22:00 | 04° 39.2’N 094°04.04’W
Sailing
Oh, The Places You’ll Go. A Book by Dr. Seuss.
I find myself making passage between exotic locations on Falken for the 5th time. Blessed with great friends and having been in the right place at the right time a couple times, I have come to deeply treasure this type of exploration and adventure.
Trips with 59º North build confidence and experience doing things that might seem difficult or dangerous to those reluctant to take the plunge, but the most valuable lesson I have learned on all these trips is that planning and preparation make these trips routine, but with a plan for all types of emergency should they arise. I had no worry/jitters/concern prior to departure, just anticipating getting settled, hauling anchor, and sailing a reach for a following sea. (It was a little more upwind than a reach, but this story makes the “Southern Cross” lyrics work).
On these trips, we have young and old, new sailors, and old salts. Everyone can learn something from our peers (as well as the staff), and has something to share. I am often asked by others who can’t imagine doing this if I know people on the boat. The literal answer is almost always ‘no’. However, over these 5 trips, I have come to understand that those that embark on this type of offshore expedition have many of the same qualities and values, so they are in fact people I know, but haven’t met yet. The same is true with this crew today.
As of now, we are anticipating bearing off from South-West to West-South-West, after successfully “Making for the Trades on the outside, and the downhill run to(wards) Papeete”.
-Adam Baker
Adam Baker
View more passage logs
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.
A Gen Z Perspective
At 31, the crew thought they were reasonably fluent in the English language—then they met Kip. Today, the crew's self-appointed Gen Z correspondent takes over the log from somewhere in the middle of the Pacific, delivering dispatches on Milky Way night sails, focaccia-induced visions, and the singular mission of getting eleven people's "badonkadonks" to Hawaii. Consider this your glossary.