06:00 UTC | 41°13.5N 156°40.4W
Sing-A-Longing
Good morning from Falken!
Today is set to be the calmest day of our trip so far, waves subdued, wind veering off more south-east, light clouds. All that means we’re going around the center of the high pressure system that was our target since the departure. What an exhilarating ride it has been, beating upwind non-stop directly north for 6 straight days!
I had a good sleep last night, ready for 6am watch. During the watch Daniel and I did a deck walk this morning to check that everything is in its place (it was). Jim also took out his 360 camera for some shots. Adam and Zoe (happy birthday!) keeping us good company with lessons and chats.
What ahead of us is a mostly downwind sail to Prince Rupert, but a very exciting one. Last night we got weather debrief from Alex about a low pressure from the Bering sea sending whiplashes from north-west, plus some uncertainty about how the high pressure moves closer to Prince Rupert. 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. Some unpacked sleeping bags and took out jumpers and beanies as temperatures keep dropping each night. Dinner time is always a highlight of the day - hearty meal feels so great at sea, and sharing stories of the day brings everyone closer as we progress in our journey.
Onward to Prince Rupert!
Nikolay
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A last hurrah
Under the dome of stars in a moon-less sky, each of us during our time at the helm used the most rudimentary celestial navigation, keeping a star or two lined up with the mast as a helper to following the heading range. It was a whole crew event to set the spinnaker, reef the mainsail and practice the heave-to in case of man overboard. Alex stressed that the key to success in all of these crucial activities is preparation. It was hugely satisfying to accomplish these tasks through teamwork. We share a constant good hearted back and forth full of stories, one-liners and comebacks that also means constant laughter.
One little bird!
Falken has almost rounded the Channel Islands and is cruising along splendidly about 100 miles offshore. Though several models predicted some slightly fresher winds today, we were met with a consistent 18-20 kts of pure bliss. It seems that from the moment we left the dock in San Francisco, there has been much laughter and conversation amongst everyone. The plan is to gybe in a few hours and begin our approach to Ensenada. As much as I do appreciate the jokes and intellectual musings, I equally appreciate the natural, silent moments we share at night, all of us on watch gazing up above to the shooting stars, constellations, and planets putting on their quiet show.
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.