Day 4 At-sea
January 26, 2024
Another day is coming to an end as we watch the glare of the sun disappear through the sandy haze in the air. Life has been much quieter the last day, with the wind disappearing completely and the engine making an entrance. The good news about having the engine is the white noise it creates down below, meaning everyone has had a good sleep and spirits and energies are flying high.
The highlight of today has to be the stuff happening on deck. We all had a good clean and showered with the deck shower, and immediately after we witnessed a couple of whales coming to say hi. After that, we had different lessons on trimming followed by a delicious dinner. The deck team did great washing the deck down and tackling the sand that has been basically everywhere the last few days. Everything that once was white is now orange, and I cannot wait to give FALKEN a very well-deserved wash down in Cape Verde!
Our current ETA is Sunday morning, so only a couple of nights of enjoying the hazy sky and the wildlife before we arrive back to the “normal” world.
- Alex
laline96@gmail.com
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Cast off the lines
When we awoke it was overcast but the Brazilian sun quickly burned the clouds away and we were left with blue skies. We reviewed some safety procedures, cleaned the boat and had an exciting Person Overboard (POB) recovery. Once we were underway spirits soared as we pointed the bow toward the Canary Islands. As I write this we are heading upwind and dealing with all that involves, and working into our first watches. It is hot, a bit bumpy but we are sailing!!
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!