37°35.5’N 154°02.4’W
Monday, July 14, 2025 | Mid-ocean, 360 and 1000nm at sea
37°35.5’N 154°02.4’W
05:00 UTC / 19:00 Local time
Upon taking the helm at noon today, the NYC watch team noticed steering issues: looseness in the wheel accompanied by a tremor. Mate Mary quickly diagnosed and fixed one of the issues by adjusting the steering cables; however, the tremor remained. By this time, Skipper Alex was up, having been awakened by the fixing and remaining tremor. They quickly diagnosed a likely tag-along on the rudder, but what was it, and how to dislodge it? They decided to inspect the rudder with the Insta360 with an underwater housing, mounted to a long carbon (aka weak plastic) arm. The Insta360 is now at sea, the arm broken, its secrets untold.
Without the images, an idea took hold—to sail a 360 circle to see if the offending item would come loose. The crew made the maneuver, and like magic, a large brightly colored bucket dislodged and floated away. Alex and Mary and a 360, heroes.
A couple of hours after the “360 incident,” at 15:03 local time, the crew logged 1000nm into our journey! Apprentice Lovis was at the helm, and a celebratory cheer was raised by the crew on deck. Congratulations to all!
We will update more along the way.
Tasha | FALKEN Crew
crew@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.