1912 UTC | 08 deg 19.13 min N / 086 deg 34.89 min W
Sailing, Motoring
After a day and a half of training in Playa Flamenco we have just completed our first 24 hours under way. We knew coming out that there was a potential for a dead zone along the rhumb line… and after a fun 8 hours of solid 10-15kts the wind died and we’re now motoring across the doldrums to catch the wind on the other side.
The quality of the 59° North Staff can’t be overstated. Turning a group of strangers into a functioning crew in a day is a big challenge… and they have succeeded. We are on watch groups of 3, with 3 hours on and 6 hours off, which gives us the opportunity to experience helming every hour of the day over the journey. More importantly we are all leaning on each other and everyone is eager to lend a hand, whenever.
AND WE WENT SWIMMING TODAY. While this entire adventure is a bucket list item for many (sailing an ocean crossing, visiting the Galapagos, helming by starlight in the middle of the ocean), adding “Go for a swim in 10,000 foot deep water”) is a fun one to check off. And the water was lovely, so bonus there.
The experience below deck is another adventure. Call it “Super functional no fluff”. It has everything we need for living aboard, but if you want turn down service, move along, this ain’t the passage for you. Belowdeck is perfectly set up to keep us fed and rested. If you’re curious, the YouTube video where Andy and Jen go through the FALKEN shows it perfectly.
That about wraps it up for now… we’re excited to get back under sail asap, hoping that’s by tomorrow.
Enjoying the ride.
Enjoying the Ride - Jeremy
View more passage logs
She’s a big ship on a much bigger ocean2335
We also have faced the fact that although Adrienne is a very big ship, she sails over a much, much bigger sea. We all recommitted to being more attentive - treating our watch as a verb not a noun. We might feel comfortable handling Adrienne, but we're not on cruise control and this is no highway. I had not realized to what degree sailing the open ocean requires a daily commitment to awareness, intention, and vigilance. I'm glad for all of us my tutorial was clear but relatively mild.
Day Four: The boat has figured us out
By day 4, things start to get into a rhythm that starts to look like a small community onboard. It’s when personalities start to flourish, when people start losing themselves and start to realize that they don’t really care about a lot of things! I’m pretty sure the disconnection from the internet starts aligning our inner selves. Clearly everyone has gotten their sea legs by now, and even the boat seems to have understood the type of crew she has now. I love to see how people start fitting into different roles with their peers and the boat itself.
Kärt barn har många namn
A dear child goes by many a name, or as we say in Swedish "kärt barn har många namn". This is the case for many a person, but also some species, not least the Mahi mahi, which also goes by dolphin fish, golden mackerel, and dorado, among others. Soon, we could see the fish jump, a hundred feet or so behind the boat, and as I kept reeling, a beautiful Mahi appeared under the surface. Manot showed us how to clean and fillet it, and after a complete team effort two large fillets are now in the freezer of Adrienne II.