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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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.