Friday, June 20, 2025 | It’s 19:40 and I am on the helm again. The sun is well set, as the first hundred or so stars are making themselves visible. A so far moonless and nearly cloudless sky promises excellent star watching as the night progresses. We have 22 kts apparent wind at 50 degrees on a starboard tack, with relatively calm seas. We race ahead at nearly 10 kts, with the running backstay singing “Wooooooo” in my ear, confirming we are well set for the conditions. I am jockeying a racehorse, as Jim and Stacy (my Watch-Mates) sit nearby in darkness with their own thoughts, but at this time, FALKEN is under my control.
It hasn’t been this way in recent days, as we motored through the doldrums, in clouds and occasional rain while putting up with confused winds that added nothing to our progress or our comfort (hot and humid, and unable to open hatches for ventilation). Last night on midnight watch, the significant rain had me in full fowlies and my Dubarrys. Perhaps personally over canvassed, at about 00:50, the winds came, and all at once. Two minutes later it was 18 kts on the beam, the rain was gone, the motor went off, and we were back in business at about 00:52. Open the vents in the rain gear, and hold on tight—it’s going to get bumpy. We found the trade winds.
The Big Dipper has been visible after sunset since we departed Tahiti 13 days ago, but my friend Polaris has only been visible this week, reminding me that I am in my native hemisphere and getting closer to our destination. Oahu is 600 miles ahead, and as long as the clouds cooperate, I can follow him nearly all the way to Waikiki.
This experience is really something—visceral and introspective, while at the same time communal and participatory. Being my 4th leg with 59-North, I love this experience and would consider this the best trip yet. I look forward to discovering what my future adventures on this good ship will bring me.
- Adam Baker | FALKEN Crew
Write your comments below and I’ll forward it to the boat with the daily update :) - Mia (shore support)
It hasn’t been this way in recent days, as we motored through the doldrums, in clouds and occasional rain while putting up with confused winds that added nothing to our progress or our comfort (hot and humid, and unable to open hatches for ventilation). Last night on midnight watch, the significant rain had me in full fowlies and my Dubarrys. Perhaps personally over canvassed, at about 00:50, the winds came, and all at once. Two minutes later it was 18 kts on the beam, the rain was gone, the motor went off, and we were back in business at about 00:52. Open the vents in the rain gear, and hold on tight—it’s going to get bumpy. We found the trade winds.
The Big Dipper has been visible after sunset since we departed Tahiti 13 days ago, but my friend Polaris has only been visible this week, reminding me that I am in my native hemisphere and getting closer to our destination. Oahu is 600 miles ahead, and as long as the clouds cooperate, I can follow him nearly all the way to Waikiki.
This experience is really something—visceral and introspective, while at the same time communal and participatory. Being my 4th leg with 59-North, I love this experience and would consider this the best trip yet. I look forward to discovering what my future adventures on this good ship will bring me.
- Adam Baker | FALKEN Crew
Write your comments below and I’ll forward it to the boat with the daily update :) - Mia (shore support)
crew@59-north.com
View more passage logs
Hat overboard!
On June 4, we reviewed our passage plan before our departure from the marina in Hjellested.
Departure from Bergen!
The crew on the women’s sail training on Isbjorn is settling into a great routine for managing the boat and life onboard.
The sun sets on another journey
The hardest part of sailing across French Polynesia wasn't the night watches, the heat, or the open ocean — it was the prospect of being trapped on a small boat with a group of strangers. First-timer Natalie boards as a self-described land crab and discovers that the sea has a way of reshaping both your sea legs and your assumptions. What follows is dolphins, sharks, the Milky Way in full technicolour, and a crew that somehow made the whole thing better than she ever imagined.