Ocean Echo 1: Passage from Fiji to Tuvalu and Marshall Islands

Dear Friends. April 2015

I would like to apologize for my very late update. There have been a lot of things happening in my life lately with some unexpected changes to future direction.
Most of you know by now, that Ocean Echo 1 has ended her journey at Majuro Atoll in Marshall Islands. I will share most of the details with you later in this blog.

Passage from Fiji to Tuvalu and Majuro Atoll - 2014
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First I will go back to my passage from Fiji to Tuvalu and Majuro Atoll. It turned out to be quite difficult to sail away from clutches of Fiji islands. The wind seemed to be against me where ever I tried to sail for several days. Eventually I got into more consistent winds and started slow passage North towards Equator. I have sailed near French island of Futuna. A few atolls have passed by, before I entered pass into Funafuti Atoll of Tuvalu. It is illegal for the sailboat to stop at any atolls before official clearance into Tuvalu at Funafuti. By now I was about 8 degrees South of Equator, which means frequent squalls, lighter winds and fairly smooth seas. Receiving satellite images 2 times a day from NOAA is very good help for estimating activity of the squalls over night. These satellite images are received via good old weather fax system from Hawaii.
Tuvalu, Funafuti Atoll turned out to be very enjoyable place to visit with very friendly people. I was looking forward to visit Tuvalu again on the way South in April/May. I have visited local Meteo station - Weather office near the airport. We have shared some info on available satellite images and grib file providers. Couple of officers ended up visiting my sailboat before I left Funafuti. They were interested to see our navigating instruments and communications devices. Funny thing about Funafuti. When there is an airplane departing Funafuti, local fire truck comes by the runway and turns on sirens to say "good by - good luck". Some huge coral fields are found around remote islets and passes into the lagoon. It is interesting to learn about different kinds of corals at higher or lower latitudes, due to sea water temperature and nutrients flow. I have seen thousands of baby tunas in these waters near Equator.
Next passage was to Equator and back to Northern hemisphere after a few years. Squalls were getting more frequent, but light winds made passage very slow. I have decided not to stop by Tarawa Atoll at Kiribati, when I sailed close to it. Weather forecast looked decent to continue North. I would be sailing back this way again at the end of Southern cyclone season anyway. I have experienced very strong Equatorial counter current 2 times, which ended up pushing me East of my planned route. This situation have canceled my effort of arriving to Majuro Atoll by Friday morning for official entry before the weekend. Very wild afternoon squall has happened during that weekend. Sky turned almost black (darkest gray), sea water looked purple instead of dark blue. Rain and hail were flying horizontally at about 45-50 knots (90-100 km/h) for about 40 minutes. I had to linger offshore for 3 days, before timing my arrival to Majuro Atoll by Monday early morning. How ever pure bad luck have changed everything!!!

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Ocean Echo 1

The end of her journey - 24th November 2014.

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I would like to say - THANK YOU - to Christine Kling, Wayne Hodgins, Cary and Karen Everts and many others for huge help and support, when I needed it the most!!

Christine’s story:

http://writeonthewater.com/?p=15768

Wayne’s story:

http://learnativity.typepad.com/living_learning_aboard_th/2014/12/thanks-for-this-weeks-awemazing-emotional-roller-coaster-ride-jj.html

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Hi Guys December 2014

First I would like to send many Thanks to all the people who have helped me and supported me during my unfortunate situation at Majuro Atoll, Marshall Islands.

My bad luck has happened around 4 am on approach to Majuro passage, which is a few hundred meters wide and minimal depth is 4 meters. I was busy downstairs getting some things organized for arrival to Majuro Atoll and official clearance. The boat has been steered by electronic steering – course computer. Suddenly I have heard the crash and realized, that the boat is being pushed onto “Enemakij” Island shore by the waves. I did have some issues in the past few months with mentioned electronic steering unit, which was under warranty. Couple of emails and voice recordings, which were sent to my family and friends in April and June 2014 are mentioning some serious problems with the course computer. Steering computer would turn suddenly to left or right, without any external command or input. I have mentioned in these emails and voice files, that I do not trust this course computer and it is very scary situation, since it did happened a few times already. The boat was not insured, because it is hard to find insurance coverage for single/solo sailor/crew. I am trying to find a layer who would advice me on how to file the claim against manufacturer of the steering system, which was under warranty. It is a complicated situation and I almost lost my life. I have activated Satellite emergency unit and call May Day on VHF radio for a few hours. I have received a lot of help and support from local residents and cruisers/yachties. I have given – transferred the boat ownership to island owners, when I have learned, that it would be difficult to drag her back to open water. There was absolutely no damage to environment or coral reef, because the boat has been pushed on flat part of the shore at high tide. We have removed any fuels and other liquids from the boat right the way. That was the first priority. We have found punctured hole in the side of the hull, which was allowing sea water to flood inside the boat at higher tide. Family members who own the island were happy with the deal and they told me, that they will try to fix the boat later or make a diving spot with her inside the lagoon.
It is an unfortunate situation for me, but I am just happy to be alive. I am slowly putting my life back together in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
I would like to apologize to all of you, who have sent me an emails, for not responding for a while. I did have to take care of some very important issues first.

Thank you all for help and support. Wishing you all Happy Holidays and All the best in a New Year.

Warm regards. JJ – Jara – Holcman s/v Ocean Echo 1

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I will be updating this blog time to time with some interesting subjects in the future.

Please, excuse my poor writing skills and grammar. Google translate does good job converting text to other languages.

I hope, that you have found something interesting in this blog in the past.

Jara (JJ) Holcman s/v Ocean Echo 1

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