Sail Training!
After a windless night drifting between Santa Catalina and San Clemente Islands, we finally managed to find the wind! As soon as the breeze filled in, Adam had just wrapped up his great lesson on boat-keeping and manuals, and it was time to make the most of the new downwind conditions. We pulled out the whiteboard and, step by step, hoisted our spinnaker.
It was awesome to see everyone get involved and to have the pink spinnaker flying for a few hours before we dropped it. Once it was down, we carried on with a quick lesson on wing-on-wing sailing and a couple of gybes. Pretty full-on!
During our glums and glows, many of the crew highlighted the amazing company onboard—everyone has been absolutely fantastic and hands-on—and also the company off the boat, with whales and dolphins constantly accompanying us.
Thanks, Channel Islands!
Alex | FALKEN Skipper
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Ketch us if you Kan
Falken is soon to carry on our preferred route of South, back to (hopefully) warmer climates. We’re all excited to set off and see more of this wild landscape as we head down to Victoria. A thermal trough over Vancouver combined with an offshore high pressure creating funneling NW’ly winds means it is due to be pretty fruity on the 9th. This passage is just under 600 miles, relatively short for Falken, but I’m sure we’ll be kept entertained with dramatic scenery, wildlife and weather!
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.