii is not boater friendly?

[Kanani]

The problem really wasn't/isn't the "Boaters" but the government sees it that way. The problem has been "non-boaters" living aboard derelict vessels. They often left them un-maintained and lived on them until they sunk. Once they sunk, the people would disappear and leave, the very expensive, clean-up to the state.

You may have been there when Hurricane Iniki went through. About 12 boats sunk in Keehi Lagoon. The clean-up from that was very costly and the tax-payers didn’t like it.

There are and always have been/always will be a lot of homeless people living on anything that will float. It is really a "Homeless" problem that the state is not willing to deal with. However, the problem is not identified for what it is, so the boating community is looked down upon and the government is not very sympathetic. In fact, it is down right hostile to "boaters" IMO.

[Roman]

Thanks everyone for their advice.

The bareboat chartering company we are considering is "Honolulu Sailing Company". They claim to be in bussines for 30 years but is interesting that
nobody heard of them. Since we would be forwarding money ahead of our charter we are trying to find a bit more about them and from other people.
If anybody heard of them please advice.

Kanani, thank you for your offer to check the charter company for us.
If your friend has time and is willing to do that for us it would be immensely
appreciated. They have boats located at Ko'olina marina and their address
is 47-335 Lulani St, Kaneohe, Hi 96744, phone 808 239-3900 or toll free at 800-829-0114.
It would be interesting to see what impression your friend got from visiting
them.

Thank you again.

Roman
403-239-8162
(Kanani if you prefer to go off line we'd phone or email you back)

[GordMay]

Hawaii Bareboat & Crewed Sailboat Charters from CharterNet: Hawaii Sailing Vacations Crewed & Bareboat Charters

Adventure Charters Hawaii Wailuku HI 877-871-6844
Aloha Sailing LLC. Waikoloa HI 808-883-9230
AlohaSpirit Sailing Charters Inc. Kailua-Kona HI 808-329-8099
Aquatic Adventures Kapaa HI 800-204-4613
Bug Eddy Sportfishing Kailua HI 808-326-1210
Captain Andy's Sailing Adventures Ele Ele HI 800-535-0830
Captain Don's Wind Venture Kauai HI 808-652-4235
Chinese Junk Rides on Hilo Bay Hilo HI 808-937-2632
Free Spirit Island Excursions Honolulu HI 808-429-0811
FV Alyce Kaunakakai HI 808-558-8377
Gent-Lee Charters Lihue HI 808-245-7504
Hanalei Sea Tours Hanalei HI 800-733-7997
Hapa Laka Hawaiian Charters Kailua HI 808-322-2229
Hawaii Sailing Co. Honokaa HI 808-326-1986
Holoholo Charters Eleele HI 800-848-6130
Honu Sail Kona Kailua-Kona HI 808-896-4668
Honolulu Sailing Company Kaneohe HI 800-829-0114
HuaPala Charters Kailua HI 808-322-8006
Lahina Charter Boats Lahaina HI 808-667-6672
Lil' Hooker Sportfishing Juilua HI 808-326-1666
Lucky Strike Charters Lahaina HI 808-661-4606
Maile Charters Kamuela HI 800-726-7245
Maui Classic Charters, Inc Kihei HI 800-736-5740
Nautique Hawaii Yacht Charters Honolulu HI 808-922-8077
North Shore Catamaran Charters Haleiwa HI 808-351-9371
Olapa Ko'a Charters, Ltd. Lamaina HI 808-667-2195
Paradise Cruise, Ltd. Honolulu HI 808-593-2493
RS Tours - Yacht Charters Honolulu HI 808-225-7357
Red Sail Sports Hawaii Waikoloa HI 877-733-7245
Suntan Special Private Yacht Charters Kihei HI 808-874-0332
Tradewind Charters, Inc. Honolulu HI 800-829-4899

[Roman]

Gord,
thank you for the Chartnet printout. We checked it prior our posting here
and Honolulu Sailing company is the only bareboat charter available as far as we know.
As we like to do the sailing ourselfes they are the only charter that we consider now.

Roman

[Kanani]

Originally Posted by Roman

Gord,
thank you for the Chartnet printout. We checked it prior our posting here
and Honolulu Sailing company is the only bareboat charter available as far as we know.
As we like to do the sailing ourselfes they are the only charter that we consider now.

Roman

A lot of the people that have yachts in Hawaii offer 6-pack (crewed)charters. I think that is what most of that stuff is.

I'll talk to my friend this morning and have him check it out.

[SkiprJohn]

I know Aloha Sailing and if you are qualified, and they do U. S. Saliling keelboat quals, they'll let you sail bareboat in the Kailua-Kona area but not interisland. They don't have large enough boats.

Chinese Junk Ride's boat sunk years ago. I could tell you the whole story but suffice it to say he built his boat of plywood and didn't take care of it. He was not a boat builder.

Again, they are on Hawaii not Oahu.

