Day 6
Leg 1 Vindön-Bergen | Day 3
Inshore sailing is all about enjoying the moment. The plans you lay out in the morning will almost always change once the sails are up. We left Tananger after a slow morning talking to the locals, fixing things, and exploring. The downwind sail north took us through beautiful Kvitsøy. We were supposed to sail in the outskirts, but we ended up sailing through the very narrow channels in downtown Kvitsøy. Google Kvitsøy and you will want to make the same trip as us. We should have stopped, but we continued up Karmsundet. The next plan broken was an anchorage just south of Haugesund. A forecast promising gusts of 46 knots didn't sound like a good night's sleep. So here we are in Haugesund, getting ready for a restaurant dinner. All is well on board the good ship Isbjorn—Jon, JoJo, and fantastic crew. PS: We had sun almost all the way.
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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.