19°36.4' N 026°43.2' W
October 13, 2025 | 20:10 UTC | 19°36.4' N 026°43.2' W | Our First Tack
Storms and headwinds continue to dissipate in front of Adrienne! Despite an active doldrums, we darted through and missed all major weather. With the doldrums behind us, the northeasterly trade winds have built and carried us through the night and all of today on a close reach. The sea state is quite gentle, so we sail with the full main and genoa in 10-15 knots of wind. However, we get regular wind shifts to the east that allow us to point to the east or north, sometimes as much as 15-20 degrees! With our last waypoint set for Gran Canaria, we focus on one number to rule them all: the Velocity Made Good (VMG)! Cheers sound from the rear cockpit whenever the VMG exceeds 6 knots.
We continue to be well fed, well rested, and happy. Today we had pizza for lunch and Nicole made a big oatmeal cookie! There is no more fresh food, but the freezer is packed and treats keep showing up that keep things interesting and boost morale. Unfortunately, a fish shook the hook this evening right before dinner, so we will have to wait another day for fresh fish.
At 19 degrees north, the temperature has finally dropped. Cool evenings mean light jackets and much more comfortable sleeping. The biggest treat today was a pod of dolphins that swam with us for 20 minutes! They showed up on the port side and then swam several circles around Adrienne. Everyone woke up or stopped what they were doing to enjoy the visit. The pod was clearly having a blast swimming with Adrienne and seemed to enjoy hearing the crew’s whoops and cheers when they porpoised out of the water.
As we near the end of our passage, we are having a friendly competition to see who can most closely predict our arrival time. You can play along from home! We have 790 miles to go! We were on a starboard tack since leaving Salvador, Brazil, 2,270 nautical miles! After dinner tonight we made our first tack, and since Gran Canaria is located at a bearing of approximately 45 degrees, we will likely tack many more times in the coming days. As we learned this evening, it might be possible to hold a VMG close to 5 knots on each tack. Winds are predicted to be 10-15 knots along our path, but possibly much lower near the end of the passage. All arrival predictions were made onboard this evening! The winner gets to buy the first round of beers in Gran Canaria!
Andrew | ADRIENNE II crew
crew@59-north.com
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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.