The pool is open!
01.00 BOAT TIME | 09º 23.3’ S 134º 09.1’ W
Sailing
It’s 1.30 in the morning and FAKEN is gliding along at 7 kts under a sky ful of stars. The last few days, when the wind got lighter and the swell laid down a bit, we had the opportunity to hoist the spinnaker. Before we left Galapagos, we went around the room and asked what people were looking forward to and the big pink sail was high on the list, so it felt great when we finally could hoist it. We had it up all day Monday, and kept it up over night into Tuesday as the wind was set o be less than 10 kts of true. Mid day it was time to gybe, and the wind had eased even more, but before the gybe we opened up the pool. We stopped the boat, got the ladder down and put out a line with a fender behind the boat. I love swimming in the middle of the ocean, and a bit scary when you realize its more than 4000+ m deep! Love it!
Earlier in the morning, the when the wind finally died true and the spinnaker went limp, we took it down and had to motor for a couple of hours. Lucky enough the wind picked up by the afternoon and we could have another go at the spinnaker before it came down before dinner. We are now back wing-on-wing, with breeze up above 10 kts almost on course for Nuku Hiva! Less than 400 nm to go and we are enjoying the last few days onboard!
Mia
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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.
Making the most of it
This passage has thrown pretty much every atmospheric condition imaginable at us. It reminds us not only of how much we’ve learned, but of how far we’ve literally come since that acceleration zone off the northwest corner of Oahu. The resilience this group has shown has been nothing short of incredible, and I couldn’t be prouder to be part of it. Maybe that’s why it’s the hardest passages we remember the most. Not because they were easy, but because they reminded us what we’re capable of.
