Meet the Crew

If somebody would have told me a year ago that I would be crossing the ocean(!) on my own sailboat(!) for two weeks(!) with no breaks(!), I would have thought:

1) Wishful thinking.

2) Too scary.

3) What’s the point?

Our dear non-sailing friends and family had even more thoughts:

So how do you cross the ocean? What do you mean you sail at night? You can’t anchor? Is it really that deep? Aren’t you afraid of crashing into other anchored ship? Aren’t you afraid to sail in the dark? When do you sleep? What if you need to get out? What if you don’t get along with the rest of the crew? Do you really have to cook all your meals on board?

I got only one answer to all those questions:

THE FEAR OF HAVING MY LIFE NOT LIVED IS MUCH BIGGER THAN THE FEAR OF SAILING ACROSS THE BIGGEST OCEAN.

For the record, I don’t do camping or glamping much. I camped twice as a child and about that many times as an adult. But there is something about being on the water and especially in the open ocean, that I am willing to endure downsizing and lack of comfort. Plus, my obsession with ships and water really fits in. As a child, I have spent a month each summer on the shore of the Baltic Sea either in Lithuania or Latvia and have bonded with water. Should I mention a couple of cases of pneumonia caused by spending too much time bonding with the cold sea? Not to mention the brutal “cupping” treatment that was in fashion in those days. 

Staring at the Puget Sound each morning from my windows in Seattle and listening to the fog horns at night only strengthened this longing to sail, longing to explore.  Marrying a sailor-at-heart who grew up on an island next to Seattle, encouraged that even more.

“When the student is ready, the teacher will appear” – a proverb falsely attributed to Buddha says. I was ready decades ago. However, since I was never exposed to people who sailed, I had this magazine-perfect image of who sailors were – people wearing white Ralph Lauren sweaters, blue shorts, perfect haircuts and born into generations of wealth and sailing. Oh yeah, and wooden schooners. Then I met Jim.

After the first sailing lesson on August of 2013 at the Seattle Sailing Club I wanted to cry. There I was with multiple academic degrees and not figuring out this darn sailing thing, overwhelmed with the new terminology, thinking about the ancient explorers who couldn’t read and write and had no problem navigating through the oceans without fancy chart plotters, GPS, electrical winches, etc. I was ambitious to learn.

Fast forward again and here we are – an international team of two quite seasoned French sailors based off Tahiti and us. We have no clue what we are getting ourselves into. Four random strangers stuck on a boat for two weeks or more. Once you leave the shore, there is no going back, there is no changing your mind, and I am the only woman on board. The least experienced and titillating with excitement about the whole adventure.

Meet Pierre – Yves

The delivery captain with an impressive sailing resume. Da man of da boat. Passionate about sailing.  Punctual, insanely knowledgeable in seamanship, boat systems, repairs, neat, hard-working, can’t sit on his butt for too long unless he is at the helm. Fearless. Disciplined. Works out on the boat.  A gourmet cook. Reads books. Keeps to himself. Single. A father to an adorable little girl.

Meet Arnaud

A random person who responded to Pierre’s ad that he was looking for a crew. Passionate about sailing. Punctual, insanely knowledgeable in seamanship, boat systems, repairs, neat, hard-working. A gourmet cook. Reads books. A lot of them. Keeps to himself. Kind of single. A father to an adorable little girl. A goofball, constantly bursting into his contagious laugh. A president of The Sailing Association in Polynesia, a former teacher, builds websites and participates in regattas, and also has dived over 1000 times.

Meet Jim

I can’t write about Jim because I am biased. A software executive with an engineering background. Hard working and easy going. Multitalented and quite handy. Can get a little autistic when he throws himself into any project – work, sailing, remodeling the house, researching something. Always learning and trying new things. Addicted to honey ginger cookies from a Russian store and Trader Joe’s macadamia nuts.  Reads books. Passionate about sailing. Afraid of sharks and spiders. A kind and caring person. The best husband and friend I could have asked for. Keeps to himself. A father to a fine young lady. Not single, married to me.

Meet Jurga

A dentist by day, obsessed with ships, ocean, and travel in general.  Knows nothing about the boat systems and very little about seamanship. Not handy at all outside patients’ mouths. Always willing to try new things and ready to learn. Used to have a fear of heights and darkness. Used to read books until she got an ipad. Keeps to herself most of the time. A gourmet cook (skills valid in Seattle only).  A mother of a very grown up son who knows that mom is always up to something new. Married to Jim.