Day 3
Saturday, May 5, 2024
Another day of stunning sailing onboard the good ship FALKEN. It has been fascinating to witness the change of temperature since our departure from Cuba. Although the sun has been present every day since then, it has clearly cooled down to a lovely temperature, even needing a hoodie at night! We're still upwind and we're still very quick. Today we crossed our halfway point of the trip and we only have a little less than 600 nautical miles to go—just as far as a Fastnet Race.
This morning we were very fortunate to witness an incredible moonrise followed by an even more stunning sunrise! We have also been very lucky with the stars and we've been stargazing every single night, identifying different constellations and learning about different stories and mythology.
Everyone onboard is doing great and the helming has been super smooth; everyone has definitely qualified for upwind helming! Hopefully, on tomorrow's blog I can tell you all about the beautiful downwind sailing that is coming...
- Alex
laline96@gmail.com
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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.