Long time no talk

It has been a very long that you have not heard anything from me, not anything about sailing, the adventure of Clipper or the future ambitions. Everything was covered by this big burden of Corona and also by the fact to come back into business. It is an effort to restart when you did not plan to do so. And obviously it was a restart without the ability to move around or meet with people. Isolation, DIY markets, power gardening, phone conferences and WeChat were driving life. And everything was overlayed by this constant noise about Corona. Nothing else existed. All news, newspapers, commentary, radio programs, Corona, Corona, Corona. On top we had the beauty to see how the wise, mighty and powerful dealt with this crises and took control of our lives. The Trumps, Erdogans, Altemeirer and Merkels. Anyway no complaint. It is not over. And I am too much of a German not to follow the rules and regulations although at times I am not in agreement with what was decided. It does not matter though.

On the adventure side there is still Clipper. Currently it is just a memory about great training, awesome mates, smart skippers, agile AQPs and for me a little bit of racing in the South China sea. There is the outlook for the restart being scheduled for February. Leg 6 will be even longer now. Subic Bay, Sanya, Zhuhai, Qingdao, Seattle. And the trip across will be a bit earlier. The North Pacific most likely will be wilder although lets see how it will turn out with the climate change. This spring I monitored the weather and it was reasonably well. No sunshine, cold, but not so many storms and no cyclone. We will see how it will turn out.

Obviously I am thinking a lot about the come back and the complications. Which skippers will show up? Ours from WTC will not be available. Which round the worlders will be able to step back in? Who will be there from the previous team? All questions to come. And there wil be decision making time in around end of the year whether to restart or not, whether to postpone or not or even take a more dramatic decision. But the experience is still overwhelming and too good to miss on it. I try to phase out the blunt memories of the 8-9 days and stay motivated. I need to stay fit too which in my age is the harder part. On the sailing side I am sure I will stay current because I go sailing!

I am out there after contact rules in Germany have been lifted and my good friend Adreas offered to go sailing for this week. He owns a X-332, a racing cruiser. Compared to a Clipper 70 it is more a Dinghy. But it offers fast sailing and a tremendous amount of fun. I hopped on the boat in Cuxhafen which is the fisher town where the Elbe river flows into the North Sea. From there you can sail, weather permitting to the North Frisian island or the West Frisian Islands, piles of sand in the tidal waters west of Northern Germany. Obviously all timings and legs are being dictated by the tide and the weather. It requires cautious seamanship and sound decision making especially when the weather turns bad. Currently it is awesome, hot, sunny and a with a nice Easterly breeze. But our challenge is coming and will, catch us on Thursday afternoon. We are supposed to get overrun by an occlusion with rain and an increase of wind. There will be the delight of embedded thunderstorms. But I am ready. I do have my foulies from Clipper with me and my Musto boots. No matter what weather, we will deal with it. At this moment in time we still enjoy the peace here on Amrum. We sailed 50 NM yesterday.

I have to say that I enjoyed every second yesterday. the air was clean and crisp. It seems obvious that nature feels much better without the destructive pollution of dense air traffic and massive container traffic. I do believe I have never seen the Elbe river without the sulfur dust in the last 15 years. Yesterday no sign of it. There was no high flurry clouds by the condensation stripes of airplanes. We saw one plane in the 6 hours.

And the real piece of mind was the noise of the wind in the rigg, the zirring sound of the tensioned up backstay. How much have I missed the noise of burbling water flashing backward from the stern. How at home did I feel with the bashing sound of the bow cutting apart the waves in front of us. And minute by minute, hour by hour we moved North just by wind forces. I am loving it. Everything is framed by the execution of good seamanship. Hourly log book records. Hourly weather checks. Trimming the boat. Steering it fast and effective. And after hours when our destination approached from the horizon I felt a deep satisfaction of being out here, distant from the daily terror of modern society, instant messaging, enormous pressure of daily life and business. The ear listens to the noise of water, the eyes skim the horizon finding new objects and the brain is working just on one goal, sailing safe and fast.

Today we will hop from Amrum to Sylt, which is the largest German island and the most exclusive. It is for the rich and the beautiful. Normally nothing for me. But a walk around Hörnumer Odde is too nice to miss on it. And we will find a shed feeding us with fresh fish. I will report. You all stay safe and sound and enjoy life. Sailing is a vital part for mine.