DEEPWATER SWIMMING
24º 23’ N, 113º 39’ W
1428 Ship’s Time
Sailing
After poke tuna nachos (corn tortilla chips + Ryan’s guac + leftover poke tuna), we stopped the boat for a swim. The water had been glassy since shortly after sunrise and we finally gave up on ghosting along at 2-3 knots and fired up the diesel. The sun was out, music was playing in the cabin, and with a sloppy weather forecast on the horizon for tonight and tomorrow morning, we took advantage and took the plunge.
The water here is 10,000-feet deep, and extremely blue. Crustal clear, you open your eyes underwater and can just see forever, right into the literal abyss. Temps are in the mid-70s, so for me who’s used to swimming in Sweden in the summertime in the mid-60s, it was downright balmy. Most of the crew partook, with Eric standing watch on the cockpit and doing the final headcount to make sure we all came back aboard. It’s been a while since I did an offshore swim, and man it’s so fun.
Now we’re in prep mode for some anticipated heavy-ish weather tonight and into the morning. The boat’s cleaned up inside and out, the staysail is rigged and flaked on the foredeck, and the off-watches are resting. Just as I started writing this the wind is starting to fill in from the SSW, and we’re sailing again, now on a close-reach with the yankee and full main. If I had to bet, I’d say we’ll be reefed down before midnight, and maybe wet by sun-up with some rain squalls in the offing as part of a weak cold front that’s going to pass over us tonight and tomorrow morning.
We’ve also decided to stop short in Cabo San Lucas. The marina there has space for us, and being that we’re behind schedule thanks to a very light-wind passage thus far, the crew voted to pull in, so if you see us on the tracker in Cabo, we didn’t just stop off to party :) Mary and me, plus the incoming staff for the next leg, might move the boat up to La Paz in-between trips, but that remains a future problem for now. And in any case, it’s only a two-hour drive from La Paz to Cabo, so if we end up staying put it’s not going to mess up the big-picture plans.
// Andy
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Turning the corner
Yesterday found Falken on a Northward course, still heeled to port, climbing and falling over waves. Sunrise this morning found Falken in an entirely different condition, one familiar to her, but not yet to the current crew. And then a truly magic moment, a pod of dolphins at least fifty members strong came to dance on Falken’s bow wave. We are now joyfully headed northeast, on course toward our eventual destination of Prince Rupert. Falken has turned a corner.
Onwards and upwards
Today is set to be the calmest day of our trip so far, waves subdued, wind veering off more south-east, light clouds. What an exhilarating ride it has been, beating upwind non-stop directly north for 6 straight days! What ahead of us is a mostly downwind sail to Prince Rupert, but a very exciting one. This makes it an interesting few days going fast and closely watching the weather, and I’m very much looking forward to it. The crew is happy, everyone seems to be getting good rest, enjoying watches and time in between.
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.