Day 3 at-seA
13º 47’ N, 031º 41’ W
February 8, 2024
2130 Ship’s Time
13º 47’ N, 031º 41’ W
Steering 270º at 8-9 knots
Groundhog day out here, in the best way. The wind remains steady from the ENE and FALKEN is smoothly making way downwind with a happy and rested crew.
Day 3 today, the day it always turns around, even for the worst of the seasick. Sara had been feeling less than 100% since the start, but props to her for continuing to stand her watches and do her stints at the helm. Tonight was her first full meal at dinner and the first time she actually felt like herself, and with a long way still to go she’ll finally get to enjoy the sailing. I’ve long said that it takes three days for everyone to acclimate to life offshore, whether seasick or not. I had my first real solid, deep sleep this morning, visiting another planet during my four-hour off watch, which felt amazing.
The showers today also felt amazing. While the evenings onboard are cool and damp, the morning watch from just after 8am through to about 1430 is brutally hot and sunny. We’ve been hiding from the sun down below when we can, with only a helmsman and one watchkeeper outside together in the hottest part of the day. So when we decided to call for showers earlier this afternoon it was a welcome announcement. We ran the watermaker all afternoon, topped up the battery charge with the engine, scrubbed the cockpit, and took turns at the stern showering in the ‘bathtub’, which offers the best view of the following seas, and hot water too.
Manot made a chicken curry for dinner tonight, with curry paste all the way from Switzerland. As I type, the Milky Way is visible overhead and the on-watch is chit-chatting in the cockpit while FALKEN keeps making the miles downwind. So far we’ve covered 469 miles since Mindelo and counting.
// Andy
andy@59-north.com
View more passage logs
People Get Ready!
The last three days have been an intense (and intensely hot) period of discovery, practice, and planning. Because Adrienne II is not a 59N boat, there's been some extra setup and coordination needed including rigging all the sails that were out for repairs before we arrived. Its been a blast working alongside the 59N team getting to help them work things out on a less familiar boat in real time. Tomorrow morning we'll run through our Person Over Board training as the final pre-departure task, cast off and head out. Can't know all that it will be, but its going to be a great adventure out in the vast world with some pretty fantastic people.
Among the Channel Islands
In the wind shadow of SoCal we had a restful night with calm conditions ghosting through smooth seas. We’re getting ourselves in position for spicy weather tonight once we round Cape Conception, the seas build and the breeze freshens. It will be an upwind sail into an acceleration zone along a formable coast with few bailout points, Morro Bay being one. The crew is really gelling with lots of smiles and laughter on deck. Monterey is in our sights!
Day Two Delights
The seas were completely glassy with a gentle swell as we approached San Clemente Island, the southernmost of the Channel Islands. Everyone jumped in and marvelled at the lovely temperature and crystal clear, indigo-colored water. Before long the wind started to pick up, and we happily unfurled the jib and were sailing again. The afternoon has been gorgeous, cruising along at 5-6 kts, close hauled on a port tack in a gentle breeze, Catalina Island in the distance on our starboard side, and everyone is happy.