Day 2
What a great start to the season! I am writing this as I finish my coffee. FALKEN is doing 8.5 knots, and the wind is coming nicely from the beam while the sun is shining on deck. To say this trip has not been what I was expecting weather-wise is an understatement. For most of the way down, we have been going upwind with very fluky winds, and progress hasn’t always been great—a big difference compared to last year’s trip to the Canaries, where Chris and Emma flew all the way down in just three days (or at least that’s what he told me)! But the crew have been doing an amazing job keeping FALKEN moving through the light winds and now finding these beautiful northwesterly winds.
FALKEN has been doing great, and apart from the odd job here and there—normal after a yard period—she has to be in the best shape I have ever seen her after a winter break. Kudos to Adam for looking after her and making the improvements we get to enjoy.
On a more personal note, this trip has been brilliant. We left with plenty of time to get there, and it has meant that we have been able to stop and enjoy the surroundings more often, trying to sail through the light winds instead of motoring through them, and having the chance to go for ocean swims, which is always a highlight.
We will let you know how we get on. Signing off as dolphins approach.
Alex
FALKEN has been doing great, and apart from the odd job here and there—normal after a yard period—she has to be in the best shape I have ever seen her after a winter break. Kudos to Adam for looking after her and making the improvements we get to enjoy.
On a more personal note, this trip has been brilliant. We left with plenty of time to get there, and it has meant that we have been able to stop and enjoy the surroundings more often, trying to sail through the light winds instead of motoring through them, and having the chance to go for ocean swims, which is always a highlight.
We will let you know how we get on. Signing off as dolphins approach.
Alex
View more passage logs
Hat overboard!
On June 4, we reviewed our passage plan before our departure from the marina in Hjellested.
Departure from Bergen!
The crew on the women’s sail training on Isbjorn is settling into a great routine for managing the boat and life onboard.
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.