Crew Arrives
July 19, 2024 | Arrival to Bergen
Hjelmås, Bergen
It is 7:50 on FALKEN in Bergen and most of the crew is already up. Coffee has been hot for almost an hour and breakfast is served. I asked how they slept and one said, “Not really, lots of new noises,” and some others, “I had a full night’s sleep, without the teenagers in the house. This has been so quiet.” We have quiet time until 8 am; crew can be up but should be respectful of those who are still sleeping. At 8, I am tempted to jump in for a swim and take a last shower before taking off, and at 9 we will start the day. The plan is to move the boat (sail if there is wind) south to an anchorage and fuel up. The weather will dictate the departure.
A full crew of women arrived at 1 pm yesterday. This is one of our annual ‘All Women’s Passage’ trips with Nikki Henderson as skipper and me, Mia Karlsson, as mate. After a short introduction and familiarization with the boat, we dove straight into safety briefings both below and on deck, getting everyone familiar with the boat, running around finding all thru-hulls, and fitting lifejackets. It’s a long list to go over.
After a long day of prep, we all gathered in the cockpit for dinner: quinoa salad with salmon and tzatziki! It was the first time I cooked salmon in this boat’s oven and I think I was pretty lucky—it turned out great. Before we knew it, it was 9:30 pm with the sun still high in the sky!
- Mia
mia@59-north.com
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.