On anchor in Nuku Hiva!
16.15 LOCAL TIME | Taiohae Bay, Nuku Hiva, Marquesas
On Anchor
Tomorrow crew arrive to join us an exploratory sail from Nuka Hiva to Tahiti, via the Tuamotus. I arrived just under a week ago to take over from Alex, and was immediately a bit nonplussed to find the weather in the Marquesas to be worse than what I’d just left in the UK! It’s rainy season here which has meant a constant dance of opening/closing hatches in an attempt to combat the heat when it’s not raining. Despite this, it is an impressive anchorage, the rain clouds adding atmosphere to the lush hills that surround us. Alex, Mia and Zoe have obviously done a wonderful job (as per) and the boat is in top condition, and the food is now restocked ready to welcome our oncoming watch.
The plan is to sail a relatively (for FALKEN!) short 800 miles to Tahiti, stopping at the Tuamotus on the way. Current plan is to spend a night on Ua-Pou to see the highest peaks in the Marquesas, and maybe even get some of their delicious chocolate! From there we venture onto what is unnervingly known as the ’dangerous archipelago’ of Tuamotus. Whilst it is famed for it’s picturesque beaches and diving, the strong currents in the passes and big bommies (huge coral heads) require good timing and a sharp lookout.
Sailing wise it’s looking like lovely trade wind sailing, maybe even spinnaker sailing on the final leg from the Tuamotus, which personally I’m stoked for- it doesn’t feel that long since I was last onboard and either desperately searching for wind or slamming into it on the nose!
Zoe, Mia and myself are all looking forward to being underway again, meet some new crew, explore some more islands and let’s be honest- getting out of the rain. You’ll find me practicing my pronunciation of the islands until then!
Skipper Mary
View more passage logs
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.
Golden Day
The Pacific is giving us “the shimmer” - with a still flat sea seven hours out of San Francisco Bay, we’re motoring south along the shipping channel, with an hour to go to what teases now as a stunning sunset against wispy clouds. Throughout this first day of Falken 11 the sails have unfurled and been furled again as skipper Alex tries to fill them a meager breeze indeed. We’ve seen a few whales traveling along the route, and an otter that was sadly just a buoy. It’s the first open ocean sail for many of us and it’s a thrill to anticipate all the new experiences we’ll have.
Seasickness
But maybe, I thought, with some drugs I could stay ahead of it. The first 48 hours I felt horrible. But luckily with 3 health care professionals on board and in a very encouraging environment, my body found its way. Anyway, someone offered me a patch (unavailable in Canada) and someone else gave me some pills for nausea and now I feel much, much better.