Saturday, June 14, 2025 | Equator - Bring it on!
Apparently, a spy boarded FALKEN, unbeknownst to the several polywogs aboard—heralding our approach to the royal line. Having been duly notified of the impending rite of passage by King Neptune’s herald and prepared for the equatorial approach by our flamboyant navigator, we anxiously prepare gifts of great worth to offer the famed nautical god. Frankly, if Neptune has an accent as odd as the rest of his court, we may not have any idea what’s going on during the encounter.
This landmark (seamark?) experience aside, we continue to enjoy magnificent sailing! The crew is rested, strong, and incredibly well fed, and Falken reaches like a dream. The stars are brilliant and eventually bow to the spotlight of a full moon. As the moon arcs across the night sky, she eventually concedes the labor of lighting our path to the sun in a glorious display as one sets while the other rises.
The skipper, mate, and bosun continue to impart their knowledge to the crew. In fact, last night Mary informed us that no airplanes flew over the Pacific Ocean—only spaceships. I learn something every day ;)
//Orie
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A last hurrah
Under the dome of stars in a moon-less sky, each of us during our time at the helm used the most rudimentary celestial navigation, keeping a star or two lined up with the mast as a helper to following the heading range. It was a whole crew event to set the spinnaker, reef the mainsail and practice the heave-to in case of man overboard. Alex stressed that the key to success in all of these crucial activities is preparation. It was hugely satisfying to accomplish these tasks through teamwork. We share a constant good hearted back and forth full of stories, one-liners and comebacks that also means constant laughter.
One little bird!
Falken has almost rounded the Channel Islands and is cruising along splendidly about 100 miles offshore. Though several models predicted some slightly fresher winds today, we were met with a consistent 18-20 kts of pure bliss. It seems that from the moment we left the dock in San Francisco, there has been much laughter and conversation amongst everyone. The plan is to gybe in a few hours and begin our approach to Ensenada. As much as I do appreciate the jokes and intellectual musings, I equally appreciate the natural, silent moments we share at night, all of us on watch gazing up above to the shooting stars, constellations, and planets putting on their quiet show.
Birds and glows
The sun brought new wind and we were soon putting up the Yankee (jib) and turning off the motor. During the evening tradition of sharing “glums and glows” that follows the crew dinner, our Mate Ryan proclaimed it a “champagne sailing” kind of day. As Alex noted this evening, life goes by so fast that one of the very best things about his line of work is enjoying the passage of time in the slow lane of an ocean passage. But by tomorrow, the green blobs in the weather sailing app indicate we’re going to pick up some significant northwesterly winds and we’ll take them ever further south to the Channel Islands latitude. We’re all super excited for the knots to climb and to see Falken really run.