Wednesday, July 16, 2025 | Safely at Sea
Our morning starts with the wind easing to about 12 knots, with FALKEN making 7 knots on a deep reach north. The sea has flattened, and we can see the vastness of the Pacific all around us. Then, an alarm pierces the silence! A distress signal from a neighboring ship, perhaps? No—a tsunami warning for the Alaskan coast has just been issued. Evidently, an earthquake somewhere in the Pacific has triggered this alarm, while we experience nothing but calm seas and a few sea birds flying in parallel with FALKEN.
A quick look at the chart reveals we have 1,400 miles under our keel and roughly 1,000 miles to Prince Rupert! Surprisingly, we are now only 750 miles south of the Aleutian Islands, yet to begin our right turn on top of the Pacific High. This turn, or gybe, in the middle of the Pacific will point us east-northeast and towards the shores of Canada, and to Prince Rupert.
Life on board FALKEN has taken on its circadian rhythm, with the crew well adjusted to round-the-clock watches and sharing stories of the day that result in endless laughter. Amazing that we have all just met last week! How quickly, offshore and disconnected from the digital world, this environment speeds the formation of friendships with your crewmates—it seems you have known them for months, not just days.
Tomorrow, day 9, brings the gybe on top of the Pacific High to point us east. It will mark the bittersweet turning towards Prince Rupert and the last 1,000 miles of our voyage.
As we were just about to post this, we had a friendly shark encounter! We’re gonna need a bigger boat…
Doug
crew@59-north.com
View more passage logs
Seasickness
But maybe, I thought, with some drugs I could stay ahead of it. The first 48 hours I felt horrible. But luckily with 3 health care professionals on board and in a very encouraging environment, my body found its way. Anyway, someone offered me a patch (unavailable in Canada) and someone else gave me some pills for nausea and now I feel much, much better.
Dolphins and Bioluminescence
We had a good run with the sails but weather has changed and we are once again chasing the wind. Everyone is getting a chance to practice helming in big swell; starting to get a feel of the wind and water and how it pushes and pulls the hull. A pod of dolphins came to visit at night, splashing in the bioluminescent water, and again in the day, dancing in the bow wake. For now enjoying the calmer sea state and falling asleep to the rumble of the engine and the gentle whooshing of the water on the hull.
Greetings from Lala Lemonshark
The brave crew is toughing it out and staying cheerful despite being tossed around. The engine is off and we are true sailing-main and jib. In the first 12 hours we saw two pods of Orca and four humpback whales, two of which were 20 yards off the starboard beam!