Day 28 – Friday 31 January 2020
By Dominic Hollling
Ewan and I had a double night watch which was hard, going to bed late and knowing that the next time you are woken it’ll still be night. However, this does have some upsides; we get to experience the sunrises every morning. The sun comes up painting the clouds in a golden and pink lining and reflecting on the ocean, stretching for miles.
Last Sunday when may shift came to an end I picked up my phone to play some music, only to be interrupted by Daniel confiscating my phone and reminding me of it being a “no tech Sunday”. After that I went back to bed and was woken up by Josh saying “hey Dom, you wanna go up the mast?” This is something I’ve wanted to do the whole trip. I had to go up because we could see on the chart plotter that we were approaching the islands of Is Martiz Vaz and Ilha da Trindade, but they couldn’t be seen from the deck. I sprang up, got in the harness and ascended up. The further up I went, the more rocking and unstable it became. I had to hold onto every halyard to avoid being flung and swung around. Once at the top I could make out some rectangular blob on the horizon, but I thought it was a cargo ship, as that is what we had more often been seeing. However I quickly realised that it was indeed the first island.
It’s quite magical being up there on the top of the mast just looking down and around, when you can see ocean for miles around and then you look down at the boat, so small below and then realize that we are just this tiny little vessel in the wide open ocean. For the remainder of the day we peered out to the horizon as the islands came nearer and nearer. It’s scary seeing land after 23 days of no land.
The islands were beautiful, with high cliffs and full of lush plants all around. We have lately been reading the Sail & Leisure magazines, admiring the superyachts and reading all the interesting articles about the stories of ordinary people who ended up sailing in the league of the TP 52’s and Volvo Ocean Race. For a bunch of kids who love sailing, it is quite inspiring to read these stories.
The days have also been extremely hot lately and we have been slaved to lazing around all day in the heat, dipping in the water occasionally to cool down. By sunset the first island was alongside us and we could make out a faint light on the other side, which was the lighthouse on the island. The second and larger island was now visible as well. By our morning watch both islands were out of view and long off the horizon.
We have also gotten into our routine again of making daily bread, which we braai over some burning coals. It’s a highlight of the day to get lovely warm bread. After lunch I went to go sit on the bow, peering over looking onto the sea, pondering a while.
It’s crazy to think that we are out here, a group of teenagers with two 21 year olds skippering the yacht as we sail across the Atlantic. If I weren’t a Scout I would think that would be crazy. But that’s what’s so different about the scouting youth movement which is like none other and is the largest in the world. It really provides so many opportunities for young people and provides so many skills and insight. It was merely a year ago that the spark of JML Rotary Scout taking part in Cape 2 Rio was lit. The skippers Nick an Daniel say that it was their involvement in scouting, and the leadership skills they had learnt, that has helped them to get to this point where they can lead us across an ocean.
I am so grateful for this opportunity and it has really opened up my eyes to the world of sailing. To think, it was 25 days ago that we left the Port of Cape Town, and we are soon to reach a different continent. It’s amazing to think of it like that, and to think how far we have come. It really makes the world feel so much larger with amazing beauty and wonderful things to see. I am so grateful for the beauty of nature. Out here in the middle of the ocean, escaped from the the daily routines of life, just out here sailing, taking in all the glories of nature. I can only relate to the sailors back in the days that would sail for months by just the power of nature. You truly are at the hands of nature; we are crossing the ocean by nothing but the power of the wind, the motion of the ocean while putting our skills to the test. When you are out here, that is all you have and you don’t know what may come your way, it may be a storm or it may be a dead, flat ocean with no wind to move. All I know is that we have been doing our best using our knowledge to get us through any situation, because when you are there sitting on the deck with the wind in your face and the sound of the waves lapping on the hull, staring out to the horizon surrounded by the crew and watching the sunset, it’s all well worth it (especially knowing that I would otherwise be at school)
Now as this journey is coming to an end, approaching the finish line, we are in this for the race, to cross that line, but it’s the journey that has made it all so worth it for us all. Looking back, we are so grateful and have learnt so much in this trip. All of us have also learnt so much about sailing, from our very capable skippers and the rest of the crew. We will take with us the knowledge and skills we have learnt to pave a way for a future of sailing.
Looking forward, the next couple of days do not promise the best winds, but we will do our best and keep on going until we cross that finish line.