Day 3

September 1, 2024, 14:50 UTC | Middle of the North Sea
It is incredible how much change you can get in 24 hours out at sea. So far, this trip has not disappointed in terms of variable conditions and keeps proving an amazing experience for FALKEN and her crew. So far we have changed from 2 reefs on the main to none, from staysail to jib, from jib to spinnaker, and from spinnaker to yankee, which is what we currently have flying.
After we dropped the spinnaker last evening due to the wind lightening, we motor-sailed for a couple of hours before we found the predicted forecast, meaning a beam reach with 20+ knots. For those of you who have sailed FALKEN before, you know exactly what that meant—an average of 12 knots for the last 14+ hours!
We have been flying towards London in a North Sea that has been benign so far to us, giving us beautiful easterly winds that we have so far enjoyed. Our current ETA is looking for an arrival to the Thames Estuary by tomorrow morning, but it will all depend on what the weather does tonight.
Once at the entrance of the Thames, it’s all a tide game as we can only go up to Tower Bridge with the tide rising, so we’re going to need to time it right. Our arrival into St. Katherine’s Dock will either be Monday or Tuesday.
But everyone is having a blast onboard and it’s been a great sail so far. Looking forward to more of the same!
Alex
laline96@gmail.com
View more passage logs


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.


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.


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.

