2315 UTC | 3°30.76’ N | 88°33.01’W
Sailing
Today started with a Blue-Footed Booby on the bow amongst his Red-Footed, Nazca, and Brown Booby friends. They come and go as they need and crowd on in the evenings for safe sleep in the open Pacific. The twilight hours left glimpses of the stars, bioluminescent plankton in our wake, and the joy of knowing we have another day at sea. It has been a life of luxury onboard S/V Falken for this crew.
The sound of breaking ice for water bottles can be heard from the deepest post watch nap. Cold pineapple and stern showers remain supreme in the heat and stickiest part of the day. Shade from the staysail has added additional relief for those of us in the bow from the sun, more luxury. The cheer of the crew is consistent through the day with chatter and laughter as we huddle around the shady parts of the deck, feeling the easterly winds we’ve been gifted. We’ve been under sail most of the day with steady 7-8kts, confirming we are in fact making progress towards the Galapagos and the sighting of new seabirds.
Books of birds and animals are open in the saloon and being discussed as we get closer to our destination. The smell of the coconut curry made by Zoe has everyone on deck early and inspired a pre dinner concert from Jeremy and his guitar.
At 3°N we let ourselves start to think about the other side of being a pollywog. We might be fortunate enough for a visit from the deep. More Booby birds are settling in for the night as we welcome the sunset, with an early evening glimpse of the stars that will guide us into dawn… for another luxurious day at sea aboard S/V Falken.
Sheri Hashemi
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.
