June 23, 2024 | 2100 UTC
We are making steady progress towards Ireland. We reached 1,000 nautical miles roughly an hour ago and FALKEN has yet to slow down. Today the crew was greeted with a variety of weather as we are sailing on the outskirts of a low-pressure zone. The morning was filled with a thick, cool fog and calm seas until 0902 UTC when the swell began to pick up again. In the afternoon, we had a brief moment of clarity as we gybed to a starboard tack. The warm weather and sun allowed the crew to enjoy the good weather window before we were engulfed in fog again shortly after dinner. Nonetheless, the crew remains in high spirits through the weather. The crew has made tremendous strides in helming, especially with the sea state today. I am thankful to have this experience with them and to watch the crew develop in confidence in just under a week. As we are nearing the coast of Ireland, the crew is prepping for FALKEN’s arrival into Galway. Most of the crew found the raising of the Ireland flag bittersweet, as it is an indication of the crew's success during the passage as we near the end.
- Athena
59ºNorthApprentice
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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.