Last night in the Southern Hemisphere!
0435 UTC | 01º11.70’S, 148º40.97’W
Sailing
Hello outside world! We’ve had yet another epic birthday onboard SV NORDIC FALKEN, this time it’s celebrating Joey! Joey’s message to friends and family back home is that his birthday was epic. We had such an activity packed day I don’t even know where to begin. Joey’s watch was on deck when the clock struck midnight and we sang him happy birthday and soaked in a gorgeous night full of stars. Then the sunrise watch enjoyed an absolutely beautiful squall pass over bringing golden sunrise rain with rainbows and a precious precious puff of breeze that lasted about 20 glorious minutes. As Mary mentioned in our last post, we have officially entered the ITCZ (doldrums) and we are eking out every lick of breeze we can find out here! The crew woke up to birthday chocolate chip pancakes and the sweet perfection of Moorea pineapple. We faffed around with the sails for a bit and magically managed to switch from a starboard to port then back to starboard tack all without changing our heading more than 30 degrees. Oh the doldrums!
BUT once we were done with that, Mary opened the pool! The whole crew enjoyed a much needed and refreshing dip in about 5000 meters of Pacific Blue! The joy was palpable and smiles were radiating on deck. By 0930, we all felt like we had already lived a fully packed day! As much as Mary and I are pulling our hair out at this lack of breeze, I do actually really enjoy how the first day of the doldrums feels like the last day of school vibes - to use Mary’s words. People breathe easy, the last remaining traces of seasickness fade into memory. Everyone can walk across a level deck again and all the workouts start cranking, craft projects make an appearance on deck, and the kindles come out of their hiding places in everyone’s bunks. Folks have been crafting away and preparing their gifts for Neptunes impending visit tomorrow at happy hour! We made cookies for Joey’s birthday and Mary made us a really tasty fried rice for dinner. We enjoyed a gorgeous sunset tonight which Mary very generously rated 7.2 (if you know her you know that’s high) but then upgraded it to 7.9 because as Bruce mentioned, this is our last sunset in the Southern Hemisphere! Woohoo! By tomorrow at 0620 local time, we should have a fully fledged crew of Shellbacks! Yarrrrr!!!
Phoebe
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Shooting Stars & Turtle Logs
Day three out of Ketchikan and FALKEN is running wing on wing down the outside of Vancouver Island. The temptation is to lie back in the cockpit and spend the night watching for shooting stars, but a diligent watch is always the first priority. So we keep a sharp eye out while the shooting stars keep us company through the night. The wildlife keeps coming: humpback and minke whales, five mola molas, dolphins, and a black-footed albatross. We are all feeling lucky for such conditions!
Pot dodging and whale watching
Duncan got us up to eleven knots at one point! The Ferriers also logged our first Orca sighting on their 3am-6am watch! This morning is a gift as the temps are just right and we finally have some blue sky and plenty of sunshine. It was a glorious few hours sailing before it inevitably died as forecast. I live in hope that by sunset tonight we’ll be back sailing as we emerge out of the lee of the island and the wind will be more westerly which lends itself to a better sailing angle.
We are off!
After two days of introductions, safety briefings and boat procedures we have departed Ketchikan. We are currently making a whopping 3.3 knots as there is very little wind in Nichols Passage. Adam fed us well last night with a delicious shrimp curry and Duncan was the winner of a sporty game of the card version Monopoly. With the scenic views and light wind it's quite peaceful out here.