Glums & glows
003º52’S, 096º09W
April 10, 2130 Ship’s Time | 003º52’S, 096º09W
Full Mainsail & Jib Top, Happily Reaching
Based on the heading above, I’m sure you can assume the mood aboard today. Anyone who has spent time with Andy on a 59º North passage will be innately familiar with Glows and Glums, our nightly ritual of sharing personal highs and lows of the day, followed by the cathartic sound of your choice. The majority of today’s glows were simple and truly what this trip is all about. We’re doing a steady 9.0 kts SOG, with the sail reflecting the nearly-full moon onto the smiling faces of the watch. The cool breeze of the trades tempers the unrelenting hotbox this boat has become in the past few days and relieves us from the drone of the engine. The Bangers and Mash for dinner were particularly excellent, the perfect fuel for a night of riding this sleigh.
Eric interestingly shared that his glow for the day was the rather painful peppering his hands received in yesterday’s early morning squall—our only glimpse of double-digit speeds in the time since we weighed anchor in the Galapagos. As someone who is deep in the process of learning better strategies for race navigation and weather systems, cruising is always a humbling arena to practice in, and the last few days have been full of wind-deprived glums. I wish I could name-drop, but at some US Sailing Summit one of the panelists gave the expert advice to “not speak up when the boat is slow” at the risk of becoming the scapegoat for a poor result—the room laughed at the honesty. The Doldrums are a new experience for me; there is no avoiding the slow. If these past 72 hours were a race, I would already be at the bar.
That said, today was markedly different. Today, powered by the building SE’ly trades (and a full round of showers), the entire boat was glum-free.
// Aidan Gray
59ºNorthApprentice
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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.