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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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.