10 days of sailing on board the Avontuur! How does it feel? – It feels like a real adventure!

The first positive experience is that I cannot believe ten days have already passed! For me, literally everything here is new and different. That’s why I really call it an adventure! Sometimes I get lost in all the different terms for everything on the ship. It feels like being in a different world with its own language and its own habits… but on the other hand I often find myself in exactly where I always wanted to be — aboard a beautiful sailing ship with incredible 360° views upon the blue ocean and the same blue sky.

I am getting tangled between learning  the names of the sails, lines, knots and other ship’s parts and equipment. That the lee side is on this side — well, at least as long as we’re having the wind from that side… I am here filling myself with special moments  — I’ve never dedicated so much time to witnessing so many sunrises and sunsets in my life!  There are thousands of stars in the sky! Another incredible observation is the fluorescent plankton blinking in the never ending movement of the water, making me spot stars in the sky as well as stars in the sea.

Before this crossing I’ve never experienced being woken up at 3:30 in the morning to go to work — or that I am in fact sleeping at my work place. After breakfast, we normally have hard physical work to do like sailing manoeuvres which involves a lot of sweat… after this –so weird for me is to try and sleep after breakfast for an hour.

But  I  raise myself so I can see myself  from above, and  I realise that I am just about to sleep in a real ship’s bunk with the noise of the ocean’s waves crashing into the ship’s hull and steel separating my body… and my bed is moving like a cradle … the feeling of being alive is felt strongly in these moments when I find myself in a new environment  bringing me wonderful challenges. I am where I want to be and with those whom I want to be with.

– Herman

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Pictures by Christoph Bogner & Verena Brüning.