Ship’s Time: 0214
13º 14.349 N, 035º 32.445 W
Steering 280º at 8-9 knots
It is the start of day 5, which is officially the longest I have ever sailed at one time without seeing land. I am Captain Jen, normally a skipper of one of the two schooners, Woodwind and Woodwind II in Annapolis, MD. This is also my first trans-Atlantic crossing.
Tonight (slightly after midnight), under wing and wing sailing, it feels more like we are sailing through the night sky than sailing through the water. There is a mesmerizing ocean swell that is rocking everyone to sleep below. On deck, for me, is this weird sail plan of the mainsail that is safely prevented almost all the way out on one side (think of a right triangle with the top pointing up to Orion), while the high-footed jib, aka “blast reacher,” is poled out in the shape of a rooftop where the top of the roof is pointed opposite of the main boom. It is a sight I have never seen. And now add endless stars with no moon and it feels like we are at the helm of a tiny spaceship, not a sailing ship, and more like a satellite. Amazing!
This was the cherry on top of a great day that included freshly baked focaccia by Manot. The talent of this crew is melding together so nicely and the routine from day to day has set in. We are about to hit 700 nautical miles sailed as I wrap up this report. Back to the spaceship—now I know why Andy got a tattoo of the Millennium “FALKEN” on his forearm.
— Jen
Photos are from our previous boat ICEBEAR, a 1991 Swan 59, sailing wing-on-wing as Jen described above.
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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.
The basics
Nordic Falken and her crew have been in a steady course of NNW since the departure of Hawaii. But! The good thing of all of this is that the promised land on which the high pressure lies has been getting closer and closer, meaning in a couple of days we're gonna see the wind slowly veer all the way to the South, which finally should see us easing the sails and remembering the basics of human nature all over again. The crew have been amazing and we've had everyone come around to push through fatigue, seasickness and soaking wet clothes. On another note we left the tropics a while ago and we can really feel the shift of temperature, long gone are the shorts and foulies have been the norm. Not much more apart from this, my intolerance to upwind sailing still pretty much alive but doing it with a bunch of such amazing human beings makes it worth it worthwhile.
Pacific pace
After some initial adversity, we untied our lines and left the beautiful island of O'ahu behind as we set sail north on an adventure of a lifetime. And that is exactly what we are - a family of strangers brought together by a passion for sailing and a love for the sea. The passage, while at its infancy, has delivered. The wind and seas, stars and sails all set the stage for a fantastic journey. We will see you on the other side with many stories to tell.