Pre-Departure
FALKEN // LEG 10 // Crew arrive - introductions and laughter
We have had a busy few days preparing Falken for her next trip from Galway, Ireland to Bergen in Norway. This included a deck wash and filling the water tanks from a fire hydrant. Then, to fill the tanks with diesel, a lovely man arrived in a little fuel lorry with tales of fishing under sail. The welcome here in Ireland has been wonderful.
The boat was ready and the crew arrived, excited and ready for our trip. Between sunshine and showers, we got to know each other, allocated bunks, did a deck walk, and a domestic brief. We ended the day with a great meal out in beautiful Galway. It is always so special how a new crew comes together and becomes a team. The magic has started. Let’s hope we have some great weather.
- Jojo Pickering, Skipper S/Y FALKEN
JoJoPickering
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”For some things, we will never be ready.” - Moana 2
After 852 miles of open ocean sailing, the crew of Falken dropped anchor in Moorea's Cook's Bay—not with a quiet glide in, but surfing down waves in a squall, breaking speed records and cheering each other on through the rain. What started as a plan to "just dip a toe" into offshore sailing turned into something harder to explain: the worse the conditions got, the more alive everyone felt. Turns out the question was never whether the crew was ready—it was whether they even needed to be.
Kauehi conundrum
Kauehi atoll was always on the itinerary—until the forecast made it a gamble not worth taking. Squalls, bommies, a tidal pass, and no clean escape route: sometimes the hardest call in sailing is the one that keeps you out of a place, not in it. The Tuamotus will have to wait.
Hove-to!
Falken is too fast—a problem most sailors would kill for, yet here we are, tacking back and forth across the Pacific just to kill time. A rogue low pressure system south of Tahiti has stolen the trades and scrambled our timing for the tidal window into Kauehi's pass, leaving us hove-to 45 miles short of our target in the Tuamotus. Salt licorice, dream sandwich debates, and a philosophical question about mermaid reproduction are helping pass the night.