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
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
Dolphin party!
Kate was about to yank the spinnaker’s sock down when I spotted a stampede of fins heading straight for us. ”Dolphins!”, I yelled back to the cockpit excitedly. Post dinner dish duty was halted down below for the show.
The pool is open!
We stopped the boat, got the ladder down and put out a line with a fender behind the boat. I love swimming in the middle of the ocean, and a bit scary when you realize its more than 4000+ m deep! Love it!
Big Pink Sail Day
I had a most fashionable pointed striped hat at dinner, and out of the depths of a cupboard a cake was created, after 14 days at sea. A group of people I had never met two weeks ago made me feel very special today.