Hatha Maris - Hatha Maris day 14 8/12/2019

Hatha Maris day 14 8/12/2019

The kids of Hatha Maris

When we (Ebba & Sophia) told our friends and family about our crossing we were asked questions like “are you prepared for a trans Atlantic sailing?”, “What do your parents think about it?”, and “Have you ever done something similar before?”. To be honest we both thought we were pretty good sailors, since it is what we have been doing during our childhood summers. After the first night, our thoughts about ourselves were not as high... ;) We both got quite seasick and our helming was a disaster. We both jibed by accident several times, thinking “why are we even doing this?”. After a while we were put to bed and slept through out first watches. In the morning, we felt better and it was time for “sailing school” as our awesome coach Corinne called it. We were both nervous, we did not want to be the kids who would just sit around during the crossing. We joined the crew because we wanted to sail across the Atlantic ocean. Within 30 minutes of helming each, we had it figured out. There were no more accidental jibes and we could hold a course within “only” a 20’ interval. Corinne kept coaching us and always challenge us. We did our first night watches, thinking it was one of the most difficult tasks. Sailing through the waves without seeing them and not being able to see the sails, just trust your ~feeling~ is not easy. When we doubted ourselves Corinne gave us a motivational speech and cheered us on while helming. After some days we became the kids of the boat. Corinne (or mamma Corinne as we call her) makes us breakfast in the mornings and Tara has a room-service business. Here we are 14 days later. We are squalified, stormiefied, and speedified meaning we can handle squals, storms and can sail in the right direction with a nice speed. Nowadays we happily do our night watches and are enjoying 34 kns of wind as well as the big waves that squalls bring with them. Out learning curve has been steeper than a skiing slope, much thanks to Corinne who is a patient, motivating and pushy coach. Most importantly she is making it fun to push our limits and grow as sailors. We have learned lots of, not only sailing related, things from her. One being that most things can be solved with Jesus tape or WD40. Slowly, but steady, we are starting to grow into our lifejackets and becoming ocean sailors. We can not wait to see what more we can learn within the remaining time on board Hatha Maris!

The Sweeds
Ebba & Sophia