Pre-Departure
After recovering for a couple of days beneath the palm trees and swimming in the aquamarine waters synonymous with Jamaica, we finished our adventure with a day of visiting local beauty spots in an air-conditioned minibus. Our very own 59º North apprentice Natalie, who has Jamaican roots, guided us to some truly spectacular destinations including Reach Falls, The Blue Lagoon, and Frenchman’s Cove. We stopped for lunch at Boston Bay, jerk capital of the world (apparently), and finished with a brief stop at the craft market before arriving back to Falken, both satisfied and inspired by our whistle-stop tour of the northeast corner of this stunning island.
It was a sad goodbye this morning as ever, but on we go as we begin our preparations for our next adventure to Cuba.
- Emily
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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.
A Gen Z Perspective
At 31, the crew thought they were reasonably fluent in the English language—then they met Kip. Today, the crew's self-appointed Gen Z correspondent takes over the log from somewhere in the middle of the Pacific, delivering dispatches on Milky Way night sails, focaccia-induced visions, and the singular mission of getting eleven people's "badonkadonks" to Hawaii. Consider this your glossary.