We Did It!
1900 | Pasito Blanco
In Port
We did it!! We have sailed across the North Atlantic and red pants can now legally be worn by the whole crew :)
18 days and 3,271 nautical miles ago, nine strangers met up in sunny Simpson Bay, Sint Maarten. After that many days and miles and all the unique offshore-experiences we now share, it feels like we have known each other for a lifetime. A huge thank you all for making this passage a memory for life. I’ve had a blast! A special thanks goes to our super-apprentice Anton, and super-mate Delaney for always being so professional, proactive and fun! I will forever remember our lovely little rendezvous in the bilges cleaning diesel filters and manually transferring fuel between tanks.
The weather gods have indeed challenged us during this transatlantic crossing. As expected this passage started out with a few days of upwind sailing, but we had more open wind angles within reach. We just had to continue a bit further north. The more favorable winds (as opposed to our dead upwind) did however all the time move away from us with about the same speed as Adrienne’s. We really never caught up with them, so upwind upwind upwind it has been all along. At first a bit frustrating but after a while you understand that weather gods too need to have a bit of fun. We were of course an easy prey; the only sailboat to be found out on this vast ocean stubbornly sailing from west to east this time of the year. And in case we would forget about all this beating upwind once ashore, the gods topped it all off with a nice Gale right on the final stretch towards the Canaries. 30 knots of wind, gusting 40. The crew has indeed been put to the test.
We are now securely moored alongside here in Pasito Blanco, Gran Canaria. Conveniently just a few stumbles away from a nice little restaurant. Well, the only restaurant within any sort of walking distance. I believe we deserve a good meal there tonight!
Over and out,
❤️
Erik, Adrienne II Skipper
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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.
