SAILING
Good evening from Falken! Dinner is in the oven and I just woke up from an excellent afternoon nap. I’ve spent a lot of time feeling hot on this boat, and cozying up in my sleeping bag has been a welcome new experience on board.
We are still headed north away from Hawaii, though today we have started to veer ever so slightly east. By ever so slightly I mean five degrees, but hey, that still counts. It’s been a sunny day, which has been a nice switch up after several days of straight cloudy, overcast skies.
The crew’s spirits seem to improve with each day, mine included. I’ll be honest, there was a roughly 72 hour period where I was questioning if I’d ever step foot on a sailboat again. Alex says it’s a good sign that I wasn’t yet questioning life itself. Jokes aside, I can say with certainty that all of the previous times I’ve been queasy on boats have been quite tame, and this was real deal. Anywho, the majority of us who faced the green monster head-on have persevered and are (mostly) all smiles now. I expect those smiles will only become more common as we chip away at our upwind miles. I can only pray that my dad, who’s on board, will forgive me for roping him into such an ordeal…
Speaking of miles, we hit quadruple digits today and are currently 1051 nms into our journey to Alaska. The flying fish and seabirds have been fewer and far between as we enter colder waters. Other exciting sights include lots of random fishing buoys and a lone (luckily empty) boot. It’s birthday week on board too— we celebrated Adam’s 25th birthday yesterday with brownies, Margaux’s today, and have another birthday tomorrow (dare I say my own). Alex, Adam, and I have had many fun surprises up our sleeves, including cans of Coke with dinner a few days ago and ice lollies (more commonly known as popsicles) tonight.
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. Luckily, I have full confidence that Alex will do everything in his power to get us sailing downwind as soon as is physically possible. 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. Piece of cake!
Love to all!
Zoe
Zoe Peach-Riley (Apprentice)
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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.
The basics
Nordic Falken and her crew have been in a steady course of NNW since the departure of Hawaii. But! The good thing of all of this is that the promised land on which the high pressure lies has been getting closer and closer, meaning in a couple of days we're gonna see the wind slowly veer all the way to the South, which finally should see us easing the sails and remembering the basics of human nature all over again. The crew have been amazing and we've had everyone come around to push through fatigue, seasickness and soaking wet clothes. On another note we left the tropics a while ago and we can really feel the shift of temperature, long gone are the shorts and foulies have been the norm. Not much more apart from this, my intolerance to upwind sailing still pretty much alive but doing it with a bunch of such amazing human beings makes it worth it worthwhile.
Pacific pace
After some initial adversity, we untied our lines and left the beautiful island of O'ahu behind as we set sail north on an adventure of a lifetime. And that is exactly what we are - a family of strangers brought together by a passion for sailing and a love for the sea. The passage, while at its infancy, has delivered. The wind and seas, stars and sails all set the stage for a fantastic journey. We will see you on the other side with many stories to tell.