8°36.571' S 033°47.203' W
Another day at sea comes to an end, and boy, what a beautiful day it was. We flew along in the steady easterly trades with 15-18 kts of strength. Adrienne has been really happy all day, and 8.5 kts SOG is basically what you see every time you check the digits. The sun has been shining, and we are getting to know each other better and better. Those who have been feeling seasick are all getting back on track.
This blog is an ode to my colleague and shipmate Vilgot. This superb young man has just spent the summer skippering charter boats in Croatia, back-to-back weeks with guests onboard, sleeping on a sail bag whenever there was a break. That and his many other experiences truly make him a delight to be sailing with. Today he whipped up and fried some pancakes for lunch, much to the crew’s delight. With jam and Nutella on top, there wasn’t a happier boat in sight.
- David, 59º North Apprentice
crew@59-north.com
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”For some things, we will never be ready.” - Moana 2
After 852 miles of open ocean sailing, the crew of Falken dropped anchor in Moorea's Cook's Bay—not with a quiet glide in, but surfing down waves in a squall, breaking speed records and cheering each other on through the rain. What started as a plan to "just dip a toe" into offshore sailing turned into something harder to explain: the worse the conditions got, the more alive everyone felt. Turns out the question was never whether the crew was ready—it was whether they even needed to be.
Kauehi conundrum
Kauehi atoll was always on the itinerary—until the forecast made it a gamble not worth taking. Squalls, bommies, a tidal pass, and no clean escape route: sometimes the hardest call in sailing is the one that keeps you out of a place, not in it. The Tuamotus will have to wait.
Hove-to!
Falken is too fast—a problem most sailors would kill for, yet here we are, tacking back and forth across the Pacific just to kill time. A rogue low pressure system south of Tahiti has stolen the trades and scrambled our timing for the tidal window into Kauehi's pass, leaving us hove-to 45 miles short of our target in the Tuamotus. Salt licorice, dream sandwich debates, and a philosophical question about mermaid reproduction are helping pass the night.