07 32.73’N 086 29.34’W 2139 UT
We had fairly calm seas and good winds for the first half of the day with a happy crew, full Yankee and the main up. After our delicious beans we got to eat Adam’s famous M&M birthday cake and sing happy birthday to Matt, who got a brilliant half-moon moonset and bioluminescence all through the night. The sunset got a 6.8-star rating from our captain, which is quite high.
We surfed through the night; the seas were smooth to slight (?) and the stars bright enough to guide us. After the moon set it got a bit trickier somehow to see the stars, but the Papagayo winds stayed with us for longer than expected, allowing us to sail over 200 miles. We saw manta rays, and a pod of pantropic spotted dolphins came to dance on our wake. We jibed a couple of times through the night and then sailed wing on wing in the morning before ultimately motoring with 3 reefs in the rest of the day after the wind died down. We used the spinnaker pole to go wing on wing (the pole gets attached by the “donkey dick” on the mast, and we learned that in Spanish wing on wing translates to “donkey ears,” so we’re big fans of the donkey here today.) It’s been hot, dry, and sunny, but everyone’s spirits remain high. Captain Mary’s lime Tajín papaya slices are a hit.
// Andreea
View more passage logs
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.