23:20 UTC | 28°44.587’ N 058°84.368’W
Navigation table, Adrienne II
Bright sunny day, warm, somewhere in the North Atlantic (see tracking map). Blowing 15 to 25 knots.
Hello friends and family, Adrienne had a mellow departure from Simpson Bay just about 4 pm on Sunday.
Apparently in the two days since then we’ve sailed over 375 miles. We’ve averaged over 8 kts in seas that are light but make themselves big once they wash over the deck, and sometimes over the biminis.
The first 24 hours included a bit of everything, from the excitement of going under the raised bridge, to a magnificent weather briefing by Captain Erik, raising of the main and cutter jib (staysail) — then cruising south of Sint Maarten, then coming around to get on a course sort of aimed for the Canary Isles.
Monday evening we had a weather/routing brief as we ate a delightful meal. Lots of questions, and as with anything about weather and waves and humans, it’s all subject to change. And healthy banter about the solutions.
We have one small reef in the main. Haven’t set the genoa yet, really no need with the great trade winds.
Tuesday morning until now (3 pm local) we’ve been rain-blessed with stellar sailing conditions. The breeze is such that we’ve been sailing close-hauled, and bearing off to a broad reach when we can.
In the run-up to lunch the helm person did not see the large wave we were heading for.
When our good steed Adrienne II came up from the wave several crew on the foredeck got sloshed.
In addition to the great weather and sailing, we’ve also discovered outstanding shipmates and crew. I met a few of them in town before getting aboard: Linda, from Texas, veteran ocean sailor; Bert, flown in from outside Berlin, now a retired oil person with lots of long-distance trips under his belt with many more planned; Simon, flown in from the UAE, has sailed on plenty of sailing boats and is hoping for inspiration to get a boat of his own; Bartek, from Poland, also into software; Knut, in from the Netherlands, also in the software field.
Your writer has varied boating background — but is excited to see what it feels like to sail across the ocean. I came aboard with lots of questions to see how their solutions might fit on my own boat.
At the end of the day we have the chance to comment on the glums and glows.
As to the glums: some of my shipmates have been suffering from mal de mer and there’s been a few technical issues, yet our excellent crew of Erik, Delaney, and Anton leap into action when called for. You can’t ask for anything more. So those problems could also be seen as glows.
Other glow experiences to speak of today is the joy when a crew-mate rallies out of his seasickness, or the captain hand-delivers just the perfect wrap while you’re at the helm.
// Molly, ADRIENNE II Crew
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Birds and glows
The sun brought new wind and we were soon putting up the Yankee (jib) and turning off the motor. During the evening tradition of sharing “glums and glows” that follows the crew dinner, our Mate Ryan proclaimed it a “champagne sailing” kind of day. As Alex noted this evening, life goes by so fast that one of the very best things about his line of work is enjoying the passage of time in the slow lane of an ocean passage. But by tomorrow, the green blobs in the weather sailing app indicate we’re going to pick up some significant northwesterly winds and we’ll take them ever further south to the Channel Islands latitude. We’re all super excited for the knots to climb and to see Falken really run.
Golden Day
The Pacific is giving us “the shimmer” - with a still flat sea seven hours out of San Francisco Bay, we’re motoring south along the shipping channel, with an hour to go to what teases now as a stunning sunset against wispy clouds. Throughout this first day of Falken 11 the sails have unfurled and been furled again as skipper Alex tries to fill them a meager breeze indeed. We’ve seen a few whales traveling along the route, and an otter that was sadly just a buoy. It’s the first open ocean sail for many of us and it’s a thrill to anticipate all the new experiences we’ll have.
Seasickness
But maybe, I thought, with some drugs I could stay ahead of it. The first 48 hours I felt horrible. But luckily with 3 health care professionals on board and in a very encouraging environment, my body found its way. Anyway, someone offered me a patch (unavailable in Canada) and someone else gave me some pills for nausea and now I feel much, much better.