Just over a year ago, four friends from Bavaria, Tim, Tom, Vincent and Michael, began their plans to sail around the world. Since then, their plan for a big trip together has taken many twists and turns. The most recent and biggest surprise of the trip so far began a few months ago with a brief email and took the friends from the Caribbean - where they had long since arrived - back to Europe, on board a respectable aluminium yacht.
But first things first: Tim, Tom, Vincent and Michael, all aged between 19 and 21, had only just passed their A-levels a few months earlier when they cast off on Fehmarn in September 2018. None of them really know what they want to do with their lives after leaving school. But they do know that they will probably be scattered in all directions - at least for a while. Their previous travels and adventures together are in danger of coming to an abrupt end.
"Before that happens, we really wanted to experience something really big together," says Vincent Goymann, the youngest of the four, in an interview with YACHT. They already share the dream of travelling the world.
"We wanted to make the most of the mega-freedom after leaving school," says Vincent. "No obligations, no flat, no car. We didn't have to clarify much to get out. We wanted to see a lot and take our time."
They discard the idea of travelling around the world by bike. Tim, who was the only one who had already sailed on yachts, told them about anchorages, sunsets and cool places by the sea. The "really big one" should therefore be nothing less than a circumnavigation.
In the new YACHT 23/2019, you can read how they have realised this dream without a lot of money and sailing skills, but with friendship and perseverance, and why they replaced their old steel ship with a veritable aluminium yacht after a year of travelling. It is available in stores from today, as well as online in the webshop and here as a digital download.