JohnL

[Stranded Mariner]

Originally Posted by Kanani

The problem really wasn't/isn't the "Boaters" but the government sees it that way. The problem has been "non-boaters" living aboard derelict vessels. They often left them un-maintained and lived on them until they sunk. Once they sunk, the people would disappear and leave, the very expensive, clean-up to the state.

You may have been there when Hurricane Iniki went through. About 12 boats sunk in Keehi Lagoon. The clean-up from that was very costly and the tax-payers didn’t like it.

There are and always have been/always will be a lot of homeless people living on anything that will float. It is really a "Homeless" problem that the state is not willing to deal with. However, the problem is not identified for what it is, so the boating community is looked down upon and the government is not very sympathetic. In fact, it is down right hostile to "boaters" IMO.

Thanks for your reply! I understand now about the background. What a pity actually.
By the way, I was indeed on Kauai during Iniki. An experience I would not like to make again to be honest. The island was never the same anymore.

[Kanani]

Originally Posted by Stranded Mariner

Thanks for your reply! I understand now about the background. What a pity actually.
By the way, I was indeed on Kauai during Iniki. An experience I would not like to make again to be honest. The island was never the same anymore.

Iniki was a real monster, the eye was heading directly for Keehi Lagoon, where we were moored. I stripped Kanani down to the bare masts. I even put the booms and dodger down below.

At the last minute, it changed course to Kauai. It's a good thing that it was moving at 20kts and didn't spend much time beating up the island.

[roverhi]

Derelict boats have little to do with the State's attitude towards boats and their complete ineptitude in managing the harbors. Hawaii is a 'people's republic' that plays the politics of envy to the hilt and resembles a third world country in the way the government is run. The previous governor supposedly had it in for yachties because of an imagined snub by the Waikiki Yacht Club when he was in the State Legislature. The current governor or at least the just departed administrator of the DLNR that controls harbors, siphoned off money from the harbors division for all sorts of 'eco friendly' enterprizes having nothing to do with water or boats. There is also a vocal minority of boat owners who claim a slip as a right that they shouldn't have to pay squat for, and squat in with boats that hardly ever go to sea. Add influential people with big bucks and local friends and you have slips that are supposedly public assets built with public money being sold as private resources, often with the slips being worth twice or more the boat that sits in it. Then we have the eco NAZIs who protest anything and are far too effective in halting progress with the help of the judiciary.

So, the State has let the Ala Wai boat harbor in Waikiki nearly completely fall into ruin. Keehi Lagoon is close behind the Ala Wai in condition but only the desperate would want to have a boat there in any case. Both these harbors have more slips condemned than functioning. It got so bad that there was talk of cancelling the TransPac race because they weren't sure they'd have enough viable slips for the boats. Roy Disney personally castigated the State in an open letter for what it has allowed to happen to the Ala Wai. Unfortunately, those two Oahu Marinas are just the tip of the ice berg.

Maintenance and improvements on all the State Harbors is abysmal and waiting lists gargantuan. Construction of new marinas and slips is at a complete standstill because of political indifference and the 'change nothing' attitude of the rabid environmentalists with their friends in the judiciary.

In short, In Hawaii, The State Harbors and their administration are a poster child for privatization. It's so bad that I keep my boat in California whereI can find a slip without consulting acturarial tables to determine if I'll live long enough to get it. That is if the slip hasn't fallen into the ocean by the time my number comes up.

As far as Bare Boat charters, insurance is a problem. Mistakes are often fatal here that would be an embarassment in less forgiving waters. During the winter, there are no safe anchorages outside of harbors and even some of them aren't completely safe. A 15' or 20' error in navigation can turn a boat into kindling in minutes. Sailing against the tradewinds and currents in the channels is brutal. Of course it's relatively warm water and almost always sunny so is a small improvement over the PNW. Downwind sailing with the trades is some of the most exhilerating sailing imaginable and the scenery on the windward side of the Islands, amazing. The problem is you can only really only enjoy the windward sides in the summer and once you get there, you have to turn around and buck the winds and seas getting back.

Hate to throw a wet blanket on sailing in my home waters but it has it's problems, big problems.

I'm glad Iniki was moving fast and didn't beat up Kauai. Of course a quickie DIRECT hit by a category 4 hurricane doesn't cause much damage, NOT!!!!! Almost every house on Kauai suffered major damage and EVERY water front property was totally wasted. Almost all the electric poles were ripped out of the ground and/or broken and the power lines down. All the hotels were closed, some for a year or more for repair/rebuilding. The trees that weren't blown down were almost shorn of leaves. Kauai was not a pretty site. Just talked with a guy who lived through it. His house came through the right forward quadrant hit without much damage. He went out in the yard when the eye passed over and picked up furniture and stuff that had been blown around. As the eye passed over, the wind on the opposite side of the eye switched 180 degrees and went from near calm to 120mph+ in seconds. He loaded his family in their SUV in the garage as a precaution. Fortunately he did so as the neighbors house exploded and the debris tore his house down around their car. I was in Kauai a couple of moths after Iniki and it looked like a giant scythe had leveled everything taller than 20'

Aloha
Peter O.