DAY 3
After breakfast, Andy gave a magnificent weather lesson. It is so nice to see someone teach their passion to other people—it really is contagious! After that, everyone got briefed on their duties for their watches, and we proceeded to hoist anchor and head out to the open sea for our offshore phase.
The wind might have been one of the only glums for the day, failing to fill even the slightest puff, but making a stunning sight to watch. We managed to keep busy by taking sun sights, practicing reefing, and enjoying a great lasagna cooked by Mia.
Just a few hours ago, as the sun was setting down over the oily, windless sea, the breeze started picking up a little bit. We unfurled the jib, turned the engine off, and are now underway—not making a lot of way, but enjoying the peace and quiet of a very starry night.
I managed to get a sight on Vega, and I’m like a kid with a new toy taking sights on this trip. My last sights were back five years ago when I was training with my Mini 6.50, and I never really understood the bigger picture—just followed my proformas and got my plots. Having seen the way Andy teaches and explains it has really woken a passion inside of me. I never thought I was smart enough to be able to understand celestial navigation, so I’ve either become really smart in five years or it really is down to who you learn from, and I couldn’t have asked for a better teacher.
Time to put the kettle on and wake up the other watch. Signing off the Portuguese coast. — 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.