From Gibraltar to New Zealand
On the 21st of August 2010 I set sail from Gibraltar, my destination: going around the world, singlehandedly.On the 21st of January 2012 I arrived back in St.maarten after 366 days of beautiful, crazy and amazing adventures. I arrived at 16years of age making me the youngest person to ever successfully complete such a journey. After arriving in St.Maarten I decided one time around wasn’t quiet enough, so I continued to sail another half time around the world to New Zealand which is where I stayed and made my home.
The route
I Followed the trade winds on most of my route. Starting of in Holland I sailed with my dad to Gibraltar for the start of my solo trip. From there I stopped in the Canary Islands and the Cape verde. My route led across the North Atlantic, Panama Canal, Pacific Ocean, trough the Torres strait, across the Indian ocean - around the Cape of Good Hope and Back to St.Maarten via the South Atlantic. After my finish in St.maarten I continued sailing another halfway around the world towards New Zealand. Again going trough the Panama Canal and across the Pacific Ocean to get there.About Guppy
Guppy is an extended Jeanneau Gin Fizz ketch. Because of this extension there is more room for the solar panels and water releases more easily making her faster then the standard Gin Fizz. Of course the higher and heavier rigging also help towards better speeds. She sails very smoothly and balanced under all conditions. Guppy underwent many changes for the voyage, like the heavier new rigging, a deeper, bigger and much stronger balance rudder which makes her sailing ability's in heavier seas even better. It also takes away some fear of losing the rudder when hitting something. We also put in more tanks, heavier sails and spare sails, a new Bimini, a second engine with it’s own shaft and many more little changes that are too many to all mention. I loved the fact that she was ketch, making the sails smaller (easier to handle) in comparison to other similar sized boats, it’s also much easier to balance a ketch on long voyages, and fun to try all sorts of different sail configurations ;)
Technical Details of Guppy:
Length: 12.30 m (original 11.40 m)
Beam : 3.76 m
draft : 1.90 m
weight : 11 ton
Build in: 1978
Click here for more details about Guppy.
and
Click here for some more information on the Jeanneau Ginn Fizz, with Guppy and me also mentioned in the article.
Sadly Guppy was stranded on a reef August 2018 by a non - profit organisation called LifeSail. I had lended Guppy to them for the purpose of taking young underprivileged kids out on the water to experience the beauty of sailing and the many things we can learn from it. Sadly they put a very unexperienced skipper on the boat who stranded Guppy on a reef in Manihiki Island. She bounced on the reef for 2 months before being considered a total loss. To read more about this huge tragedy and loss you can go to my Logbook