Wave Ryder seeks many happy returns on Southern Ocean
In the sodden embrace of the Southern Ocean, Ryder Ellis reached a milestone he will never forget.
Sailing from Cape Town to Auckland as part of the Ocean Globe Race, Ellis was in the thick of treacherous seas for his 18th birthday.
Rather than crossing the Rubicon into adulthood with a party surrounded by friends and family, Ellis was on a boat as part of a 10-strong crew — in which he was the only Kiwi — aboard Australian boat Explorer, competing in a race where he wasn’t allowed even a cellphone on board.
“It would be pretty easy to forget about a party but I won’t be forgetting about that one,” Ellis told the Weekend Herald.
The Ocean Globe Race is a tribute to the early Whitbread Round the World yacht races, featuring boats designed before 1988 using only technology available in those early races to get from port to port.
The Cape Town-Auckland leg was the only one of the four Ellis was competing in; it was also the most dangerous in those early editions of the race.
In the first (1973-74), two sailors were swept overboard and unable to be recovered on the leg from Cape Town to Fremantle.
The leg was later lengthened to Auckland and another life was lost in the Southern Ocean during the 1989-90 edition when a sailor was unable to be revived after being swept overboard.
“Everyone always tells you the stories of the big waves and big winds but that’s kind of what got me excited,” Ellis said.
“You hear all these stories, and before you go, it sounds like it’s like that all the time. You get some really nice days out there but it does turn bad quickly.
“We got some pretty serious seas just south of Cape Town in the Agulhas Current and a lot of crossseas and big waves breaking over the boat.
“We had about a steady 50-knot breeze for a few hours, then puffing to 60, and some five-metre seas. You’ve got some really rough conditions and you’re wet all the time — wet and cold — but that’s what I love.
“Flat seas are nice every now and then, but the big seas, that’s what I was chasing.”
Explorer experienced plenty of the tests that come with sailing on big seas.
After three days, they were forced to return to Cape Town for repairs after losing their headsail and damaging rigging.
They were then forced to dodge a potentially hazardous storm two weeks into the passage.
Ellis spent 49 days at sea aboard Explorer, which started the leg a week late due to their late arrival in Cape Town.
The days were generally split into four-hour or two-hour watches, with three people on watch at a time.
When sailors had some free time, some wrote in journals, Ellis read a few books, and they took in their environment — though getting as much sleep as possible was important, given how tiring the journey.
Ellis said it was a surreal feeling to be in that environment, with plenty of wildlife sighted, including albatrosses, whales and dolphins.
There were plenty of memorable moments from his introduction to ocean racing, but the 18-year-old’s biggest highlight came at the end.
For the final week-and-a-half of the trip, Ellis had been added to the watch leader rotation and was given the wheel to steer the boat into Auckland and over the finish line.
And that moment was made even more special as he sailed alongside family and friends who had gone out to meet him down the home straight.
“I steered all the way through Rangitoto Channel, up the harbour and across the finish line. That was a really special moment for me. I didn’t think I’d get to [do that].
Everyone always tells you the stories of the big waves and big winds but that’s kind of what got me excited. Ryder Ellis
“I’ve always looked up to ocean racing. The Ocean Race was one thing I was marvelling when I was a kid. I’d never done ocean racing before, I thought I’d like it but hadn’t done it.
“Now I have, I love it and I want to see what I can get onto next. Hopefully some fast boats — it would be cool to do it in some of these new machines.”
Ellis was one of two Kiwis involved in the race, alongside David Sturge, who sailed aboard Outlaw, another Australian entry.
Both Kiwis sailed only the second leg, so there will be no New Zealanders on board when the fleet starts leg three from the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron tomorrow.