MANY FIRSTS ONBOARD FALKEN
0017 UTC | 21 05.69’ N 108 10.91’ W
Sailing
As I type this blog, Jake is cooking risotto for dinner; it is his first time cooking a meal for everyone at sea. It smells delicious. We’ve had many firsts so far on this trip, and it’s only day two.
Early last night as the full moon peeked out from the clouds and we drifted further offshore, Lloyd experienced being out of sight of land on a boat for the first time. Jakes, Christine, and a few others experienced their first full night at sea with a full moon peeking through the clouds. It was so bright you might have convinced me it was still daytime.
We had dolphins jumping during the night watch, maybe five or six but we told Marella it was closer to 100. As the sun came up and the coffee was set to brew, we managed a few hours of slow sailing. Soon enough the wind died, the motor came on, and the fishing line went out. We practiced reefing and reviewed the IRPCSs; we have a crew that’s passionate about good seamanship.
Just as I settled down into an afternoon nap, it was “fish on” and time to join the fun. Jake reeled in a beautiful Mahi with an assist from Mary with the gaff. To quote him directly, “Mary looked like she came out of a war zone.” We all felt pride in our skippers grit, and then suggested she hose off.
Another first came when Mary taught me how to fillet the fish. It went pretty well but it was clear which pieces were better off chopped up for ceviche…
Although I didn’t manage to convince any of the crew to write the first blog post at sea, Jake's agreed to be my co-author and provided all the ideas. The last thing he wanted me to note was how well we all mesh as a team. We’ve only been at sea for a little over one full day now, but as Marella shared during Glums and Glows, it feels as though we’ve known each other forever.
Motor is off, sails are full, all is well.
// Delaney
View more passage logs
Turning the corner
Yesterday found Falken on a Northward course, still heeled to port, climbing and falling over waves. Sunrise this morning found Falken in an entirely different condition, one familiar to her, but not yet to the current crew. And then a truly magic moment, a pod of dolphins at least fifty members strong came to dance on Falken’s bow wave. We are now joyfully headed northeast, on course toward our eventual destination of Prince Rupert. Falken has turned a corner.
Onwards and upwards
Today is set to be the calmest day of our trip so far, waves subdued, wind veering off more south-east, light clouds. What an exhilarating ride it has been, beating upwind non-stop directly north for 6 straight days! What ahead of us is a mostly downwind sail to Prince Rupert, but a very exciting one. This makes it an interesting few days going fast and closely watching the weather, and I’m very much looking forward to it. The crew is happy, everyone seems to be getting good rest, enjoying watches and time in between.
Quadruple digits!
We are still headed north away from Hawaii, though today we have started to veer ever so slightly east. Speaking of miles, we hit quadruple digits today and are currently 1051 nms into our journey to Alaska. The sea state continues to calm down, and the famous North Pacific high is just out of our reach. The next few days will be a delicate dance of riding the outskirts of the high while avoiding the pesky low pressure systems that are dancing nearby. In his very wise words, we need to get north but not too far north, stay south but not too far south, continue heading east but not too far east, and avoid going west but also stay west.