Day 5
What a different day! As we made our way towards the Fair Isle Channel, we went from full sail to three reefs in the sail and staysail. We arrived just at the right moment for the tide to be favourable, and the wind backed north as predicted to allow us to reach through the channel comfortably in building seas.
Then the weather closed in. Gone was the sunshine and amazing light, replaced by grey seas and a grey, murky sky with drizzle. Neptune’s little game of baptism in the North Sea.
As we cleared the channel, the wind increased and we sailed like a freight train towards Norway on a close reach, with hoots of laughter from the on-watch team as they experienced some exhilarating heavy weather sailing. The confused seas in the channel slowly became more organised as we cleared the channel and headed across the North Sea, making for a more comfortable ride.
Dinner was a mission to prepare in these challenging conditions, but it was still special to come together and eat and see how everyone was feeling. The drizzle changed to rain as we sailed straight into the low. We were in for a wet night!
- Jojo Pickering, Skipper, S/Y FALKEN
JoJoPickering
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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.