A dream of a lifetime

Oldendorff Carriers is kindly letting me join one of their bulk carriers for six weeks. This is a dream I had carried for decades. Since my twenties, when I used to sail long-distance with my father.

Whenever we were in larger harbours, or even out on the ocean, we would see large vessels passing by. I always wondered what it would be like to work on one. To be surrounded by water for weeks at a time, visiting unfamiliar places, becoming a part of the crew, who all come from different parts of the world. And now, somehow, that wondering is becoming real.

The officers and crew should be somewhere around 20-25 persons. Some will be new cadets, others old salty buggers, as I’ve been told. This will be my new family for the length of the voyage. People I am both eager and nervous to meet. I look forward to living alongside them.

When people ask what I’ll be doing on board, the answer is simple. I’ll be living each day and each moment as fully as I can.

I spent much of my childhood and teenage years sailing. Back then, it didn’t feel particularly special. It was just what we did as a family. Later came longer journeys, in my late teens and twenties. Those were more meaningful, but they happened at a time when I didn’t yet know who I was or what I wanted to do. Was I going to keep working as an engineer, or did I want to hire out as a crew?

In hindsight, many of those trips were more about running away from the everyday than moving toward something meaningful. I even took a year off once to sail in stages from Scotland to Grenada. That was a beautiful experience, but I was still drifting.

This time is different.

More than thirty-five years later, I am stepping into this journey with intention and deep gratitude. I am not running. I am arriving.