Living the dream is hard

Two MAYDAYS during the Pacific Ocean crossing

Picture: me before and after of 24 days sailing across the Pacific Ocean. The orange hat was sacrificed to Neptune (not on purpose)

I am (still) on a sailing boat called Misty, somewhere in the middle of the Pacific Ocean together with 25+ other boats within a 300 nautical mile radius.

To be precise, I am right now (12/03/2023, 16:25 boat time) at the following point: 11°36’.7 South and 112°48’.8 West.

This is Misty’s position now, but hopefully within 24 hours she will be approximately 140-150 nautical miles west from this point and sooner or later she will arrive to French Polynesia. The first island to visit will be Hiva Oa Island. But let’s not jump too far forward in the future.

Fun fact #1: There is a spot in the Pacific Ocean which is the farthest from ANY land on the whole globe and Misty just sailed through it.

Crossing oceans is fun and exciting.

Well not really, but if someone is aspiring to become a circumnavigator, it must become a commodity for her sooner rather than later. It is the same thing every day. You wake up whenever you need to wake up, you have a cup of coffee, go on watch, look out for squalls, trim the sail and stare at the horizon hoping to spot a dolphin or whale. There is nobody within sight nor in VHF radio reach 95% of the time. You do this for three or four hours and then go below deck to eat and sleep.

On the other hand, simplicity and loneliness creates a magical flow of time. I will write about this in an upcoming blog.

Crossing oceans is safe and uneventful.

Well, not as per my experience. In one of the earlier blogs [Living fast and slow in the age of FOMO] I was writing about a family whose boat was demasted in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. It’s an extraordinary story about courage and a perfect example for the fact that living the dream is hard.

During the current passage, Misty has received a mayday call (which is super rare) from two couples in their 20s and 30s on a sailing boat called Raindancer. They had only 15 minutes to gather their most important belongings, water, and food, launch the inflatable life raft and get into it after a serious collision with a whale. It’s uncertain if the boat hit the whale or the whale hit the boat, but water was rushing into the boat which started to sink immediately.

Picture: Sea survival course in action. The Raindancer crew spent ten hours in a similar life raft like the one on the picture.

Here are a few facts about this accident:

- They were approximately 1,000 nautical miles from the nearest land (Marquesas, the same place where Misty is heading to)

- The water was 4,000m deep.

- The crew of Raindancer were eating vegetarian pizza when they collided with the whale.

- The captain attempted to patch the hole initially from the inside, but also jumped into the water to try to fix it from the outside, unfortunately with no success.

- Their main communication devices were their Iridium Go (provides satellite Wi-fi hotspot connection) and a mobile phone.

- They managed to get a week worth of water and three weeks’ worth of food into the life raft before the boat sank but they forgot their passports and money.

- They were picked up ten hours later (which is a really lucky) by a nearby sailing boat called Rolling Stones.

Misty was also heading towards the last known location of the life raft but we were quite far, 24 hours away.

Sitting on deck, watching the sunset while eating the dinner I was imagining what it feels like to lose a boat and end a dream by such a dramatic event. I guess they felt happy being alive.

You can read the full article about the accident here: Sailboat crew rescued in Pacific after abandoning ship sunk by whale

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Going back to Misty.

Our crew included Captain Mark, me as first mate and two new shipmates, Laura from Canada (joined in Galapagos) and Anthony from UK (joined in Panama). Both are excellent people to sail with although Laura smiles a bit too much and brings unnecessary ease and happiness to Misty.

Picture: from left to right Laura, Beata, Mark and Anthony on the day of departure to cross the Pacific

In the beginning of the voyage, the Pacific Ocean was true to her name. The first few days were like sailing on oil. The surface of the ocean was so calm and flat that you could see your own reflection.

But then Misty found a rain cloud. Perhaps she wanted to take a shower. That rain cloud became Misty’s personal cloud with non-stop rain for the following three days and nights. Being on a boat in high temperatures and rain is not pleasant. It’s hot and humid below deck and grey and wet in the cockpit. All the clothes, blankets, pillows were just damp. Could be worse though.

