Champagne Sailing
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Sunday, July 13, 2025 | Champagne Sailing
Day 5 of being offshore and the general consensus is that everyone’s settled into boat life now. We’ve been extremely well treated today, with champagne sailing through nearly smooth seas, and the wind direction veering to tease us with nearly downwind sailing—FALKEN hasn’t been downwind since May 24, not that I’m keeping track. Most luxuriously, we’ve also all managed to shower. There were some complaints about the temperature of the shower, especially when accompanied by a rogue rain cloud; however, it was unanimously agreed that the location couldn’t be beat.
The crew have not only settled into boat life, but Alex and I have become increasingly quieter as their sailing confidence has rocketed. With a pretty rough start, weather-wise, on this trip, followed by very high activity of squalls, it’s arguably not been the easiest to learn to helm FALKEN in. Yet they’ve all taken it in their stride and are happily laughing away while helming through yet another dark cloud. Special mention to Tash and Stephanie, who have always been great, but their confidence has grown wonderfully on the helm.
On the wildlife front, still no cetaceans, but we have had a very cool friend—a juvenile Laysan albatross! Having dragged the staff to their nesting site on O’ahu and seen the fledglings there, I was very stoked to see one at sea too. Albatrosses are a good sign at sea, said to be the souls of sailors, and it was Fred’s first! They stayed with us all day and gave a very dramatic show this evening, soaring around in front of the sunset.
Apart from that, the flying fish seem to be getting larger and more suicidal as we head north. We’ve had a couple of near misses on the helm and a couple of stinky surprises every morning.
Finally, Happy Birthday to our bosun, Adam, for tomorrow (the 14th)! We appreciate you a lot and will be sure to create some fun things for you to fix over this next year!
Mary | FALKEN Mate
FALKEN|Skipper&Mate
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HMS Night Watch Party
Wing on wing worked well until the wind shifted then the helm became the cone of despair for our night watch crew of three (H, M and S) Alex made the decision to drop the pole, shifting wing on wing to a close reach. Wind increased to low teens and speed picked up to a flying pace. Day spent wandering toward Ensenada. Alex, Adam and David got us into port under another starry night.
No Kitemares Today
After a night marked by sudden wind accelerations peeling off Point Conception, and a vibrant, pulsating sky blistered with shooting stars, the off-watch woke to commotion on the foredeck. The wind had gone light and the swell had tapered just enough to raise the spinnaker. The sail filled with an urgent pop, the sheet strained and Falken charged down the face of the next wave. By mid-day, we doused the spinnaker and set our minds to the more precise task of safely punching through a gap in the notorious Cortez Bank. The border to Mexico looms ahead.
The California coast
We had a very lively first day of sailing with steady winds between 25 and 30 kn gusting to mid 30s. All of the crew got experience at difficult downwind helming as we covered 200 nautical miles in the first 24 hours. This morning brings winds in the teens and calmer seas. The sun is still shining, and the green monster has been slayed by those afflicted!