Wednesday, June 18, 2025 | Sun, Squall, Boobies and All
We often find comfort in constants. Those wonders of each day that don’t let us down, those relentless events that create the cadence of our lives. I reached a degree of comfort here in the doldrums, due in large part to three constants—sun, sea, and soup. Yep! Plenty of each of those to be found.
The sun and I don’t always get along, but as the crew glummed and glowed at dinner time, I had to concede that we were enjoying wondrous sunsets, some pretty fine sailing, and the weather that makes it all possible because of the sun. Thank you, Sun!
The sea keeps on giving—everchanging vistas, constant mesmerizing motion, and vast power manifest in the grace of gentle rolling swells. We did see some more dolphins in the distance, and the flying fish continue to entertain. Thank you, sea!
And now we come to the soup. Although not as vast as the sea, there may be enough to constitute a body of liquid visible on Google Earth. Fortunate for us, it is delicious, nourishing, and a beautiful shade of green not otherwise seen in our current environment. There has been some chatter about mandatory soup ingestion to mitigate the situation, but we continue to be fed wonderful dinners and are grateful that the soup is there for us, constant and plentiful. Thank you, soup!
What about the boobies, you may ask? They have accompanied us on our voyage and are more frequently taking the opportunity to rest and preen on the anchor (to the bosun’s delight). This is in contrast to the boobie that took a bit of a ride on the wobbly Windex the other day. Fortunately, it did not tolerate the raucous ride for long, and the Windex was not damaged. The boobies add a little beauty and action to our day. Thank you, boobies!
We have experienced a lot of fun on the trip thus far, but the doldrums did strip some of the spice from our day. But never fear, Tara is here. She produced some of the finest tasting cold Coca Cola I’ve ever had, and shared this precious resource with the entire crew. Thank you, Tara!
Oh, the squall… Yeah, everything was feeling pretty predictable and plain until the dark clouds rallied on our flank and swallowed us up. This is the longest sustained squall yet and is appreciated as the temperature has dropped by a few degrees. Although, I do think it is appreciated most by those not on watch. Thank you, squall!
Grateful to be here with this marvelous crew! Cheers!
- Orie
Write your comments below and I’ll forward them to the boat with the daily update :) - Mia (shore support)
crew@59-north.com
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A last hurrah
Under the dome of stars in a moon-less sky, each of us during our time at the helm used the most rudimentary celestial navigation, keeping a star or two lined up with the mast as a helper to following the heading range. It was a whole crew event to set the spinnaker, reef the mainsail and practice the heave-to in case of man overboard. Alex stressed that the key to success in all of these crucial activities is preparation. It was hugely satisfying to accomplish these tasks through teamwork. We share a constant good hearted back and forth full of stories, one-liners and comebacks that also means constant laughter.
One little bird!
Falken has almost rounded the Channel Islands and is cruising along splendidly about 100 miles offshore. Though several models predicted some slightly fresher winds today, we were met with a consistent 18-20 kts of pure bliss. It seems that from the moment we left the dock in San Francisco, there has been much laughter and conversation amongst everyone. The plan is to gybe in a few hours and begin our approach to Ensenada. As much as I do appreciate the jokes and intellectual musings, I equally appreciate the natural, silent moments we share at night, all of us on watch gazing up above to the shooting stars, constellations, and planets putting on their quiet show.
Birds and glows
The sun brought new wind and we were soon putting up the Yankee (jib) and turning off the motor. During the evening tradition of sharing “glums and glows” that follows the crew dinner, our Mate Ryan proclaimed it a “champagne sailing” kind of day. As Alex noted this evening, life goes by so fast that one of the very best things about his line of work is enjoying the passage of time in the slow lane of an ocean passage. But by tomorrow, the green blobs in the weather sailing app indicate we’re going to pick up some significant northwesterly winds and we’ll take them ever further south to the Channel Islands latitude. We’re all super excited for the knots to climb and to see Falken really run.