21.30 LOCAL TIME | Cooks Bay, Moorea
Anchored
Landfall in Moorea! After 852 miles of North Atlantic - err, scratch that - South Pacific sailing we are at anchor in Cook’s Bay. Fittingly, our final miles were covered while surfing down waves in a squall. With most of the crew and staff on deck cheering each other on as we attempted to break our own records. Congrats to this trip’s “18 & Over” club: Jesse at 18.7 kts and Steve at 18.1 kts (don’t forget the 0.1, Mary). What a fun final day of sailing.
With the sailing component of this trip largely in the books, for whatever reason I am left reflecting on what I expected this trip would be like and what I experienced.
So many cool things jump out right away. The quick jump to quiet Ou Pua, sailing at night for the first time, brilliant stars and seeing constellations pop out of the night sky, awesome bioluminescence appearing everywhere as we carved through waves. And getting to share all of this on watch with my wife, Jenn.
I picked this passage because I thought we’d have relatively calm conditions and get to see some off the beaten path places. Just dip a toe into offshore sailing. As the trip appraoched, I kept thinking about how I wasn’t ready to do this. What if the weather was more than I could handle? What if I got sick? What if I hated this? What if Jenn hated this? (Or even worse, what if I hated this and Jenn loved it!).
What I found was that I felt most alive when there was more wind, more wave, more rain. Surfing down waves a little bit out of control. Even cooler, though, was looking back at the helm to see Jenn’s shit-eating grin as she pushed FALKEN to try to set the family speed record (no comment on whether she succeeded).
Was I ready for this trip? No. (Was I ready for the garden gnome story? Hell, no!) But with this awesome staff, this amazing crew and this kick ass boat…who needs to be.
Frank F.
View more passage logs
Among the Channel Islands
In the wind shadow of SoCal we had a restful night with calm conditions ghosting through smooth seas. We’re getting ourselves in position for spicy weather tonight once we round Cape Conception, the seas build and the breeze freshens. It will be an upwind sail into an acceleration zone along a formable coast with few bailout points, Morro Bay being one. The crew is really gelling with lots of smiles and laughter on deck. Monterey is in our sights!
Day Two Delights
The seas were completely glassy with a gentle swell as we approached San Clemente Island, the southernmost of the Channel Islands. Everyone jumped in and marvelled at the lovely temperature and crystal clear, indigo-colored water. Before long the wind started to pick up, and we happily unfurled the jib and were sailing again. The afternoon has been gorgeous, cruising along at 5-6 kts, close hauled on a port tack in a gentle breeze, Catalina Island in the distance on our starboard side, and everyone is happy.
Adios Ensenada!
Around 9am this morning, we slipped lines and made our way out of Todos Los Santos Bay with a pre-arranged escort pod of dolphins. After a few hours of motoring through very calm, very blue, very kelpy seas, we clicked the engine off and off we went. After some delicious frittata and not-new potatoes a-la Adam, we executed our first of many tacks. With only 5-10 kts of wind, our close haul has been nothing but pleasant so far. After a lovely week in Ensenada for me, Alex, and Adam, we’re stoked to finally head out and begin our upwind journey back up the coast.