A Small Boy with a Big Dream

A small boat that led to big dreams:The Optimist

I like the Optimist. When I was 7, sailing started for me, in an optimist. I instantly fell in love with sailing, the freedom, harnessing the power of nature to be able to go anywhere and the closeness to the elements.

Growing up, every boy has a dream, to do something big in life. My dream has always been to sail around the world... In that sense, the Optimist is very aptly named, as this small boat led to big dreams. One day, with my brother and some friends, each in their own Optimist, the sky rapidly became darker and darker and the wind picked up more and more. One by one, the other Optimists headed for shore. I was having so much fun, that I headed away from shore, so that the instructor would take longer to reach me with his rib, and tell me to head back to shore.

To realise this dream, I have worked to gain all the skills, and the paperwork, to be able to sail a boat, big enough to take around the world. Sailing in the optimist, I would go on, until I had to use one hand, to pry the sheet out of my other cold and tired hand. As I grew up, I realised the best way to learn something myself. That is to become a sailing instructor off course. On one of my instructor training sessions (the one where you need to raise and lower the sails of a PolyValk in under 60 seconds) I practiced this maneuver, until my hands first bled, and finally were covered  in callouses.

Clever 23

British Hunter 31

Spurt 25, small but very capable and seaworthy

My parents helped me by getting a small capable and seaworthy sailing boat, a Spurt 25. This boat was capable, both in the Dutch inland waters (which are very shallow) and also on the Waddenzee and Ijsselmeer. I have many fond memories, sailing with my family on this boat, drying out on the Waddenzee, loosing the engine out at sea, and sailing in the Friese waterways and Lakes.

Bavaria Match 38

I was an official sailing instructor at age 15 (one year before the "legal" age). (Please keep this between you and me...) As I grew up, I went from sailing instructor on Optimists and Polyvalks, to instructor on catamarans, small sailing yachts and later sea going "big" yachts. My student job was water-ski and yacht sailing instructor (23 feet Clever) on one school, and sea sailing instructor (31 foot British Hunter, and Bavaria 38 Match). By this time I was ready...

But wait, this was 10 years ago. Why the big Wait? I never wanted to sail around the world by myself. I needed to find the right partner. Perhaps I should have used "Would you sail around the world with me" as my standard pick-up line, but I didn't (I dont like "pick-up" lines as a matter of fact).

On the glaciers in Norway I fell in love with a girl that had never sailed before. Also, with the girl came two cats. Both factors, that do not help when you want to sail around the world.  This could have been the end of the line for my dream. But like a hollywood movie, this was just the cliffhanger, leading up to the happy ending. After just one week of sailing, Elizabeth fell in love again, this time with sailing. And it was Elizabeth that proposed we would sail around the world. Her only condition: Take the cats with us. And we will.

The End (or a new beginning)