Jan Hamester: "I cried like a castle dog"

Hamburg native Jan Hamester's round-the-world voyage has finally come to an end. By calling at a harbour on the Brazilian coast, it was no longer a non-stop attempt. But it is no longer possible to continue sailing without this distinction.

"I won't be leaving here until the end of February, beginning of March at the earliest," Hamester told YACHT online today. "Then I would get caught up in the hurricane season on the way back and would be too late anyway. Because the season on the Elbe starts again on 1 May, and with it the work."

Due to an inflammation in his leg, he had spent more than two weeks off the Fernando de Noronha archipelago before setting off again on 5 January, heading directly for the Brazilian port of João Pessoa. Hamester had initially reported that he would continue his circumnavigation, but two days later he changed his plans. A loosened intermediate shroud had forced him to give up.

The moment of decision was tough: "I kept emailing my girlfriend Mirjam that it would be a loss of face if I gave up, that I wouldn't be able to go back to Germany." In the end, however, the interlude left him no choice. "The mast was already dangerously bent."
Apparently Hamester was even lucky. "The antibiotics and ibuprofen that I had been taking the whole time before Fernando de Noronha had caused the swelling to go down and scabs to form over the wound. Underneath, however, the inflammation ate through to the bone."

He hadn't even realised how bad his health was. "It was only when I realised that I couldn't get into the mast to repair the intermediate shroud and that I had no choice but to sail to Brazil to repair it that the pain came through. Otherwise I would have sailed on and probably lost my leg."

Hamester underwent surgery on his inflamed leg two days ago. "The doctor told me afterwards that he wasn't sure beforehand whether the leg could be saved." Whether caused by the medication administered during the operation or because he only realised the whole situation now, he suffered a breakdown. "I cried like a castle dog. Everything, from the hectic start to the end, came flooding back." Ultimately, however, the task was a relief. "It was just a fight against the pain."

Hamester does not want to accept the accusation that the lack of antibiotics on board made the inflammation possible in the first place and therefore caused the abandonment. "According to the packing list, the broad-spectrum antibiotic amoxicillin should be in the medical kit, but I didn't find it until the end." Shortly before Fernando de Noronha, he had taken this antibiotic from a Turkish freighter. "As it turned out, it didn't really work against this aggressive germ, so I'm now being treated with a special antibiotic. So if I had found it on board and taken it straight away, it probably wouldn't have done any good."

His primary goal now is to recover. He then wants to return the boat to the Elbe, but the exact route has not yet been decided and will depend on the weather.

But after the low blow, Hamester is already looking ahead again. He can definitely imagine another record attempt. "But I would never sail again without a sponsor, it was all too tight financially." He still considers his Class 40 to be a suitable boat, but would make changes. "Never again without a watermaker, it was extremely annoying having to ration the water despite the heat. I would also extend the cabin roof aft to provide more protection from water and the sun."

Hamester's respect for the endeavour of sailing around the world has clearly grown after this attempt. "The world is too big, the time too long. And sailing single-handed is much more strenuous than I thought. It's unbelievable that Erdmann was able to endure it for over 300 days." He would therefore like a faster boat, an Open 60, catamaran or tri, so that he could sail around the world at speeds "like Cammas or 'Idec'". But his Class 40 would also work - a contradiction, as is so often the case with Jan Hamester.

Reading tip: Journalist and sailor Nicole Buchmann, featured in YACHT 14/2015, reports in her blog from a meeting with Jan Hamester in Brazil.