To sail your own ocean

17 November, 2011

About the adventure

My friends Anna-Marie and Cato had bought a sailing boat without having the knowledge about how to sail. They dreamed of sailing from New Zealand, where the boat was, to Fiji and then sailing around in the arcipelago of Fiji. When I read about their plans, there was a relentless voice in my mind, saying – I want to come along! A few minutes after I se-mailed them the question I received their answer – YEEEEES! I was welcome to join them.

Read more about the adventure here

Overcoming fears

I was afraid of how it would be to have more than 4000 meters of water underneath me and no land within sight, that one of us would fall overboard and the others could not find his or her little head, bouncing around in the waves in the great ocean and that I would not be enough competent to sail “Duva”. I tried to learn how to  sail through practicing sailing smaller sailboat with friends.

Results

We arrived, exactly as planned, but I did not learn how to sail. My action of taking a coastal shipping course, there is no coast between Fiji and New Zealand, was of no use. It is good to learn to sail smaller sailing boats, but it did not mean that I understood how to handle the myriads of ropes on the 40-feet long “Duva”. Thank goodness, we had nice weather. I trusted Anna-Marie’s and Cato’s skills when I could not do much myself. It was a great feeling to sit in the middle of  the ocean that seemed like a big, blue disc and no matter how long time we were sailing, we were the only ones in the whole world and we were always in the middle of that blue disc. The lessons were that I needed to prepare my adventure better, do more research, learn more. And also that I maybe prepare too much sometimes. Sometimes good luck, good weather and friends are what it takes to handle things.

Facts

To sail your own ocean

 

date: 17:e until 25:e: November 2011

activity: to sail from Fiji to New Zealand together with Anna-Marie Haugen and Cato Hofstad 

goal: to reach New Zealand and to experience how it is to be on the ocean for such a long time.  After reaching New Zealand, we were touring New Zealand in a small Toyota Hiace that was drenched in a river when the water was rapidly rising, but that is another adventure…