Crossing the Atlantic: A Voyage of Adventure from Sailing Adhara
Jessie and Jan decided in late 2020 to start their dream live and travel the world on a sailboat .In summer 2020, in the middle of travel restrictions and the pandemic they have bought a boat and sailed it down to the Canary Islands. They sailed to Madeira in spring…. After sailing in the Balearic Islands, Sardinia and Sicily, afterwards Jessie and Jan sailed back down to the Canary Islands in late 2021 and started their ,,amazing lifetime experience,, - Crossing the Atlantic Ocean.
Jessie & Jan on their Sailing Boat ,,Adhara,,
I was very happy and curious about the interview with Jessie & Jan !! I was very excited & curious about their answers regarding to my questions…
Welcome aboard on Sailing Adhara, fellow adventurers of the high seas! In the realm where the sky kisses the ocean and the horizon stretches endlessly, —a call to embark on an extraordinary journey of wind, water, and wonder.
From their preparations to the tranquil moments under a star-studded sky, from the challenges of navigating the open ocean to the joy of spotting distant shores,Jessi and Jan`s journey promises telling pure Adventure.
Welcome to the adventure of a lifetime; welcome to their Transatlantic Sailboat Trip!
1.)How did you came up with the idea of crossing the Atlantic with your sailing boat?
Our plans were much bigger in the beginning. We wanted to sail all the way to Australia, so crossing the Atlantic would have been a small step towards that goal :)
2.)Was there any moment during the trip, where you felt afraid or where worried?
There are so many Ups and Downs we try really hard to focus on the Positive. Breaking my finger with the anchor chain wasn’t a fun experience. And finding with two refugees adrift in the water off the coast of Morocco in rough conditions was the scariest we’ve felt but we could save both their lives so at the same time it’s also the best moment.
3.)What have you learned about yourself during this trip?
To buy a boat wasn’t the first thing we did. Before that we decided we wanted to bring a change into our lives. To learn to live a different life. We wanted to leave the comfort of our old life, step out of the fast-paced city life that we were living and change being always busy and stressed from work. We started feeling less and less connected to city life and our work routine. On our travels we’ve always loved going to lesser-known or unknown to us destinations, to somewhere quiet and close to nature. We could have bought a van or moved to Australia. But I guess boatlife is the perfect combination traveling and being close to nature and again, it has always been Jan’s biggest dream to buy a boat and go sailing. But sailing is also a means of transport for us, to get to travel to some of the most beautiful places in the world. We wanted to need less and learn and experience something new.
A way that it changed us is that we are even less and less impressed by the fuzz and buzz about material things. We feel like the distance to the daily and constant bombardment of advertising made us look at it in a more sober way.
We also find it very overwhelming to be among big crowds of people. I think the pandemic created this feeling for a few other people as well. We’ve lived a pretty isolated life these past 2.5 years and things like airports have become a very uncomfortable experience.
4.)Which 5 things where the most important things you had brought on the boat ?
My camera gear is taking up too much space in the boat but I can’t go without it! We probably also have too much diving and snorkeling gear.
But I would also say Snacks and condiments. We’re both foodies and for Jan the boat always needs to have Salt Pretzels stocked and we also have a wide variety of Hot Sauces.
I’ve also really loved having our Nutribullet. Add frozen fruits and a little coconut milk and you’ll even get delicious ice cream or sorbet out of this lovely little thing! One thing that I think is specific to Germany might be sparkling water. We have a carbonator on the boat and it makes the water from our watermaker that is without minerals and completely flat in taste taste so much better – it’s especially nice to have refreshing cold sparkling drinks in the tropics! Oh yes, ice cubes – very important!
We’ve gotten slightly better but last season we found it very hard to accept the lack of good bread outside of Germany and Austria. Prior our Atlantic Crossing, Jessies mom brought over a whole bag full of Sourdough bread from Vienna that we cut and froze and lived off for months in the Caribbean We would also always stock up in the French Islands. I’m just not a fan of baking bread in our oven when it’s already blazing 36 C* degrees outside and also haven’t found an acceptable recipe so far!
5.) How did you felt about the fact that you couldn’t move or see land for a couple of days?
When you go a couple of miles by boat you pretty quickly loose sight of land and are surrounded by water. It’s not about not seeing land it’s about not seeing, hearing and smelling so much all the time. It’s incredibly cleansing, your senses are hightened - you become so much more sensitive to smells. Having no internet, no phone, no what’sapp, insta, tiktok youtube and all of that is amazing! It’s just impossible to re-create on land. I miss it. It’s the best thing about sailing if you ask me!
6.)Did you had any issues with the boat during that trip?
yes of course, there’s always something to fix on a boat! And that’s completely normal. See, most boats don’t get used much during the year, maybe 2-3 weeks max in summer and for the rest of the time they sit in a marina. We lived and used our boat full time for 2,5 years - completely normal wear and tear - although our Generator drove us nuts and looking back we should have gotten solar panels much earlier and just kicked the Genny off the boat… to make space for a dive compressor!
7.)Describe the trip in 5 key words
Biggest. adventure. of. our. lives…. yet!
