Day 5

Chris Kobusch
Chris Kobusch

ChrisKobusch

Passage Blog
Saturday, June 22, 2024

June 22, 2024 | 09:00 UTC

Falken is cruising along, downwind, wing on wing, crunching the miles—225nm in the last 24 hours, averaging 9.4 knots. We are approaching Ireland fast, without even trying. Last night, we put the second reef in the mainsail and three turns on the Yankee sail furler to make helming at night a little bit easier, but Falken just laughed and kept surfing the waves. Slowing down? She doesn’t know how to.

With 550nm to go and 700nm already sailed, we are well past the halfway point. According to the weather forecast, we should have a good downwind run almost all the way in and reach the Aran Islands late on the 24th. Only in the last 50nm might the wind veer and we might get headed. Time will tell.

So far, all is well on Falken. Fair winds and a following sea,

—Chris

ChrisKobusch

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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.

20/6/2026
Ladies who reef

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.

Phoebe Rogers
18/6/2026
Yankee Doodle Died at Sea, Riding on a FALKEN

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.

17/6/2026
A Gen Z Perspective