Big first day!
48º 33.2’ N, 124º 28.1’ W
48º 33.2’ N / 124º 28.1’ W | Trasher Bay | 07:52 Local time, 14:52 UTC
It’s been a busy last 48 hours! Crew arrived to FALKEN in Victoria on Sunday mid-day in beautiful sunshine. FALKEN had sailed down from Ketchikan, Alaska the week before and had a few days to rest. Nikki is continuing as skipper on this leg, and Lovis, our apprentice, has been onboard since Hawaii. I flew in from Sweden on Thursday and have been battling a 9 time zone jet lag since getting here. Luckily, this morning I managed to sleep until 6am!
This passage is one of our ‘All-Women passages’, something we started a few years ago. I remember so well when Nikki, Emma, and I planned the first one in 2022 on ICEBEAR, and here we are, on the other side of the world with a group of 11 amazing women ready to set sail in the big ocean!
The day started off by getting familiar onboard, unpacking some bags, going over some safety briefings—how to stay floaty, fire free, and fancy—followed by a deck walk. After a nice meal ashore at a nearby restaurant with our very entertaining waitress, James, we all crashed hard on our pillows.
I thought we had an early start the next day with a 7:30 breakfast, but most of the crew had already been up for a while, taken showers, and were sipping coffee in the cockpit! I love when you can start a passage in the sunshine, or at least not in the rain. And to be up here in Victoria, where it rarely gets hot, it is to me the perfect temperature when the sun is out!
After a quick breakfast, we left the dock at nine to head over to the fuel dock before slipping lines and leaving Victoria behind us. The wind is not due to fill in for a day or two, so we spent the first day motoring to an anchorage 50 nm up the coast. A day of motoring can sound boring and stale, but it was a day full of briefings. The crew learned how to safely operate the winches in the cockpit, and the final test was to get Angela up the mast (a few meters) to attach the main halyard. Yes, they passed the test and Angela came down safely.
Every once in a while, someone shouted “whales,” and we must have seen whales close to ten times during the day—a big treat, especially for me being from Sweden!
At 7 pm, we dropped the hook in Trasher Bay and to my delight, Lovis had dinner ready for us! I would say that’s a big first day!
- Mia
mia@59-north.com
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The Penultimate Blog from Adrienne II
After 20 days, and 3000+ nautical miles, we're back on land. The motley crew of Adrienne II, consisting of 7 happy amateurs supported by 3 professionals, have completed an epic journey many dream of but few realize. So much of this trip has been about being present - with nature, with each other, with this boat. My biggest takeaway from this trip is the amazing crossing of the ITCZ (Inter Tropical Convergence Zone). We all hope you've enjoyed the blog as much as we've enjoyed creating it.
Mother Nature, you’ve outdone yourself!
It’s been a great experience to have a non-traditional trans-Atlantic, as it’s been packed with genuinely cool features. The Doldrums!! A place sailors have been talking about for centuries. The unpredictability is what made it such an exhilarating experience. While some might be frightened or alarmed by this kind of weather, I was embodied with a sense of calm and awe. There’s something wildly beautiful about being reminded how small you are, while feeling so incredibly alive.
A Heavenly High
As you have probably figured out at this point, the drug of choice on board is, of course, celestial navigation- an art which has hooked offshore sailors for centuries. Once addicted, navigators will emerge from down below only to get their fixes two times per day, and spend the rest of their days and nights down below doing complex spherical mathematics. On Adrienne II, our skipper is our dealer. I must confess that I myself gave in to the strange urge which I’ve felt witnessing my crewmates practice this fine art, and yesterday felt an amazing sensation as I was able to wield the sextant for the first time and with it, bring down the tip of our starboard spreader to the top of our front sprayhood, presicely measuring the angle between the two (35deg, 38,8’ min). This afternoon, Naxo then showed me how to get my fix from the very sun itself - and I now fear there is no turning back.