We love asking our students why they decided to take sailing courses. Their answers are always unique and often quite exciting. When we learn that they have an interesting journey ahead, we make sure to follow up with them. For example, one of our students, Tako, was preparing to cross the Atlantic Ocean. After taking RYA Competent Crew, RYA Day Skipper Theory and RYA Day Skipper Practical with us in Antigua, he was more than sure about the decision.
On board Walrus, a Catalina 470, it was quite the rough start. Crazy waves, strong winds rocked the boat and within an hour the first two crew members out of five were below deck, flat, from seasickness. After his famous last words “let me write an entry in the logbook” the captain was down too. So that left me and my friend in control for the first days of the Atlantic crossing, due to his strong stomach and my misreading of the Spanish label of the seasickness pills which caused me to take 3x the recommended dose. I might have seen some things that weren’t actually there, but at least, we were sailing, and pretty fast too!
When me and my friends were planning to cross the Atlantic with the ARC of 2022-2023, I decided to join a Competent Crew and Day Skipper course at Second Star Sailing. Well, it was a great choice doing so, since it built a lot of confidence in those first stormy days, but also during the rest of the crossing: navigating, recognising the weather (Oh boy! Quite the squalls!) and boat handling.
The rest of the trip was much better. With the help of our hydrovane for helming, we had quite some time for cooking, cleaning, checking the weather, getting the Starlink up (tip: Don’t. Your crew mates will end up watching Netflix), celebrating birthday parties and the halfway point, and taking care of our hitchhiking birds.
I know it sounds like a cliche, but it was definitely a life changing experience. You can truly disconnect – it’s just you and your crew mates trying to figure things out and keep going. The night skies are incredible, the waves are amazing. It’s the only place on earth you can be so far away from any civilisation. And then… you see the land you’ve been trying to get to for weeks! Who knows what the ‘other side’ might bring. You might find someone very special at a random party, that will change your life forever!
