Day 1
15º 31’ N, 060º 43’ W
28 February 2024
0941 Ship’s Time
15º 31’ N, 060º 43’ W
Steering 350º at 9-10 Kts.
I’ve forgotten what it feels like to heel over. And to reef. For over 2,000 miles across the Atlantic, FALKEN was flat, sailing downwind under full sail for nearly 11 days. No rain, no squalls, no reefing, wind never above about 18 knots. That all changed last night!
We departed Barbados at about 1620, sailing off the mooring ball without ever starting the engine. The weather was nice, the haze had cleared, and we set full sail as we pointed the bow to the NNW, bound towards St. Barth’s about 340 miles distant. Some puffy clouds gave way to bigger, blacker, rainier clouds, and as the sun set, the odd shower made rainbows in the distance but missed us on FALKEN.
I was extra tired, always am when we depart at the end of a long day of briefings. Most of the time on these passages, the day crew arrive and the first full day onboard is dedicated to getting to know the boat and her systems and going through all the safety, navigating, and weather briefings we do on each trip. But being that this is a shorter, island-hopping trip, we were eager to get underway and maximize our time cruising in the Caribbean, so a Day 2 departure was in the cards.
As night fell and the moon rose, the ‘normal’ tradewind conditions I’m used to in the Caribbean settled in. Gustier winds, dark clouds that either stole our breeze or redirected it, heading us off course, and some bigger waves headed our way. By 2230 the wind was up into the 20s and I jumped out of bed to help Alex and the on-deck crew tuck in a few reefs in the mainsail and roll up part of the yankee. Before midnight we had FALKEN settled in and settled down, still making 9-10 knots with reduced sail through a beautiful moonlit night.
And that’s where we stand this morning, still cruising along on a beam-reach, reefed down and chomping up the miles, averaging well over 8 knots. In another 40 miles or so we’ll pass between the big island of Guadaloupe and the smaller outcrop known as Desirade, then be able to bear away some 20º or so and point the bow towards St. Barth’s. While the goal of this passage is to wind up in Antigua, we’ll actually sail right past the island and continue NNW. The trades are forecast to bend to the NE later in the week, so we’re hoping that the 90 miles back to Antigua can be laid on one tack, but we shall see. After crossing an ocean dead-downwind, it feels good to have the wind forward of the beam for once and FALKEN with a bone in her teeth.
// Andy
andy@59-north.com
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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.