DAY 6
Lagos, Portugal
I am writing this as the sun is slowly setting in Lagos. FALKEN has now been washed, scrubbed, emptied, and re-stored following her post-passage checklist that we thoroughly follow. There is an aura of accomplishment, relief, and just a general feeling of awesomeness onboard—not just for the successful trip we’ve just completed, but because this marks FALKEN’s first successful season in the Atlantic, sailing an astonishing 16,112 nm.
I am lucky enough to have sailed on her first and last passages, and to see how well she has performed and how far she has come is inspiring. Kudos to our awesome Bosun Adam for the amazing work that we’ve seen every day we’ve sailed her. We gave Adam a shoutout with the whole crew after arrival and cheered with some bubbles.
It has been a great way to finish the season with nice weather, great people, and the opportunity to sail with Mia, Andy, and Manot. We always say it is sometimes difficult to see your friends in this industry because we only see each other when we get to do trips together, and when it’s a passage from one destination to another, your friend is asleep most of the times you’re awake, which isn’t very social. So this trip has been a great chance to spend some time sailing with Andy and Mia and to get to know Manot.
But the best part of every trip for me is always the people who come along—the people who come to learn, live new experiences, accomplish something they might not know what it is yet, and to get to know them and their lives. It has been a real pleasure sharing this experience with Knut, Karima, James, Constance, Bob, Fred, and Sean. You all made this week a memorable one, and from the 59 North team we say thank you from our hearts. We couldn’t have asked for a better bunch to officially finish the season.
Now the plan is to get FALKEN cozy in the yard for the month of December while doing some jobs on her and making sure she is in top form for the first trip of the year, in which Mia and I will be sailing her due south, towards the Canary Islands.
- Alex
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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.