Day 1
July 5, 2024 | Day 1 At Sea
We were up early to do a mast check and get the boat ready to depart. But our departure time was not for us to choose because we were moored in a wet dock with a lock gate. The options were 4 am or 4 pm; with little apparent difference in the forecast, we opted for 4 pm.
Joy steered us out of the narrow lock gates and we found ourselves in Galway Bay with much stronger winds than forecast. Our first few hours were very busy getting the boat sailing and finally turning off the engine. What a great moment that always is. After eating a wonderful lasagna made by Manot the mate, we settled into our watches.
We had the most beautiful evening sail into the long-lasting sunset, with dolphins joining us and Falken sailing well with staysail and three reefs in the main in 25-29 kts of wind through the Aran Islands and out into the Atlantic Ocean.
- Jojo Pickering, Skipper, S/Y FALKEN
We were up early to do a mast check and get the boat ready to depart. But our departure time was not for us to choose because we were moored in a wet dock with a lock gate. The options were 4 am or 4 pm; with little apparent difference in the forecast, we opted for 4 pm.
Joy steered us out of the narrow lock gates and we found ourselves in Galway Bay with much stronger winds than forecast. Our first few hours were very busy getting the boat sailing and finally turning off the engine. What a great moment that always is. After eating a wonderful lasagna made by Manot the mate, we settled into our watches.
We had the most beautiful evening sail into the long-lasting sunset, with dolphins joining us and Falken sailing well with staysail and three reefs in the main in 25-29 kts of wind through the Aran Islands and out into the Atlantic Ocean.
- Jojo Pickering, Skipper, S/Y FALKEN
JoJoPickering
View more passage logs
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The sun sets on another journey
The hardest part of sailing across French Polynesia wasn't the night watches, the heat, or the open ocean — it was the prospect of being trapped on a small boat with a group of strangers. First-timer Natalie boards as a self-described land crab and discovers that the sea has a way of reshaping both your sea legs and your assumptions. What follows is dolphins, sharks, the Milky Way in full technicolour, and a crew that somehow made the whole thing better than she ever imagined.