Offshore sailing isn’t just a test of seamanship, it’s a lesson in resilience, planning, and trust. Trust in your crew, in your preparation, and in your gear.
In this roundtable-style feature, we speak to four crews who’ve taken on major offshore passages, including three competitors from this year’s Osaka Cup, a grueling 5,500 nautical mile doublehanded race from Melbourne, Australia to Osaka, Japan:
• Peter Dowdney — sailing the J/133 Joker x2 in the Osaka Cup alongside co-skipper Grant Chipperfield, Peter is Ronstan’s Australasian Sales Manager and a veteran of 17 Sydney-Hobart races. Peter brings extensive experience and technical expertise from both the professional sailing circuit and the marine industry.
Peter Dowdney onboard JokerX2
• Annette Hesselmans and Sophie Snijder — a mother-daughter team sailing their Najad 490 Fika in the Melbourne to Osaka Race. A Royal Yachting Association offshore yachtmaster and yachtmaster instructor, Annette was competing for the second time in the Osaka Cup, but for the first time with her daughter Sophie as her co-skipper! Sophie may have been the youngest competitor in this year’s race, but she has logged a few miles of her own, having circumnavigated Australia with her partner Slim on their Duncanson 34 Nakama.
Team Fika during M2O Race ©Sailingnakama
• Lillian Stewart and Cyrus Allen — also competing in the Osaka Cup, onboard their Beneteau First 50 White Spirit. Cyrus and Lillian each brought a unique connection to the race. In addition to their mutual association with the Ocean Racing Club of Victoria (ORCV), for which Cyrus serves as commodore and Lilian as sustainability lead, Cyrus’s race was a homecoming of sorts, having previously lived and worked in Japan. For Lillian, the Osaka Cup presented a unique opportunity to sample and promote clean oceans as she continues her PhD research on marine and plastic pollution in ocean ecosystems.
Lillian and Cyrus entering the Solomon Islands ©White Spirit
• Elisa Mangani — Originally from Italy and a Ronstan employee for the past ten years, Elisa now resides in Palma and has raced on the Vismara-Mills 62 Yoru since 2019. Unlike the others who all raced the doublehanded Osaka Cup, Elisa brought a different perspective to our roundtable discussion as part of a ten-person crew onboard Yoru for the 2021 Atlantic Rally for Cruisers ARC. A true team effort was required for this passage as, at the time, none of the crew had ever crossed the Atlantic. Whether crossing the Atlantic Ocean or sailing from Australia to Japan, these
sailors weren’t just navigating oceans, they were navigating sleep schedules and the emotional highs and lows of extreme distance racing. Each experienced different conditions, challenges, and triumphs, but all shared consistent themes of meticulous planning, careful gear selection, shared trust, and arelentlessly positive mindset.
Elisa onboard Yoru with crew during ARC
Safety Isn’t First, It’s Always
The ocean doesn’t hand out second chances easily. For all four teams, safety wasn’t just about compliance — it was a core philosophy. Dowdney, of Joker x2, highlights some of the safety equipment that is critical for any offshore voyage: “We carried EPIRBs, a backup GPS, personal AIS beacons, and a fully serviced life raft. Equally important is hardware that stays on deck when things go wrong. We rely heavily on Ronstan soft attachment snatch blocks for this. They’re light, compact, and don’t become dangerous projectiles if a line blows. We run them on preventers and downwind guys.”
Annette from Fika wrote an emergency procedures manual before departure, which identified the action plan for any possible scenario. After the manual was written, Annette and Sophie went down the list preparing each bit of kit and gear on the boat so that, hopefully, they would never need to use the manual. One particular system Annette highlighted was the preventer for their
mainsail, which was frequently deployed on their sail to Osaka. “The preventer system is two parts: set as far back on the boom as possible and set as far forward on the bow as possible to distribute the shock load if there were an accidental gybe. When sailing, we set the preventer from a broad reach to a run. It is also invaluable in light winds to prevent slatting of the mainsail.”
Elisa reflected on her Atlantic crossing: “Yoru has always been set up for sailing shorter distances, so the whole configuration of sails, deck, and underdeck needed a review to accommodate ten sailors for at least 15 days.”
Onboard White Spirit, Lillian and Cyrus pointed to one of the many modifications they made in preparation for the Osaka Cup: side-mounted bilge pumps. “Our boat isn’t perfectly waterproof, so another consideration is installing bilge pumps on the sides of the bilge in addition to the central one,” Cyrus said. “Basically, on long journeys on one tack, water often doesn’t get sucked up by the central bilge pump. So you need side pumps to avoid water sloshing up into electronics and cabinets.”
Without exception, every team emphasised the importance of MOB drills and training, first aid certifications for all crew, and backup steering systems in case of rudder damage or failure.
Expect the Unexpected
Despite careful planning and preparation, every ocean passage carries surprises. In addition to having redundancies in place for critical systems, it’s important to have spare hardware and line that can be used to jury rig a fix in a pinch.
Both White Spirit and Fika experienced failures on their hydraulic boom vangs shortly after departing Melbourne (only one hour into the race for White Spirit!), but both were able to successfully rig up a solution with spare line and extra Ronstan blocks they carried onboard. “We believe we recovered about 80 percent of the vang function,” Lillian said. “From a particularly challenging issue straight off the bat, our confidence in problem solving had begun to grow. The lesson from this: Have more versatile spares than you think you will ever need, account for the heaviest load that you can fix on the boat, and supply equipment accordingly.”