When sailing across wide open seas like the Pacific, I always need to remind myself that it’s a marathon and not a sprint. Phasing my mental and physical energy requires a good strategy. For example, not to freak out when my provisioning doesn’t go according to plan because five dozen of the eggs (half of the total amount) turn out to be ‘rotten’ and the fridge breaks down.

Whatever is your dream, living it is hard but if there is no pain, there is no gain, right?

It was my choice to be on Misty and sail around the world for 15 months, despite all the discomfort and the difficult days.

When you sail, everything takes much more time and much more effort. For example, this is how the saloon (living room) looks like after trying to find the rice for 2 hours to be able to cook dinner:

Picture: Misty's saloon after the rice search

I can hear my sister Noemi saying, ‘Oh B, you just need a good inventory and put everything in their place accordingly’. We have an inventory Sis but it’s hard work if not impossible to keep it up to date.

The second MAYDAY came the next day, after the Raindancer crew was recovered from their life raft. It was a medical emergency. One of our fellow sailors from the World ARC fleet had a stroke and he was in shock. The air froze when we first heard about it on the radio.

In total, there were three people onboard the catamaran. They had no medicine to treat the casualty and the nearest boat was 6 hours away (which is actually pretty close when you are crossing an ocean). I cannot even imagine the state that the two other people were in. Trying to help their friend who is in a life threatening medical emergency, while keeping the boat safe and in motion as well as ensuring that they do not risking fatigue themselves.

Gradually they got a doctor onboard from another boat, medicine was on its way and within 24 hours a big – 40 meter long - super yacht, called Paladin picked the casualty and the doctor up and headed straight to the nearest land which was in 4 days-time. Onboard Paladin there were three further people trained to support the situation and the boat was well equipped with medicine as well.

We were on standby to provide fuel from Misty in case they needed any.

They were lucky and by now - when I am writing these words - the casualty is most likely in a hospital.

It’s a nightmare. The fact that you can do nothing to help and outside help is days away unless you lucky, makes blue water sailing, ocean crossing a risky business.

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I made sure that giving up is not an option when I put my London life on pause, packed up all my belongings and stored it away in Captain Mark’s house. No going back until I tackled all the challenges and enjoyed all the fun. So, let’s look ahead to see what is waiting for me, but before, here is another fun fact.

Fun fact #2: the International Space Station (ISS) is approximately 227 nautical miles from me right now, which means the ISS is closer to me than any other man-made structure.

Since the start - 7th of January – I have sailed almost 6,000 nautical miles which is approximately 20% of the overall distance. Within just three months, she visited St. Lucia, Colombia, San Blas Islands, Panama, transited the world-famous Panama Canal and sailed to Ecuador and visited the Galapagos Islands.

Picture: Galapagos beach buddy.

Memories from these places are already blurred into one single experience and often it is hard to recall what has happened where. Imagine how I will feel after finishing the 15 months, 27 000 nautical miles, 32 countries and God knows how many different islands, marinas and places.

There are a few constants in my life though. Misty the boat, Captain Mark, sailing, eating, sleeping, and writing my blog which I hope someone will find interesting and worth reading.

After French Polynesia, we are going to sail to the Cook Islands, Kingdom of Tonga, Republic of Fiji and Vanuatu before arriving to Australia around mid-July.

Picture: World ARC circumnavigating map

It is a fantastic, once in a lifetime experience which would make anyone feel lucky to be part of. Unless you are like my friend, Shaun who dislikes travelling. In his new blog he writes about ‘A road to walk’ [I found a road]. A road that he knows inside out. Where it starts, where it ends, who lives there and what kind of trees grow alongside it. While my high-speed experience of different countries and places melt into one single voyage and memory, Shaun is focusing on finding new value and beauty in things he already knows inside out.

Both experiences are beautiful and to be honest, right now, when I feel tired, hungry, have a bit of a headache because of the heat and sun and am quite dirty as well due to lack of showers, I wish I could be on that road with Shaun, walking towards the local pub to talk about the trees alongside that road which were planted in memory of Duke of Wellington.

Beata Szoboszlai,

Mid March, 2023

PS.: here are the before and after photos of the rest of the crew

Picture: Captain Mark before and after the Pacific crossing

Picture: Laura before and after the Pacific crossing

Picture: Anthony before and after the Pacific crossing