After reaching across the Western Approaches to the English Channel under Yankee and Main, the wind veered as predicted, so we gybed and hoisted the big pink kite to try to maintain speed. After a full day under spinnaker, it was time to drop her and ready the boat for an overnight.

The nasty low pressure that had us all wet and bothered has finally passed, leaving us with a nice weather window to set off to Portugal. It can't possibly be real that the majority of this trip south could be downwind, and yet early forecasts suggest exactly that...

The weather has been extremely fickle around the British Isles this past week, making this an exceptionally challenging passage to plan for. We have been through plans A, B, C, D,… trying to find the best ‘next port of call’. Not really sure how far down the alphabet we are at this point.  But quite unexpectedly these alternative routes have made it possible to tick off several Bucket-list items for the crew...

We spent a day in Dover dodging intense thunder on the English Channel. We walked up the white cliffs to see Dover Castle dating back to the 1100s, a roman lighthouse(!) and WW2 tunnels from where they controlled Operation Dynamo saving hundreds of thousand soldiers from Dunkirk.

Everyone seemed to have a good time exploring London yesterday. We all gathered on the boat for a pre-dinner drink and then headed off to The Dickens Inn at St. Katherines docks for our supper. We enjoyed the night and ended with a weather and route briefing from captain Erik. Our next port of call will be Guernsey island!

Truly stunned to be moored up right next to the iconic landmark Tower Bridge. I see the classic red buses driving over bridge and we meet wonderful people living in a barge community right here on the river bank.

It is incredible how much change you can get in 24h out at sea. So far, this trip has not disappointed in terms of variable conditions and keeps proving an amazing experience for FALKEN and her crew.

I get briefly woken up in the early morning by a WOHOOO scream from the helmsman standing on deck above my head. I guess they were surfing down a wave. After a while my first mate and now my good friend Alex comes down from his shift.

After a few days spent getting the boat ready in Marstrand the crew finally joined yesterday, giving FALKEN a warm cosy home feeling. We’re now finalizing the safety briefs before setting off in a couple of hours.

The spinnaker was successfully hoisted and is still flying. The crew were either very quiet, or I was sleeping hard, most likely the later, as this was the first time many of the crew flew a spinnaker. The wind has continued to drop throughout the day, and is now down to 7-9 kts. of true wind, sailing towards the Swedish coast at a comfortable 7 kts.

We’re in the fat part of the North Sea, west of Denmark, but feels like we’re in the Trades today. Blue skies, puffy white clouds and a steady 15-20 knots on the beam. FALKEN is cruising at an easy 9-10 knots on a mostly calm sea. The watch just finished cleaning up from turkey chilli dinner ala Capt. Andy, and half the boat is napping with full bellies.

A few hours ago our crew of eight women left the boat and onto the ferry into central Amsterdam. There is nothing better than to hear your crew chatting about where they are going to meet up for dinner once the trip is over. A sure sign that these eight individuals - once strangers - are now friends. Friends out of choice, rather than because they are forced into the confines of a 65 foot sailing yacht with no escape! 

This morning I was reminded of how fulfilling it is to see people you coach start to gain in confidence. As I was making scrambled eggs down below the gang on deck were discussing how to make the boat go faster. Impressively I managed to keep my nose out of it ;) One of them quoted “when in doubt let it out” and lo and behold, after a decisive ease of the main, and a transferring of the jib to the outboard lead, the boat picked up three knots! Proud skipper moment :) Good job Jaime, Anne, Rach and Kellye.

We have had very little wildlife, or maybe we have been too busy sailing the boat and swapping buckets to look for any ;) A couple birds are circling the boat, but that’s pretty much it. Last night, we were dodging oil rigs and at one point we had 11 of them in sight. We got called up on the radio from a gentlemen telling us to keep 2 nm clear of any rig. The depth at the moment is only 86 meters!

“There is a bucket stationed in every area” she said to me, to the familiar background track of hurling. Someone had gone for round 2. But I’ll tell you - I’m not sure I’ve ever seen so much puke come with so many smiling faces. The crew are determined to soak up every last second that they can on deck. And so on they go, braving the undressing and dressing manoeuvre again and again and again. Impressive!

It is 7.50 on FALKEN n Bergen and most of the crew is already up. Coffee has been hot for almost an hour and the breakfast is served. I asked how they slept and one said, not really, its of new noises and some others, ‘I had a full night sleep, without the teenagers in the house, this has been so quite’. We have ‘quite time ’until 8 am, crew can be up but be respectful of those who are sleeping still…

We are in Bergen as we speak, or actually, to be more correct, in Hjelmås, about 45 minutes north of the city, rafted up to ISBJØRN at her summer berth. FALKEN arrived to Bergen from Galway on Saturday and I flew in with Andy. Last year when we looked at the schedule we realized that both ISBJØRN and FALKEN will be in Bergen at the same time, for the first time.

Our last day all together on FALKEN. Time to arrive in the big city of Bergen. We slipped the lines and motored up the fjord while eating a leisurely breakfast. The crew taking it in turns to pack their bags and clean their bunks ready for departure. 

Some of us slept really well at anchor, others found the silence too quiet, some of us were still waking up every 4 hours for our watches. In the morning we found ourselves anchored in a beautiful calm location. After a breakfast in the cockpit, the planes started to land. We were in the flight path of Bergen airport!

What a wet, wet night it was as we sped through the nimbo stratus in force 6, then the winds slowly decreasing. The slamming stopped and we sped through the North Sea on a smoother ride. Unfortunately the wind slowed and reduced to nothing in the morning and we were motoring in fog. What a contrast