01:05 UTC | 12°16.946’ N 087°18.066’W
Sailing
We are gearing up for our last twenty-four hours at sea that is promising to be some sporty sailing. The crew defeated the final boss, Tehuantepec winds, a few days ago. Now that everyone is battle hardened we are putting on our crusty, sunscreen caked game faces on for the little brother, Papagayo winds, which are forecasting twenty-seven knots gusting to thirty-five knots. In the mean time we’ve had several ebbs and flows of perfect thirteen to fifteen knot sailing with a couple hours of easy flat motoring to top up on sleep.
Have you ever heard of disco jellies, or electric dolphins? I never had until we set off on this trip and what a treat it has been to learn about the bio illumination and then immediately get to see them in all their glory. First we had the electric dolphins zooming through the water like little torpedoes leaving a trail of teal blue streaks. There were hours of entertainment to be had just following their sporadic movements. At times two to four dolphins would get into perfect Blue Angels fighter jet formation whizz by the side of the boat and peel off from one another just like at the air show. The dolphins were amazing and just as awe inspiring were the flickering orbs of the disco jellies. The same beautiful teal blue in front of the magical starry night sky made the night watches effortless.
Delaney has kept a steady and variable stream of snack options such as Pringles, my favorite, granola bars, chocolate straws, mixed nuts, and plenty of fruit. Now getting down to the snack dregs digging deep in the cabinets revealed dried pineapple and cashew clusters. Both of these are worth their weight in gold having exhausted our fresh fruit days ago and wanting a new flavor of salt the doesn’t have to get dropped in sixteen ounces of water and dissolve for four minutes.
Mary is whipping up a wonderfully fragrant sweet potato, squash risotto with crispy artichokes, Italian sausage, and a heaping three cheese blend -butter counts as cheese ;). I have no doubt our last dinner will be one of the best with the stunning Nicaraguan mountains as our backdrop at sun set.
Papagayo Winds here we come!
// Jake
View more passage logs
No Kitemares Today
After a night marked by sudden wind accelerations peeling off Point Conception, and a vibrant, pulsating sky blistered with shooting stars, the off-watch woke to commotion on the foredeck. The wind had gone light and the swell had tapered just enough to raise the spinnaker. The sail filled with an urgent pop, the sheet strained and Falken charged down the face of the next wave. By mid-day, we doused the spinnaker and set our minds to the more precise task of safely punching through a gap in the notorious Cortez Bank. The border to Mexico looms ahead.
The California coast
We had a very lively first day of sailing with steady winds between 25 and 30 kn gusting to mid 30s. All of the crew got experience at difficult downwind helming as we covered 200 nautical miles in the first 24 hours. This morning brings winds in the teens and calmer seas. The sun is still shining, and the green monster has been slayed by those afflicted!
Farewell by dolphins
We headed out of the marina in Monterey CA at about 10AM in sunny weather to meet winds of ~20kts and 3m smooth swell with long periods. FALKEN is surfing along the coast of California, ship’s time 1PM as I write. As we motored out into the bay, we were wished farewell by a pod of dolphins nearby and a couple of whales in the distance. Though, unfortunately one crew member met the green dragon in the swell.
