Day 5
July 9, 2024 | Day 4 At Sea | Baptism of the North Sea
What a different day! As we made our way towards the Fair Isle Channel, we went from full sail to three reefs in the sail and staysail. We arrived just at the right moment for the tide to be favourable, and the wind backed north as predicted to allow us to reach through the channel comfortably in building seas.
Then the weather closed in. Gone was the sunshine and amazing light, replaced by grey seas and a grey, murky sky with drizzle. Neptune’s little game of baptism in the North Sea.
As we cleared the channel, the wind increased and we sailed like a freight train towards Norway on a close reach, with hoots of laughter from the on-watch team as they experienced some exhilarating heavy weather sailing. The confused seas in the channel slowly became more organised as we cleared the channel and headed across the North Sea, making for a more comfortable ride.
Dinner was a mission to prepare in these challenging conditions, but it was still special to come together and eat and see how everyone was feeling. The drizzle changed to rain as we sailed straight into the low. We were in for a wet night!
- 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.