Sophia

Ship: Regina Maris
Date: 19th of March 2025
Position: North Atlantic Ocean
Geographical Position: 38°19.934‘N 032°10.605‘W
Etmal: 219nm
Total: 10786nm

Today, I hit the jackpot again. I have the galley and the daily report on the same day. What a pity. 🙃

We will probably arrive at the Azores tomorrow and slowly, everyone is really looking forward to the ship finally lying still and seeing something other than just water.

Our cook is especially looking forward to this. Cooking while sailing is even harder than you could imagine. Everything flies around as always. In the galley, the things that spill are mostly food. I don’t even remember how often we’ve had to clean up oil spills. The galley floor is already quite slippery, but with some oil on top, it becomes even more entertaining.

Sadly, we don’t have a stove that moves with the waves (which would be really practical). You can only fill the pots halfway. If you don’t, they’ll spill the moment a bigger wave comes. That leads to not being able to cook for everyone in one big pot, so you must use two or three pots, each halfway full, to get the same amount of food so everyone will be satisfied.

This, of course, leads to more washing, which is also quite a challenge with rolling waves. It also happens that you see the galley crew in life jackets while serving, because the floor is slippery and on our life jackets, there is a rope with a carabiner so you can clip onto something to avoid flying away. Totally normal and really smart.

Some other extra-special adventures in the galley are always connected to big waves. The galley window is mostly always open so that the steam from the cooking doesn’t fill the mess room. Sometimes, a wave is high enough to splash over the poop deck. And while standing in the galley, you get a nice sea shower from above.

Big waves can also cause an electrical wire on board to get a little wet and for a few minutes, you might find yourself standing completely lost in the galley because everything, including the lights, goes out.

Isn’t that wonderful? The galley is definitely a challenge.

From cooking to eating, there are different challenges depending on where you eat. The most common and safest place is, of course, the mess room. Not much can go wrong because you can mostly sit properly while eating and you should have access to an anti-slip mat.

It can definitely still be a challenge, but totally manageable. It gets harder when you’re on watch and have to eat on the poop deck. You don’t have the luxury of an anti-slip mat, nor do you have a proper seat. Everyone is just trying to hold on to their plate and themselves.

Often, it happens that the plate doesn’t make it and you might end up cleaning the floor afterward. But if all of this didn’t happen, the journey wouldn’t even be half as fun.

Shit happens. Life goes on. Enjoy every moment as if it will be your last.

This is my last daily report. Peace out.

Ship: Regina Maris
Date: 5th of December 2024
Position: Atlantic Ocean
Geographical Position: 17°01.203N 025°20.015W
Etmal: 23nm
Total: 3009nm

Hello everybody!

Last day on land for the next two weeks, probably! Many of us haven’t really realised what is going on. Me also, I can’t get it into my brain, that the next time seeing land will be an island in the Caribbean. Crazy!

After our very delicious breakfast with porridge, bread and today also with yummy French toast, we lifted the anchor in Mindelo and drove to a different island of the Cap Verdes. There, we arrived about right after lunchtime. We reunited with the Johnny. They already drove there yesterday. To make the experience a bit more exciting we decided to not take the dinghi and rather to swim to the island.

We all put our clothes in a dry bag and were ready to swim. It wasn’t too far so luckily, everybody made it. On land we all put on sunscreen, our clothes and shoes.

Since we knew that the last years Ocean College always played soccer against the local people, everybody that wanted to play had to put on the white OC t-shirt. They didn’t know that we were coming that early and wanted to play against them so we had to wait quite a bit till they gathered their soccer team.

Good to know: Ocean College has never won against them ever in the past years. We took that by heart and made clear, that we had to win this game for us and for Ocean College.

Although it was hot and the sun was killing us from the outside we decided to give everything we have. Giving up was not an option. The game didn’t start off that good for us. They first scored one goal and a few minutes after a second one.

We couldn’t let that rest on our shoulders. They played good, but if we played as a team and more balls would actually get to the other teammate we knew, we could do it. Halftime was over and we switched sides.

From there on, we gave all we had. And it paid off. Kaspar scored the first goal. Now it was 2:1 for the others. Not too much time after Maxim scored a second goal from the distance into the top corner. We were now level with them.

A look on the clock said three minutes left. We knew, if we walked out with a tie we were also better than all the Ocean College Generations before us but to win would be even more legendary.

Right before the time was up, Nico scored the 3:2, which gave us the WIN. The first ever Ocean College, that won against the Cap-Verde-Team.

We made history, thanks to the brilliant defense of Maxim and Strate!

Because time was short we had to swim back to the boat, right when the game ended. Back on board, the Johnny and the Reggie lifted the anchor at the same time, we set sail, made some pictures with the drone and set off together to cross the Atlantic Ocean!

And from know on, one off my biggest dreams will start. Crossing the Atlantic Ocean with a Sailing Vessel.

Let the adventure begin!

Grüße:

Timo: Alles Gute zum Geburtstag nachträglich, Mama! Hab‘ euch lieb!!

Sophia: Danke Mama, dass Du mich die Reise machen lässt. 😘 Hab‘ Dich ganz dolle lieb❤️

Balthasar: Happy Birthday nachträglich an Tante Cecy und happy Birthday an Tante Töni, mir geht’s super!! Denk‘ an euch😘

Franz: Ich wünsche euch einen wunderschönen Nikolaus, genießt die Adventszeit! Es fühlt sich echt komisch an, jeden Morgen aufzustehen und daran zu denken, dass meine kleinen Mäuse den Adventskalender öffnen. Hab‘ euch ganz ganz ganz dolle lieb!❤️❤️❤️ Ich freue mich, euch an Weihnachten zu hören! Und ganz vielen Dank fürs Buch😜 und die Briefe!

Felipa: Schönen Nikolaus euch allen! Hab‘ euch lieb und vermisse euch. Beijinhos ❤️❤️

Ella: Olivia mein ❤️. Dankeschön an Omas und Opas, Mama und Papa! Hab‘ euch lieb 🫶

Jana: Hallöchen Leute, ich wünsche euch einen wunderbaren Nikolaus. ❤️Auch ein riesen Dankeschön für die ganzen Briefe, die Arne mitgebracht hat, ich hab mich mega gefreut. Es war richtig toll, von euch zu hören. Noch eine tolle Adventszeit🎄Hab‘ euch lieb!!