PACIFIC QUEST

COMPETING IN THE MELBOURNE OSAKA CUP IS AN EPIC MOTHER-DAUGHTER ADVENTURE FOR ANNETTE HESSELMANS AND SOPHIE SNIJDERS

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Fika rolls in the swell as Sophie clings to the mast. Twenty-four hours since we left Melbourne, we are sailing through Bass Strait, notorious for its gale force winds and nasty seas.

I hoist Sophie skyward towards the masthead and, with each roll, look up to check her progress. Her movement becomes increasingly precarious, like a human pendulum. I watch my daughter wrap her long limbs around every available hold to prevent her being flung into the mast. I dread to wonder what Sophie will find at the top. It’s only day two and I admit to feeling a little defeated: we have over 5,000 miles to go.

It has been a tough 24 hours. My inner critic is berating my decision to take us offshore to avoid a predicted wind hole between us and Australia’s Victorian coast. These light conditions are uncharacteristic of Bass Strait. The race tracker only reinforces my foolishness. The rest of the fleet is sailing swiftly northeast. Meanwhile we are ghosting along heading southeast towards Tasmania, next stop: Antarctica!

Fika is running under symmetric spinnaker. The wind continues to veer northwards and I’m not sure what the right tactic is. Regardless, it’s time to sock the spinnaker and lower it. My heart sinks when I realise the halyard is jammed and the spinnaker will not come down. But there’s no time for self-pity. This is the sail of a lifetime. A priceless journey with my incredible daughter. We are sailing in the Melbourne Osaka Cup; double-handed, nonstop from Australia to Japan.

MELBOURNE OSAKA CUP

This race has been on my mind since I watched the start of the first Melbourne Osaka Cup in 1987 aboard my father’s timber motorboat. I was a sailing-obsessed teenager believing I one day would sail around the world just like my idols, Naomi James and Claire Francis.