The earth has everything to offer and so much more, yet we think about migrating to the cosmos. Similarly the mainland has plenty to offer, yet we pull to the seas. 

I was born with sailors’ blood in a sailors family. From before I can even remember I’ve been taken along on boats and surfboards. Till this day I still find myself living the sailors’ life. I joined a sailing school when I was 7 or 8 and started taking my first sailing lessons, what followed was my semi-professional sailing career. This career carried on until I was almost 11 years old. After a few years sailing on and off with my dad on bigger boats, I came back to my childhood sailing school and became an instructor. I’m now 18 and have experience sailing on boats of all shapes and sizes. I’d like to share the highlights of these experiences.

As a kid, before I knew how to sail I remember finding the high speeds or deep dark blue waters scary. With time my fear faded, eventhough to this day I still sometimes find it a little freaky. Personally I find going at high speeds on ships more intense than in cars. This is derived from being completely governed by nature when sailing, you’re subject to waves, wind and currents, ‘powered by nature’ as quoted from the SailGP motto. SailGP can be seen as the formula one of boats. My fear of not being in control or the deep blue never scared me away nor did it stop me from enjoying it.

Among the family we share countless memorable events. From my sister being convinced she’s got the best dolphins call/impersonation, dating back to once when she’d been windsurfing on the IQFoil and happened to see dolphins, then proceeding to voice her dolphins call, with success the dolphins came and swam alongside her. My brother on the other hand might have sailed one of the toughest sailing courses in the world, sailing from Brazil to South Africa and then shortly after following it up by sailing from South Africa to Australia. These were weeks of unimaginable huge waves, cold weather and strong winds. These dangers weren’t harmless as 2 participants of the same race that year, would come to lose their lives to these brutal ocean conditions. It doesn’t end there as my sister regularly sails amongst the best sailors of the world, on big boats that achieve incredible speeds, racing in places ranging from Dubai to Spain to even New Zealand; the SailGP. 

As for me, thanks to my dad, I’ve had the opportunity to enjoy the most incredible vacations out at sea. Not on a cruise, no, on ships housing all the amenities needed to live and so much more. Sailing among the British Virgin Islands or even in Danish waters. Here are the clearest memories I have from those times. Swimming along our ship in the British Virgin Islands and my brother telling me not to freak out because there was a shark swimming below us. Not scared, instead excited I looked down and saw an adorable nurse shark. Across the globe in Denmark I remember leaving the harbor to go to our starting spot where we’d have to return the ship. Soon after leaving we noticed the weather was too stormy, turning back my brother would get hit by the boom and my dad would struggle on the front of the ship, risking himself falling off the ship and losing his life. Closer to home, I’ll never forget sailing home from one of our neighboring islands at night and looking up at what seemed to be the milky way straight from the movies, it was nothing short of enchanting.

Alexander van der Velden