The basics
16:00 UTC | 33°42.0N 158°37.4W
Sailing
Nordic Falken and her crew have been in a steady course of NNW since the departure of Hawaii. A course that has seen us mainly close reaching with the occasional close hauled. For those who don’t understand what sailing to this angles with the wind we’ve had means it’s basically a constant battle of the basics. Brushing your teeth, putting your shoes on, changing clothes or even just eating become extremely complicated, you forget the basics you learned when you were a toddler and find yourself questioning your existence for most of your watch.
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. The waves have died off over-night and we’ve had the first bit of dry deck since we departed, a pleasure to our butts which have been sitting on the damp since then!
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. I keep pushing for bare-feet to make me feel like I’m still in Hawaii but the sleeping bag and greyness keeps reminding me that perhaps it is time to realize that the tropics indeed, are long gone.
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.
Mahalo
Alex
Alex
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Shooting Stars & Turtle Logs
Day three out of Ketchikan and FALKEN is running wing on wing down the outside of Vancouver Island. The temptation is to lie back in the cockpit and spend the night watching for shooting stars, but a diligent watch is always the first priority. So we keep a sharp eye out while the shooting stars keep us company through the night. The wildlife keeps coming: humpback and minke whales, five mola molas, dolphins, and a black-footed albatross. We are all feeling lucky for such conditions!
Pot dodging and whale watching
Duncan got us up to eleven knots at one point! The Ferriers also logged our first Orca sighting on their 3am-6am watch! This morning is a gift as the temps are just right and we finally have some blue sky and plenty of sunshine. It was a glorious few hours sailing before it inevitably died as forecast. I live in hope that by sunset tonight we’ll be back sailing as we emerge out of the lee of the island and the wind will be more westerly which lends itself to a better sailing angle.
We are off!
After two days of introductions, safety briefings and boat procedures we have departed Ketchikan. We are currently making a whopping 3.3 knots as there is very little wind in Nichols Passage. Adam fed us well last night with a delicious shrimp curry and Duncan was the winner of a sporty game of the card version Monopoly. With the scenic views and light wind it's quite peaceful out here.