Why sit in a dusty classroom for months when you can sail around the world? That seemed like a good idea to a group of high school students. They sail across the ocean for six months and experience the coolest things. One of them is 16-year-old Sarah Verspaandonk from Eindhoven. “At home I do the same thing every day. I wanted to get out of my routine.”
It all started a year ago, when a friend of Sarah sailed around the world for six months on the School at Sea boat. Sarah got excited and thought: “I want that too.” Now, a year later, she sails around the world on that same boat.
After being at sea continuously for three weeks, the sailboat docked on the Spanish island of Tenerife on Monday. “I cannot describe the feeling I had this morning when I saw land. It is very special to see, after weeks at sea, that there is still a civilization besides the people on a boat,” she says.
Storm at sea
The past few weeks have been quite intense at sea, Sarah says. “We had quite a few storms on the way here. It is quite an experience to be on a boat that is completely tilted.”
She doesn’t suffer from seasickness, which is a good thing because she will spend the next five months on the water. “I am a bit disoriented, but otherwise everything is going well. I do fall every now and then when we go crooked. So I don’t really have sea legs yet.”
No reach and do homework
And anyone who thinks that life on board only consists of sun, sea and relaxed sailing is wrong. Sarah has almost no reception, so texting with friends in Brabant is not an option. Moreover, lessons have to be attended and homework done. Sarah also helps with navigation and sailing, cooking, cleaning and guard duties.
Still, that didn’t stop the Eindhoven native from coming along. “How cool is it that I can do all this on a boat for six months.”
Before her adventure, she was especially looking forward to getting away from her daily routine. “You learn so many different things here. At home I do the same thing all day: I go to school, play hockey and work,” she explains.
Baby killer whales
The coolest thing Sarah has experienced so far? That’s seeing baby orcas. “We were sailing when we saw the orcas. They actually came past our boat. That was very cool. You could see them clearly through the clear water. They jumped up and there were babies among them,” she says.
There is a price tag attached to this, because joining School at Sea costs 5,000 euros per month. To pay for this, Sarah has found sponsors. “I approached many companies and enthusiastically told my story. Then I hoped that they would sponsor me. They did, and that is why I am now enjoying being at sea.”
If everything goes according to plan, Sarah will be back in the Netherlands on April 18, 2026. She’d rather not think about that right now. “I’m going to miss that at sea. But also the starry sky. You can see the entire Milky Way here, which you don’t have in Eindhoven.”
School at Sea
It is the fourteenth time that the School at Sea sailboat has been underway. This year there are 37 students on board, between the ages of 15 and 17, from the upper levels of HAVO and VWO. The boat is on the road for six months with the aim of reaching the Caribbean and sailing back to the Netherlands.
The students learn to live and work together in a small community on the boat, keep the ship running and participate in expeditions, such as a week on an adventure through Panama and Cuba in small groups. The program is all about experiential learning: young people are challenged step by step to step out of their comfort zone and discover what they can do. In this way, their independence grows little by little, until they can take over the ship themselves.