Day 10
June 4, 2024 | 16:30 UTC
The last 20 hours have been underlined by the low hum of FALKEN’s engine. In the end, our luck ran out, as we caught up with that no wind zone we had been expecting to reach at any moment for a few days now. This night will be our last night at sea; we are expecting to make landfall in Horta sometime tomorrow afternoon. The excitement is again palpable, as I think everyone is looking forward to a nice little stroll, a warm shower, and a fresh beverage somewhere surrounded by those earthy things—plants, stones, soil. But for now, we have this last day and night to take it all in. The big blue, all around us, water and sky.
We have had some fabulous nights on this crossing: dark skies allowing us to see the Milky Way in great detail, along with many nebulae, star clusters, and galaxies (all visible to the naked eye), and of course, thousands of satellites, which make the sky feel strangely futuristic compared to the skies of my childhood. FALKEN, gliding effortlessly from one continent to another under a hyper-modern, space-age night sky, using millennia-old technology. Seems to me like we are exactly at the right place at the right time.
- Manot
ManotBerger
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Seasickness
But maybe, I thought, with some drugs I could stay ahead of it. The first 48 hours I felt horrible. But luckily with 3 health care professionals on board and in a very encouraging environment, my body found its way. Anyway, someone offered me a patch (unavailable in Canada) and someone else gave me some pills for nausea and now I feel much, much better.
Dolphins and Bioluminescence
We had a good run with the sails but weather has changed and we are once again chasing the wind. Everyone is getting a chance to practice helming in big swell; starting to get a feel of the wind and water and how it pushes and pulls the hull. A pod of dolphins came to visit at night, splashing in the bioluminescent water, and again in the day, dancing in the bow wake. For now enjoying the calmer sea state and falling asleep to the rumble of the engine and the gentle whooshing of the water on the hull.
Greetings from Lala Lemonshark
The brave crew is toughing it out and staying cheerful despite being tossed around. The engine is off and we are true sailing-main and jib. In the first 12 hours we saw two pods of Orca and four humpback whales, two of which were 20 yards off the starboard beam!