Epic Downwind!
The first 24 hours in the Pacific have been absolutely magic. Last night was one for epic sailing. FALKEN powered along at 15+ knots in 35 knot winds, surfing down some steep waves as we lost sight of Panama in our stern. As the night passed, the breeze eased off and we were able to shake out our 2 reefs and go back to full sails by sunrise.
By 8am we had our big pink spinnaker flying and managed to keep it all the way until the afternoon when the breeze died off and our iron sail (aka the engine) made an entrance for a few hours. Some of the highlights of today include sighting a pod of Orcas about 5 boat lengths from us, spotting the Southern Cross and the North Star in the same sky, and the bioluminescent water that makes us feel like we’re floating in space.
Right now we’ve got the engine back on after drifting for a couple of hours taking in the starry skies. As we move further south, the weather is becoming a bit more unpredictable and with the ITCZ in sight we are expecting some thunderstorms and light winds in the next couple of days.
Everyone is well onboard and we’re all in a state of “drift,” lost in all of the magic surrounding us.
Love to all—Alex, FALKEN Skipper
P.S. If you are reading this blog, please write some comments in the section below and we’ll send it over to the crew to read. I am sure they will love it :)
Mia & Andy (shore support on Leg 5, Panama to Galapagos)
laline96@gmail.com
View more passage logs
”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.