Pre-Departure

Jojo Pickering
Jojo Pickering

JoJoPickering

Passage Blog
Wednesday, July 3, 2024

July 3, 2024

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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Ladies who reef

The trade winds have been kind, rolling the boat toward Hawaii in a steady, hypnotic rhythm—until last night, when a squall hit without warning and the wind jumped to 28 knots, slamming everything sideways. With rain driving down and the boat lurching underfoot, the crew had minutes to wrestle two reefs into the mainsail and get things back under control. What followed was a masterclass in wet, unglamorous, deeply satisfying teamwork—with less than 250 miles left to go.

20/6/2026
Ladies who reef

Yankee Doodle Died at Sea, Riding on a FALKEN

A thin, foot-long tear in the yankee sail—50,000 miles of ocean behind it—and suddenly the final stretch to Hawaii just got a lot more interesting. The crew of FALKEN had been running a tight ship through the trades, reefing in squalls like clockwork, when the last dance finally caught up with them. How a skipper handles the moment everything goes sideways says everything about the voyage itself.

Phoebe Rogers
18/6/2026
Yankee Doodle Died at Sea, Riding on a FALKEN

A Gen Z Perspective

At 31, the crew thought they were reasonably fluent in the English language—then they met Kip. Today, the crew's self-appointed Gen Z correspondent takes over the log from somewhere in the middle of the Pacific, delivering dispatches on Milky Way night sails, focaccia-induced visions, and the singular mission of getting eleven people's "badonkadonks" to Hawaii. Consider this your glossary.

17/6/2026
A Gen Z Perspective