“Sometimes I wish I could be at multiple places at the same time.”
It’s ON! We are sailing around the world. How exciting, right?! We have sailed almost 900 nautical miles from Rodney Bay (St Lucia) to Santa Marta (Colombia) during the first leg. Second leg was much shorter, only 280 nautical miles to the beautiful San Blas Islands (Panama). To be able to call myself a circumnavigator I still need to sail 26,000 nautical miles around the world back to St Lucia, but so far so good.
We barely started but already I can see patterns evolving in my new routines. Our life on board Misty can be split into two major types. One is when we are sailing in between destinations = living slow. The other is when we are in a marina or at an anchorage = living fast.
While clearly different, the two ways of living also share a feature. Both themes are overshadowed by FOMO which is something I have always struggled with. As per the Cambridge Dictionary FOMO is an abbreviation for "fear of missing out": a worried feeling that you may miss exciting events that other people are going to.
FOMO between land life and sailors’ life
While underway you have loads of time to think. Especially in relaxed weather (when you are bored) it’s easy to wonder about what are the things you may be missing out on from your land life. Your nephews are growing like mushrooms (Hungarian saying), your parents are getting older, your friends are falling in love, Starbucks has a new coffee, the tomato in the garden is getting red, the neighbour is moving out, a new tube line is opening in London…
On the other hand, while you are in a marina or anchorage there are so many things to do and see. There is no time for being homesick or wondering about the exciting projects at work, but the FOMO appears in between sailing because of the people you are being surrounded by.
Before we explore this more, let’s introduce the fleet of people and boats embarking on this adventure.
The World ARC fleet 23/24
The size of the fleet taking on this challenge has varied between 22 and 25 boats and the population is somewhere between 85 and 110 women, men, children and two fluffy little white dogs. The average age of the participants (human years) is somewhere between 55-60 years, the gender ratio is around 60% men 40% women. There is a big Spanish speaking group from Uruguay, Argentina and Spain, as well as English, American, Swedish, Dutch, German and Italian people.
All these remarkable people have spent enormous energy and resources to be here and be part of this once in a lifetime adventure. They are determined people. Despite all the hardship that some faced, they are here to tackle one of the biggest challenges of their life. Let me give you an example of a 'challenge'.
Mayday on the Atlantic Ocean
The Wennberg family consists of the parents and two young children. During their Atlantic Crossing in November 2022, their boat was dismasted approximately 800 nautical miles from St Lucia. Because of structural damage, the mast - which holds up to mainsail - collapsed on the deck and left the family in a situation that is the sailor's worst nightmare. You can read more about their story here: LINK.
What makes this story and this family extraordinary is what happened after. Crossing the Atlantic Ocean is already a great achievement for many sailors, but the Wennbergs real ambition was to sail around the world as a family - second time…yes, they already have done it once. In their eyes, the Atlantic Crossing was just a warm up but it turned into a disaster. They managed to motor to St. Lucia but Take Off (the boat) was in a really bad shape and they had less than 3 weeks to sort out what happens next.
And you know what they did after arriving in St. Lucia? They went on a hunt to buy a new boat because they decided to sail around the world not because it's easy, but because it's hard.
This family is so resilient and committed, that they did find a boat and now they are heading towards the Panama Canal together with Misty and the rest of the World ARC fleet. I would not say that the population of the fleet is a homogenous group, but we all definitely know what we are planning to do in the next 14 months, and the Wennberg family’s example shows the determination we all have. Every single individual has an extraordinary story about how they got here.
What would you be doing if not sailing around the world?
You are sailing in bad weather. Winds that are too strong and waves from the wrong direction; it makes your boat move like Jagger – not fun. You haven’t had a good sleep or a shower for days. You can barely eat because the waves make your tummy unsettled despite the seasickness patches and pills. The boat is a mess, everything is sticky and salty and most importantly, everyone is grumpy. At these times it is easy to imagine ‘What if I could be home now instead of being on this bloody boat?’
There are people who would choose not to be on the boat for a very good reason and it's not because they are not strong or adventurous or willing to get out of their comfort zone enough. It is because they see the coin from the other side and FOMO is pulling their heart to their loved ones who stayed at home. The environment they love and the routines they built up during their life. Like my friend, Shaun. I am sure he would be keen to have a go on Misty for some time deep in his heart but Shaun enjoys taking walks in his local area and that is what he wants to be able to do again and again and again (read his previous blog here).
Sometimes I may wish to be off the ‘bloody boat’ when it's in bad weather but would never forgive myself if I actually did it. No good or bad thing in life lasts forever either in London or Budapest or in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. I know if I were to stop now, the FOMO I feel for the things at home would be dwarfed forever more by the FOMO I would feel for missing the trip.
A quick summary of the first two legs
Compared with the 29 day passage from Portugal to St Lucia it was considerably easy and straightforward except the continuous gybing. We are missing one part from the boat which would help us to sail dead downwind and without it we have to zigzag like hartebeests. (In case you didn’t know, you can actually see in real time how we zigzag: LINK)
The boat part we are missing is called the whisker pole. We broke it during the Atlantic Crossing when a squall (isolated weather system) hit us unprepared. There was too much sail up and the force of the sudden wind simply snapped the metal pole into two. On the picture below you can see Niall sacrificing the remainder of the pole to Neptune. It sank within a few seconds.
The second leg from Santa Marta to the San Blas Islands was short and rough. Force 7 weather (28-33 knots of wind and 4-5-metre-high waves). It took us two nights and three days to sail the distance but it was worth it. The San Blas Islands are a real paradise. Check out a few pictures here (LINK).
Life is an adventure, wherever you are, whatever you are doing so let’s enjoy it! We cannot do anything with the constantly changing weather, just adapt. Like the other day when I cooked goulash soup - swear and sweat for 2 hours in the galley - for dinner but the waves were too high and it was impossible to eat soup (yes, it's a soup, not a stew!).
Miss you all!
Xxx
Lucky Sailor Girl
Colon, Panama
End of January
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