Watches, ranked

2026-4 | FALKEN | Galapagos-Marquesas

Kate

Passage Blog
Tuesday, April 14, 2026

16.35 BOAT TIME | 08° 10.1’ S 114° 16.9’ W

Sailing 

We are operating on a 3-on, 6-off watch schedule and some of the times are better than others. Please read on for a totally subjective and not at all data driven tiering of our watches by Kate. Disclaimer: views stated here do not represent that of the entire crew and/or staff and some are hotly contested, but I have claimed authorial privilege so my word will stand.

BOTTOM TIER

0900-1200:
- Pros: None.
- Cons: It is too hot, there is no shade, this watch gave me heat exhaustion, I am personally biased against it!

1200-1500:
- Pros: You might as well be on watch as there is no shade anywhere on the boat and it is too hot. Sometimes Zoe makes a little lunch treat.
- Cons: Again, it is too hot.

APPLE WATCHES:
- Why do people have these, they are ugly and also they make you see/respond to text messages in a timely fashion? Could never be me.

MID TIER

0300-0600:
- Pros: A beautiful night watch, loads of stars, nice and quiet, our bird friend arrived on it last night.
- Cons: Weird sleeping before and after, you’re sorta hungry but not really.

0000-0300:
- Pros: Also a very nice night watch.
- Cons: Marginally less weird sleeping than 3-6a but still not ideal.

1500-1800:
- Pros: Shade!!! Glorious shade comes over the cockpit and we all come out to glory in it and have a delicious dinner. The speed record was also set on this watch.
- Cons: You watch everyone else eat dinner while you are at the helm until Ken (top tier crew member) finishes his dinner and takes pity on your hungry stomach to come helm while you eat. You then have to do the dinner dishes and get all sweaty before trying to sleep.

2100-0000:
- Pros: You got a little post-dinner nap, a beautiful night watch, you can look forward to some good sleep afterwards .
- Cons: You are very tired by the end of this one.

MY CLASSIC TIMEX:
- Pros: Tells the time, looks cool.
- Cons: On my kitchen table at home instead of being useful here.

ADAM'S WATCH:
- Pros: Tells him when to relieve me on the helm.
- Cons: Apparently cannot be updated to tell the correct hour of time, can only be relied upon for the minutes which is fine because that is all I need.

TOP TIER

0600-0900:
- Pros: Starts with stars (depending on where in the time zone we are), ends with sunrise. No need to be slathered in sunscreen yet.
- Cons: Sleeping after is kind of annoying.

1800-2100:
- Pros: Starts with sunset, ends with stars. Full bellies, everyone else goes to nap, nice and quiet.
- Cons: None so far, it is beautiful and my favourite.

This concludes the tiering of watches; thank you for your time and attention.

Kate

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Mary Vaughan-Jones
10/5/2026
Kauehi conundrum

Hove-to!

Falken is too fast—a problem most sailors would kill for, yet here we are, tacking back and forth across the Pacific just to kill time. A rogue low pressure system south of Tahiti has stolen the trades and scrambled our timing for the tidal window into Kauehi's pass, leaving us hove-to 45 miles short of our target in the Tuamotus. Salt licorice, dream sandwich debates, and a philosophical question about mermaid reproduction are helping pass the night.

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Hove-to!