Heading Offshore
July 21, 2024 | Day 1 at Sea
Offshore Bergen
The first 24 hours of any trip with a heavy upwind start are always going to be chaotic. This past day has not been an exception. A scene akin to the climax of the film Triangle of Sadness came to mind as Mia and I handed over to one another at 10pm last night. “There is a bucket stationed in every area,” she said to me, to the familiar background track of hurling. Someone had gone for round two. But I’ll tell you—I’m not sure I’ve ever seen so much puke come with so many smiling faces. The crew are determined to soak up every last second that they can on deck. And so on they go, braving the undressing and dressing manoeuvre again and again and again. Impressive!
The good news is that the wind has veered around to the west now as forecast. So hopefully we will have a bit of reprieve from the bashing soon. It’s already tracking round to the right, with Kaitie on the helm doing a stellar job following her course whilst the crew of Jaime and Lindsey trim sails to the changing wind. We had the staysail up all night with three reefs in as the wind exceeded 30 knots. Now happily flying a slightly reefed jib and one reef in the main, zooming straight at Amsterdam at 8 knots! But now thinking that through… you can probably see that on the tracker :)
— Nikki
NikkiHenderson
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People Get Ready!
The last three days have been an intense (and intensely hot) period of discovery, practice, and planning. Because Adrienne II is not a 59N boat, there's been some extra setup and coordination needed including rigging all the sails that were out for repairs before we arrived. Its been a blast working alongside the 59N team getting to help them work things out on a less familiar boat in real time. Tomorrow morning we'll run through our Person Over Board training as the final pre-departure task, cast off and head out. Can't know all that it will be, but its going to be a great adventure out in the vast world with some pretty fantastic people.
Among the Channel Islands
In the wind shadow of SoCal we had a restful night with calm conditions ghosting through smooth seas. We’re getting ourselves in position for spicy weather tonight once we round Cape Conception, the seas build and the breeze freshens. It will be an upwind sail into an acceleration zone along a formable coast with few bailout points, Morro Bay being one. The crew is really gelling with lots of smiles and laughter on deck. Monterey is in our sights!
Day Two Delights
The seas were completely glassy with a gentle swell as we approached San Clemente Island, the southernmost of the Channel Islands. Everyone jumped in and marvelled at the lovely temperature and crystal clear, indigo-colored water. Before long the wind started to pick up, and we happily unfurled the jib and were sailing again. The afternoon has been gorgeous, cruising along at 5-6 kts, close hauled on a port tack in a gentle breeze, Catalina Island in the distance on our starboard side, and everyone is happy.