0249 UTC | 15° 22.86’S 144° 39.98’W
Sailing
It’s the evening of our fifth day of this passage and Falken is hove-to about 45nm northeast of Kauehi, our target in the Tuamotos. We weren’t quite swift enough to make the 10am slack we need to transit Kauehi’s southern pass today, and need to stall until our window tomorrow morning. A funky low pressure system lingering just south of Tahiti is to blame, and sucked the energy out of the usually reliable easterly trades yesterday.
On the bright side, it has been smooth sailing today—almost too smooth. We’ve been trying (and mostly failing) to slow Falken down all day, putting in extra reefs and heaving to. We even tacked back and forth a few times, retracing her bubbly trail, just to waste some time. Funny, isn’t it, how hard it is to strike sailing perfection. I’ll admit it’s hard to be mad at Falken for being too fast, though.
In any case, no one is too upset about some extra time out here, especially once the sun falls behind the main sail and the cockpit is shaded. Boobies have been circling us all day, perhaps buying time themselves, and the wind has been quite refreshingly on our beam. We’ve been treated to some lovely rain showers and even a rainbow or too (attached photo creds to Amy). Many fun treats have been passed up today too, to include cold papaya that Mary squirted with lime, lychees, Angry Birds branded Pringles, cucumber from a friendly local in Ua Pou, and salt licorice that Mike brought to share. At least twice a day, pomelos make their way up as well, and I for one am surely safe from scurvy given how many I’ve eaten.
It certainly still feels like open ocean out here, despite the presence of the ‘dangerous archipelago’ surrounding us. I’m excited to see a few atolls firsthand, and hopefully (weather dependent) have a chance to explore Kauehi as well. For tonight, I’m content with modified hove-to watch duties, which apart from keeping an attentive eye on the horizon and sails, will likely consist of conversations about dream sandwich combinations or whether mermaids (theoretically speaking, of course) give live birth.
Love to all!
Zoe
Zoe Peach-Riley (Apprentice)
View more passage logs
Pre-departure
Hawaii to Alaska isn't a downwind romp—it's a chess match with the North Pacific High, and the opening move is never obvious. Ten days of refit work, new sails, engine services, and enough provisions to outlast a bad forecast have FALKEN ready for whatever the high decides to throw at us. The crew arrives in an hour, and by Thursday, the bow points north—route TBD.
Ladies who reef
The trade winds have been kind, rolling the boat toward Hawaii in a steady, hypnotic rhythm—until last night, when a squall hit without warning and the wind jumped to 28 knots, slamming everything sideways. With rain driving down and the boat lurching underfoot, the crew had minutes to wrestle two reefs into the mainsail and get things back under control. What followed was a masterclass in wet, unglamorous, deeply satisfying teamwork—with less than 250 miles left to go.
Yankee Doodle Died at Sea, Riding on a FALKEN
A thin, foot-long tear in the yankee sail—50,000 miles of ocean behind it—and suddenly the final stretch to Hawaii just got a lot more interesting. The crew of FALKEN had been running a tight ship through the trades, reefing in squalls like clockwork, when the last dance finally caught up with them. How a skipper handles the moment everything goes sideways says everything about the voyage itself.
