dolphins and asteroids
January 21, 2025, 20:17 UTC | 19º 50.9’ N / 022º 45.8’ W | Dolphins and Asteroids
It is now 19:17 local time onboard. Yesterday we changed the time back one hour; we have a few time zones to travel through before we reach Antigua and will change the boat time back one hour every third day or so. About this time last night, the wind finally picked up enough to turn off the engine and roll the jib out, and we have been sailing ever since. The wind has been a bit light today, still in the lower 10s, but is due to pick up to around 15-20 knots sometime tomorrow.
The last 24 hours have been amazing, sailing in almost a flat sea with a gentle swell rolling in. Dolphins have been coming by, visiting us at the bow many times a day. Yesterday, the evening watch saw what they thought was an asteroid—the sail lit up and a bright light illuminated the sky for a few seconds.
All is good onboard. We have truly settled into the routine of life at sea: reading books, chatting in the cockpit, making lots of tea (and some coffee), and Janette even had her painting supplies out today. Once again, it has been really fun to read the comments (they will be sent to us via Iridium), so if you read this blog, please make a comment below.
From Mia & the FALKEN crew
mia@59-north.com
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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.