2026-6 | FALKEN | Tahiti-Bora Bora Cruising
Join us in French Polynesia for a beautiful cruising passage of these iconic South Pacific islands. Meet in Tahiti where we’ll sail the 150-miles or so over to Bora Bora, stopping at Mo’orea on the way if conditions allow. Explore Bora Bora, then return upwind to Pape’ete after a week or so. This is a different type of trip from our normal offshore passages, with time to swim, anchor, explore ashore and experience French Polynesia at its best!
The Passage
Rough itinerary
All 59º North passages are very much subject to weather. We pick our routes based on the "correct" time of year to be sailing in the different regions we visit, and we always build-in enough time to give us some margin for weather windows. The skipper has final say on departure dates and weather windows, but generally speaking, the intinerary for this passage will look like this:
May 19, 2026
Crew arrive to FALKEN at 1300 in Papeete, Tahiti. FALKEN orientation followed by crew dinner. All crew stay onboard FALKEN.
Prep Days
Between the joining and departure dates, all pre-passage preparation, provisioning, and safety briefings will be completed. The specific pre-departure schedule will be outlined and posted onboard FALKEN by the skipper.
May 20, 2026
Scheduled departure, weather dependent.
May 26, 2026
Latest date (12:00 noon) for crew to depart FALKEN from Papeete, Tahiti.
FALKEN will start and end the passage in Marina Taina, Papeete, Tahiti.
TRAVEL LOGISTICS
Papeete
Weather conditions
Expect warm, tropical sailing with steady trade winds at your back—generally settled and pleasant, though you'll feel some lively swell rolling through, keeping things spirited but comfortable as you sail these classic South Pacific waters.
In-depth analysis, by WRI
WHY 59º NORTH?
The best boats
Professional, well-paid staff
knowledge & community
Why it costs what it costs...
"59º North runs the most professional offshore training program you can find, and it shows in their professionalism, leadership, skill, and service. I felt honored to be part of the maiden voyage of FALKEN—she's a beauty, and the 59º North refit crew did an amazing job! Shout out to Nikki Henderson (Captain) and Alex Laline (Mate) for inspiring, knowledgeable, and caring leadership. I can't imagine having a better experience with any other."
"Before 59º North I didn't know my bowsprit from my binnacle and suffered from low sailing esteem. After two weeks of 59º North, what a difference! As a longtime podcast listener, I arrived for my Bermuda to Horta transatlantic with high expectations, and they were all not just met but exceeded. I could not imagine a skipper and mate more professional and enthusiastic than Andy and Emma."
"The experience was more than I hoped for in every way. I felt completely at home on the open water in our mighty vessel and with a wonderful crew that quickly became family. All of the staff at 59º North were kind, professional, fun, knowledgeable, and friendly. I will be back!"
"Our voyage was interesting because both ISBJØRN (which I was on) and ICEBEAR traveled the same route at roughly the same time. We had Matt Rutherford as our captain and Ben Doerr as first mate, and they were both chill, fun, and always happy to answer questions and provide advice. I feel I got the experience I need with the ocean and Gulf Stream to pilot my own boat from Florida to Bermuda in the future, which was exactly my goal. If you are looking for blue water sailing experience and a fun adventure, I highly recommend that you sign up with 59º North."
"At 65, I was anxious about my first ocean passage from Antigua to Bermuda, but 59º North provided a unique opportunity to experience the magic of passage making while learning new skills. Mia Karlsson was inspiring and supportive while sailing FALKEN and cooking amazing meals, and Captain Chris Kobusch brought a wealth of knowledge and experience. This was truly the experience of a lifetime."
"It was such an experience! Meeting all the people and being part of the crew is something very special. We were so lucky to spend the passage on FALKEN; the nature and weather gave us the best, and I really wish it could have lasted longer."
"I'm AKA Andy’s Dad, so my opinion of the skipper may be slanted a bit. I admit to being wrong on my initial reaction to FALKEN—at first sight she seemed like a hard-to-handle race boat, but she is easy to handle and shrinks once you get used to her. The refit work done below is flawless, with comfortable bunks, a spacious galley, and plenty of storage. A trip with 59º North on any of their boats is truly a life-changing experience. Highly recommended!"
THE BOAT
Farr 65
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FALKEN
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🇬🇧
FALKEN is ideally set up for long-distance offshore sailing. We fully rebuilt the boat in 2022 to our exacting specifications and with the help of legendary yacht designer Bob Perry. She's comfortable belowdecks and each crew has their own dedicated sea berth & gear locker. On deck she has a huge cockpit which easily seats 10 people for our daily meals offshore, and allows for plenty of room to move about when handling lines and trimming sails. She's also easy to maintain, fast and fun to sail! FALKEN sails with 8 crew plus a Skipper & Mate and the occasional apprentice.
packing lists & notes
Tahiti-Taha’a and a birthday
Bora Bora who? Leg 6 crew are aboard and setting their sights on the lesser-known gems of French Polynesia — Taha'a and Huahine — where vanilla farms, manta rays, and drift coral snorkels await. The new anchorage booking system is a noble idea in theory, though its website appears to share the reliability of the wind, which has cheerfully decided to blow from exactly the wrong direction. It's upwind sailing, birthday cake, and uncharted territory from here.
Taha’a-haha (say that correctly five times fast)
Ten heads bobbing around the stern, cold beers hidden a meter below the waterline, and coconuts dodged through the reef — the crew of NORDIC FALKEN have arrived at Taha'a, and they're wasting no time. First Mate Pheebs reports from a golden-hour anchorage in the Society Islands, where strangers became shipmates somewhere between Papeete and paradise. Manta rays and what might be the world's best coral drift snorkel are on tomorrow's agenda — if Skipper Mary's mushroom risotto doesn't slow anyone down first.
Tantalizing Taha’a
Turns out you can fit eleven people, a treasure hunt, and two manta rays into a single day — if you're willing to putt across a lagoon in an electric dinghy at dawn. Taha'a delivered one of the trip's top snorkeling spots: a floating coral garden where stingrays, reef octopuses, and parrotfish crunching on coral competed for attention. The only casualty? Mary, stuck aboard wrestling the watermaker — though she still managed to produce poke bowls for eleven by dinner.
Going Coconuts!
From a muddy anchor bow to a heeling, wind-charged run past Taha'a's reefs, Falken's crew earned every knot of the passage to Huahine-Iti. Scooters, a near-miss dog, a mosquito ambush, and a crocodile lurking at the dock rounded out a day that had no business being as good as it was. The coconut nut is, in fact, a really big nut—and somehow that tracks perfectly.
A Day in Huahine
Hitchhiking with Mormons, hunting for Pareos, and saying goodbye to crew — all before most people finish their morning coffee. A pina colada hangover is no match for a full agenda on a small island where the only taxi has already left with your friends. The question is whether you can pull it all off and still make the tide.
The sun sets on another journey
The hardest part of sailing across French Polynesia wasn't the night watches, the heat, or the open ocean — it was the prospect of being trapped on a small boat with a group of strangers. First-timer Natalie boards as a self-described land crab and discovers that the sea has a way of reshaping both your sea legs and your assumptions. What follows is dolphins, sharks, the Milky Way in full technicolour, and a crew that somehow made the whole thing better than she ever imagined.