March 21, 2025 | Departure!
The crew arrived yesterday on a sweaty afternoon in the Flamenco Marina, Panama. You could feel the excitement of everyone coming on board. Some old friends meeting again, some new people stepping foot on Falken for the first time. All really eager to start this journey towards the beautiful Galapagos.
After a warm introduction and the safety briefings, we ended the day with a nice dinner on shore while the sun was setting behind us.
This afternoon we left the marina after some final checks, instructions, and fueling. It was still quite hot, but the clouds appeared so the sun was not burning us alive anymore. After roughly two hours of easy sailing, we poled out the yankee—something I wasn’t yet familiar with, so that was interesting to do.
We are currently surfing goosewinged, doing around 10 knots. We just had an amazing pita with halloumi, homemade hummus, tzatziki, and avocado for dinner, made by our lovely Mary. This all with a beautiful sunset next to us—what is there more to wish for?
Kind regards,
Laura, FALKEN Apprentice, Leg 5, 2025
FALKENCrew
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Cast off the lines
When we awoke it was overcast but the Brazilian sun quickly burned the clouds away and we were left with blue skies. We reviewed some safety procedures, cleaned the boat and had an exciting Person Overboard (POB) recovery. Once we were underway spirits soared as we pointed the bow toward the Canary Islands. As I write this we are heading upwind and dealing with all that involves, and working into our first watches. It is hot, a bit bumpy but we are sailing!!
People Get Ready!
The last three days have been an intense (and intensely hot) period of discovery, practice, and planning. Because Adrienne II is not a 59N boat, there's been some extra setup and coordination needed including rigging all the sails that were out for repairs before we arrived. Its been a blast working alongside the 59N team getting to help them work things out on a less familiar boat in real time. Tomorrow morning we'll run through our Person Over Board training as the final pre-departure task, cast off and head out. Can't know all that it will be, but its going to be a great adventure out in the vast world with some pretty fantastic people.
Among the Channel Islands
In the wind shadow of SoCal we had a restful night with calm conditions ghosting through smooth seas. We’re getting ourselves in position for spicy weather tonight once we round Cape Conception, the seas build and the breeze freshens. It will be an upwind sail into an acceleration zone along a formable coast with few bailout points, Morro Bay being one. The crew is really gelling with lots of smiles and laughter on deck. Monterey is in our sights!