Making the most of it
11:00 UTC | 52°27.1N 138°22.7W
Sailing
Apologies for the lack of a blog yesterday. Everyone was focused on the one gybe of the whole passage, the one we absolutely had to get right. Thankfully, we nailed it.
Which means that now, after transitioning from one High Pressure System to the next, we’re back on the heel, beating upwind. Funny how quickly you can start missing the easy miles…
This passage has thrown pretty much every atmospheric condition imaginable at us. And just as we approach our final sprint to Dixon Entrance, it’s got one last trick up its sleeve: 35–40 knots with freezing northerly winds straight out of Alaska… and to be honest it would almost be rude if it ended any other way.
But this crew wouldn’t have it any other way. Finishing almost exactly how we started (just with considerably more layers on) has a nice sense of coming full circle. 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. Falken hasn’t changed that much but we certainly have.
Spirits are high, and we’re tackling the cold brilliantly. It’s currently 9°C, with a wind chill of 4°C, and the system is simple: constant rotations, hot drinks, plenty of laughs, and making sure we’re all looking after one another.
The resilience this group has shown has been nothing short of incredible, and I couldn’t be prouder to be part of it.
So we’re making the most of this final push. The last spray in the face. The last surf down a wave. The last reef. The last night watch. Even the last pumping of the heads (although I don’t think anyone will miss that one).
We’re soaking up every moment before heading back to “normality,” appreciating nature at its rawest and feeling incredibly lucky that it has allowed us to experience 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.
Alex
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Snag it or sweat it! Rolls Royce bunks, watches and fans
Today marks day 6 of one of the most epic passages I've decided to take on. There is something wildly exciting and equally calming about being surrounded by nothing but ocean. I get to watch the entire rhythm of the world shrink down to wind, weather, watches, and 10 humans trying to get a sailboat to another continent. I'm not sure if former bloggers have noted, but this passage is HOT as balls. We continue to laugh, learn, and sweat.
She’s a big ship on a much bigger ocean2335
We also have faced the fact that although Adrienne is a very big ship, she sails over a much, much bigger sea. We all recommitted to being more attentive - treating our watch as a verb not a noun. We might feel comfortable handling Adrienne, but we're not on cruise control and this is no highway. I had not realized to what degree sailing the open ocean requires a daily commitment to awareness, intention, and vigilance. I'm glad for all of us my tutorial was clear but relatively mild.
Day Four: The boat has figured us out
By day 4, things start to get into a rhythm that starts to look like a small community onboard. It’s when personalities start to flourish, when people start losing themselves and start to realize that they don’t really care about a lot of things! I’m pretty sure the disconnection from the internet starts aligning our inner selves. Clearly everyone has gotten their sea legs by now, and even the boat seems to have understood the type of crew she has now. I love to see how people start fitting into different roles with their peers and the boat itself.
