Day 4
The wind picked up yesterday from the southwest, and we have since been sailing wing on wing on a fairly deep course of 150 degrees to the apparent wind. As the swell picked up progressively from behind, helming became more and more challenging for the crew, some of whom have never sailed in such conditions. Over the span of 24 hours, the improvement is remarkable—the learning curve is steep. We could say we have gone from “steering the boat left and right” to “trimming the rudder for waves and gusts.” In the meantime, we have gone back to “flying” mode, covering 213 nm in the last 24 hours without even trying. It feels like it would be difficult to do less. In a few more hours, we’ll be past the halfway point, 600 nm in.
What has been remarkable on this leg, particularly, is the abundance of wildlife around us. It has been said in previous blogs, but as we saw a group of whales (that we are still trying to identify) very close by yesterday, I’ll mention it again. It remains one of the most beautiful and impressive things I have been given to see. Out here, it truly feels inhabited, and we are just passing guests.
- Manot
ManotBerger
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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.