February 22, Day 15 | Mid-Atlantic Pizza Shop! Day 13…? Or something like that. The days fly by as we sit in shorts and sunglasses, basking in the sun and listening to music. The weather has really been on our side. Apart from the high pressure with no wind, we are now forcing our way through by engine. On the other hand, it feels like a little sun holiday in the middle of the Atlantic—not bad for us coming from the North.
The morning watch was nicely visited by 15-20 dolphins who seemed to enjoy Adrianne's company. When the wind lets us down, we find other joys. Besides nice music on deck, we usually discover treats in the kitchen’s hiding places, with a little help from hidden talents like Vegard fixing pancakes for breakfast and Ken baking the best pizzas a few hours later—all in an oven that passed its best a few decades ago.
The night that passed was really dark. Now the old man in the moon has disappeared for a while, and last night some stars tried to act as a night light but didn’t get very far with it. With that said, we have now done a safety check on deck, gone through sheets and lines, fittings and blocks—all before the downhill race we hope to have in the last 24 hours, starting Monday morning.
It now feels like we are a slightly bigger dot on the map as we slowly approach the GC with 530 NM to go! GC—here we come!
Jacob Gellerstam, Crew Adrianne
crew@59-north.com
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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.