Day 1

Manot Berger
Manot Berger

ManotBerger

Passage Blog
38°29.68N 26°17.58W
Tuesday, June 18, 2024

38°29.68N 26°17.58W

June 18, 2024 | 06:30 UTC | 38°29.68N 26°17.58W

The boat is already smelling of coffee as I am getting up. Passing by the port aft bunks, I see them already empty and made to perfection. In the galley I hear a few quiet “good mornings” as I greet the still sleepy but visibly excited crew. An hour and a half to go before everyone meets on deck. A last phone call, a last stroll down to the shore heads, we are on the doorstep of an adventure.

0800, everyone meets on deck. Chris quickly distributes roles and we get the lines ready to slip. A few moments later we tie up at the fuel dock. There, things slowed down for one last time—waiting for our turn, filling our tanks, chatting, waiting… and finally slipping the lines.

1200, we are sailing! Some of the brightest smiles that I have seen were from people taking the helm of a cool boat like FALKEN for the first time. And today was no exception—all the time spent waiting for this day to arrive after first making the plans, all the excitement, maybe a bit of nerves, then realizing how easy it is to steer, the power, the speed, yet it feels so light… bright smiles!

Later, still smiles. We are sailing upwind, in 10-12 knots of wind. It’s perfect. The sea is smooth, steering is easy, we are gliding. Somewhere at sea in the setting sun, the smell of baking vegetables is spreading through the boat… What a lovely day! - Manot

ManotBerger

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Ladies who reef

The trade winds have been kind, rolling the boat toward Hawaii in a steady, hypnotic rhythm—until last night, when a squall hit without warning and the wind jumped to 28 knots, slamming everything sideways. With rain driving down and the boat lurching underfoot, the crew had minutes to wrestle two reefs into the mainsail and get things back under control. What followed was a masterclass in wet, unglamorous, deeply satisfying teamwork—with less than 250 miles left to go.

20/6/2026
Ladies who reef

Yankee Doodle Died at Sea, Riding on a FALKEN

A thin, foot-long tear in the yankee sail—50,000 miles of ocean behind it—and suddenly the final stretch to Hawaii just got a lot more interesting. The crew of FALKEN had been running a tight ship through the trades, reefing in squalls like clockwork, when the last dance finally caught up with them. How a skipper handles the moment everything goes sideways says everything about the voyage itself.

Phoebe Rogers
18/6/2026
Yankee Doodle Died at Sea, Riding on a FALKEN

A Gen Z Perspective

At 31, the crew thought they were reasonably fluent in the English language—then they met Kip. Today, the crew's self-appointed Gen Z correspondent takes over the log from somewhere in the middle of the Pacific, delivering dispatches on Milky Way night sails, focaccia-induced visions, and the singular mission of getting eleven people's "badonkadonks" to Hawaii. Consider this your glossary.

17/6/2026
A Gen Z Perspective