June 25, 2024 | 07:30 UTC
As we wait to check in at the Port of Galway, I finally have a minute to reflect on this epic adventure. First, what can I say about Chris, Manot, and Athena? They are quite literally the best sailors I have ever had the opportunity to learn from. They are also wonderful humans who have demonstrated endless patience and leadership for the entire crew, all while creating a culture of community for us—a group of strangers from all over the world with varying degrees of sailing skill and experience.
For me, I will hold close the memories of our nightly crew dinners in the cockpit—someone always sacrificing hot food to stay on the helm—while we shared our “glums and glows” of the day. The “glows” helped us focus our attention on good things and gratitude, resetting us after days and days of no more than a few hours of sleep around the clock, biting cold weather, anxiety-producing dense fog, sore and dysregulated bodies, heavy sea swells, and way too “spicy” sailing.
Each day I heard “glows” about Manot’s focaccia, sightings of whales and dolphins, spectacular cloud formations, the indigo color of the sea, good sleep in cozy hammocks, Athena’s warm yummy pesto, finally mastering the complicated life jackets, favorable weather and wind, Chris’ patience with our ongoing and repeated mistakes, countless speed records, previously unimaginable achievements on the helm (mine), and so much more. The “glows” list grew long, and each day we became a tighter-knit crew, united in helping each other while we sailed FALKEN to Ireland.
As we end this final chapter of our voyage, I have no words to adequately express my “glows,” so I will keep it simple.
With my deepest gratitude always,
- Raquel (FALKEN Crew—Azores to Galway ‘24)
crew@59-north.com
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Quadruple digits!
We are still headed north away from Hawaii, though today we have started to veer ever so slightly east. Speaking of miles, we hit quadruple digits today and are currently 1051 nms into our journey to Alaska. The sea state continues to calm down, and the famous North Pacific high is just out of our reach. The next few days will be a delicate dance of riding the outskirts of the high while avoiding the pesky low pressure systems that are dancing nearby. In his very wise words, we need to get north but not too far north, stay south but not too far south, continue heading east but not too far east, and avoid going west but also stay west.
The basics
Nordic Falken and her crew have been in a steady course of NNW since the departure of Hawaii. But! The good thing of all of this is that the promised land on which the high pressure lies has been getting closer and closer, meaning in a couple of days we're gonna see the wind slowly veer all the way to the South, which finally should see us easing the sails and remembering the basics of human nature all over again. The crew have been amazing and we've had everyone come around to push through fatigue, seasickness and soaking wet clothes. On another note we left the tropics a while ago and we can really feel the shift of temperature, long gone are the shorts and foulies have been the norm. Not much more apart from this, my intolerance to upwind sailing still pretty much alive but doing it with a bunch of such amazing human beings makes it worth it worthwhile.
Pacific pace
After some initial adversity, we untied our lines and left the beautiful island of O'ahu behind as we set sail north on an adventure of a lifetime. And that is exactly what we are - a family of strangers brought together by a passion for sailing and a love for the sea. The passage, while at its infancy, has delivered. The wind and seas, stars and sails all set the stage for a fantastic journey. We will see you on the other side with many stories to tell.