Blue water: Setting off to sail around the world - young crews on a great voyage

Long-distance sailing is in vogue, even among young cruising sailors. A German has just cast off for a big trip in Holland, while a German sailor is waiting in the wings on the Baltic Sea and plans to set off in a few weeks' time.

We are talking about Johannes Li and Ronja Dörnfeld. Both have big plans that they have been working towards for a long time. Both want to go it alone. The 25-year-old from Berlin, however, only in parts. Although she is basically planning a single-handed circumnavigation, she wants to take friends or her boyfriend on board with her on various sections. She will be the sole skipper, says Dörnfeld in an interview with YACHT.

She was inspired by a much younger single-handed sailor: Jessica Watson from Australia sailed non-stop around the world as a 16-year-old and wrote the book "Solo with Pink Lady" about it. Ronja Dörnfeld devoured it.

The geology student was born into the world of sailing anyway. She has been sailing since she was a child, but has hardly any single-handed experience, not even on her boat, which she took over from her father's charter company. "I did a lot of boat work in the winter and worked in the company," says the young woman about her great luck in finding a suitable boat for her dream so quickly. She has been working and saving for the travel fund for years and now hopes to get by on a tight budget. Otherwise, she wants to work while travelling.

Over the past year, she has meticulously prepared her aged Moody 41 for the planned circumnavigation - and is still involved even shortly before departure. Time is also running out before the planned start date at the beginning of July.

"I actually want to finish my bachelor's thesis before then," she says, adding with a laugh: "The timing could be better." Firstly, she wants to transfer the boat from its current location on the Baltic Sea through the Kiel Canal to Cuxhaven for a stopover at the Trans-Ocean base. The actual voyage should then begin there this summer.

18-year-old Johannes Li already has the North Sea astern. The passionate sailor from near Aschaffenburg untied the lines in Holland at the beginning of June. Li will be 20 years old next year and has attracted a lot of attention on Facebook with his announcement that he wants to become the youngest German single-handed circumnavigator and has actively campaigned for support for his journey.

He is currently moored in Harlingen with his "Parva Navis". The nine-and-a-half metre long yawl was built in Great Britain in the 1970s as a solid long keeler.

With their sailing plans, Ronja Dörnfeld and Johannes Li are following in the footsteps of many other young long-distance sailors who have just finished school, training or university and about whom YACHT has repeatedly reported in recent years. The big difference, however, is that Dörnfeld and Li want to go on their sailing adventure largely alone.