22 April 2022, in the middle of the Pacific. In 17 knots of wind, main, cutter jib and yankee reefed, a loud bang shakes the boat at six in the morning. Circumnavigators Yvette and Sander Droog jump on deck: the mast has broken! The mast of their Koopmans 44 is hanging half overboard, the boom is pointing into the depths and the mainsail is drifting in the rolling sea. In the two-and-a-half metre high waves, the two of them are unable to heave the mast back on deck despite their best efforts. They have to cut the shrouds and watch it sink.
Almost 1,700 miles lie ahead of them to the Marquesas. Sailing the shorter route back to Galapagaos against the wind is not an option. They build an emergency rig for their "Blue Beryl" from a spinak boom and storm jib. Three or four knots of speed is all they can manage with the sparse canvas in the choppy Pacific. 24 days of uncomfortable progress lie ahead of them. "The sea is brutal, we roll from left to right. Life on board is extremely uncomfortable, but we're coping," writes Sander in her blog on Facebook. The emergency mast is doing an excellent job, but the constant rolling of the sea is straining muscles and nerves. Yvette is anxious and hardly gets any sleep at first.
But even in the seemingly endless expanse of the great ocean, they are not alone. They are in contact with Sander's father Rob Droog via satellite and with other sailors via radio. Several boats come by and bring them diesel, sleeping pills, fresh bread and brownies. The Canadian sailing yacht "Afrikii" is one of them. Her crew members are filming the meeting at sea - in this video from minute 12. "We thought about taking Yvette on board with us. But that was too dangerous in the swell," they say in the video. They can't even get close to the "Blue Beryl".
Over time, an on-board rhythm sets in, but the wind and sea give no rest. Everything costs an awful lot of energy, "but we are still able to cook and live. If you can call it that. It's more like surviving." Towards the end of the journey, the sea once again becomes a rollercoaster. Sander describes in a blog: "Terrible! The waves crashing over the deck. What is normally a reasonably intense day of sailing now becomes a struggle. It feels like sailing on the North Sea in force eight winds. The waves seem to be getting angrier and angrier at us because they can't get us down." It is only on the last day, when you can almost smell the land, that the wind dies down. They reach the small island of Hiva Oa under engine power. Their conclusion after what was probably the greatest adventure of their lives: "It wasn't all drama. But beautiful is different!"
This is not the first time the two have had bad luck: in 2017, their "Blue Beryl" sank in the harbour of Amsterdam. Back then, a crowdfunding campaign helped them to restore the boat. It is not yet clear what will happen to the boat and the two of them. Sander's father Rob says in an interview in the Dutch sailing magazine "Zeilen": "Sander is already looking for solutions to transport a new mast to French Polynesia. The boat is her entire property." They are in talks with the insurance company. For the time being, however, they both want nothing more than to sleep in a house with four walls on solid ground - "after 30 days in a room that is less a luxury boat than a survival bunker".
