What has been remarkable on this leg particularly is the abundance of wildlife around us. It has been said in previous blogs, but as we saw a group of whales (that we still are trying to identify) very close by yesterday, I’ll mention it again. It remains one of the most beautiful and impressive things I have been given to see.

With Chris’s lead the crew was able to get the spinnaker pole up, and set the sails wing-on-wing. The crew made quick work with setting the pole and all smiles once the Yankee sail was trimmed.

So far the forecast has been spot on. We had a very pleasant sail to start with: 12 knots true on a flattish sea with just a 15 degree heel. this afternoon we started motoring, but should find wind again later tonight. This gave everyone time to find their sea legs and to get used to helming and sailing on Falken.

We are sailing! Some of the brightest smiles that I have seen, were from people taking the helm of a cool boat like FALKEN for the first time. And today was no exception, all the time spent waiting for this day to arrive after first making the plans, all the excitement, maybe a bit of nerves, then realizing how easy it is to steer, the power, the speed, yet feels so light… bright smiles!

As we are waiting for the Northerly winds the crew has been working on line handling this morning. The crew has successfully set both the tri sail, storm jib, and the spinnaker pole on the dock.

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 into the trip

The sky cleared just before darkness fell and the crew had a final night to steer by the stars. Falken slipped along silently on an inky ocean and we slowly caught up with the last few boats of the ARC Europe who had left Bermuda four days before us.

We have had some fabulous nights on this crossing, allowing us to see the milky way in great detail. Along with many nebulae, star clusters, galaxies (all visible by naked eye), and of course, thousands of satellites, which make the sky feel strangely futuristic compared to the skies of my childhood. FALKEN, gliding effortlessly from one continent to another, under a hyper modern space age night sky, using “millennium” old technology. Seems to me like we are exactly at the right place at the right time.

Chris informed us that we will sail past Horta then tack to see if the wind will be more favorable on a starboard tack once the wind shifts. We undid the reefs to the Yankee and reef two in the main averaging 7.7 speed over ground for most of the morning. Dolphins, whales, and a nearby sailing vessel provided entertainment for the crew.

In another department, there has been a strong desire to see wildlife, and so far we have seen dolphins on multiple occasions, birds regularly, electric dolphins once (dolphins in bioluminescent algae). But yesterday definitely stood out as we were visited by a small group of whales just before sunset. A humbling few minutes, observing each other, before they disappeared again in the distance. 

FALKEN has maintained a steady pace of 8.6 speed over ground the last sixteen hours as we sail through to 1157 nautical miles. It has been bittersweet with completing the halfway mark to Horta yesterday. The crew had a celebration thanks to Manot for making ice cream for dessert.

We are sailing on the edge of a high pressure system. On my morning watch we shook all reefs and hoisted the Staysail. Beam reaching under full Mainsail, Yankee and Staysail Falken was cruising along at 9, 10 sometimes 11 knots. In the late afternoon the wind veered to a SWester Force 4 to 5 and we dropped the Staysail, eased the sheets and continued on a broad reach.

With 223 nm sailed in the last 24 hours, sailing has been fun and exciting. FALKEN is powered up nicely, and the crew are doing an amazing job helming, keeping her as if she were sailing on rails. Sailors often have their ways to mimic that sensation of the boat flying through the waves, underlined by their eyes brightening up in excitement. I am sure that these days spent together on FALKEN will be referred to under those terms more than once.

FALKEN is cruising right along at 8-9 knots and completing 484 nautical miles within the first three days of our voyage. The last twenty four hours have been tough with moderate sea state and wind speeds, but the crew has been in high spirits since the change in weather. The moderate winds have given us the opportunity to put up the staysail and Yankee along with a reefed main.

Before we left Bermuda we studied the weather and went through all the possible routing options. In the end, with all weather models predicting Northerly winds for the last three days of our trip, we decided to take the Northern route. This is adding some extra miles, but hopefully we will be in a better position for the predicted Northerlies.

A little under 24 hours ago, we slipped the lines from the fuel dock in St George, Bermuda. The excitement amongst the crew was palpable, and it didn’t take much to get a departure picture filled with bright smiles.

The crew is wrapping up their final moments in St. George’s Bermuda. This has been my first time traveling outside of America. My time here has been overwhelmingly positive from the 59 North Crew to the locals here on Bermuda.

Hello everyone! What a great day today has been. Everyone onboard is smelling extremely well and looking very fresh and the reason for that is that today we hove-to to have a mid-Ocean dip! That's right, we went in the water and had a beautiful swim and clean before jumping back onboard to carry on sailing.

Another day of stunning sailing onboard the good ship FALKEN, It has been fascinating to witness the change of temperature since our departure from Cuba and, although the sun has been present everyday since then, it has clearly cooled down to a lovely temperature, needing even a hoodie at night!

Another day is coming to an end as we watch the sunset go down over the horizon. The good news is that FALKEN is still doing over 9 knots which means we've done another 210 nautical miles + day! The bad news is that we're still going upwind....