Pre-Depature for Isla del Cocos
1351 UTC | 10 26.41’N 85 47.30’W
Dockside Costa Rica
The wind has been blowing these last couple of days, a casual 30+ knots, meaning we’ve sadly lost the ability to have our shade up (pity Jake and myself with our ginger tendencies). That is not to say the breeze isn’t welcome! I have been compulsively checking the forecast in the hope that the equatorial trough takes a long-deserved break, which would allow us to sail all the way to Cocos. Shockingly, so far no luck, but at least we’ll have a good sail to start the trip off.
Unusually for 59º North, arguably the real pull of this next trip isn’t the sailing, but the destination — a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Isla del Coco, also known as Island of the Sharks. The 24 km island is a 305-mile trip into the Pacific (requires a fair amount of zooming on a map to spot), was the inspiration for Jurassic Park, and is one of 11 conservation areas in Costa Rica. Jacques Cousteau described it as the most beautiful place on the planet and it is considered one of the top diving destinations in the world. Whilst we will be snorkeling rather than diving, with such an abundance of marine life — particularly pelagic species — I don’t think we’ll be disappointed. On land, as befitting of the place that inspired Jurassic Park, evergreen forests, waterfalls, and lookout points are there to explore. It is one of the few pristine places left on Earth, and it is a very exciting privilege to visit!
Cocos is located only 5 degrees above the equator, so as expected the wind will be fluky and variable, and there’s a good chance of rain as we journey south. We will be going like a bat out of hell when we depart Guanacaste, with the Papagayo winds giving us a good push — even better, for the first time in weeks we’ll be sailing downwind!! We plan on hugging the Nicoya Peninsula because I’m STILL not done talking about the Tehuantepecers. They are absolutely hooning at 50 knots right now, and whilst I’m not planning on popping back north, the NW’ly sea state they generate will be making its way down south and crashing into the NE’ly swells from the Papagayo winds. If we were to follow the most wind and curve down with the Papagayos, then it would be a horrendous confused sea state, and I like my crew to not be green in the face. Instead, we will plan for a more uniform 2–2.5 m swell whilst still able to utilise the stronger breezes, by initially sticking closer to the coast. There are also currents to consider, which I will save for another blog.
The crew have been brilliant, soaking in all the briefings so we are able to set off as soon as possible in order to get the most time at the island and allow for some not-so-speedy light wind sailing. Today is Matt’s birthday, so Adam has donned one of his many hats and baked a chocolate cake, much to everyone’s delight!
// Mary
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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.