Yankee Doodle Died at Sea, Riding on a FALKEN
0534 UTC | 12º45.53’N, 152º49.73’W
Sailing
Hello outside world! We’ve got some dramatic updates for you today (dun-dun-dun-duuuuuuun). To be honest, we may have jinxed things a bit because we were all starting to wonder if we really had made it through a 2500nm passage without breaking anything major and alas, that day has come. To set the stage for you, we’ve been plowing along in the trades maintaining a 50-60º apparent wind angle, sailing in about 15-20kts true for the most part with gusts to 25 or so. We’ve been absolutely running drills up on deck for the occasional squalls passing over head. Reef in, reef out, lather rinse repeat. The crew is operating like a finely tuned machine! We now reef efficiently within a few minutes without even batting an eye. We’re definitely starting to ”smell the barn” for anyone with a horsey background, and our rapid approach to Hawaii is zeroing in on the remaining miles.
The boat had been moving fast and furiously and we’ve been taking care of the sails as best we can. Mary estimated these current sails have seen about 50,000 miles?! (Someone in Mission Control correct me if this is off). We’re slated to get new sails in Hawaii, so we set off knowing this may be the last dance for these beauties. Until this morning, they’d been putting up a valiant fight in this stiff trades. One other variable is that we’ve also been trying to maintain a minimum SOG of more than 7kts due to our arrival window in Honolulu. Less than 7kts average and we arrive late on the 21st (potentially not clearing customs till the next day and having to park in the dark). So we’ve been trying to keep a reasonable consistent speed going, playing with the yankee and the main as needed to keep the boat moving but under control. This morning however, tragedy struck the good ship FALKEN! Sea-section watch aka. Squaller Ballerz (Kip, Jim and Joey) were on deck and we went to furl some yankee away. Once we had set the reef, we went to check everything was tickety-boo and our hearts sunk as we noticed a thin horizontal tear about a foot long about a third of the way up the yankee. To invoke Kip’s Gen Z wisdom; ”R.I.P.., Yankee!” Literally! We quickly got the Yankee furled away and Mary instantly jumped into action to get the staysail rigged with the boys on the bow. Kip and Joey got to experience hanking on a sail in the middle of the ocean and Jim was back with me managing lines. All in all, from when Mary popped her sleepy head out of the companion way at 1010hrs eating granola, we got the Yankee furled and the staysail up and set by 1040hrs! Efficient stuff! One of the things I love the most about Mary and what really sets her apart as a skipper is the way she can galvanise a team while bringing levity and relaxed, honed action to stressful situations. A tear in the yankee, effectively rendering our head-sail out of action for the remainder of the passage, could easily send less-poised skippers into exasperation and frustration. But Mary instantly uplifts the mood of the situation and makes it a valuable learning opportunity, motivating crew members to jump in and get involved in approaching the situation with a thoughtful, measured, and effective response. Okay, gush over. I just think those are just really important qualities in a skipper. And she’s the best at it!
Anyhow, here we are, sailing our staysail and reef 1 in the mainsail. As I write this we’re going 8.5 kts, looking good on our minimum SOG. FALKEN is sailing like an absolute dream, I’ve never felt a more balanced and efficient close reach in my life. It’s shocking and a bit bittersweet to think we’ve just watched our third-to-last sunset on this trip if our estimations are correct. How does 14 days at sea ahead of you suddenly turn into only three left?! I guess that’s all part of the mystical experience we seek in coming out here; time blurs into a mosaic of crystal clear impressions, hazy recollections, and memories to last a life time. But there’s our drama for the day, though don’t be alarmed, FALKEN hasn’t slowed down one bit with the new sail configuration and she’s still happily charging us forth to the promised tropical paradise of Hawaii! Oh yeah and Scooby the Booby, our newly adopted bow-riding sea-bird, was completely unphased by all the headsail malarkey this morning. He’s getting quite seasoned at this whole ocean-sailing thing too.
Phoebe
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Final Blog
Falken and her crew arrived safely into port last night around 8pm boat time, 10pm Prince Rupert time. Some spicy weather was anticipated, but luckily the 35kt gusts and 2.5 meter waves were no match for this expert crew. We had an exceptionally smooth docking, despite it being Alex's first time parking this year (!). We all agreed that this was a very special group of people—I for one am so impressed with how everyone stayed so positive, helpful, and appreciative of humor despite an arguably challenging passage. We'll all return home significantly saltier than we were when we left, a mark of a passage properly sailed.
Lessons and a Gift
The biggest lesson is the helm. The lesson here is that even if you don't think you can do it over and over again with no sleep, cold and damp, it has to be done and so it can be done. Flying fish are cool, dolphins are really really cool, but the coolest of them all are the whales. And most of all Alex: "Find your center Carla. Always know where your center is so you can come back to it". He means the helm but it applies to life as well.
Making the most of it
This passage has thrown pretty much every atmospheric condition imaginable at us. It reminds us not only of how much we’ve learned, but of how far we’ve literally come since that acceleration zone off the northwest corner of Oahu. The resilience this group has shown has been nothing short of incredible, and I couldn’t be prouder to be part of it. Maybe that’s why it’s the hardest passages we remember the most. Not because they were easy, but because they reminded us what we’re capable of.
