01:08 UTC | 16°16.337’ N 099°12.440’ W
Sailing
Remember sleepaway camp when you were a kid? Bunk beds and cabin mates, sing-alongs and traditions, color wars and duties, friendships formed and cemented in hours. Memories and experiences that last a lifetime. In many ways, Falken is a grown-up floating sleepaway camp.
My bunkmate is also my watch mate, and together we share countless hours talking, sailing, not talking, giggling, doing dishes, and restlessly napping above and below one another. I share my cabin with three other people, our bunks decorated with drying towels, dirty clothes, dangling shoes, and our little nests of comfort.
All eight of us together are a crew, led by our three fearless and eternally joyful camp counselors (not to be taken lightly—their sailing, cooking, and leadership skills are unmatched!). We eat together. We share glums and glows. Dolphin and whale sightings are sounded. Cookies, croissants, and watermelon magically appear. Sing-alongs spontaneously erupt. Tales and stories are shared. Laughter abounds. And together, we make this floating camp move through the water to a common destination.
We are all overtired and definitely over-dirty. But no one cares.
The past two mornings I have found myself lying in bed, looking through the few downloaded pictures (no internet) of my family on my phone and feeling homesick. I haven’t felt this feeling since I was a kid myself, away from family and home and all that was known and safe. I miss them so much. I never knew I could miss them this much. Yet at the same time, I want to hold on to this magical floating world. There must be a word for that feeling, but I am too tired to pull it from my memory. For now, I will just call it joy.
— Marella
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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.
Passages and Purposes
As of today, Falken has taken us over 1800nm across the North Pacific. We’ve learned about water-makers, starter motors, furling, taking in and letting out reefs, easing and grinding, weather and wind, helming by course and by wind angles, and the difference between rest and sleep. For now, the latest challenge is to stay in the moment. The memories we’ve made here are priceless, even if we only connected for a few moments on our various paths in this world. So few people get this opportunity to “go dark” and live simply for a moment.