BLUE BERYL SAILING
TALKS · KEYNOTES · EVENTS
2,100 NAUTICAL MILES WITHOUT A MAST.
In the middle of the Pacific our mast breaks. What follows is a journey of weeks on a self-built jury rig, with one goal: to arrive safely. We only managed it as a team. Now we tell that story on stage. Raw, honest and full of lessons about resilience and deciding together under pressure.
THE STORY
22 APRIL 2022,
06:00 HOURS.
Halfway across the Pacific, on our way to French Polynesia, the mast of the Blue Beryl, our Koopmans 44, snaps. Waves of two and a half metres, half the mast overboard, the mainsail in the water. There is no way back, only forward.
Drone: © Sailing Black Moon
- 01
THE BLOW
There is no getting the mast back on board. We cut the rigging loose and watch it sink. In a few minutes a world voyage turns into a fight for survival.
- 02
THE JURY RIG
From a spinnaker pole and a storm jib we build a jury rig. Three, four knots. Beating back to the Galápagos against the wind is not an option, so we choose the long way to the Marquesas.
- 03
HANGING IN THERE TOGETHER
Day after day, watch after watch. Passing ships bring diesel, bread and courage. At home the family keeps in touch by satellite. We make every decision together. When it storms, you are only as strong as your team.
- 04
LAND IN SIGHT
After 2,100 nautical miles we sail into Hiva Oa. Safe. Exhausted. And with a story we never wanted to have, but would not want to be without now.
THE ROUTE · 2020–2025
NEVER A DULL DAY.
WHAT AN ADVENTURE!
SAIL ALONG
FOLLOW US ON INSTAGRAM AND POLARSTEPS.
“IT TAKES TWICE AS LONG, BUT WE WILL GET THERE.”
SANDER · IN THE MIDDLE OF THE PACIFIC, APRIL 2022
THE TALK
WE LOVE TO TELL IT
AT YOUR EVENT.
For sailing clubs, sports clubs, schools and networking evenings, but just as much for companies and teams. That is what we do it for. With footage from on board, honest stories and a good dose of humour, we take you out onto the ocean.
RESILIENCE
How to stay upright when the plan literally goes overboard, and what you need to keep going.
DECIDING UNDER PRESSURE
Choosing a course with incomplete information. Galápagos or the Marquesas? What do you weigh when there is no room for mistakes?
WORKING TOGETHER AS A TEAM
Two people, thirteen metres, weeks at sea. About trust, dividing roles and servant leadership: how to stay strong as a team, even when it storms.
IMPROVISING
A spinnaker pole and a storm jib became our salvation. Solving problems creatively with what you do have.
TEAMWORK
WHEN IT STORMS, YOUR TEAM IS EVERYTHING.
At sea you cannot walk away and you cannot solve everything alone. Who steers, who rests and who keeps a cool head: you agree that before it is needed. In our talk we translate that to your team. How do you stay strong together, precisely when things go against you?
RESILIENCE TRAININGS
STRONGER AS A TEAM,
EVEN WHEN IT STORMS.
Besides the talk, we give resilience trainings for departments of companies and for teams within municipalities and other government bodies. We work with what we learned at sea and translate it to your daily practice.
FOR COMPANY DEPARTMENTS
A training for a department or team within your organisation, fitted to the situation in which you work.
FOR TEAMS WITHIN GOVERNMENT BODIES
For teams within municipalities and other government bodies, where the work asks a lot of people.
Tell us about your team and we will discuss together what fits.
VIDEO
SEE IT WITH YOUR OWN EYES.
LOGBOOK & PRESS
KEEP READING.
ALSO INRTV DrentheDagblad van het NoordenLeeuwarder Courant
ABOUT US
SANDER & YVETTE
Raised among the Frisian lakes and the Wadden Sea, we set off in 2020 on the Blue Beryl for a voyage around the world. Five years later, in September 2025, we came home to Groningen: with thousands of miles in our wake and one morning that changed everything. On stage we tell it together, each from our own perspective.
YVETTE
Yvette tells the story from the inside: what it is like when the mast goes overboard and you then spend weeks on a rolling boat, far outside your comfort zone. Honest about fear, about perseverance and about what you have in each other. She also wrote it down herself, for the magazine Zeilen.
SANDER
Sander is a project manager, entrepreneur and coach with a background in sport and leadership. He talks about the choices on board: letting the mast go, building a jury rig from a spinnaker pole and setting a course for the Marquesas.
THE SHIP
BLUE BERYL
KOOPMANS 44
A steel full-keel yacht from 1996, designed by Dick Koopmans. For five years our home, our workshop and our transport. Her name comes from the blue beryl, the aquamarine: ‘water of the sea’, a traditional talisman for sailors.
BOOK A TALK
BRING YOUR
LIFE JACKET!
Tell us about your event and your audience. As soon as we have reception again, we will get in touch. Usually that works out fine: these days we are more often alongside the quay than out on the ocean.
THE SHIP
BLUE BERYL · KOOPMANS 44
CHARACTERISTICS
- Type
- Koopmans 44
- Year built
- 1996
- Designer
- Dick Koopmans
- Hull number
- 265
- Dimensions
- 13.30 × 4.00 × 1.80 m
- Height above waterline
- approx. 20 m
- Hull shape
- round bilge
- Keel
- full keel
- Construction
- steel
- Displacement
- approx. 14,500 kg
- Ballast
- approx. 4,800 kg
- Interior
- teak
- Deck
- steel with non-slip
ENGINE ROOM
- Diesel engine
- Perkins Prima, 50 hp
- Speed
- approx. 7 knots
- Fuel tanks
- 500 l + day tank 45 l
- Range
- approx. 1,100 nautical miles
SAIL WARDROBE
- Mainsail
- Hydranet, 46.6 m²
- Staysail
- Hydranet, 23.1 m²
- Jib
- Hydranet, 43.5 m²
- Symm. spinnaker
- 150 m², pink
- Gennaker
- 130 m², orange
- Asymm. spinnaker
- 100 m²
- Storm jib
- 6,6 m²
- Spinnaker poles
- 2
- Winches
- 8 × Barient
- Rigging
- 8/10 mm, 2019
- Sailmaker
- De Vries Maritiem
ELECTRICS
- Batteries
- 450 Ah
- Charger/inverter
- Victron Plus 12 V/1650 W/70 A
- Solar panels
- 2 × 75 W + 1 × 150 W
- Wind generator
- Electric Energy D400
NAVIGATION
- Compass
- Sestrel Moore
- Depth/log/wind
- Raymarine i70
- Radar & GPS
- Raymarine
- VHF radio
- ICOM 506
- Self-steering
- Monitor wind vane
GAS, WATER & DECK
- Cooker
- Force 10, 4-burner with oven
- Refrigeration
- Coolmatic D35F
- Watertanks
- 2 × 350 l
- Hot water
- pressure pump, 40 l boiler
- Anchor windlass
- Lewmar V3, 12 V
- Anchor
- 25 kg Delta, 60 m chain
- Life raft
- Plastimo Transocean, 6 persons
Specifications as at departure in 2020.