HOW'D WE END UP IN CABO?!
2014 Ship’s Time
Dockside, Cabo San Lucas
This wasn’t the plan.
FALKEN made landfall at Cabo San Lucas late on Saturday night. Under a half-moon and clear skies - a welcome respite after the gnarly night Friday - we were in afterburner mode, sailing fast in flat seas on a close-reach, 10 knots and then some, effortless steering. FALKEN loves a close-reach, and with the big yankee and full mainsail we were on fire. As the land neared, the wind spilled off the desert hillsides and the waves subsided in the lee, and man, what a sail.
I love sailing into a new place, especially at night. There’s nothing like it. We got closer and closer to the coast, the land dropping straight into the sea, so there was no off-lying dangers or anything stopping us from doing a fly-by right along the shoreline, the twinkling lights of the houses and hotels growing brighter as we neared. We followed the 30m depth contour along the southern coast and prepped the staysail for short-tacking into the harbor, which never happened because the wind died just as the famous rock-arch at Cabo hove into view. It ended up being a short motorboat ride into the anchorage, which gave us time to strike the sails and furl the main, which is no easy task on FALKEN with her enormous boom and 200-lb main.
We anchored next to a couple super yachts just after midnight, broke out the traditional champagne for our toast and did a round of glues & glows before everyone collapsed into bed at 0200. Next morning we moseyed into the marina and we’ve been in Cabo ever since. We’re supposed to be in La Paz, another 130-miles up the coast and Into the Sea of Cortez!
While ocean sailing is always unpredictable, this time it was preventable. When I first made this schedule, way back in the spring of 2024, I had originally planned to end the trip in Cabo and set the mileage as 800 miles from San Diego. I have a spreadsheet that then advises me on how many days to make the passage, which I then tweak to account for weather patterns, etc etc. Well, when I changed the port to La Paz, I forgot to change the mileage, and therefore ended up short on days. That, combined with our very light-wind passage (until that wild 40-knot frontal passage!) made for a late arrival into a port we never intended to stop at.
All that said, Cabo has everything we need. Great tacos at some small restaurants in town (once we walk far enough to escape the tourist throngs); excellent chandleries and services, a good marina and sea lions barking their heads off as the fishing boats come into the harbor. It’s a hectic place for sure, but these trips are all about adventure and the unknown, and so I’m making the best of it. I’ve been running around the harbor and town the past couple days to get to know the place, and despite the masses, it’s a beautiful spot. Sometimes there’s a valid reason why tourists flock to particular places.
The next crew arrive on Saturday, and I’m off to the Bahamas to meet my dad and help him take his Grand Banks 42 KODIAK from the Abacos down to the Exumas. I’m handing the reins of FALKEN over to Mary. Delaney & Jake, both WOODWIND crew, are onboard as Mate and Apprentice respectively.
Follow along for the next long passage to Costa Rica!
// Andy
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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.