Azores → Portugal
Day 1, Oct 19 // Horta and Departure for Lagos
Aaaaaaahoy there everybody! I am writing to you from Horta, in the middle of the Atlantic. FALKEN has spent a whopping four days here, during which we said good-bye to a freshly-salted and fairly-weathered leg 13 crew and welcomed aboard a brand new crew of sailors.
The turn-over was quick and was complicated by a sweeping cold front that blew 45 knots directly into Horta Harbor. The jetty that FALKEN had been assigned to was nearly underwater. Skipper Erik and I spent about 10 minutes in the gale kicking fenders in between the boat and the pier until we decided that anchoring out would be the safest option. We anchored safely just before nightfall. The wind kept up, bringing with it larger swell and a surface chop. We let loose all our chain and hunkered down for a grueling 2 hours-on, 2 hours-off anchor watch throughout the night. Never a dull moment!
Come day, the water was as still as glass. We sailed back to the dock and launched straight into a full day of boat prep. Laundry, maintenance, inventory, deep-clean, debriefs, briefs… we were busy. But not too busy to notice how beautiful it is here.
Horta is truly breathtaking. The small harbor is surrounded by rolling green meadows situated on the sides of these huge cliffs. The tiny town is picturesque. The buildings are old and colorful, the roofs are mostly red. The marina stands off the battlements of an old fort, and there are several canons pointing right at FALKEN. The coffee and beer is 1 euro. We have been frequenting Peter’s Sport Cafe, a fabled establishment touted as the sailors' bar of the Azores. This is the first place where sailors flock after a long transatlantic passage. Lots of history, fun spot!
On Sunday we were happy to welcome aboard Jonah, Michelle, and Willie, our 59 North Apprentices! These folks have joined us to both learn from and contribute towards 59 North. We didn’t have any apprentices with us on our last leg, so it will be great to have three on this one!
Monday; the day of crew arrival. Michelle and I hustled over to the largest supermarket in the area, the ‘Continente’. As far as island supermarkets go, this one was top-tier! It was huge, and I found everything we needed for a nutritious and delicious passage east. We filled up three carts and spent around 800 euro.
Back on the boat, we stowed the food and moved FALKEN to a fantastic floating slip in the Marina. The charcuterie board was ready by the time guests arrived.
So: quick turn-around? Yes. Tough job? Kind of! It was definitely hard, but working with a positive and supportive team makes it fun. Erik is a great leader on the boat and is a joy to work alongside. Our bosun Adam and the rest of the 59 North staff ashore are attentive, available, and care deeply about our success. So the hard work becomes a fun challenge, and the payoff is huge. We’re going offshore tomorrow! LET'S GO SAILING!
Leg 14 takes us from Horta back to where we started: Lagos, Portugal. The trip is an estimated seven days. Weather looks excellent, with a couple of stormy spots along the way. I expect us to be in reaching conditions for the majority of this passage. And I would bet a candy bar that we do it in 6 days!
Okay, more later! Thanks for reading.
Cheers, and until next time, HOLD-FAST!
-- Ben Soofer
FALKEN|Skipper&Mate
View more passage logs
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.