23:27 UTC
19° 45.899’ N 068° 18.695’W
Sailing
The first 24h of sailing are past us.
We crossed the draw bridge at 4pm yesterday local time, to the cheers of a group of people watching from the sidewalk. I wonder if they knew that we’re about to cross the Atlantic and not just hopping to the next island over.
And then it was straight to sailing. We tacked between St. Martin and St. Barts and have been on that tack ever since, sailing upwind. If we’re to trust the forecast (which we do, there isn’t a lot of variance between the models) conditions will be stable like that for at least the next few days. We might not be able to cross over to the north of the Azores high.
On board all is well, the crew settled in to their watches. A few of us (me included) struggled with sea sickness on the first evening/night, but by now everyone has gotten their sea legs.
Adrienne II is doing well too, cutting through waves cleanly. Unfortunately on leaky hatch in the saloon roof got tested when we took a bigger wave over the bow and it dumped quite a bit of salt water on our cushions, pillows and our dear skipper Erik. That’s going to take some time and effort to dry out.
// Bartek, Adrienne Crew
View more passage logs
Ketch us if you Kan
Falken is soon to carry on our preferred route of South, back to (hopefully) warmer climates. We’re all excited to set off and see more of this wild landscape as we head down to Victoria. A thermal trough over Vancouver combined with an offshore high pressure creating funneling NW’ly winds means it is due to be pretty fruity on the 9th. This passage is just under 600 miles, relatively short for Falken, but I’m sure we’ll be kept entertained with dramatic scenery, wildlife and weather!
Final Blog
Falken and her crew arrived safely into port last night around 8pm boat time, 10pm Prince Rupert time. Some spicy weather was anticipated, but luckily the 35kt gusts and 2.5 meter waves were no match for this expert crew. We had an exceptionally smooth docking, despite it being Alex's first time parking this year (!). We all agreed that this was a very special group of people—I for one am so impressed with how everyone stayed so positive, helpful, and appreciative of humor despite an arguably challenging passage. We'll all return home significantly saltier than we were when we left, a mark of a passage properly sailed.
Lessons and a Gift
The biggest lesson is the helm. The lesson here is that even if you don't think you can do it over and over again with no sleep, cold and damp, it has to be done and so it can be done. Flying fish are cool, dolphins are really really cool, but the coolest of them all are the whales. And most of all Alex: "Find your center Carla. Always know where your center is so you can come back to it". He means the helm but it applies to life as well.