Day 2
Another day is coming to an end as we watch the sunset go down over the horizon. The good news is that FALKEN is still doing over 9 knots, which means we've done another 210 nautical miles+ day! The bad news is that we're still going upwind... that's right, ever since we left Cuba we've been on a hill—sleeping on an angle, cooking on an angle, socialising on an angle. The crew have been loving it though, and the smooth sea state is what's allowing us to have such great averages.
Chris and I are very excited for the upcoming days and the long-promised forecast for the wind to slowly start veering... only time will tell! In other news, we have experienced a couple of little squalls, everyone has had a shower, and rainbows have been spotted. It's also great to see how no one is suffering from the green monster, even on this constant angle!
I cooked a bolognese tonight and we had lovely discussions about how people eat their spaghetti over dinner. Thank God there aren't any Italians onboard! Much love to everyone! May the 4th be with you from onboard the Millennium Falken.
- Alex
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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.