Day 2
Before we left Bermuda, we studied the weather and went through all the possible routing options. In the end, with all weather models predicting northerly winds for the last three days of our trip, we decided to take the northern route. This is adding some extra miles, but hopefully we will be in a better position for the predicted northerlies.
So far, we have had two slow days with very light or sometimes even no wind at all. Luckily, the sea was as flat as it gets, without that residue swell that sometimes slaps the little wind there is out of the sails.
The crew has been patiently steering FALKEN, slowly building some speed and then keeping it up. They have done a great job, and we only had to motor when the windex stopped moving entirely. It gave everyone some time to settle into boat life and get used to helming. However, it started to get a little bit boring, and we all wished for a bit more wind.
To our delight, the weather forecast was correct: by mid-morning the wind started building and veering. FALKEN settled on a close reach with a full mainsail and yankee, slowly following the wind around until we were on course to our next waypoint. This afternoon, the wind increased even more and we put the first reef into the mainsail. FALKEN is now gliding along at 8, 9, 9 and a half knots boat speed with a constant 20-degree heel. Fantastic sailing!
Not so fantastic for our apprentice Athena, though, who is on dinner duty tonight. Cooking for 11 people whilst at a 20-degree heel is a bit painful. So we furled the yankee and hoisted the staysail. This reduced the angle of heel to a more manageable 15 degrees, and FALKEN, the fast and slippery boat she is, still powers along at 8 knots plus.
For the next 48 hours, the forecast predicts a steady Force 4 to 5 with the wind veering from the ESE to the SSW, which will allow us to sail more freely. This probably means reaching with the mainsail, staysail, and yankee—FALKEN’s favorite point of sail! Fast sailing guaranteed.
Fair winds and a following sea,
- Chris
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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.
Golden Day
The Pacific is giving us “the shimmer” - with a still flat sea seven hours out of San Francisco Bay, we’re motoring south along the shipping channel, with an hour to go to what teases now as a stunning sunset against wispy clouds. Throughout this first day of Falken 11 the sails have unfurled and been furled again as skipper Alex tries to fill them a meager breeze indeed. We’ve seen a few whales traveling along the route, and an otter that was sadly just a buoy. It’s the first open ocean sail for many of us and it’s a thrill to anticipate all the new experiences we’ll have.
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.