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January 4, 2025, 10:00 UTC | Pre-Departure
It is a new year and a new season is about to start on FALKEN! I came down to Lagos with the family before the new year to have a quick vacation before the season started. We have enjoyed playing on the beaches, exploring the side streets of Lagos, shopping at the farmers market on Saturday, and getting a few small projects done on FALKEN in between. Lagos has been a frequent stop, and I first came here back in 2012 when Andy and I sailed a Saga 43, KINSHIP, with ARC Europe. We also sailed in here with ISBJORN after our summer up in Svalbard, and both FALKEN and ICEBEAR have been here multiple times.
Emily, who is the skipper for this leg, arrived late on the 1st, and since then we switched into work mode and are prepping FALKEN for her next passage. I thought I was smart to get the major provisioning done before Emily arrived, but didn't realize until I stepped into Pingo Doce (the supermarket closest to the marina) that it was New Year's Eve and the store was packed. Anyhow, lots of good food is now added to FALKEN for the next leg.
Crew will arrive today at 1 pm. We have been monitoring the weather and it looks like we'll sit out some weather on Sunday and depart after that. We are kicking off the 2025 season with an all-female crew, eager to jump onboard and make our way towards Las Palmas in the Canary Islands. Bethany and Jeana came down the docks yesterday to check out FALKEN and I am sure the rest of the crew have been spying on us from the shore.
Our aim is to send in daily blogs to the website, so check back to hear about our adventures as we head south!
HOLD FAST!
Mia
mia@59-north.com
View more passage logs
People Get Ready!
The last three days have been an intense (and intensely hot) period of discovery, practice, and planning. Because Adrienne II is not a 59N boat, there's been some extra setup and coordination needed including rigging all the sails that were out for repairs before we arrived. Its been a blast working alongside the 59N team getting to help them work things out on a less familiar boat in real time. Tomorrow morning we'll run through our Person Over Board training as the final pre-departure task, cast off and head out. Can't know all that it will be, but its going to be a great adventure out in the vast world with some pretty fantastic people.
Among the Channel Islands
In the wind shadow of SoCal we had a restful night with calm conditions ghosting through smooth seas. We’re getting ourselves in position for spicy weather tonight once we round Cape Conception, the seas build and the breeze freshens. It will be an upwind sail into an acceleration zone along a formable coast with few bailout points, Morro Bay being one. The crew is really gelling with lots of smiles and laughter on deck. Monterey is in our sights!
Day Two Delights
The seas were completely glassy with a gentle swell as we approached San Clemente Island, the southernmost of the Channel Islands. Everyone jumped in and marvelled at the lovely temperature and crystal clear, indigo-colored water. Before long the wind started to pick up, and we happily unfurled the jib and were sailing again. The afternoon has been gorgeous, cruising along at 5-6 kts, close hauled on a port tack in a gentle breeze, Catalina Island in the distance on our starboard side, and everyone is happy.