18:35 | Prince Rupert, BC
In-Port
Good morning from Prince Rupert! Falken and her crew arrived safely into port last night around 8pm boat time, 10pm Prince Rupert time. Luckily, it’s light out at these latitudes until then.
We had a lovely last day of sailing. We approached Dixon Entrance early in the morning, which had been our primary waypoint since we left Oahu. Some spicy weather was anticipated, but luckily the 35kt gusts and 2.5 meter waves were no match for this expert crew. We could only see silhouettes of land because of the endless clouds, but the seagulls flying around and seals poking their heads up confirmed that the charts were correct and land was, in fact, within reach.
Most of the crew was on deck all day with the anticipation of a full night’s sleep ahead. The clouds cleared mid day and we had more blue sky than we had seen in two weeks. For the Pacific Northwest, it ended up being a downright sunny day, though Alex has much higher standards for what qualifies.
Dozens of islands covered in pine trees came into view in the foreground; larger mountains emerged further in the distance. It’s pretty amazing the leave such a distinct landscape like Hawaii and arrive to one that is nearly the opposite. The wind mellowed out as the sun went down and we entered more protected waters. The entire crew rallied to flake and stow three sails, and we readied lines and fenders for our arrival. We had an exceptionally smooth docking, despite it being Alex’s first time parking this year (!).
We had a very late dinner, toasted with celebratory champagne, and shared reflections of the trip. 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 certainly all enjoyed our full night’s sleep.
Now, everyone is scurrying around deep cleaning the boat. Everything is still damp, and in Prince Rupert there’s no chance of anything drying out anytime soon—us included. We’ll all return home significantly saltier than we were when we left, a mark of a passage properly sailed.
Zoe Peach-Riley
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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.