COMMENT
PRE-DEPARTURE NERVES ARE REAL BEFORE AN OCEAN CROSSING, BUT HOW DO YOU STOP THEM BECOMING OVERWHELMING?
November marks the start of the east to west tradewind transatlantic season. Some of you reading this may even be about to head out to sea. If you are, then you’ll be in good company: the Clipper Race fleet is also due to set off from Cape Town on their Southern Ocean leg bound for Western Australia.
If I’m being honest, I always feel nervous before setting sail offshore. When I’m the skipper, this is especially intense. Pre-departure anxiety is something that affects almost all of us and isn’t talked about enough. We need to accept that – come to expect it – but also figure out how to cope with it: how do we turn trepidation into a positive?
I vividly remember sitting on the bow of a Beneteau First 40.7 on 21 November 2013, the morning of the start of the first transatlantic crossing that I skippered. I was on the phone to my mum, telling her how scared I was while desperately trying not to cry.
The week had been manic, as pre-departure week always is. The endless jobs list of safety briefings, victualling, stocking spares, testing safety equipment, and making emergency scenario plans had taken over. We’d urgently had to fly a rigger out to patch up a crack on the mast and replace a damaged spreader fitting that we’d discovered a week earlier on arrival in Gran Canaria. Suddenly, a couple of hours before we had to slip lines, I was overcome by the enormity of the challenge that lay ahead of me. And I didn’t know what to do with that fear. I recall thinking that skippers don’t feel afraid – so maybe I was just not cut out for the job.
It’s not uncommon to be caught unawares by anxiety before an ocean passage, particularly if it’s your first time. We put so much weight on the importance of the practical side of preparations that the emotional preparation falls by the wayside. But a level of fear is normal. In fact, feeling anxious before a passage should be expected. It’s impossible to mitigate all risks, as an ocean passage is inherently dangerous. Watch systems, the rule of Mother Nature, and life in a confined space on a moving platform guarantee the trip will be not only risky, but also uncomfortable and unpredictable. So really you should be nervous. I’d argue that the day you don’t feel trepidation before you set sail hundreds of miles from land is when you really should be concerned.
So, how do you cope with the fear? One thing I’ve learned to do, is to take the time during the run up to a passage to acknowledge whatever emotions I have about the trip and allow them to move throug
