Pre-departure
23:45 UTC | Hawaii Yacht Club
In-port
Once again we get ready for another passage. Hawaii to Alaska is not a walk in the park and a lot of thought and preparation goes into getting FALKEN ‘passage ready’.
Adam, Zoe and I have spent the last 10 days getting everything ready, from new sails fitted, engine services, rig checks, replacing hardware, etc. to getting all the food, spares, etc.needed for a long passage.
In the Eastern North Pacific it all depends on where the North Pacific high sits, that is what will decide our route and what weather we get. It normally starts with a Northerly route until you get the Westerlies before turning right to destination, easy right? Well that would be in a perfect world but a lot of factors can influence the location of this high and where it might move, the trick is to not go too far north or too far East.
The crew arrives in about an hour and then is game on. Briefings, introductions and a bit of team building before we point Falken’s bow towards the open ocean.
Current estimated departure is set for Thursday.
Alex
View more passage logs
Pre-departure
Hawaii to Alaska isn't a downwind romp—it's a chess match with the North Pacific High, and the opening move is never obvious. Ten days of refit work, new sails, engine services, and enough provisions to outlast a bad forecast have FALKEN ready for whatever the high decides to throw at us. The crew arrives in an hour, and by Thursday, the bow points north—route TBD.
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.
