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
View more passage logs
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.