“Thirty-plus days at sea will find your weak links,” Dowdney agreed. Much as with Fika and White Spirit, the crew of Joker x2 found themselves challenged much sooner than they anticipated after the start of the race. “About 100 miles offshore, after being battered for 24 straight hours, we hit a tipping point. The crew (the two of us!) were exhausted, and the boat was showing it: a crack in the bow section had opened up, and water was pouring in around the base of the spinnaker pole with every wave. Watching bucket-loads of water rush in and not having an immediate fix is a deeply unsettling feeling when land is a distant thought. We made the call: abandon the offshore “buffalo girls” route and tack toward the coast. It was the only smart move. Closer to shore, we had the option to dive in for repairs if needed and give the boat, and ourselves, a fighting chance to regroup.”
Onboard Yoru, Elisa’s crew had to adapt on the fly after an unforecast squall broke their furling sail early in the race. “Without it, we were forced to sail the rest of the race using either the gennakers, which were rigged with snuffers or a simple jib configuration for downwind sailing. Everyone reacted incredibly well to any problem or difficult situation that occurred — the collective teamwork and calm disposition of the crew were critical to keeping the boat up to speed and safe.”
Trust in Your Crew — and Your Equipment
It came as no surprise that, in addition to all the safety planning and preparation, most boats underwent a significant overhaul in hardware and rigging before heading offshore. The objectives? Equipment and systems that were simple and easy to maintain and operate in less-than-ideal conditions, whether that be heavy wind and storms, exhausted crew operating in the dark, or both.
Trusted 45QT Orbit Winch onboard Jokerx2
Annette and Sophie on Fika prioritized the ability to put in a reef while under sail, swapping their old boom-furling mainsail for a conventional system, using the stock batten cars and an Andersen electric halyard winch, but had more upgrades in mind given more time and resources. “The system is foolproof, but we’d like to upgrade the batten system to a Ronstan mast track and cars, as we find the existing cars require constant attention and tend to come loose with components falling to the deck and overboard (despite using Loctite). I’d also like to reduce the stack height of the mainsail to prevent having to climb up onto the ‘granny bars’ to reach the head of the mainsail.”
Elisa shared a similar sentiment about the importance of a reliable, low-friction batten system, “the most important thing is to be able to handle the sails in strong winds and sea state, so a reliable reefing system on the mainsail is fundamental to guarantee safety. Our mainsail was equipped with Ronstan Series 30 Captive Ball batten system and three reef points.” The setup proved critical for their race, allowing them to quickly and securely reef the main when conditions rapidly deteriorated, leading to 48 hours of nonstop heavy winds and large sea states.
In another important pre-race upgrade, Joker x2 replaced winches with Ronstan Orbit Winches™ prior to departing Melbourne. “For such a long race, we really valued the ease of maintenance in the event we had to open up a winch in the middle of the ocean. The ability to remove the drum without any tools and not have to worry about any loose bearings or components inside was really appealing. Not to mention, being able to ease the main with one hand (while driving with the other hand) using the QuickTrim™ self-tailer was pretty special in a race where you are often alone on deck.”
The Human Element — Persistence and a Positive Mindset
To combat the immense psychological toll of long offshore journeys, crews found creative ways to maintain a positive attitude despite long days and constant frustrations.
For White Spirit, a persistent halyard chafe issue nearly pushed them to their wits’ end. “Nothing seemed to work, as we couldn’t identify the culprit despite inspecting the masthead, wrapping any potentially abrasive surfaces and staring at halyards with binoculars for what seemed like hours,” Lillian described. “Each time we inspected the halyard on a sail drop and it was chewed, frustration grew. I can’t exaggerate enough how important it was to stay optimistic during repeated trial and error, time and time again. Get creative, try something unconventional. We went as far as embroidering manifestations to Neptune of “please work” in the halyard when we felt we were nearly at a breaking point. Bizarrely, it seemed to help!” Lillian and Cyrus made sure to keep the mood lighthearted throughout the race, whether it was staying comfortable in their Ugg boots, capturing wildlife and sunsets on a Polaroid, or singing and dancing to playlists their friends had made for them to pass the time.
Chafed halyard line with embroidered Neptune ©White Spirit
For Fika, sailing as a mother-daughter team added a unique crew dynamic. “Luckily for Mom and I, sailing together comes natural,” Sophie says. “We’re in sync with each other and can read each other like a book.” Sophie also emphasized the importance of meals in maintaining morale. “Regardless of the conditions, we’ll always prepare a hot meal. It may be as simple as an ‘egg in a hole’, but this can be so welcome when you are cold and wet.”
Whether it’s a family bond, a long-time sailing partner, or a newly forged crew, trust lies at the heart of every successful voyage. In the most remote parts of the world, it’s the human connection that carries you through.
Sophie Snijder onboard Fika sailing up the Australian Coastline ©SailingNakama
Final Thoughts
From meticulous preparation to quick thinking when conditions changed, these sailors exemplify what bluewater sailing truly demands: resilience, teamwork, and trust in each other and their gear. Reliable equipment lets them focus on what matters most: staying safe, sailing well, and returning with stories worth sharing. And after these passages, they certainly have a few more.
This article brought to you by Ronstan International. Acknowledgements: @sailingnakama, Lillian Stewart, Cyrus Allen, Peter Dowdney, Elisa Mangani, Annette Hesselmans, and Sophie Snijder.
