Today has been warm and sunny and we have had some great sailing conditions. Some call it’s champagne sailing! Falken slips through the water with ease under full sail close reaching over a beautiful sea that I call the ocean plains. Sea birds are flying in company with us and the day ended with a beautiful sunset.

We had the most beautiful evening sail into the long lasting sunset with dolphins joining us and Falken sailing well with staysail and three reefs in the main in 25-29kts of wind through the Aran islands and out into the Atlantic Ocean.

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 little fuel lorry with tales of fishing under sail. The welcome here in Ireland has been wonderful.

We approached the channels between the Aran islands in the early morning hours and pushed on to make the lock to Galway harbor that only opens from 2 hours before high water to high water.

First, what can I say about Chris, Manot, and Athena? They are quite literally the best sailors I have ever had the opportunity to learn from. They are also wonderful humans who have demonstrated endless patience and leadership for the entire crew

The fog is still all around us, white, thick at times, clearer sometimes, and gone rarely. It is a funny feeling sailing “blind”. Especially with 10+ knots of boat speed.

Today the crew was greeted with a variety of weather as we are sailing on the outskirts of a low pressure zone. The morning was filled with a thick cool fog and calm seas until 0902 UTC when the swell began to pick up again.

With 550nm to go and 700nm already sailed we are well past the halfway point. Going by the weather forecast we should have a good downwind run almost all the way in and reach the Aran Islands late on the 24th.

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.