KITE
April 20, 2025 | Spinnaker
Another star-filled sky as FALKEN continues to make good way towards the Marquesas. The kite is up, which requires a very special level of consideration, and Andy and Aidan are switching in to support the helm as I continue with the day-to-day chores. There is something magnificent about the night sky at this latitude and in such remote waters. Jim likened it to stepping into a planetarium—it really is very hard to describe.
With more room in our fridges at last, it seemed appropriate to chill a large bottle of drinking water ahead of dinner this evening, and the crew response was highly entertaining. It would have been easy to imagine that they hadn’t ever experienced the luxury of a cool drink before, as the “ooohs” and “aaaahs” resounded across the cockpit. Such a very simple, everyday concept that we take so much for granted in the normal world, out here in the tropics proved to be an absolute delight, and one that we will repeat.
It’s interesting that after dark every evening we see an increase in the wind speed, and it is very much a trend that we have noticed. The spinnaker (kite) adds another layer of complexity to a night sail, and FALKEN feels and sounds very different to me, as if she is running on adrenaline as opposed to her relaxed state from this morning—a feeling I see reflected in the crew. Nonetheless, our speed is good and we are still eating up the miles, and under the watchful eyes of Andy and Aidan it seems like a good choice for our penultimate days at sea.
As much as I try to live in the moment, the opportunity to talk to loved ones is temptingly close and one that I am very much looking forward to when we make landfall. In the meantime, it’s back to the running of the boat and looking after the crew for me!
Emily
EmilyCaruso
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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.