How did I prepare to become a circumnavigator?
Me. On a boat.
I think there were four steps I took to get to this trip. Here they are:
1. Knowledge
My first hands-on experience of sailing was back in 2016 on a fairly nice day on a small reservoir/lake in London. It was a sailing course for beginners. We spent a few hours in the classroom to understand the basic theory and then went straight into a little dinghy. I was fully dressed up in wet weather gear that reminded me of some sort of skiing outfit. It was October and quite chilly. It was sooo much fun! I was so grateful for experiencing something new in my early 30s; it made me feel like a child again - one who is experiencing life from scratch again.
I have studied sailing theory and practice since 2016, got a few qualifications including Day Skipper, Yachtmaster Offshore Theory, Sea Survival as well as attending a yacht delivery course. I’ve gone on a few adventures, sailing in the Solent and to Kiel in Germany. I chartered a boat in Wales and crewed a few times around England and Scotland. Before this current adventure started I already had 6000+ nautical miles in my logbook. One of the most important lessons I learned about sailing is that there is no final lesson. You can have all the certificates, and have sailed all the oceans on different boats, but if you are not humble enough to accept that you are not in control, sooner or later, you will find yourself and your crew in very dangerous situations.
2. Commitment
Gradually I started to spend most of my free time, spare money and mental capacity on sailing. I felt that I could never get tired or bored with sailing. I started to dream about sailing across the Atlantic Ocean in 2017/2018 so I put it on my bucket list. To make sure that the dream became a reality, I started to talk about my plans to my family and friends which made me even more committed. In 2019 I registered to an online forum, where boat owners and sailors who were seeking crewing opportunities were able to join up. After a couple of months and over a 100 emails to different skippers I managed to find one who needed crew to take his catamaran from Lisbon to Guadeloupe in the Caribbean.
My first crossing was not a fairy tale. During the first leg (from Lisbon to the Canary Islands) one of the crew decided to jump ship. I was on the edge of doing it too. The skipper was dirty, disgusting and cheap, had no emotional intelligence, and no sense of people management at all. Honestly, I think he deserves a special place in hell. I am not a quitter but that passage really pushed my limits. The second leg - from the Canary Islands to the Caribbean - took us 3 weeks of non-stop sailing. The food was horrible, if there was any. The timetable was really strict covering just three things: sail, sleep, eat (and repeat). Four hours on watch alone, six hours off which included cooking, cleaning up and sleeping. Non-stop. While you are hungry. Have you ever tried to sleep while you are hungry?
I kept repeating to myself that "what doesn't kill you, makes you stronger. What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger".
Despite the difficulties of my first crossing, I knew instantly that one day I would sail around the world. I felt that I found some sort of purpose for my life in a form of mental and physical challenge which is embodied in sailing. So I followed the good old recipe. I put it on my bucket list and started to talk about this new dream to my family and friends. And then I started to cut back on my spending - big time - in order to save the money I would need.
Throughout the preparation period (which in my case was around 18 months) you will be challenged - by others but most importantly by yourself - about a plan of this magnitude. You need to trust yourself and your fellow shipmates that it's really going to happen. I am a big planner; often I get post-its for my birthday. I needed to be. Things from getting mandatory vaccinations, signing the sabbatical agreement with my employer, terminating the contract with the place I rented in London, boxing up all my physical belongings, visiting family (especially grandparents) in Hungary, organising farewell parties, saving all the money I need for the duration of the adventure and the so-called 'professional life restart budget' as well as doing all the health check-ups and keeping fit for the ride. It was all written down, month by month, week by week, day by day. It worked but it was hard.
On the other hand, the only thing I was able to do with regards to the captain’s commitment, was trust his word.
3. Build network
Picking up new habits, hobbies and activities when one is an adult immigrant in a new country is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, you haven't got the basic network of classmates from your old schools, family friends, relatives or any sort of local community where you belong. All those people could be one or two handshakes away from sailors or boat owners with whom you could build up some mileage as an aspiring sailor. On the other hand, you just got into this new world of boats and sailors and you don't know anyone other than the instructors and fellow students from the sailing school.
One must realise early on the importance of interpersonal relationships and grab every single opportunity to at least exchange numbers, connecting on social media and elsewhere to get your name known.
Actually I am lying, there is another way. If you are rich, you can throw money at the problem and buy yourself into the circles by having your own boat in a busy marina and pay for skippers to take you around, but I guess, it's a bit different from what I am dreaming about.
Going back to my story. Building a network is important. As you do more and more sailing, you can mature your sailing CV as well which opens doors and give you berths on boats. This is how I met with the owner/captain of Misty, the Island Packet 445 sailing yacht which will take me around the world soon.
4. Life status
This was one of the most difficult step.
Imagine that everything what you do on a daily basis, with people you like, will need to be put on pause for 18 months.
Going to the office in London, visiting family in Hungary, joining MS Teams calls (won't miss that for sure), going to the gym in the morning, Sunday Brunch with friends, going for lonely walks in the parks (loved those), buying my favourite bread for breakfast, going to the playground with my nephews, TGIF parties in London and so on.
More and more of your attention is focused on the preparation, and of course your family and friends will be there to support you but their life will go on mainly as before, so there is this strange energy growing between you and everyone else (except the ones who will sail with you).
I can imagine that it’s more difficult for those who are left behind. People say that time flies faster when you travel. Would you agree? I would. I have been told by many people that I will be a totally different person by the time I come back. I don't mind; I just hope that I will be a better version of my current self, as I like it pretty much.
My thinking towards adulthood and life in general had always been unorthodox. I decided early on that I won't live my life the same way as most people do; I won't follow the pattern. One needs to be strong and courageous to bear the never-ending questions loaded with traditional expectations about family, kids, houses, cars, mortgages, and so-on. I will never know if the decisions I made were the right ones, including turning down marriage proposals, quitting well paid jobs or not owning a place I can call home (yet?!).
But I also know that if I would not have made these decisions, I would not be here. On this boat. To sail around the world in the next 18 months without any worry about my landlife.
Well, I will think a lot about my friends and family but they are not my direct responsibility for the next 18 months.
It's only me and my bankcard.
Lucky Sailor Girl, Mid-November 2022.
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