The Last Ones Standing

Ship: Johann Smidt
Date: 27.01.2026
Position: Nearby Providencia
Nautical position: 12°20,7’N 081°44,5’W
Etmal: 113nm
Total: 7070nm

Let’s start this blog at midnight, where Klara’s, Sophia’s and my (Ylva’s) day began. We had watch from midnight to 04:00, but instead of five people as usual, we were only three. The starboard group had school and because Rüdiger teaches the engine group full-time now, those six people don’t have to take part in the watches anymore.

But we haven’t only lost our machinists, but also all the sick people. On that, more later.

Even with rain squalls, we had a good time talking and steering the boat to Providencia. After four hours of watch, of course we wanted to go to bed as soon as possible, but no: We had to do a „Wende“ for the watch that came next because, like us, there weren’t many of them and all of them were also seasick. After one extra hour of hard work and getting soaking wet from big monster waves, we eventually could go to bed.

Unfortunately, our plan to sleep until noon wouldn’t work because at 08:30 we were woken up by a bad person with a worse message: Our watch leader Roque, who told us that we had to take over „Backschaft“ and help to change the Klüver.

In the „Backschaft“ there was only one person left: The poor Sophie, who fought hardily but eventually got seasick. With less than three hours of sleep, Klara and I started to help where we could – Sophia was in pain because of her foot and got seasick as well 🙁

Not only because of seasickness, but also because of the „Magen-Darm“ infection we have had on board since the end of the Expi days, many people were missing out.

Nevertheless, we had very delicious falafel wraps for lunch, which helped Klara and me survive the following four hours of watch again. This time it was only the two of us plus Harald, but he was occupied with packing the old Klüver into its sail bag.

It’s pretty cool to see that after three months of sailing practice, there is no problem navigating the ship on our own for a while. Klara and I had everything under control.

But let’s talk about the seasickness and the „Magen-Darm“ virus again: Does Tamo, our medic, has everything under control as well?

Tamo: Yes, I think the situation is completely under control. On a sailboat, you always have to deal with seasickness. Also, diseases tend to spread faster because of the close proximity we live in.

Which infectious diseases do we have to deal with at the moment?

Tamo: So, we have one case of Impetigo contagiosa, which is a bacterial disease of the skin. Also, some of the students have a „Magen-Darm“ infection, but that’s nothing to worry about – just normal ship business. Luckily, seasickness is not too bad at the moment and, of course, not contagious.

What measures do we take to prevent Impetigo contagiosa from spreading?

Tamo: First of all, we need to treat the skin lesions with antibiotic cream. Second of all, it’s important to take measures of personal and community hygiene, like disinfecting and washing hands as well as disinfecting contact surfaces on the ship.

Soon you’re going to leave us. How do you feel about that?

Tamo: There are many things I will miss. For example, giving interviews on the Achterdeck during sunset, the delicious food and sailing through the Caribbean. But most of all, I will miss all of you guys, the students as well as the teachers. I’m also excited because I still have two months left before university starts again, which I will use for backpacking through Latin America.

Greetings:

Ylva: Hallo ihr Lieben, ich hoffe, es geht euch allen gut! Bin richtig glücklich über mein bomben Immunsystem und ich freue mich auf Kuba :))

Charlotte: Hallo an alle, mir geht es super!! Keine Seekrankheit mehr 💪💪😂😘

Amalia: Aloha !! Also, seekrank bin ich auch nicht . Hab‘ euch lieb ❤️❤️❤️