DAY 2
This morning we woke up at anchor just off the beach and cliffs in Sagres. Usually, the crew struggles to get a good night's sleep the first night—new noises, a bit of nerves, and new crewmates. By the second night, though, most crew sleep like a rock.
Yesterday was the first morning for the crew onboard. Bob has sailed with us earlier this year, and James has already signed up for a trans-Atlantic with us in 2024, but for the rest of the crew, this is all new. After a long morning of safety briefs, we left the docks at Lagos Marina and went out on a day sail to search for the wind. The forecast said no wind, but to our surprise, we had a great afternoon tacking our way over to Sagres. As soon as we got underway and realized we actually had wind, we switched from our big genoa to our smaller jib. Even though it was calm with just a small swell, it still takes quite a bit of time and effort.
The aim was to have the anchor down before sunset at 5:30, but things always take longer and the anchor was down by seven. On our way in, I cooked dinner, and as soon as the boat was put away, we had a nice taco dinner at anchor. Andy made the comment that when you arrive in the dark, it is fun to wake up the next morning and see where you are. Well, this morning we were swamped in fog and could barely see the bow of the boat.
Alex led the morning swim parade. He claimed the water was 17-18 degrees, Knut thought it could not have been more than 13. We settled on a nice 16°C water temperature—nice and refreshing. MOB practice is something we do at the start of every passage; it’s something you cannot practice enough. Karina volunteered to be the rescue swimmer this morning, and Bob (our dummy, not crewmember Bob) went over the side.
We got the anchor up about an hour ago, but today there is truly a mirror on the water and not a breath of wind. Andy is giving a navigation and weather chat, and when we get back to anchor again, we’ll look at the route for the rest of the week and where to go to find the wind. The plan is to lift anchor tomorrow mid-morning and head out for three days non-stop.
— Mia
andy@59-north.com
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Turning the corner
Yesterday found Falken on a Northward course, still heeled to port, climbing and falling over waves. Sunrise this morning found Falken in an entirely different condition, one familiar to her, but not yet to the current crew. And then a truly magic moment, a pod of dolphins at least fifty members strong came to dance on Falken’s bow wave. We are now joyfully headed northeast, on course toward our eventual destination of Prince Rupert. Falken has turned a corner.
Onwards and upwards
Today is set to be the calmest day of our trip so far, waves subdued, wind veering off more south-east, light clouds. What an exhilarating ride it has been, beating upwind non-stop directly north for 6 straight days! What ahead of us is a mostly downwind sail to Prince Rupert, but a very exciting one. This makes it an interesting few days going fast and closely watching the weather, and I’m very much looking forward to it. The crew is happy, everyone seems to be getting good rest, enjoying watches and time in between.
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.