Day 10
June 4, 2024 | 16:30 UTC
The last 20 hours have been underlined by the low hum of FALKEN’s engine. In the end, our luck ran out, as we caught up with that no wind zone we had been expecting to reach at any moment for a few days now. This night will be our last night at sea; we are expecting to make landfall in Horta sometime tomorrow afternoon. The excitement is again palpable, as I think everyone is looking forward to a nice little stroll, a warm shower, and a fresh beverage somewhere surrounded by those earthy things—plants, stones, soil. But for now, we have this last day and night to take it all in. The big blue, all around us, water and sky.
We have had some fabulous nights on this crossing: dark skies allowing us to see the Milky Way in great detail, along with many nebulae, star clusters, and galaxies (all visible to the naked eye), and of course, thousands of satellites, which make the sky feel strangely futuristic compared to the skies of my childhood. FALKEN, gliding effortlessly from one continent to another under a hyper-modern, space-age night sky, using millennia-old technology. Seems to me like we are exactly at the right place at the right time.
- Manot
ManotBerger
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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.