The last leg of the trip – Der letzte Reiseabschnitt

About 2,5 years ago, Marcus bought Alita and made a plan for the trip from Canary Islands to New Zealand. Looking back at our journey, he has done an amazingly good job. We have met all the dates; no one ever missed a plane back or had to wait for us. Only once, in the Chilean channels, did we have to change a destination, which turned out to be for the good of all guests.

But let me look back. Beautiful sailing conditions made the last leg a very nice closing down of the whole trip. I did not think about where we are going I just enjoyed the trip and looked forward to arriving at our next destination. Then, early in the morning, 3 a.m., as I was out on my last shift, I started to realize what was happening. The mountains and sea rocks I was able to see in this still full moon night belong to New Zealand. NZ is the final destination of this planned trip, which started in Gran Canaria 17 months ago. It was very quiet outside. We had just entered the borders of the Bay of Islands Marcus and the girls were in bed, the waves started to calm down, a nice breeze made its way over my face. I felt so alive, enjoyed the cool air - which put a nice reddish color into my face - and loved the smell of land. It smelled different than arriving at any one of the atolls or islands this year. There was way more land and flowers behind that smell. Trying to find my way in the dark, following the lights that I could see and cross checking the electronic map I had to think back how it all began.

2 years and 2 weeks ago I boarded Alita for the first time. I flew in to Turkey for a 5 week trip, helping Marcus deliver Alita from Turkey to Lanzarote. I was very emotional when we left the harbour of Marmaris to the soundtrack music of “Conquest of Paradise”. Some little tears of happiness rolled down my cheeks in that moment, on Nov. 15^th, 2011. That trip across the Mediterranean Sea actually was the most demanding part with the worst weather until today. We had cross seas, lots of strong wind, rain, thunderstorms, water sprouts and traffic in our 4 weeks of sailing (we had a 1 week construction stop in Spain). It was there I learned that I will get a little bit seasick if the weather is very bad or the waves very uncomfortable but it was also there that I saw my dream of youth, sailing out on the oceans, came closer. We arrived in Lanzarote on Dec. 18^th and I hated to leave Alita. A couple of weeks later we decided that I join for the long trip.

Again under the music of “Conquest of paradise” and passing by waving friends we started out to the big water world of the Atlantic and the Pacific on June 18^th, 2012. Another very emotional moment. My childhood dream had come true. I was going to live on a sailboat for a while and discover the world from the sea. Almost to the day 17 months later I was on my watch early in the morning, the birds started to sing, I saw some light coming up in the horizon, smelled the land and listened to the music of “Conquest of Paradise” as some tears again tried to make their way through from the eyes. We had really made it, we were arriving in a port in New Zealand. I had already talked to “Whangarei Maritime Radio” to let them know about our arrival in Opua Marina, where we had to tie up at the Q-dock (quarantine dock). Marcus was with me then, at the moment of our lifetime, a moment, we will never forget. And then there was State of Mind. They had heard us on the radio (although they were still in bed at 5am in the morning). When we arrived the Q-dock, Rod jumped out of his bed, onto the dock and came to help us with the lines. How nice, after all this trip, to be welcomed by friends. They had left Minerva Reef South together with us, but with a slightly longer (on the waterline) boat and more sail area they quickly left us sailing alone in the light winds, which we had in the beginning. So they arrived half a day earlier. The downside to that: there was no one there to help them with the lines as they were the first ones. We all did help the next ones arriving. By the time customs arrived around 8.30am there were 8 sailboats at the Q-dock.

So we have come to an end of this trip of a lifetime, a trip of joy and fear, demanding and relaxing, solitude and partying, learning and teaching, laughing and crying, ….Especially the long passages were very hard on my body and nerves. I learned to be patient on the situation, which I can’t change – although it’s not easy, especially in rougher sailing conditions when you don’t feel too well. Yet it is a trip I would not want to miss in my life and I can only encourage everyone to do it, if it is your dream. There is always a way to follow that dream.