Tuesday, June 17, 2025 | Sailing north to Hawaii
Yesterday (still not sure what day of the week that was) started with Alex heading out to Customs and getting us checked out of Kiribati. The crew had more down time—more naps, more reading, more swims, and definitely more showers. Adam walked us through how the steering mechanism works, Mary walked us through weather, and Alex got back in no time. Mary made some delicious soup (in fact, we may be having soup day and night for a few more days with how much we made) and took personal sandwich orders to have dinner ready for our sporty sail that evening. She scoffed at my request to put in ketchup; we have a lot to talk about!
We lifted anchor around 2:30 pm and set sail—full main out at first and quickly down to a double reef as we got out of the lee of the island in 22+ knots of apparent wind. We had some spicy sailing time for a bit—Jake and Adam called it “Cholula hot”—before the winds mellowed down for some “Tabasco level sailing.” Sunset was gorgeous with some dolphins paying us a visit and wishing us luck for our journey forward.
I’ve finally made my choice in answer to Mary’s hard question: If you had a choice between having large wings that you couldn’t detach, or having octopus arms, which one would you choose? I’m afraid I’ve gone with the much less glamorous but practical choice of octopus arms—and I’m in good company with Mary and Alex, who have chosen the same way.
The winds died this morning and we are motoring. We anticipate the winds should fill in later today. For now, it is time to get some soup…
- Richa
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- Mia (shore support)
crew@59-north.com
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Ketch us if you Kan
Falken is soon to carry on our preferred route of South, back to (hopefully) warmer climates. We’re all excited to set off and see more of this wild landscape as we head down to Victoria. A thermal trough over Vancouver combined with an offshore high pressure creating funneling NW’ly winds means it is due to be pretty fruity on the 9th. This passage is just under 600 miles, relatively short for Falken, but I’m sure we’ll be kept entertained with dramatic scenery, wildlife and weather!
Final Blog
Falken and her crew arrived safely into port last night around 8pm boat time, 10pm Prince Rupert time. Some spicy weather was anticipated, but luckily the 35kt gusts and 2.5 meter waves were no match for this expert crew. We had an exceptionally smooth docking, despite it being Alex's first time parking this year (!). We all agreed that this was a very special group of people—I for one am so impressed with how everyone stayed so positive, helpful, and appreciative of humor despite an arguably challenging passage. We'll all return home significantly saltier than we were when we left, a mark of a passage properly sailed.
Lessons and a Gift
The biggest lesson is the helm. The lesson here is that even if you don't think you can do it over and over again with no sleep, cold and damp, it has to be done and so it can be done. Flying fish are cool, dolphins are really really cool, but the coolest of them all are the whales. And most of all Alex: "Find your center Carla. Always know where your center is so you can come back to it". He means the helm but it applies to life as well.