13º 14.7 N, 049º 43.6 W
14 February 2024
0138 Ship’s Time
13º 14.7 N, 049º 43.6 W
Steering 300º at 7-8 knots.
The last 24 hours have been spectacular for many, many reasons.
One, the breeze picked up to make the conditions perfect for surfing down small mountains of waves. We have an ocean swell going that makes it feel like you rise up from earth and then surf down the wave. When it feels like a big one and the speed starts escalating, the crew start cheering while calling out top speeds. At the helm you can feel when the transition goes from sailing through the water to surfing on the water, and that’s when the top speeds come. It is an incredible feeling. The competition has started for the high score of speed. So far, I think it was Manot at 15.3 knots. The smile across my face after a half hour stint at the wheel as the morning light brightened up the day was incredible. There would be more moments like this all day.
Two, the records we celebrated aboard. 223 nm is our best daily run in a 24-hour period and we have averaged 8.3 knots since we left the dock. We gybed only twice so far. Our average daily run has been 199.8 nm.
Three, today was a surprise spa day after hauling Andy out on the spinnaker pole. Andy wanted to check for chafe on the outboard end of the pole where it met up with the jib. We are still wing and wing. After Andy took tons of photos from his unique vantage point, he announced it was a shower day. It has been so hot during the day with no respite from the sun. He hooked up the salt water wash down pump for a nice salt water rinse, followed by a fresh water shower. Oooh-aaah.
Four, the ice cream from yesterday’s halfway celebration was not finished, another surprise! After a delightful cold salad dinner by Andy of bow-tie pasta with tomato pesto, carrot curry raisin slaw, Andy’s sweet and spicy tuna salad plus rice, we indulged in more chocolate ice cream. I still don’t know how he did it, but Manot hit the jackpot with this recipe.
// Jen
FALKENCrew
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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.
Golden Day
The Pacific is giving us “the shimmer” - with a still flat sea seven hours out of San Francisco Bay, we’re motoring south along the shipping channel, with an hour to go to what teases now as a stunning sunset against wispy clouds. Throughout this first day of Falken 11 the sails have unfurled and been furled again as skipper Alex tries to fill them a meager breeze indeed. We’ve seen a few whales traveling along the route, and an otter that was sadly just a buoy. It’s the first open ocean sail for many of us and it’s a thrill to anticipate all the new experiences we’ll have.
Seasickness
But maybe, I thought, with some drugs I could stay ahead of it. The first 48 hours I felt horrible. But luckily with 3 health care professionals on board and in a very encouraging environment, my body found its way. Anyway, someone offered me a patch (unavailable in Canada) and someone else gave me some pills for nausea and now I feel much, much better.