Birds and glows

The day started for me and our watch team at 0600 when we came up top to a serene scene with Falken motoring through the dark sea. Serene except for the birds scattered nearby, that is, invisible but not inaudible. We have yet to identify them (Falken needs a bird book!) but their mournful screeches kept us chuckling for the watch. Not being a sunrise person, the sunup today was magical for me. We are broken out into watch group doing three hours on and six off, so it’s naps and short bursts of deep sleep that keep us going. Being roused like that and getting ready in a hurry, in the dark, was rewarded just minutes later as our slice of the world miraculously brightened.

The sun brought new wind and we were soon putting up the Yankee (jib) and turning off the motor. In the middle of the watch the wind perked up even more and we were able to “pole out” the Yankee to starboard, complementing the mainsail at port, creating a nice big target to run downwind. During the rest of the day, when the wind lightened, blustered in from unseen corners, and tickled the sails, each person at the helm kept a light touch on the wheel to adjust to the rolling and weaving, eyes all the time on the glowing red dials ahead of us against which we track wind speed, heading and boat speed. 

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During the evening tradition of sharing “glums and glows” that follows the crew dinner, our Mate Ryan proclaimed it a “champagne sailing” kind of day. Blue skies for the fourth straight day (this is the San Francisco coast?) left us all feeling truly blessed to be experiencing the magnificence of a sea passage with such a great group of compatriots. The group was chock full of glows and gratitude for the pod of dolphins that changed course to come on over and check us out this afternoon, racing us at the bow before peeling off back to their regularly scheduled itinerary. One of our night watch teams heard a whale steadily breathing through its blow hole just alongside the boat for 15 minutes - I can hardly imagine how surreal and intimate the encounter was. To round out today’s wildlife report, four whales swam along with us in a bird-free sea. 

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Another highlight was Zoe’s crowd-sourced crossword puzzle completion - it’s pretty funny to hear what words people come up with! As Alex noted this evening, life goes by so fast that one of the very best things about his line of work is enjoying the passage of time in the slow lane of an ocean passage. Just enough wind to fill the sails and keep us moving forward, tuned into only to the swells and breezes.

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But by tomorrow, the green blobs in the weather sailing app indicate we’re going to pick up some significant northwesterly winds and we’ll take them ever further south to the Channel Islands latitude. We’re all super excited for the knots to climb and to see Falken really run. Till then I’ve got the midnight watch to enjoy (yes, we do all sing “Southern Cross” to ourselves and sometimes out loud when thinking about our midnight watches, not to mention “Danger Zone” when we stray into the “Danger Zone" on deck). The folks on deck right now see lights from container ships (very far away, but that’s how clear it is) heading towards and away from the L.A. shipping channel. Lots to look forward to.