Well, very nice discussion here. Mike, your description of Hanalei Bay as an anchorage is an eye-opener, but welcome. Cruising guides tend to sugar coat. Nice to have first hand, long time experience weigh in.
And to Bob's point, it is a race. Which brings to mind an issue I have been wondering about. Morning Star has a nice fat CQR hanging out on a big bow roller, with 200' of all-chain rode in a chain locker at the forepeak. That's an awful lot of weight at the extreme forward end of the boat. I hope to bury all that as low and as close to the center of the boat as possible, once I have the boat up to SF. What I don't know is what it might be like trying to put the ground tackle back in place. Is that something one does out to sea before the finish? That doesn't sound like fun, or conducive to maintaining boat speed to the end. On the other hand, unless one is finishing in daylight, with a decent-sized boat ready to accept a raft-up, how do you deal with it after the finish? Curious as to what the collective wisdom is on this. Do people tend to race across the Pacific with ground tackle at the bow the whole time? Or do you stow it all below and figure out how to deal with it as you approach the island, based on anticipated arrival time and conditions?
Lee
s/v Morning Star
Valiant 32