Day 1 at-sea
15º 09’ N, 026º 22’ W
February 7, 2024
0536 Ship’s Time
15º 09’ N, 026º 22’ W
Steering 215º at about 8 knots
The tiniest sliver of moon is rising in the southeast, creating a surprisingly bright light in the hazy air. The Southern Cross constellation is aligned perfectly with the end of the poled-out jib, making it easy for the helmspeople to steer a straight course. The wind is up a touch, and it’s smooth sailing to the SSW.
We left Mindelo in a dusty haze around 1000 after a leisurely breakfast and after checking off the last of the pre-departure items. I had been feeling less anxious than ever in the few days prior, but those moments leaving the dock always get my heart beating with that special combination of nerves and excitement. A few hundred yards from the dock, after stowing lines and fenders, we hoisted the mainsail and bore away onto a broad reach and out into the channel between Sao Vincente and Santo Antao, and with that we were off.
As expected, the winds built in the channel and by noon FALKEN was surfing down waves and touching 14 knots, with just the mainsail set. Windspeeds topped 30+ in the sharp acceleration zone where the gentle trades are squeezed between the high peaks of the neighboring islands and shot out like a cannon. Whitecaps were all around us, flying fish scurrying out of the way of our bow wave. The steering was challenging, especially right off the bat, but everyone got a turn on the helm and did well. A few hours later we left the strongest winds behind, set the jib tops’l on the pole, and moseyed off to the WSW on port tack. Manot served up the traditional first-night-at-sea lasagne and the watches began.
As I type, we’re getting ready to jibe onto starboard tack and start making some westing on what will be our preferred tack. The weather forecast shows the steadiest tradewinds remain around 13-14º N latitude, so we put some southing in right off the bat. So while it appears that we’re headed well off course on the chart, it’s actually part of our routing strategy. We expect to be able to stay on starboard tack now for several days in a gentle band of NE’ly breeze.
Jibing the downwind rig is a whole process, with poles, preventers, and guylines strewn about the foredeck and the cockpit. We’ll save that description for a later blog. For now, we’ll wait for the first glow of daylight and the watch change to jibe this ship around.
— Andy
andy@59-north.com
View more passage logs
Ketch us if you Kan
Falken is soon to carry on our preferred route of South, back to (hopefully) warmer climates. We’re all excited to set off and see more of this wild landscape as we head down to Victoria. A thermal trough over Vancouver combined with an offshore high pressure creating funneling NW’ly winds means it is due to be pretty fruity on the 9th. This passage is just under 600 miles, relatively short for Falken, but I’m sure we’ll be kept entertained with dramatic scenery, wildlife and weather!
Final Blog
Falken and her crew arrived safely into port last night around 8pm boat time, 10pm Prince Rupert time. Some spicy weather was anticipated, but luckily the 35kt gusts and 2.5 meter waves were no match for this expert crew. We had an exceptionally smooth docking, despite it being Alex's first time parking this year (!). We all agreed that this was a very special group of people—I for one am so impressed with how everyone stayed so positive, helpful, and appreciative of humor despite an arguably challenging passage. We'll all return home significantly saltier than we were when we left, a mark of a passage properly sailed.
Lessons and a Gift
The biggest lesson is the helm. The lesson here is that even if you don't think you can do it over and over again with no sleep, cold and damp, it has to be done and so it can be done. Flying fish are cool, dolphins are really really cool, but the coolest of them all are the whales. And most of all Alex: "Find your center Carla. Always know where your center is so you can come back to it". He means the helm but it applies to life as well.