March 1, 2025 | Champagne Sailing to San Blas!
So good to finally get out on Falken after visiting her in Gosport back in 2023. Perfect sailing conditions from Cartagena, Colombia to the San Blas Islands. 15-20 knots on the beam, 8+ knots over the ground. One reef in the main and full Yankee—Falken is a real joy to sail. Great team effort on the pilotage out of a busy port and a challenging entry into San Blas, coming through reefs and shallows. Sensibly planned in daylight and hopefully with bright sunlight. Starry skies, Southern Cross, Milky Way, phosphorescence, and champagne sailing. What’s not to love? Dave
crew@59-north.com
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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.