What a sunset ! - Pure Magic
8.)What was your most special moment during this experience?
I remember our amazement when we first saw dolphins in bioluminescent waves at night. It was in December; we we’re sailing off the coast of Portugal on our passage from the UK to the Canary Islands. We couldn’t believe our eyes when we saw them zooming like torpedoes from left and right at our bow, leaving sparkling fairy dust trails in the water.
And we got engaged on our Atlantic Crossing, under a canopy of stars just before landfall in Martinique so there’s a really romantic magic moment for you.
9.) How did you prepped yourself in advanced?
We decided early that we wanted a third maybe fourth crew member on the boat for the Atlantic Crossing (crew not meaning professional crew but rather hands on deck). We had done a 7-day crossing in spring from Madeira to Formentera with two friends on board and it was a blast! Apart from just having a good time and sharing memories it also meant we could get more rest in between shifts. When we sail long passages together with just the two of us on board, Jan and I divide our shifts days and nights into 3-hour shifts. That means one of us is on watch for 3 hours while the other rests and then we switch. 3 hours on 3 hours off. Day and night. That can get really exhausting because sometimes the conditions make it hard to sleep and so you won’t get any sleep in those 3 hours that you should.
So, when you’re 4 crew it turns into 3 hours on 9 hours off, with 3 crew it drops down to 6 hours off. But that’s plenty of time to rest and get some sleep in between shifts and you don’t arrive completely knackered and also you have that valuable energy left in case something goes wrong.
We dislike marinas and boatyards to the extent that we decided to prep on-the-go. We spent September in Mallorca, getting our Solar Upgrade and some maintenance and repairs done. When we arrived in Lanzarote, we had the boat hauled out for new bottom paint and had our sails and rig checked. We started provisioning in Tenerife, but stocked up again in Cape Verde. We heard it was very hard nearly impossible to get provisions in Cape Verde but we were surprised to find huge markets with fresh produce and well stocked supermarkets. I stocked up for the crossing but also for the Caribbean, where supermarkets are very expensive. There was food squirreled away in every corner of the boat. We still have canned tomatoes, Quinoa, Rice and Cous Cous from Spain.
They have bought their boat in the UK
10.) What were your fears and thoughts before and during?
We sailed via Cape Verde covering 823nm in 5 days and 16 hours. It was one of our favorite sails to this day! It was just the two of us and we had perfect conditions and an incredible amount of wildlife. We had a huge pod of false killer whales follow us for a bit, we could hear their clicks and whistles from inside our boat. We set sail from Tenerife on the 11th of December and got right in the middle of the Geminids Meteor Shower and it was just incredible at night! I never thought it would be possible to see so many shooting stars – they were falling seconds apart, there were two, three at the same time. I only found out later …but in the moment, I didn’t know what was going on! (The Geminids occur every year from about December 4 to 16, peaking the night of December 13 into the morning of December 14. This is the shower's “maximum”—the time when the most meteors fall per hour.)
The Atlantic Crossing
Due to an injury and time conflicting schedules with our crew we spent a little longer in Cape Verde than most sailors. We had my mother come over for Christmas and explored Sao Nicolao, Sao Vicente and took a daytrip to Santo Antao which was absolutely stunning. We are very glad we got to spend time in these islands, I don’t think I would have travelled here otherwise and it’s been a beautiful experience and we found out that we had been listening to music from famous local musicians for years, like Cesaria Evora.
From Mindelo we crossed the Atlantic Ocean to Martinique. Our crew was Guillaume who we met on Instagram when we started to look for crew to join us on the crossing. So, it was us three on the boat. Guillaume didn’t have more sailing experience than us, but it helped with shifts. He was good company and made the best crepes we’ve ever tasted in our lives!
We left on the 13th of January with very little wind (missed our weather window because of Covid). We flew the Spinnaker Day and Night for the first part of the crossing, and fell in love with the beautiful colors of that sail! We had never used it before and I remember we even wanted to sell it to make space in our lockers but we’re glad we didn’t in the end because it saved us in those very light wind days.
Light wind means you’re not getting anywhere really soon, so it was a little challenging for us to have made so little progress in the first days. We try and work on our patience but it’s also that you don’t want to run the engine in order to save fuel for “what else may come”. One night when I was on watch we just bobbed around, making no progress at all, Jan jokes and says I let us sail backwards. I wrote down “3 miles in 3 hours” in our logbook and yes that’s just as good as going backwards. But it was beautiful, the boat was so still, there were no waves and no sounds, the water was like glass and then suddenly dolphins came up to our boat and all I could hear was their breaths around us.
Half Way across the Atlantic we came across some very dark menacing looking clouds. We tried to avoid them as much as we could but then had nowhere to escape to so went straight into a very dark looking front. We then heard thunder and saw lightning around us …….
For more insights, pictures & videos from their lifetime experience, I can highly recommend to follow them on Instagram and Youtube.Jessie &Jane have also their own Blog where they write beautiful and adrenalin thrilling articles about their adventure… In addition to that, they also share amazing Guides from the places they are visiting with their Sailing boat ,,Adhara,,
