This morning started with a seamless gybe, including the pole—Vilgot was suitably impressed with Dolphin watch’s speed at their first gybe with the pole. Since then, we’ve been in gorgeous sailing conditions, heading straight to our waypoint just above Barranquilla. As the wind shifted east, the other watch (yet to be named, but apparently ‘No Dolphin’ watch isn’t a winner) took the pole down. Since then, we’ve simply been surfing along with speeds of up to 13.8 knots according to JP’s watch.
Now that everyone has become far more confident in their helming, a friendly competition seems to be taking place for best speed. A surf down a wave is now frequently followed by an announcement of top speed reached!
As mentioned, we’ve had some dolphins accompanying us several times now. Unfortunately for the others, they only bless us with their presence when Janelle, Troy, Daniel, and Nick are on deck.
During glums and glows tonight, we were majority GLUM FREE—WOOHOO! The overarching glows were the opportunity for a visit to the outdoor spa provided on board (we’re certainly all smelling fresher) and, of course, the sunshine sailing we’ve had all day.
Everyone says hello to back home—we love the comments, so please keep them coming!
—FALKEN Crew
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”For some things, we will never be ready.” - Moana 2
After 852 miles of open ocean sailing, the crew of Falken dropped anchor in Moorea's Cook's Bay—not with a quiet glide in, but surfing down waves in a squall, breaking speed records and cheering each other on through the rain. What started as a plan to "just dip a toe" into offshore sailing turned into something harder to explain: the worse the conditions got, the more alive everyone felt. Turns out the question was never whether the crew was ready—it was whether they even needed to be.
Kauehi conundrum
Kauehi atoll was always on the itinerary—until the forecast made it a gamble not worth taking. Squalls, bommies, a tidal pass, and no clean escape route: sometimes the hardest call in sailing is the one that keeps you out of a place, not in it. The Tuamotus will have to wait.
Hove-to!
Falken is too fast—a problem most sailors would kill for, yet here we are, tacking back and forth across the Pacific just to kill time. A rogue low pressure system south of Tahiti has stolen the trades and scrambled our timing for the tidal window into Kauehi's pass, leaving us hove-to 45 miles short of our target in the Tuamotus. Salt licorice, dream sandwich debates, and a philosophical question about mermaid reproduction are helping pass the night.