Day 4
July 9, 2024 | Day 4 At Sea | Passing 59º North
Yesterday we sailed north beyond 59N to just over 60N before changing course towards the Fair Isle Channel between Orkney and Shetland. This was so that we could get a good tack through the channel. Sadly for us, this is a windward trip all the way so far. Maybe we will have a reach across the North Sea? If we ask Neptune kindly?
There has been much talk about tides, planning, and calculations to assess the tide going through the channel. But at the end of the day, we will arrive when we arrive and we can’t change that. We have also been following the grid files closely; strong winds are forecast for our final few days crossing the North Sea. Let’s hope that this does not turn into a gale.
On a more domestic note, cooking has been a theme of this trip with the crew cooking yummy breakfasts and lunches for their watches. We have eaten 8 dozen eggs! Not to forget Manot’s amazing bread and brownies.
The crew are now experienced at reducing sail and manoeuvres are going smoothly. It’s amazing to think back to our departure from Galway and everyone struggling to learn the ropes of this new boat.
On a personal note, it is so good to be back at sea. We are only just getting into the rhythm; it’s going to come to an end far too soon. Can we just keep on going please?
Before crew look forward to making landfall in Norway, we have one more challenge: to cross the North Sea to Norway. Let’s hope we have fair winds.
- Jojo Pickering, Skipper S/Y FALKEN
JoJoPickering
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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.