Day 1
34 02.3N 63 16.5W
Sunday, May 26, 2024
34 02.3N 63 16.5W
A little under 24 hours ago, we slipped the lines from the fuel dock in St. George’s, Bermuda. The excitement amongst the crew was palpable, and it didn’t take much to get a departure picture filled with bright smiles. We knew that we’d have to deal with light weather for a little over a day, but the engine didn’t stay on very long as we’ve been sailing along in a gentle 7-10 kts breeze on a NE course. Perfect conditions to softly ease into the experience. And it doesn’t take much to get FALKEN gliding; I’m always impressed when I see strong boats transform into what seems like featherweights at the lightest touch of air.
Pretty soon we’ll have our second lunch of the crossing, couscous salad. And as we’re going to start doing things for a second time, watching a second sunset, the novelty of the departure will slowly give way to the routine that will be our little universe on FALKEN for the coming days. What a life!
- Manot
ManotBerger
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Quadruple digits!
We are still headed north away from Hawaii, though today we have started to veer ever so slightly east. Speaking of miles, we hit quadruple digits today and are currently 1051 nms into our journey to Alaska. The sea state continues to calm down, and the famous North Pacific high is just out of our reach. The next few days will be a delicate dance of riding the outskirts of the high while avoiding the pesky low pressure systems that are dancing nearby. In his very wise words, we need to get north but not too far north, stay south but not too far south, continue heading east but not too far east, and avoid going west but also stay west.
The basics
Nordic Falken and her crew have been in a steady course of NNW since the departure of Hawaii. But! The good thing of all of this is that the promised land on which the high pressure lies has been getting closer and closer, meaning in a couple of days we're gonna see the wind slowly veer all the way to the South, which finally should see us easing the sails and remembering the basics of human nature all over again. The crew have been amazing and we've had everyone come around to push through fatigue, seasickness and soaking wet clothes. On another note we left the tropics a while ago and we can really feel the shift of temperature, long gone are the shorts and foulies have been the norm. Not much more apart from this, my intolerance to upwind sailing still pretty much alive but doing it with a bunch of such amazing human beings makes it worth it worthwhile.
Pacific pace
After some initial adversity, we untied our lines and left the beautiful island of O'ahu behind as we set sail north on an adventure of a lifetime. And that is exactly what we are - a family of strangers brought together by a passion for sailing and a love for the sea. The passage, while at its infancy, has delivered. The wind and seas, stars and sails all set the stage for a fantastic journey. We will see you on the other side with many stories to tell.