Hot Heat & Cold Mango
April 24, 2025, 2033 Ship’s Time | 60 Miles East of Hiva Oa | Sailing
It’s HOT. And very humid. This equatorial sailing—nothing can prepare you for the heat! When you sleep, whatever side of your body is against the cushions and the sheet leaves a sweaty imprint. It’s like a crime scene outline, but in sweat. It’s gross.
Outside, it’s nicer in the breeze, but then you’ve got to avoid the sun. We have an umbrella rigged up in the cockpit to provide a little extra shade, despite the clear superstitious implications (umbrellas onboard, like bananas, are very bad luck at sea). With the wind lighter now and FALKEN sailing gybing angles to keep the sails full, there’s even less apparent wind moving across the boat. The only shade before noon is a small sliver next to the mast on the port side, which has become a popular spot for the on-watch while taking turns helming.
FALKEN can’t have a bimini shade over the helm when we’re under sail—the running backstays would interfere with it. Frankly, while I enjoy the shade of a good bimini, I hate them in practice. You can’t see the sails and they’re always in the way. So instead, we take turns on the helm while the other watch-standers, in the highest heat of the day, hide in the shade by the mast or under the dodger, or escape down below for a respite from the sun. It works. Today, Erik introduced an added wrinkle on the helm—every so often he simply grabbed the freshwater hose and sprayed himself down. He declared it the best spot on the boat.
After dinner tonight, Emily and I presented a little pre-landfall treat to try and beat the heat. Several days ago, Emily introduced an after-dinner “cold water cocktail”—which is as simple as it sounds, a glass of water from a jug that’s been in the fridge! After these hot days in the sun, nothing tastes so good.
Almost, anyway. Tonight we upped the ante and, after our cold water cocktail, distributed mango grog—two shots of rum in a tall stainless glass, topped with ice-cold mango puree that’s been hiding in the bottom of the fridge since leaving San Cristobal. The jury is out on whether it was the greatest thing we’ve had on the passage thus far, or if it was just a nasty tease because we couldn’t have seconds. Morale improved. Mission accomplished.
We’re 60 miles out now, but still not sailing in a straight line. The breeze is up a touch, so at least we’re sailing faster now in the wrong direction. There’s not enough wind to set the pole and sail dead-downwind, so we’re sailing gybing angles to keep the sails full and the boat moving. We should be able to gybe in a few more hours, which will put us on a favored course for Hiva Oa, and with luck we’ll make landfall in daylight tomorrow.
Only a few more sweaty sleep off-watches to go.
// Andy
andy@59-north.com
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Ketch us if you Kan
Falken is soon to carry on our preferred route of South, back to (hopefully) warmer climates. We’re all excited to set off and see more of this wild landscape as we head down to Victoria. A thermal trough over Vancouver combined with an offshore high pressure creating funneling NW’ly winds means it is due to be pretty fruity on the 9th. This passage is just under 600 miles, relatively short for Falken, but I’m sure we’ll be kept entertained with dramatic scenery, wildlife and weather!
Final Blog
Falken and her crew arrived safely into port last night around 8pm boat time, 10pm Prince Rupert time. Some spicy weather was anticipated, but luckily the 35kt gusts and 2.5 meter waves were no match for this expert crew. We had an exceptionally smooth docking, despite it being Alex's first time parking this year (!). We all agreed that this was a very special group of people—I for one am so impressed with how everyone stayed so positive, helpful, and appreciative of humor despite an arguably challenging passage. We'll all return home significantly saltier than we were when we left, a mark of a passage properly sailed.
Lessons and a Gift
The biggest lesson is the helm. The lesson here is that even if you don't think you can do it over and over again with no sleep, cold and damp, it has to be done and so it can be done. Flying fish are cool, dolphins are really really cool, but the coolest of them all are the whales. And most of all Alex: "Find your center Carla. Always know where your center is so you can come back to it". He means the helm but it applies to life as well.