Sailing North
41°10.8’N 152°34.3’W
Tuesday, July 15, 2025 | POS. 41°10.8’N 152°34.3’W 07:13 UTC / 21:13 Boat Time
Another day has gone by as we continue our approach to the west side of the North Pacific High. Our plan is to carry on north for the next couple of days as the high-pressure system moves further south. Once on the north side of it, we should have the right wind angle to put in a gybe and start pointing at Dixon Entrance.
This system has been giving us some beautiful sailing conditions and we are very much making the most of it. Mary kicked off the day with some pancakes in the morning, and Lovis followed with a quinoa salad for lunch.
We’ve still got the company of the baby albatross following our wake, and some dolphins have made a shy appearance for the first time since slipping lines in Hawaii.
We’re now pretty much halfway there, and a good indication of that is the drop in temperature. There are no more brave people embracing shorts at night, and some sleeping bags are now making their first appearances. Hatches are closed not because of the sea state, but because it’s getting pretty cold down below with them open! It feels weird after such a long time in the horse latitudes to feel cool on the boat again.
Not much to report other than this—very pleasant sailing and everyone is very much into the rhythm of life in the middle of nowhere.
Lots of love,
Alex
laline96@gmail.com
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A last hurrah
Under the dome of stars in a moon-less sky, each of us during our time at the helm used the most rudimentary celestial navigation, keeping a star or two lined up with the mast as a helper to following the heading range. It was a whole crew event to set the spinnaker, reef the mainsail and practice the heave-to in case of man overboard. Alex stressed that the key to success in all of these crucial activities is preparation. It was hugely satisfying to accomplish these tasks through teamwork. We share a constant good hearted back and forth full of stories, one-liners and comebacks that also means constant laughter.
One little bird!
Falken has almost rounded the Channel Islands and is cruising along splendidly about 100 miles offshore. Though several models predicted some slightly fresher winds today, we were met with a consistent 18-20 kts of pure bliss. It seems that from the moment we left the dock in San Francisco, there has been much laughter and conversation amongst everyone. The plan is to gybe in a few hours and begin our approach to Ensenada. As much as I do appreciate the jokes and intellectual musings, I equally appreciate the natural, silent moments we share at night, all of us on watch gazing up above to the shooting stars, constellations, and planets putting on their quiet show.
Birds and glows
The sun brought new wind and we were soon putting up the Yankee (jib) and turning off the motor. During the evening tradition of sharing “glums and glows” that follows the crew dinner, our Mate Ryan proclaimed it a “champagne sailing” kind of day. As Alex noted this evening, life goes by so fast that one of the very best things about his line of work is enjoying the passage of time in the slow lane of an ocean passage. But by tomorrow, the green blobs in the weather sailing app indicate we’re going to pick up some significant northwesterly winds and we’ll take them ever further south to the Channel Islands latitude. We’re all super excited for the knots to climb and to see Falken really run.