Day 4 at-sea
Day 4
We are all now falling into the regular routine of life at sea—the times of our different watches, the writing up of the hourly log, and the drinking of coffee. On this trip, there has been a lot of coffee drinking. Everyone’s appetites have improved as we have found our sea legs, and we all want it to carry on for longer.
We had another perfect sailing night followed by a spectacular sunrise, helped by the Sahara dust brought in by the easterly wind. At 1146 UTC, we passed our 600 NM point on the trip with just 170 NM to go, so we hope to arrive at about midday tomorrow.
Skipper Alex has positioned us to the east of Lanzarote to take advantage of the southeast wind, which will push us towards Las Palmas and our end destination. We started the day broad reaching with easterly wind, then at about 1330 the wind veered to the southeast and we hauled in the sails to a close reach. Sailing along smoothly at 8–9 knots. What a fabulous ride.
Jojo
JoJoPickering
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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.
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.