08.45 Local Time | Hjellestad, Norway
At the dock
The crew on the women’s sail training on Isbjorn is settling into a great routine for managing the boat and life onboard. We left Bergen practicing leaving a crowded dock in a busy harbor. We raised the main and sailed west toward Knarrvika. We tacked south with one reef in the main and two in the Genoa. We started to come together as a working crew with lots of controlled tacks. We had periods of sun and low wind and then higher wind and rain. Typical for Norway :)
We spent the night near Hjellestad. More great practice setting dock lines. We sighted a helicopter training exercise in the Raunefjorden. Amazing skills!!
Michele Charriez
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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.