Tuesday, June 17, 2025 | Sailing north to Hawaii
Yesterday (still not sure what day of the week that was) started with Alex heading out to Customs and getting us checked out of Kiribati. The crew had more down time—more naps, more reading, more swims, and definitely more showers. Adam walked us through how the steering mechanism works, Mary walked us through weather, and Alex got back in no time. Mary made some delicious soup (in fact, we may be having soup day and night for a few more days with how much we made) and took personal sandwich orders to have dinner ready for our sporty sail that evening. She scoffed at my request to put in ketchup; we have a lot to talk about!
We lifted anchor around 2:30 pm and set sail—full main out at first and quickly down to a double reef as we got out of the lee of the island in 22+ knots of apparent wind. We had some spicy sailing time for a bit—Jake and Adam called it “Cholula hot”—before the winds mellowed down for some “Tabasco level sailing.” Sunset was gorgeous with some dolphins paying us a visit and wishing us luck for our journey forward.
I’ve finally made my choice in answer to Mary’s hard question: If you had a choice between having large wings that you couldn’t detach, or having octopus arms, which one would you choose? I’m afraid I’ve gone with the much less glamorous but practical choice of octopus arms—and I’m in good company with Mary and Alex, who have chosen the same way.
The winds died this morning and we are motoring. We anticipate the winds should fill in later today. For now, it is time to get some soup…
- Richa
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- Mia (shore support)
crew@59-north.com
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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.