SAILING NORTH
Sunday, June 8, 2025 | Papeete, Tahiti
Approaching the 24-hour mark since slipping lines from Tahiti, I asked the self-named ‘Spare Change’ watch for a sentence or two about their experience at sea so far. They are as follows:
Adam Baker: “The ocean is big and it’s empty, no ships, a lot of birds and clouds. Wonderful time today.”
Jake Davis: “I’m excited to be the only Jake for once. Beautiful sunrise, very pleasant sailing and I’m sure the readers will love to know that my heat rash is improving.”
Tara Tinan: “Sailing north.”
Whilst these weren’t quite what I was expecting, it’s a pretty apt summary of our trip so far. The ocean is indeed big, we haven’t seen any other boats since sailing north of Tahiti, and the temperature is definitely cooler at sea.
The wind has reduced from 20 knots to 6-10 knots, but in typical FALKEN fashion, the miles are still being eaten up. It’s been a lovely sail so far—maybe upwind isn’t so bad? Although Alex has been very insistent that close reaching doesn’t really count as upwind.
Everyone’s been doing a great job helming and generally settling into life offshore. Glums and glows were very glowy; Orie’s extensive list of glows was a highlight for many.
Whilst the clouds didn’t allow us a full sky of stars last night, it did mean the wind has stayed and is allowing for some respite from the sun. The forecast is for the wind to reduce in a couple of days, but fingers crossed we can keep the engine off. In the meantime, we’ll continue to sail north, in a big ocean, and be sure to get regular updates on Jake’s heat rash for all interested.
- Mary | FALKEN mate
FALKEN|Skipper&Mate
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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.