Blog by Stephanie L. FALKEN Crew | At sea for almost 2.5 days now. This is our second day of a full watch rotation and we’re all starting to get the feel of the routine now. It’s afternoon now and finally the seas are a bit calmer. We certainly hit the ocean running! We had squalls, intermittent rain and gusts of 35 kts.

Blog by Ken. T, FALKEN Crew | Steph & Ken, by FAR the most novice sailors on this trip, notched their first offshore overnight (tho not without suffering a bit - maybe MORE than a bit in Steph’s case - of what we’ll just call “Neptune’s Revenge”)

FALKEN Crew are all sitting around a table having our last lunch onshore at the Waikiki Yacht Club after two days of safety checks, training, and weather review. The watch teams are formed and we’re looking forward to what’s to come! Here is a summary of the feelings hours before departure

By Tara, FALKEN Crew | Splash BANG… Over the last several days FALKEN has been beating upwind due north, steadily closing the distance between us and Hawaii. Everyone is delighted by the upwind sailing, both above and below deck.

By: Mary | FALKEN Mate | Day 2 of life on a heel and the crew are getting more used to it. The sea state (or the helming?) has improved and the amount of times you get body slammed whilst trying to sleep has reduced, making it much more tolerable. However, I speak on behalf of all the staff when I say cooking at this angle sucks an incredible amount, and watch handovers between us usually involves some grumbling about upwind sailing.

By: Adam. FALKEN Crew | It’s 19:40 and I am on the helm again. The sun is well set, as the first hundred or so stars are making themselves visible as a so far moonless, and nearly cloudless sky promises excellent star watching as the night progresses.   We have 22 kts apparent wind at 50 degrees on a starboard tack, with relatively calm seas.

By Orie, FALKEN Crew | What about the boobies you may ask? They have accompanied us on our voyage and are more frequently taking the opportunity to rest and preen on the anchor (to the bosun’s delight). This in contrast to the boobie that took a bit of a ride on the wobbly Windex the other day. Fortunately it did not tolerate the raucous ride for long, and the Windex was not damaged.

By: Richa, FALKEN Crew | Yesterday (still not sure what day of the week that was) started with Alex heading out to Customs and getting us checked out of Kiribati. The crew had more down time- more naps, more reading, more swims and definitely more showers.

By Jacob, FALKEN Crew | Collectively, we misplaced most of Saturday. Arriving to Kiribati Saturday, ships time, we were faced with the disconcerting conundrum of sailing directly into Sunday, Kiribati time, owing to a largish hemorrhoid in the international dateline and cozy bro-mance between Australia and the Line Islands.

BLOG BY ORIE | Equator - Bring it on! Apparently, a spy boarded FALKEN, unbeknownst to the several polywogs aboard — heralding our approach to the royal line. Having been duly notified of the impending rite of passage by King Neptune’s herald and prepared for the equitorial approach by our flamboyant navigator, we anxiously prepare gifts…

As usual I asked the crew for blog ideas and this is what I got:

It’s Thursday, Istvan has learnt a new colour- sea foam.
Orie’s thrilled with how the days are filled with something remarkable- be that something visual, or a teaching moment. Even in the middle of the vast ocean the days are filled with something.

The Pacific is, it turns out, is rather large. Mind bogglingly so. Current estimates suggest it’s 79,108 miles across. North to south, about 530,012 miles, which, in a curious turn of coincidence, is the same temperature in the forepeak cabin this morning.

The Pacific is, it turns out, is rather large. Mind bogglingly so. Current estimates suggest it’s 79,108 miles across. North to south, about 530,012 miles, which, in a curious turn of coincidence, is the same temperature in the forepeak cabin this morning.

The common consensus was that yesterday gave us a little bit of everything. Squally weather with large downfalls of cool rain, no wind, some wind, wind in the right direction, wind in the wrong direction, some birds and a large birthday tuna caught by the birthday girl, Mary.

FALKEN has been ticking miles off nicely and the crew are all well into the watch system. Today we got up to a much more squally day, with lighting and thunderstorms around us indicating our proximity to the ITCZ, the forecast is promising and with a light day ahead expected tomorrow everything seems to be as straight forward as sailing goes.

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:

I’m sitting in the nav station while the crew are having some coffee on deck. Checklists are done, briefings are completed and all is left to do is re-fuel before we head out to sea. I always have mixed emotions before slipping lines, it doesn’t matter if it’s for a day-sail around the solent or to cross the Pacific…

Well here we are beating back from Bora Bora to Tahiti. So far this year I have sailed over 8500 nm on FALKEN and today was the first time I’ve tacked her. It’s interesting because mostly I think I prefer downwind sailing when the boat is flatter and you don’t need crampons to get to the snack cupboard but upwind has its advantages.

Well the forecast wind was somewhat under estimated for our sail from Tahiti to Bora Bora. The sea state was also somewhat larger than expected but nonetheless the crew dug deep and we sailed our way through 20 hours to make landfall at 0800 yesterday.

A great day was had by all yesterday as the new crew of the good ship FALKEN came together for the first time and began the safety briefing process. It’s good to see an eclectic mix of cultures and our French Canadien contingent will be really helpful in our communications locally over the next week. Passage plan in place we set sail for Bora Bora at 1100 this morning.