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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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.