Day 6
July 11, 2024 | Day 6 At Sea | Land Ho
What a wet, wet night it was as we sped through the nimbo stratus in force 6, then the winds slowly decreasing. The slamming stopped and we sped through the North Sea on a smoother ride. Unfortunately, the wind slowed and reduced to nothing in the morning and we were motoring in fog. What a contrast. The rain continued, so we set up a crew rotation of 30 minutes: first on lookout duty, then steering, followed by radar watch, ending with some rest time. Slowly the fog cleared and revealed the coast of Norway. What a beautiful moment. Land Ho by sen GiGi at 1200 UTC.
But we were still a long way out from making port. This was a time of reflection about the trip, how we have personally responded, learning points, and future plans. Excitement grew as land got closer and revealed Norway’s amazing rocky archipelago. We ate supper as we entered the inland waterways. We knew we had to clear customs, so we headed for Hjellestad Haven to see if we could moor alongside. Unfortunately, there was no room. So we changed plan and decided to anchor nearby off Myntevic. We carefully positioned ourselves to drop the anchor. But when the time came, we found that the anchor chain had tied itself in knots! That is how rough the seas were off the Shetlands!
It was late, we were all tired, but we kept laughing at how there is always one more challenge. This time it was Manot who was the hero, pulling all the chain out, untangling it, and returning the chain to the chain locker. We were ready to try anchoring again and this time it went smoothly.
While we were playing with the chain, some of the crew came below and prepared a fabulous feast of tapas for us to celebrate our arrival. We toasted the passage and safe arrival with cold bubbly and shared our favorite parts.
What a great crew. We have laughed loads, worked hard, and challenged ourselves to sail out of our comfort zones.
- Jojo Pickering, Skipper, S/Y FALKEN
JoJoPickering
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A last hurrah
Under the dome of stars in a moon-less sky, each of us during our time at the helm used the most rudimentary celestial navigation, keeping a star or two lined up with the mast as a helper to following the heading range. It was a whole crew event to set the spinnaker, reef the mainsail and practice the heave-to in case of man overboard. Alex stressed that the key to success in all of these crucial activities is preparation. It was hugely satisfying to accomplish these tasks through teamwork. We share a constant good hearted back and forth full of stories, one-liners and comebacks that also means constant laughter.
One little bird!
Falken has almost rounded the Channel Islands and is cruising along splendidly about 100 miles offshore. Though several models predicted some slightly fresher winds today, we were met with a consistent 18-20 kts of pure bliss. It seems that from the moment we left the dock in San Francisco, there has been much laughter and conversation amongst everyone. The plan is to gybe in a few hours and begin our approach to Ensenada. As much as I do appreciate the jokes and intellectual musings, I equally appreciate the natural, silent moments we share at night, all of us on watch gazing up above to the shooting stars, constellations, and planets putting on their quiet show.
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.