pre-departure
June 16, 2024 | 16:30 UTC
The new crew of eight joined myself, first mate Manot, and apprentice Athena aboard Falken yesterday at 1300 to sail from Ponta Delgada, Azores to Galway, Ireland. After a friendly introduction to the staff, the boat, and the forthcoming passage, we dove straight into the domestic briefs followed by the essential safety briefs: fire, flooding, abandoning ship, gas safety, dismasting, and the on-deck orientation.
After a delicious meal at a local restaurant and an early night, we commenced the safety brief this morning with winch safety, lifejackets, and a Man Over Board (MOB) drill. Lunch gave everyone a chance to recharge and digest all the information thrown at them over the past 24 hours.
This afternoon we discussed the weather forecast, and the crew started working on our passage plan and pilotages out of Ponta Delgada and into Galway, with a potential stop in the Aran Islands. The weather forecast shows fresh northerly winds on Monday, so we might delay our departure until Tuesday to have a slightly easier start to the trip.
Everyone is excited to leave and looking forward to the 1200nm passage. Fair winds and a following sea.
- Chris
ChrisKobusch
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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!
Day Two Delights
The seas were completely glassy with a gentle swell as we approached San Clemente Island, the southernmost of the Channel Islands. Everyone jumped in and marvelled at the lovely temperature and crystal clear, indigo-colored water. Before long the wind started to pick up, and we happily unfurled the jib and were sailing again. The afternoon has been gorgeous, cruising along at 5-6 kts, close hauled on a port tack in a gentle breeze, Catalina Island in the distance on our starboard side, and everyone is happy.