Day 1
FALKEN DAY 1
March 30, 2024
Wednesday saw the arrival of our latest crew of intrepid adventurers as we met on the dock at the Antigua Yacht Club. The heat of the midday sun had us plan our safety briefings carefully as we began below decks and moved to the shaded area of the marina bar to complete our introductions and orientation for the trip ahead. Unfortunately, two of our group were unable to continue with us due to a medical emergency, and so our remaining crew of eight bonded over a traditional Antiguan feast on our first evening together.
With westerlies forecast for Thursday and Friday, it seemed smart to plan our passage for Jamaica to begin on Saturday. After a day of further safety briefings, we took a short shakedown sail east yesterday to the stunning waters of Green Island, where we sat at anchor overnight. An early start this morning gave us the opportunity to iron out some of Falken's teething problems and take a swim in the glorious Caribbean Sea before setting out on our 900nm passage to Jamaica.
As I write this, we are prepping the anchor to leave and fall into our watch systems that will be our lives for the coming days. The crew are all bubbling with excitement and full of enthusiasm for the trip ahead.
EmilyCaruso
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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.