In order to qualify for my Yachtmaster Ocean exam I needed to do a qualifying trip, which in my case was a delivery of a brand new Lagoon 42 from the factory to the final berth in Split. I decided to join the trip together with Koen, another YM student I met during my course. The trip was in charge of Marko a friend of mine from Croatia together with one of his good friends Kreso. The client was also a friend of mine who runs a big charter company in Croatia.
It was February when we needed to get to Les sables by first flying to Bordeaux and then with train to the end destination. In this train I managed to forget one trolley holding all charts, pilots and sighting forms I needed for my astro navigation. Next day we managed to find the lost bag after a 2 hour drive through France.
When we arrived at the boat we planned to do some provisioning and managed to fill up 3 carts with food & drinks before setting sail that night. Although Biscay was a little bit rough at the time (quite common in February) we were on tight schedule and agreed to go anyway. I think it only took about an hour or so that everyone was feeling quite horrible after bumping on the waves, with around 2.5 days ahead towards Gijon (ES). That’s when I decided to go for Scopolamine and plugs which would become the best joke ever afterwards. At least I wasn’t feeling sick and actually was enjoying the ride! Underway Kreso decided to create some nice Brodetto with all fish we bought before, I must say compliments to the chef! what a meal was that!
After finally arriving in Dijon and rehabilitate for a day we decided to slowly crawl towards the edge tip NW of Spain in direction A coruna, where quite some wind was blowing and we had to plan the the right moment. This is where we decided to do a quick shelter in Viveiro and wait for the opportunity to round the edge.
After that we would directly aim for Cascais in the south of Portugal close to Lisbon without stopovers. We managed to do so and the sail was really smooth and comfortable. We had some dolphins following us for miles and the sea was completely flat which was a new experience for me on the Atlantic of all places.
Now the tricky part was gonna start towards Gibraltar passing the Orca’s that attacked boats everyday. I was in touch with Rui, a Portuguese guy who ran a whatsapp group to inform all sailors navigating these waters when there sightings/attacks. During the night of the 1st of April he sent me a message that there was an attack going on 10nm away from us on a 40m sailing boat that was damaged on the rudders. Nevertheless we were left alone and we managed to sail into Gibraltar to refuel the previously bought extra tank for the long way through Mediterranean.
We set sail towards Almeria for a last dock to set sail towards Sicily, this is where Koen disembarked due to agenda issues and bad weather laying ahead. I must say I doubted for a second but couldn’t leave the boat knowing that it was all for nothing. This is where I decided to push on and bite the dust. Soon the reward was given by catching a big Tuna which was gonna feed us for three days in row…
The whole Yachtmaster Ocean course is about Astro navigation and being able to cruise a yacht without the use of electronic navigation, by just making use of the planets and the starts. I can tell you that most probably one will never use it again, except for fun purposes. But it at least gives you the power to determine your position wherever you are by making use of a sextant and no reference point at hand.
After 6 days bumping and pushing into the wind we finally see landfall in Sicily, this is where we docked at Palermo to take rest for a day or two and I finally decided to leave the boat in order to fly home. We were in the process of selling the house for this adventure and I couldn’t stay any longer. It was an experience for life and I’m really thankful to Marko to let me join the trip and making it my qualification looking back!
After coming home I decided to prepare everything and apply for the oral exam in Southampton because everything was still top of mind then. I flew to Southampton and it turned out that my examiner was the guy who wrote the course book for Yachtmaster Ocean, so this wasn’t going to be an easy one… But in the end he was quite relaxed and after a 2 hour examination he shakes my hand and welcomed me to the club!
After being on the sea for 1.5 years almost non stop and passing to all the gates in order to get all required qualifications I could cry when everything came together and I made it to this final and won. 1.5 years before I had no experience whatsoever and now I touched the holy grail. After that I commercially endorsed my certificate by doing my STCW in Rotterdam at STC-KNRM. This gave me the option to use all of this commercially.
This is all fun, but now the journey really starts, and it’s all about experience which started already, but has to take more serious form from now on. At least I did everything in my power to make sure we are safely cruising around as a family.
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