Pre-departure
23:45 UTC | Hawaii Yacht Club
In-port
Once again we get ready for another passage. Hawaii to Alaska is not a walk in the park and a lot of thought and preparation goes into getting FALKEN ‘passage ready’.
Adam, Zoe and I have spent the last 10 days getting everything ready, from new sails fitted, engine services, rig checks, replacing hardware, etc. to getting all the food, spares, etc.needed for a long passage.
In the Eastern North Pacific it all depends on where the North Pacific high sits, that is what will decide our route and what weather we get. It normally starts with a Northerly route until you get the Westerlies before turning right to destination, easy right? Well that would be in a perfect world but a lot of factors can influence the location of this high and where it might move, the trick is to not go too far north or too far East.
The crew arrives in about an hour and then is game on. Briefings, introductions and a bit of team building before we point Falken’s bow towards the open ocean.
Current estimated departure is set for Thursday.
Alex
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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.