Specifications
Length over all: 36 feet.
Length at the water line: 32 feet.
Beam: 10 feet.
Hull design: modified fin and spade rudder.
Displacement: 14,000 pounds.
Construction: glass re-enforced plastic.
Draft: 4.5 feet.
Ballast: 5,500 pounds.
Sailing rig: Sloop with a mast height of 52 feet.
Working sails: main and 110% Genoa  jib.
Storm sails: Tri sail and storm jib.
Auxiliary power: 24 HP Faryman diesel.
Electrical power is stored in two 125 Amp-hour batteries and provided by two 75 Watt solar panels and a 65 Amp engine mounted generator.
Fuel capacity is 42 gallons with 10 more carried on deck.
Fresh water capacity is 35 gallons with another 25 carried on deck and replenished by a 1.5 gallon per hour water maker.
Navigation equipment includes two GPS units, LORAN C, RADAR, SONAR (depth sounder), computer chart plotter, two auto pilots, and traditional celestial navigation equipment.
Theoretical hull speed is 7.5 knots, cruising speed is 5 knots.The Ship and Crew

KAIULANI is a Cascade 36 designed by Yacht Constructors, Inc (now Cascade Yachts, Inc) in Portland, Oregon. She was built in their yards and launched in 1980. The original owner was not a sailor, but motored to Alaska before selling her and "cruising" the US mainland with a motor home. "Tala", as she was originally named was bought by Mark and Carol Balcom in early 1985 and outfitted for sailing in Columbia River and Pacific Ocean waters. November saw her commissioned and renamed "Kaiulani" after some upgrading.  Almost complete rewiring and re-plumbing were required. In the years to follow she was extensively upgraded with the addition of electronic navigation systems and was sailed to Newport, Oregon on a number of occasions and to Barkley Sound on Vancouver Island once. Many days have been spent on the Columbia River from Astoria to St. Helens on a regular basis.

Carol enjoys family day sails with friends and hosting dinner cruises but does not participate in long distance cruising. She, however, is the most dependable, and critical, of the crew (first mate) as far as maintenance is concerned. Kaiulani is definitely her boat, even though she claims otherwise.

Mark Balcom, the captain, is a United States Power Squadron member (full certificate) and instructor, holds an FCC First Class commercial radio operator's license and an (expired) US Coast Guard Master's license, among other credentials. This will be his second trip to Hawaii, having returned last time by himself.

Katrina, the first officer, is also a USPS member with a Seamanship rating. She has been Mark's sailing partner for 6 years, starting with a trip from Astoria to St Helens. Katrina has sailed from Astoria to Hood River and back to St Helens as well as to Hilo Hawaii in 2003.

Martin's first sailing experience was the trip to Hawaii in 2003. He is a "natural" at boat handling and was a very fast learner. He is the cook for this trip. Martin will be attending a school at the Volcano Observatory while the rest of the crew are sight seeing this time.

AnnaLee is the new crew member, another USPS member just completing the Seamanship class. She has spent  time this spring becoming familiar with the boat and the navigation equipment. Anchor handling, steering under both power and sail and RADAR orientation as well as line handling have been the subjects of her on board training. She will serve as the assistant navigator (her hat actually says "NAVIGATOR" on it) as she has shown interest in both the computer programs and the more traditional computation methods. Because of scheduling conflicts she will be returning by air this time.

Watch standing will be 3 hours on and 9 off on the trip over and 3 on with 6 off returning. Someone must be at the helm at all times, 24 hours a day, even though the auto pilot will be steering. Sail trim, course keeping, floating hazards, other traffic, battery levels,and a number of other details must be constantly monitored for a safe passage.

Addendum: For the return to Oregon, Susan is replacing AnnaLee who is flying back  due to time issues. Susan provides the following nautical biography :
"I learned to crew the Adventuress (a 100' schooner in the Puget Sound) about 10 years ago, and have been on her (a few days at a time) a few additional times since then. I was also a guest for a week on a sailboat in Greece about 10 years ago, but there wasn't enough wind to sail, so we just motored from island to island. I enjoyed my time aboard the boat, but there was never any work to our "sailing". We didn't even have to stand watch because we were in port every night.
 
"I have been boning up on nautty terminology, so expect to be able to swear like a sailor by the time I get to Hawaii. In addition, I've been reading the little "Skipper Saver" booklet put out by the U.S. Power Squadrons and thus am reminded of how much I've forgotten, as well as how much I never learned. It has a fine little section to help me review my First Aid and CPR skills. In short, I hope, and expect, to learn a lot on the boat.
 
"My father was a merchant marine whose first "sail" was to China at the age of 17. So, while I have sailed only a very few times in my life, I grew up hearing about his adventures, and reading about the sea. This is my first "blue water" opportunity.  I sure hope I like it!"