BONUS SAILING
29º 30’ N, 115º 55’ W
23:21 Ship’s Time
Motoring (Again)
The wind filled in between 1100-1200 today, right on schedule with the GFS weather model, and by lunchtime we were sailing. We knew this passage would be motor-on, motor-off, in fits and starts, but we didn’t expect 15+ knots of NW wind today. Beautiful bonus sailing for nearly 12 hours, FALKEN finally getting to stretch her legs after a long layover in California.
While we might have some complaints about the lack of wind, we can’t complain about the weather. Daytime was ideal today, clear sunny skies and temps in the high 60s, warm enough to be comfortable, but cool enough where the sun feels nice on your skin. Inside the boat is a bit cooler thanks to the water temps, making for perfect sleeping weather off-watch. We’re pretty far offshore now, but the mountains on BAJA are still visible in daytime, poking above the marine layer of clouds and taller than I expected.
We found a few gremlins today, as you do on almost every passage. First was the port Lewmar 66 secondary winch. As we were rigging the preventer, the winch was making an awfully unhappy grinding noise, even though it did seem to be working properly. A quick investigation when we pulled the drum off was inconclusive, but when we compared it to the normal-sounding starboard 66, it became clear - the inside of the drum, where it rides on the bearing races around the bronze winch base is badly worn, and a few of the teeth on the drum that engage with the drive gears are worn and broken. The winch drum wobbles on its base, and while it works, it’s continuing to try to grind itself to death. I’m hoping that a good machine shop in La Paz can bore out the worn drum and sleeve it with aluminum or delrin to get us going in the short-term while Adam has time to source a new winch drum. Oftentimes in these far-flung places where it’s hard to get parts, the machine shops are excellent, having to make-do with whatever they have on hand. We shall see.
The new gremlin showed its face when I recommissioned the watermaker. It had been stored back in November with the storage chemical, so you’ve got to flush the system for at least an hour before pressurising it and making water again. I did that, and once we were up and running, one of the feed pumps kept cutting on and off again. I recall having this happen before. Turns out the positive wire on the on/off switch, which is held in place with a blade connector, was loose. The connection was so bad and the wire so hot because of it that it had started to melt the shrink wrap on the connector. Thankfully that was a quick fix before the thing completely melted off. Secured back in place, it’s not hot anymore.
And so it goes…look for small problems, fix them, repeat. Such is life offshore.
In other news, the food continues to be a hit, and we’ve got ample time and a flat galley in which to cook. Eggs were on hand for breakfast courtesy Lee and Ryan, Mary made a beautiful tomato salad with homemade croutons, and we had frittata for dinner (because you can’t have too many eggs in a day).
If there’s any solace in motoring through the night, it’s definitely the stars (and the electric dolphins, which have made their return again tonight). I’ll never get sick of the stars out here.
// Andy
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A last hurrah
Under the dome of stars in a moon-less sky, each of us during our time at the helm used the most rudimentary celestial navigation, keeping a star or two lined up with the mast as a helper to following the heading range. It was a whole crew event to set the spinnaker, reef the mainsail and practice the heave-to in case of man overboard. Alex stressed that the key to success in all of these crucial activities is preparation. It was hugely satisfying to accomplish these tasks through teamwork. We share a constant good hearted back and forth full of stories, one-liners and comebacks that also means constant laughter.
One little bird!
Falken has almost rounded the Channel Islands and is cruising along splendidly about 100 miles offshore. Though several models predicted some slightly fresher winds today, we were met with a consistent 18-20 kts of pure bliss. It seems that from the moment we left the dock in San Francisco, there has been much laughter and conversation amongst everyone. The plan is to gybe in a few hours and begin our approach to Ensenada. As much as I do appreciate the jokes and intellectual musings, I equally appreciate the natural, silent moments we share at night, all of us on watch gazing up above to the shooting stars, constellations, and planets putting on their quiet show.
Birds and glows
The sun brought new wind and we were soon putting up the Yankee (jib) and turning off the motor. 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. 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. 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.