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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Cast off the lines
When we awoke it was overcast but the Brazilian sun quickly burned the clouds away and we were left with blue skies. We reviewed some safety procedures, cleaned the boat and had an exciting Person Overboard (POB) recovery. Once we were underway spirits soared as we pointed the bow toward the Canary Islands. As I write this we are heading upwind and dealing with all that involves, and working into our first watches. It is hot, a bit bumpy but we are sailing!!
People Get Ready!
The last three days have been an intense (and intensely hot) period of discovery, practice, and planning. Because Adrienne II is not a 59N boat, there's been some extra setup and coordination needed including rigging all the sails that were out for repairs before we arrived. Its been a blast working alongside the 59N team getting to help them work things out on a less familiar boat in real time. Tomorrow morning we'll run through our Person Over Board training as the final pre-departure task, cast off and head out. Can't know all that it will be, but its going to be a great adventure out in the vast world with some pretty fantastic people.
Among the Channel Islands
In the wind shadow of SoCal we had a restful night with calm conditions ghosting through smooth seas. We’re getting ourselves in position for spicy weather tonight once we round Cape Conception, the seas build and the breeze freshens. It will be an upwind sail into an acceleration zone along a formable coast with few bailout points, Morro Bay being one. The crew is really gelling with lots of smiles and laughter on deck. Monterey is in our sights!