Sander (35) from Heerenveen left for a world trip early this year with his girlfriend Yvette (35). Aruba was the starting point of the tour. “I have chased this dream from a young age. Yvette has a passion for travel and has come with me, although she is not into ocean sailing.”
The couple made it to the Galapagos Islands unscathed and the great crossing to French Polynesia began in mid-April. In the middle of the Pacific Ocean, with 2000 nautical miles (about 3600 km) to go, things went wrong.
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“It was my turn to keep watch,” says Sander on the phone, from the island of Hiva Oa in French Polynesia. “Yvette was sleeping. Normally you can hear the water shooting under the boat, because you are sailing. But now suddenly I heard terrible noises, cracking, swishing.”
The boat suddenly came to a stop. Sander rushed out and saw no more mast. It turned out to be broken, out of nowhere. “I yelled, ‘Honey, wake up. Put on your life jacket, the mast’s overboard.’
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Painful
Sander checked whether there was more damage, or whether the ship was making water. This appeared to not be the case. “You lose control for a moment. Over everything,” Sander says about that cramped moment. “But because there was no immediate danger, I was able to act calmly and see what exactly was going on.”
The mast turned out to be beyond saving. They had to leave it in the ocean. Guess exactly why it broke. “Maybe there was a weak spot. The wind was quite strong, but we were sailing calmly. It is striking. And very painful, it was all new.”
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After a phone call with his father, the couple worked on a solution: a kind of emergency mast with a small sail. The ship was able to move forward again, but it was slow at 3 or 4 knots. †
Hotsend and klotsend
Sander speaks of a ‘horror journey’. “You can’t imagine in advance what it does to such a ship. It sails so unstable, we just jolted and sloshed back and forth for three weeks. Now and then those thumping high waves. It was hellish, worse than any storm I’ve been through. Resting, cooking, sleeping… everything was difficult. It gave us major headaches.”
Fortunately, the couple had prepared well, they had no shortage of food and drink. “We had stocked up on food for 3 to 4 months.”
After three weeks of ‘floating’, land was finally in sight. The two are now trying to recover from the adventure, because it has cut down considerably. “We have to deal with this. Especially for Yvette, for her this experience was traumatic. It was way out of her comfort zone. She is not used to sailing, especially not on the ocean in these conditions. It was real survival. admiring how she made it through.”
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Finding peace on Hiva Oa, one of the islands in French Polynesia, is still difficult. Because Sander and Yvette have another setback. “We need a new mast, but the insurance won’t pay and I wonder if we can still get our ship out to sea. Cost is a problem. We remain positive. Friends of ours try to help us† Of course we are happy with a little ‘tailwind’, but we also realize that some people in the world need it more than we do. We are very happy with all the support.”
Search for solution
The sailing ship Blue Beryl Sander once bought in Malaysia. It was shipped to the Netherlands and Sander refurbished it there. A project of years, to be able to make this journey.
The question is whether Sander and Yvette can continue the journey. For now, the couple will remain where they are, looking for a solution. And at the same time enjoy the environment. “Up until this moment it was a dream trip, you see the most beautiful places on earth.”
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