Final Debrief
San Francisco Bay | Monday 25th of August | Local time 10:30
Well … it’s a wrap. Another trip complete. And this one was, as they always are in their own unique ways, quite the adventure.
Our last morning started with weighing anchor in thick fog. We set out for what we thought would be a four-hour motor into the Bay. Then, as if the Universe was gifting us just what we were hoping for, the sky cleared, the sun came out, and the wind started to blow. We hoisted the sails and a few miles later bore away left, sailing under the bridge, gybing back and forth across the Bay. A Golden Gate entry of dreams!
As is custom at the end of every trip, we spent our last night reflecting on the 882NM voyage we had from Victoria. This one was a touch different to normal as we opted to stay onboard and get Thai takeout for our ‘last supper’. We sat in the cockpit, clean (thanks to liveaboard Crystal for lending 11 women a key to the showers on a Sunday evening!) and cozy under our makeshift atmospheric red head-torch under-boom lighting, eating and drinking long into the evening.
I wish you could all be flies on the wall during the close of one of these trips. Last night, belly laughter, tears, and deep heartfelt expressions of gratitude ping-ponged around the crew as we looked back at our trip. Each ‘final debrief’ has its own personality—this one particularly entertaining, as every so often a song would be turned up on the speaker and the girls would launch into a sailing-inspired dance. This was followed by more roars of laughter, and then back to another grounding, inspiring reflection.
Many of the women shared how tough they had found the trip at certain moments, and how empowered they now feel after realizing—wow—“I am stronger than I thought I was.” That confidence can be a seed for new sailing dreams, and it was so brilliant to hear a few comments like, “I’m excited to go explore now on my own boat.” Because, isn’t this what it’s all about in the end? Dreams. Exploring. Discovery. For more of us to be brave enough to think up a dream and then maybe even make it happen.
As Amy so aptly put: “Find the line. Believe. Execute.”
- Nikki
NikkiHenderson
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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.