All the things breaking on board

Date: 22.03.2024
Geographical Position: 37°50.2′ N 039°57.1′ W
Etmal: 195 nm
Total: 10050 nm
Ship: Regina Maris

In all of our daily lives breaking or crashing things generally happens to everyone. It doesn‘t matter if you are cautious or not. Usually it isn‘t a big problem, but if things break on a sailing ship, it‘s a whole different story. If something doesn‘t work on a ship, it can cause a lot of trouble that everyone ends up suffering from.

Sails:

Let’s start with the sails because these are the things that broke the most: The first sail that ripped was the Outer Jib in the middle of the first Atlantic crossing. To this day almost every sail ripped at least once (like the square sail yesterday) and we’ve always been able to either glue or sew them back together. On the way to Cuba, however, the Outer Jib was pretty much in pieces so it was necessary to replace it.

Engine room:

Our engine room is one big construction site. Almost everything remotely related to water broke or had problems at least once. First, it was always the watermaker, producing not only normal, but also salt water, which led to harsh water restrictions for more than weeks.

Then it was the saltwater pump that feeds the watermaker and the toilet flushes (so we took buckets with saltwater to flush with🥴). Then it was the filter of the watermaker which polluted rather quickly.

We seem to really have a problem with water. But electricity is also a big enemy of ours. The starboard generator broke down and afterwards the charger for the battery, letting us sit in the dark a few moments.

Heads and showers:

The showers really suffered during this voyage. The showers worked quite well; the only thing is that we broke almost five showerheads. That was our own fault. So, let’s go on with the heads: The first thing you will notice when you go to the toilet at sea is that the lid isn’t fixed to the rest of the toilet.

That turns going to the toilet into a athletic experience. And now we get to the shittiest part, but it’s more a mistake in the construction: If you use the portside toilet when we are heeling, the shit spawns into the shower (poor heads and shower service).

Conclusion:

This may sound like a lot (and it is at some points), BUT I think that breaking things is a part of every ship and I don’t want to complain. In the end, it’s still way less than other tall ships.

Today:

Today was a day like every other at sea; we hit ten knots and are on our way to the Azores!

P.S.:

Max: Ich denk‘ an euch und in bald hören wir uns dann (auf den Azoren hören wir uns voraussichtlich noch❤️)

Paul: Ich wünsche Dir ganz viel Kraft für das Gespräch am Montag. Du schaffst das und am Donnerstag sind wir dann schon wieder zusammen in Lissabon❤️

Leopold: Grüße an alle!

Mattis: Alles Gute, Papa. Ich wünsche Dir einen ganz schönen Geburtstag. Lass‘ dich feiern. Bis in einem Monat❤️!