Astrid: Hitchhiking by boat across the Atlantic

“Three months to find a boat and finally know the departure date for my voyage. Crew wanted/available web sites, numerous e-mails amongst my circle of friends, to give me the best possible chance. The wait was long, but I continued to believe in it, until the day Marc contacted me: there was a place for me! He was leaving to deliver a Lagoon 450 to the British Virgin Islands. Mid-January, three of us embarked in Les Sables d’Olonne. I hardly had time to realize what was happening, before I was at sea. Incredible, surreal. And the coasts faded into the distance... First meal, first watch, and my first siesta...which would last three days: seasickness got the better of me. I just felt the effects of the storm we encountered in the Bay of Biscay in my sleep. Six-meter waves, 56 knots of wind, a surf at 19 knots...and finally a stopover in Spain to wait for it to pass. After having filled up with advice and medication, I set off again, determined, for the Canaries – and it worked! I finally started to enjoy life aboard. Active by nature, I first learned to settle down. I got a taste for it, and finished up by falling in love with this different space-time that is cruising, to the rhythm of the moon and the sun, the sky and the sea, the wind and the underwater universe. To such a point that I was a bit worried about returning ashore! A summary of a few of the intense moments: swimming in the middle of the ocean, with 4000 meters of water below my feet; the end of one of my watches at sunrise, accompanied by around thirty dolphins which were pirouetting between the catamaran’s hulls – magic! Sunrises and sunsets which were each more beautiful than the last; the infinite variations in blue the ocean provides for us to discover; and a rich human experience: it wasn’t easy to leave my fellow crew members when we arrived!”

Astrid around the world
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