Latitude: 13° 14.349' N
Longitude: 35° 32.445' W
10 Feb, 2024
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.
FALKENCrew
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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.