day 5
October 5, 2024, 10:35 UTC | Day 5
Well, the winds picked up last night and saw us reduce sail to 2 reefs in the main and the staysail, yet FALKEN still flew on, often making 9 knots over the ground. We have been very fortunate that the sea state remains relatively kind, and despite some water across the decks, the hull continues to lap up the conditions and forge ahead towards Lagos. The sky did leak a little last night, yet the temperature on board continues to rise, making for some sweaty crew and making the thought of a shower even more tantalizing. By midday tomorrow, we should pass Lisbon, and then it's just one more corner until a well-earned beer or two. Once again into the night.
- Emily
Mission Control update: FALKEN’s YB tracker decided to go for a swim in the middle of the night, meaning the position on the map has been stuck for the last 24 hours. We will be updating the map manually every 12 hours so don’t worry if they’re not moving for a while! Everyone onboard is loving the passage and having a blast. FALKEN’s ETA to Lagos is early hours of tomorrow morning (UTC).
- Alex
EmilyCaruso
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Turning the corner
Yesterday found Falken on a Northward course, still heeled to port, climbing and falling over waves. Sunrise this morning found Falken in an entirely different condition, one familiar to her, but not yet to the current crew. And then a truly magic moment, a pod of dolphins at least fifty members strong came to dance on Falken’s bow wave. We are now joyfully headed northeast, on course toward our eventual destination of Prince Rupert. Falken has turned a corner.
Onwards and upwards
Today is set to be the calmest day of our trip so far, waves subdued, wind veering off more south-east, light clouds. What an exhilarating ride it has been, beating upwind non-stop directly north for 6 straight days! What ahead of us is a mostly downwind sail to Prince Rupert, but a very exciting one. This makes it an interesting few days going fast and closely watching the weather, and I’m very much looking forward to it. The crew is happy, everyone seems to be getting good rest, enjoying watches and time in between.
Quadruple digits!
We are still headed north away from Hawaii, though today we have started to veer ever so slightly east. Speaking of miles, we hit quadruple digits today and are currently 1051 nms into our journey to Alaska. The sea state continues to calm down, and the famous North Pacific high is just out of our reach. The next few days will be a delicate dance of riding the outskirts of the high while avoiding the pesky low pressure systems that are dancing nearby. In his very wise words, we need to get north but not too far north, stay south but not too far south, continue heading east but not too far east, and avoid going west but also stay west.