King Neptune’s Realm
Latitude: 1° S
Longitude: 92° W
April 8, 2025, 2111 Ship’s Time | 8 Miles South of Equator, 92º W Longitude | Motoring
All the things happened at the same time this evening. We crossed the equator southbound just as the sun was kissing the horizon to the west. We shut down the engine and fired a cannon salute, and with that, dinner was served. King Neptune would have to wait until after we ate.
Before dish duty though, he appeared with his fellow Shellbacks—his Queen (Kim), his Royal Barbour (Scott), Doctor Doom (Ted), and Davy Jones (Udo). The Pollywogs in the crew—Hilary, Dennis, Erik, Aidan, and me—would be read their crimes against the deep by Davy Jones and sentenced by Neptune himself (Jim, dressed in full Neptune regalia). Emily drove the boat, which didn’t actually require much driving given that we’d switched the engine off for the ceremony and were flat becalmed, literally drifting in circles.
Punishments included “cleansing of the head with a bucket of salty water,” a dose of Doctor Doom’s secret elixir, the singing of a shanty, and in my case, a “haircut” from the Royal Barbour. This all happened by the light of the moon, as the sun had long ago set while we were eating Emily’s delicious chicken and noodle stir-fry. At the conclusion, all of us Pollywogs were accepted into King Neptune’s realm and joined the other Shellbacks. Job done!
FALKEN continues burning fuel and steaming southwest. We’re hoping to catch the edge of the SE’ly trades at around 3º south, which is another 24+ hours from here. So far, we’re a tank-and-a-half down on diesel, with six-and-a-half remaining, so I’m not yet concerned. Once the trades fill in, it looks to be pretty steady, but 3,000 miles is a long way if the wind doesn’t fill in! That’s the doldrums for you.
Until tomorrow, HOLD FAST.
// Andy
P.S. If you are reading the blogs, please write some comments in the section below and we’ll send it over to the crew to read. I am sure they will love it :) - Mia (shore support on Leg 6, Galapagos to Marquesas)
andy@59-north.com
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A last hurrah
Under the dome of stars in a moon-less sky, each of us during our time at the helm used the most rudimentary celestial navigation, keeping a star or two lined up with the mast as a helper to following the heading range. It was a whole crew event to set the spinnaker, reef the mainsail and practice the heave-to in case of man overboard. Alex stressed that the key to success in all of these crucial activities is preparation. It was hugely satisfying to accomplish these tasks through teamwork. We share a constant good hearted back and forth full of stories, one-liners and comebacks that also means constant laughter.
One little bird!
Falken has almost rounded the Channel Islands and is cruising along splendidly about 100 miles offshore. Though several models predicted some slightly fresher winds today, we were met with a consistent 18-20 kts of pure bliss. It seems that from the moment we left the dock in San Francisco, there has been much laughter and conversation amongst everyone. The plan is to gybe in a few hours and begin our approach to Ensenada. As much as I do appreciate the jokes and intellectual musings, I equally appreciate the natural, silent moments we share at night, all of us on watch gazing up above to the shooting stars, constellations, and planets putting on their quiet show.
Birds and glows
The sun brought new wind and we were soon putting up the Yankee (jib) and turning off the motor. During the evening tradition of sharing “glums and glows” that follows the crew dinner, our Mate Ryan proclaimed it a “champagne sailing” kind of day. As Alex noted this evening, life goes by so fast that one of the very best things about his line of work is enjoying the passage of time in the slow lane of an ocean passage. But by tomorrow, the green blobs in the weather sailing app indicate we’re going to pick up some significant northwesterly winds and we’ll take them ever further south to the Channel Islands latitude. We’re all super excited for the knots to climb and to see Falken really run.