12:00 UTC | 30°06.5N 158°31.3W
Sailing
Greetings from Falken, fast under sail in the Pacific!
After some initial adversity, we untied our lines and left the beautiful island of O’ahu behind as we set sail north on an adventure of a lifetime.
Lead by our outstanding team of our Captain Alex, first officer Adam, and apprentice Zoe, 8 eager crew from all walks of life and life experience performed their tasks brilliantly. Forgive any spelling errors, as I know everyone by verbal, not written name: Carla, Michael, Kurt…Jim, Daniel, Nikolai, Joe, and Corey.
After dinner tonight, the Hawaiian word for family (which I’ll likely mess up without the help of google) Ohana was mentioned. And that is exactly what we are - a family of strangers brought together by a passion for sailing and a love for the sea. Learning to care and serve one another. In humility, making each of us better and stronger.
The passage, while at its infancy, has delivered. The wind and seas, stars and sails all set the stage for a fantastic journey. Love and gratitude to all our friends, families, and supporters. None of this would be possible without you. We will see you on the other side with many stories to tell.
Until then, Godspeed and HOLD FAST!!!
Joe
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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.
Making the most of it
This passage has thrown pretty much every atmospheric condition imaginable at us. It reminds us not only of how much we’ve learned, but of how far we’ve literally come since that acceleration zone off the northwest corner of Oahu. The resilience this group has shown has been nothing short of incredible, and I couldn’t be prouder to be part of it. Maybe that’s why it’s the hardest passages we remember the most. Not because they were easy, but because they reminded us what we’re capable of.
