Passage to Iceland: Tuned to Capsula
| Passage | Vestmanna (Faroe islands) → Seydisfjordur (Iceland) |
| Distance | 300 nm (25 nm under engine) |
| Duration | 62 h (6 h of engine) |
| Wind |
B0
B2
B4
B6
B8
B10
Calm
Storm
|
| Comfort |
☀️
🥶
|
I open an eye.
Why did I wake up? Is it already my turn to take the watch?
I hope not, it is so nice to be under the cover, and I could do with more sleep.
I reach for my phone. No, we are only an hour into my sleeping turn.
So, what is it?
Nothing. There is no noise anymore. The wind must have dropped, and Capsula has come to a standstill.
On a long passage, we become so tuned to the boat that any change wakes us up, despite the tiredness. Like when the wind picks up and Capsula becomes overpowered. You can feel the whole hull tensing, the movement becomes jerkier, the noise increases with lines vibrating and waves crashing. It can wake me up from a deep sleep with one thought: “time to reef”.
The tuning extends to catching near misses. Going out for a check on the cockpit just when the safety buoy got detached and is being dragged in the water. Catching a fender mid-air as it is escaping its knot.
Intuition? Luck? A coded message from Capsula? Or simply a micro-change in her movement, caught somewhere at the edge of our perception.
I do hope the same will be true if something happens to Stefano while I am sleeping. I sometimes wake up in panic, with the fear of finding the cockpit empty.
While it cuts into recovery time, being attuned to Capsula helps when conditions deteriorate. When the forecasted gale hit us in the middle of this crossing, we were ready. We quickly adjusted the sail trim to keep Capsula balanced. Once set, she handled the 35-40kt gusts with ease while we cautiously retreated inside in a horizontal position, popping our heads out only now and then for a quick check. We were still glad to emerge into calmer waters, but there is deep comfort in feeling that both Capsula and us know what to do.
The last night of upwind sailing felt like a holiday. Stefano had to extend his watch: he simply could not wake me up (maybe he should just have stalled Capsula).
In the morning, Iceland's east coast appeared, so covered in snow it could have been Svalbard.
Anne, Iceland, May 2026