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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Lessons and a Gift
The biggest lesson is the helm. The lesson here is that even if you don't think you can do it over and over again with no sleep, cold and damp, it has to be done and so it can be done. Flying fish are cool, dolphins are really really cool, but the coolest of them all are the whales. And most of all Alex: "Find your center Carla. Always know where your center is so you can come back to it". He means the helm but it applies to life as well.
Making the most of it
This passage has thrown pretty much every atmospheric condition imaginable at us. It reminds us not only of how much we’ve learned, but of how far we’ve literally come since that acceleration zone off the northwest corner of Oahu. The resilience this group has shown has been nothing short of incredible, and I couldn’t be prouder to be part of it. Maybe that’s why it’s the hardest passages we remember the most. Not because they were easy, but because they reminded us what we’re capable of.
Passages and Purposes
As of today, Falken has taken us over 1800nm across the North Pacific. We’ve learned about water-makers, starter motors, furling, taking in and letting out reefs, easing and grinding, weather and wind, helming by course and by wind angles, and the difference between rest and sleep. For now, the latest challenge is to stay in the moment. The memories we’ve made here are priceless, even if we only connected for a few moments on our various paths in this world. So few people get this opportunity to “go dark” and live simply for a moment.