February 17, 2025 | Sailing or Snowboarding?
Good day from the beautiful clear blue Caribbean Sea! We had a lot of fun surfing Falken down long ocean swells today. It feels similar to snowboarding but on water instead of snow—an adrenaline rush for sure! Our top speed was about 14 knots while surfing down a swell. As crew, we are learning how to keep the boat on a mostly straight course instead of only back and forth. The boat takes longer to respond than a car when turning, so it’s a new skill for us. One of the crew likens it to off-roading in sand.
Yesterday we had freshwater showers sitting on the back of Falken, watching the blue waters of the Caribbean flow by behind us with Falken traveling at 10 knots (about 18.5 km/hr).
Last night we enjoyed patches of bright glowing water. The glowing is caused by bioluminescence—a type of plankton, I believe. The food has been delicious, the highlight being an olive and sea salt focaccia bread made by Manot today. It was devoured rapidly.
- Janelle, crew on the Falken
FALKENCrew
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Seasickness
But maybe, I thought, with some drugs I could stay ahead of it. The first 48 hours I felt horrible. But luckily with 3 health care professionals on board and in a very encouraging environment, my body found its way. Anyway, someone offered me a patch (unavailable in Canada) and someone else gave me some pills for nausea and now I feel much, much better.
Dolphins and Bioluminescence
We had a good run with the sails but weather has changed and we are once again chasing the wind. Everyone is getting a chance to practice helming in big swell; starting to get a feel of the wind and water and how it pushes and pulls the hull. A pod of dolphins came to visit at night, splashing in the bioluminescent water, and again in the day, dancing in the bow wake. For now enjoying the calmer sea state and falling asleep to the rumble of the engine and the gentle whooshing of the water on the hull.
Greetings from Lala Lemonshark
The brave crew is toughing it out and staying cheerful despite being tossed around. The engine is off and we are true sailing-main and jib. In the first 12 hours we saw two pods of Orca and four humpback whales, two of which were 20 yards off the starboard beam!