Dear Readers,
das Jahr geht zu Ende und wieder einmal steht Weihnachten vor der Tür. Für uns ist es das erste Weihnachten seit 2014, das wir außerhalb der Tropen verbringen. Außerdem: The first Christmas for three.
A long one, An eventful year is behind us and good 10.000 Seemeilen im Kielwasser. Of that 5.400 Nautical miles from Nassau in the Bahamas via Bermuda, Azores and Scotland to Hamburg. Even 2.200 very exciting nautical miles single-handed, with a ship that is actually not suitable for this purpose. Shortly after I arrived in Germany, our son Theo was born, who brings us great joy every day. Perfect timing. And in general: A good one, adventurous and all around wonderful year.
Return journey across the North Atlantic.
Meanwhile lies “Maverick XL” for three months in the Hamburg city sports harbor, has two 4-Kw-Eberspächer heaters got and changed from a charter boat to a houseboat. We no longer have guests on board, but still the boat is always packed. With baby things!
It's madness, what a space a baby like that takes up. I actually mean on board – but also in our lives and in our hearts. Big sailing plans have become a long way off. There is nothing better for me at the moment, than coming home from work and talking to Theo. “Trickery hour” Our time is called evening. He is happy every time, chuckles and shouts with joy, when I push open the sliding door. Then he lies on my legs and tells me, how his day was. In baby talk, of course. But I pretend, as if I understood him, ask questions, laugh at his jokes. Real quality time. Wonderful. And irreplaceable. When Theo is in a bad mood, because he is growing, then it calms him down immensely, when I stand with him at the sliding door and show him the Elbphilharmonie, which is brightly lit directly behind us. His radiant, curious eyes can already give us an idea, that Theo is just as excited, to explore the world, like I was back then. An adventurer. Through and through.
“Trickery hour” with a happy Theo.
I've been an office worker again since the first of October. I know my place of work well: For many years I have been a YACHT editor from my old apartment in Oberndorf an der Oste every morning 1,5 to 2 Commuted hours to ABC Street in Hamburg. Now my walking distance is only about 12 Minutes. From the harbor past the Michel, via Großneumarkt to Springer-Platz. Our editorial office is right next to it. The new job as editor for BOOTE is really great. “Isn't it strange to write about motorboats after so many trips under sail?”, My old colleagues from YACHT all asked me one after the other in the first week, to which I always replied: “Oh what. We're motoring most of the time anyway.” 🙂 Of course not true. But what is true?: No, it's not strange at all. Im Gegenteil. I'm glad, to do something different, but still remain related to the topic.
After all these years in the Panorama Resort (People and territories) I am now being tested at BOOTE&Technology department, So write about technical topics and test equipment and boats. This is often my job here, complicated connections (first to understand yourself and then) to explain like that, that every reader understands them easily and with one “Now I've finally got it feeling” to close the magazine. For example, in the last few issues I have written about antifreeze, Dehumidifiers and automatic docking systems written. In Heft 2/20 I explain the history of foiling motorboats. An exciting job. And it's really great, to work creatively again and to develop further as a journalist.
Theo visits his dad in the editorial office.
Whether it's funny, to now be firmly back in Germany, I've been asked a lot in the last few months. That klar, a little bit. In recent years we have been to Germany several times during the hurricane season, have 2018 Even had both temporary jobs in the YACHT editorial team … But we still felt “unterwegs”, had a ship, which we wanted to return to in the foreseeable future. And now the ship is here, in Hamburg. Our power cable is even connected to the box. We can't leave anymore.
And looking back, we're really happy, to look into our wake: Five years. A good time. In terms of content as well as the time period. Five years. Not too short, not too long. And good 35.000 nautical miles sailed with two boats. Three Atlantic crossings. 19 Gulf Stream crossings. Six times almost the entire US East Coast up to the Chesapeake Bay. No accidents. No major damage (except for running aground on an unmapped rock...). Lots of guests, who came on board as strangers and left as friends. We are still in contact with many of them today. And a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful return trip via Scotland. Finally sailing on Loch Ness. One less item on my bucket list.
“Maverick XL” on Loch Oich...
... and Loch Ness in Scotland.
We received a friendly welcome everywhere in Hamburg. Sometimes I even got scared, when someone approached me from the side on the way to work in the morning: “Hey, you are John. I have been following your blog. Nice, that you are here again.”
We really enjoyed life on the road. Had little longing for home. But occasionally after friends and family. Vor allem Cati. And again and again, especially in the run-up to Christmas: The longing for seasons and Christmas markets. Although we now, after three months in Hamburg, have to realize: The idea of the pre-Christmas season looked a little more romantic in our heads in the Bahamas, than reality. It's good to have sensible oilskins in Hamburg in winter 😉
Yet: We are happy to be here and to be able to show Theo a little of our homeland. We have planned a few smaller trips through Germany in the spring, because we were invited by some sailing clubs and event venues, to tell our story. Keine Post verpassen Lectures 2020 I have added some current data. But feel free to get in touch, if you want to invite us too. Would be nice, if (especially longer trips to the south) with two or three lectures in a row. By the way, a new book is also in the works!
In terms of sailing, a trailer boat trip in Germany is planned for next summer. Because we love contrasts. I think Wilfried Erdmann can understand this best, the one after 343 days non-stop at sea the following summer Dinghy trip through Mecklenburg has made. The idea of fresh water also appeals to us, sheltered anchorages in the reeds and the “Wasserwandern”. But only for one summer. Then we will definitely feel like drinking salt water again. Although we actually know a lot of places around the North Atlantic, we realized, that the Baltic Sea is still completely unknown to us. And the Baltic Sea is such a great area. Not just for the beginner, but also for the returnee. I'm just realizing that now. Sometimes I have that feeling, that some people (like me) must have been a long way away, to understand something like that. A Bengali poet once wrote:
Over many years
and at great expense
I traveled through numerous countries,
saw the high mountains,
the oceans.
Just what I didn't see,
was the sparkling dewdrop
in the grass just outside my door.
And I find, he's right. 2020 will therefore be one for us “year of home”.
Wir freuen uns, if you continue to visit this website from time to time, because we still have a few ideas and will continue to report. Coming soon too, what it's like to live with a baby on a boat in the port of Hamburg.
Unfortunately, someone had already reserved the domain zu-dritt-auf-see.de and we thought about it for a long time, what we call the site, now that we are more than two people. That's when we came up with it, that crews are often named after their boat name, for example that “homecoming”, the “In the house”, … We were always the ones “Mavericks”. That's why we have now renamed the website to www.the-mavericks.de, because the name is of course retained on later boats.
Then all that’s left for us to do is wish you a Merry Christmas, a few nice and contemplative holidays afterwards and of course a happy new year 2020! A year, I think that will be pretty exciting. We don't know at all yet, what will happen. We're spending the New Year on the boat at the jetties and have already got a few Mickey Mouse ears ready for Theo … 😉
Merry Christmas and see you soon!
John, Cati and Theo
The great pictures of us on board come from the fantasticDenise Jambor Photography.