17 years on the road. My wonderful women of this trip.

Do you feel the same way? 

The older you get, the faster time seems to pass but in return the treasure of memories becomes larger and larger as a balance.

Next month it will be 17 years since I started this journey. 

17 years with the same ship, 17 years happily on board. 17 years sailing the world's oceans, 17 years... that's a lot.

Wonderful memories of seas, countries and also partnerships.

Life is wonderful, not least because of the partners at our side.

I can consider myself lucky, because all the wonderful women I was able to spend my life with before and during this trip were not only dear to me, but also good friends and some of them still are.

My father once said that there are reasons for 2 people to get together and that there is one reason why they break up. What lies in between should be filled with love and harmony, so that every person with whom you were able to spend the years remains in pleasant memory. (This reminds me of the song by Willie Nelson and Julio Iglesias "To all the girls I loved before";)

There is also everyday life on board and relationships sometimes grow apart.

What remains are the memories of the great time together, the respect and deep friendship.

Stefanie was my partner in 2007 at the beginning of this journey. 

An absolutely sunny and adventurous creature that was an absolute enrichment for my life. She was as connected to Odin as I was. We traveled to Italy, Croatia, Greece, Turkey, Tunisia, Malta, the Balearic Islands, Gibraltar and the Canary Islands together until fate had other plans for us. We parted ways in Gran Canaria.

The journey took me across the Atlantic to the Caribbean, where a love from the old days came back into my life. Uts! We traveled the world together for 6 years. 

We got to know the Caribbean with its countless states, crossed the Panama Canal, sailed the South Seas from Galapagos via the islands of the Marquesas, dived in the Toamotus archipelago, we made friends in French Polynesia, anchored off Tahiti, Moorea, Tahaa, Bora Bora and many other islands, visited the 

 Suvarow Atoll, Niue, the Fiji Islands, New Caledonia and many other dream destinations. We fought together in a severe cyclone for Odin.

You could rely on Uts. She was strong-willed but at the same time insecure. 

Where I often thought and said "it'll be fine", she often had doubts. Our relationship ended in New Caledonia in 2015.

I sailed on alone and met the wonderful Cecille in Vanuatu in 2016. 

A very painful chapter. 

She was a totally enterprising and crazy partner. 

We made plans, many plans that came to an abrupt end in a diving accident in the Solomon Islands. 

Due to a technical problem with the equipment and panic on her part, my new love drowned in my presence after a few months. 

By the time I could get her up from the bottom of the sea, she was dead.

I was devastated. 

I have lost my beloved Cecille forever at the first month of 2017.

Numb with pain, I didn't know how to go on.

Alone somewhere on the ass of the world without anyone to talk to is something that is hard to cope with.

Hours of telephone conversations with a few good friends helped to endure the pain.

Luckily, an ex love came all the way from Germany to help me get by day by day.

We had a love that lasted over 3 years and broke up in 2000. 

Karen took her annual vacation, booked a flight from Germany to the end of the world to the Solomon Islands and

and took care of me during this time. 

I will never forget Karen what she did for me during this time.

I decided to continue sailing alone. Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Australia's Torres Strait, via the Komodo Islands to Bali.

Months later, I met my current partner Freldelyn there and, after long conversations, was able to convince her of life on board. She quit her job at a university in the Philippines and since then I have been sailing with this wonderful lovable and funny person.

I often experience that people talk negatively about their ex-partners. As I said, I'm lucky with the wonderful women in my life, even long before this journey begins.

Remember my father's words.

"There is a reason why two people come together - and there is a reason why they separate."

What counts is what happens in between.

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