Day 1
August 29, 2024 | Marstrand, Sweden
After a few days spent getting the boat ready in Marstrand, the crew finally joined yesterday, giving FALKEN a warm, cosy home feeling. We’re now finalising the safety briefs before setting off in a couple of hours. The plan is to do a short sail to Gothenburg to clear immigration and then set off again tonight towards the North Sea. The weather has been rather unstable lately, so we’re keeping our options open of either going north or south of the UK—at least our Skipper has a degree in meteorology!
This is my first voyage on FALKEN since little Margaux was born, and I cannot wait to get out there and enjoy the open sea while accumulating stories that one day I’ll be able to share with her and Beth. Will keep you all updated.
Love,
Alex
laline96@gmail.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.