Happy Birthday Mary!
Sunday, June 9, 2025 | 09:45 Local Time
Good morning from the middle of the South Pacific! FALKEN has been ticking miles off nicely and the crew are all well into the watch system. Today we woke up to a much more squally day, with lightning and thunderstorms around us indicating our proximity to the ITCZ. The forecast is promising, and with a light day ahead expected tomorrow, everything seems to be as straightforward as sailing goes.
The dilemma is which island do we aim for: Palmyra Atoll or Christmas Island? I know, right? What a terrible decision to make! Both of them have their pros and cons, but looking at the weather ahead, we are currently heading towards Christmas Island, which is currently lying 970nm NW of our position.
Today is a special day for our First Mate Mary, who is turning 30! She doesn’t know it yet, but we have a little present for her and Adam is baking a birthday cake from scratch.
Lots of love,
- Alex
Send your birthday message to Mary in the comments and I’ll forward it to the boat with the daily update.
- Mia (shore support)
laline96@gmail.com
View more passage logs
Seasickness
But maybe, I thought, with some drugs I could stay ahead of it. The first 48 hours I felt horrible. But luckily with 3 health care professionals on board and in a very encouraging environment, my body found its way. Anyway, someone offered me a patch (unavailable in Canada) and someone else gave me some pills for nausea and now I feel much, much better.
Dolphins and Bioluminescence
We had a good run with the sails but weather has changed and we are once again chasing the wind. Everyone is getting a chance to practice helming in big swell; starting to get a feel of the wind and water and how it pushes and pulls the hull. A pod of dolphins came to visit at night, splashing in the bioluminescent water, and again in the day, dancing in the bow wake. For now enjoying the calmer sea state and falling asleep to the rumble of the engine and the gentle whooshing of the water on the hull.
Greetings from Lala Lemonshark
The brave crew is toughing it out and staying cheerful despite being tossed around. The engine is off and we are true sailing-main and jib. In the first 12 hours we saw two pods of Orca and four humpback whales, two of which were 20 yards off the starboard beam!