airplane mode
This morning I was reminded of how fulfilling it is to see people you coach start to gain 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.
For anyone who is following us, the crew have opted to turn their phones on flight mode until we all agree we are ready to let the outside world in. So, to loved ones and followers, thank you for allowing us the bliss of living in our watery bubble for a little while longer.
— Nikki
NikkiHenderson
View more passage logs
”For some things, we will never be ready.” - Moana 2
After 852 miles of open ocean sailing, the crew of Falken dropped anchor in Moorea's Cook's Bay—not with a quiet glide in, but surfing down waves in a squall, breaking speed records and cheering each other on through the rain. What started as a plan to "just dip a toe" into offshore sailing turned into something harder to explain: the worse the conditions got, the more alive everyone felt. Turns out the question was never whether the crew was ready—it was whether they even needed to be.
Kauehi conundrum
Kauehi atoll was always on the itinerary—until the forecast made it a gamble not worth taking. Squalls, bommies, a tidal pass, and no clean escape route: sometimes the hardest call in sailing is the one that keeps you out of a place, not in it. The Tuamotus will have to wait.
Hove-to!
Falken is too fast—a problem most sailors would kill for, yet here we are, tacking back and forth across the Pacific just to kill time. A rogue low pressure system south of Tahiti has stolen the trades and scrambled our timing for the tidal window into Kauehi's pass, leaving us hove-to 45 miles short of our target in the Tuamotus. Salt licorice, dream sandwich debates, and a philosophical question about mermaid reproduction are helping pass the night.