Wind or no wind?
50º 08’18 N, 127º 41’379 W
Friday, August 8, 2025, 22:00 Local time | 50º 08’18 N, 127º 41’379 W
When we slipped lines from Prince Rupert two days ago, the wind forecast was not very promising. But looking at the bigger picture, it was clear that we would sail through the border of two bigger weather systems, as well as all the thermal winds that might or might not turn up, depending on cloud cover, etc. So all in all, not looking too promising, but also pretty predictably unpredictable. And as things go, we just ended up sailing for a good portion of it. Beautiful upwind sailing in nice and easy winds up to 20 kts. Perfect to enjoy FALKEN's small tacking angles.
Sailing did end up great, but who am I kidding, sailing only was the cherry on top of an otherwise amazing day. After a few sightings of whales the past few days, we passed by a pod of orcas today, shortly before seeing a beautiful and impressively large sunfish. The wildlife has been stunning to say the least. So it only seemed normal to have otters swim around the anchored boat in the evening, while munching on their food.
Difficult to make this day any better it seems. But better it got indeed. My personal highlight: as we anchored in this wild little bay, we drove the dinghy over to the beach and followed a grown-over trail through the wildest rainforest I had ever seen. After walking for a bit over 30 minutes, we arrived on the other side—a beach of white sand so large it would have been an adventure in itself to walk the full length of it. It took us less than a minute to make up our minds and go for a swim in the fresh Pacific Ocean water. Truly a dream of a day.
- Manot | FALKEN Mate
ManotBerger
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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.