Food
April 17, 2026 | Food!
With two thirds of this passage complete already, I have been reflecting upon the gargantuan task of provisioning and meal planning, and the learning curves in relation to food as our voyage has progressed. Any professional sailor responsible for provisioning will have felt the nagging fear that there simply isn’t enough food for the duration, no matter the level of planning. Add to that the unknown variable of how much the crew will consume (this can vary massively), and the whole management of stores concept becomes an epic undertaking.
We consume the meats first in order of safe storage, starting with chicken, then moving through the pork and beef, and relying on the trusty cured sausages to keep things interesting further along. Vegetables most certainly have a hierarchy in terms of longevity, with cabbages, carrots, onions, and potatoes lasting longest. A good old-fashioned coleslaw is always well received in latter days and is a refreshing option in the heat of the tropics.
Keeping the snack cupboard refreshed and making sure the day fridge has plenty of lunch options are daily considerations, alongside topping up the breakfast cereals and rotating dry stores from the less convenient parts of the boat to the more accessible areas within the galley. Cooking for 11 people in this heat with a following sea is a constant workout and on average requires two and a half hours for a decent dinner prep. The dangers of boiling water and hot oil are ever present, and traffic through the galley needs careful management.
This is just one of the many aspects of running a safe and efficient boat, but given that on a sailing boat, the crew are the engine, providing healthy, nutritious, and varied meals is a vital component that is often overlooked.
As each day passes, the task of being creative gets trickier and the notion of reaching a restaurant becomes more and more enticing. Not long now!
- Emily | Mate on FALKEN
EmilyCaruso
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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.