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
JoJoPickering
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Birds and glows
The sun brought new wind and we were soon putting up the Yankee (jib) and turning off the motor. During the evening tradition of sharing “glums and glows” that follows the crew dinner, our Mate Ryan proclaimed it a “champagne sailing” kind of day. As Alex noted this evening, life goes by so fast that one of the very best things about his line of work is enjoying the passage of time in the slow lane of an ocean passage. But by tomorrow, the green blobs in the weather sailing app indicate we’re going to pick up some significant northwesterly winds and we’ll take them ever further south to the Channel Islands latitude. We’re all super excited for the knots to climb and to see Falken really run.
Golden Day
The Pacific is giving us “the shimmer” - with a still flat sea seven hours out of San Francisco Bay, we’re motoring south along the shipping channel, with an hour to go to what teases now as a stunning sunset against wispy clouds. Throughout this first day of Falken 11 the sails have unfurled and been furled again as skipper Alex tries to fill them a meager breeze indeed. We’ve seen a few whales traveling along the route, and an otter that was sadly just a buoy. It’s the first open ocean sail for many of us and it’s a thrill to anticipate all the new experiences we’ll have.
Seasickness
But maybe, I thought, with some drugs I could stay ahead of it. The first 48 hours I felt horrible. But luckily with 3 health care professionals on board and in a very encouraging environment, my body found its way. Anyway, someone offered me a patch (unavailable in Canada) and someone else gave me some pills for nausea and now I feel much, much better.