Who is not dreaming of just casting off, letting go and simply sail away? Who of us has not given in to the idea of sailing around the world, maybe alone, maybe with your loved one? Very few actually do it, even fewer do it single handed. I´ve spoken to many fellow sailors who had told me about their big dreams, their plans, their itineraries. In the end, for most of them, the true circumnavigation just didn´t materialized, some even turned out to be disappointing imposters and colorful shiny, but empty, fakes. But then, at the same time, amazing things happen. You might have read my article about the Mini Globe 5.80 boat being assembled by Simone and Tobias here in Germany? This sympathetic couple works hard in their own garage to build a boat which will make their dream of an Atlantic crossing come true.
One of their friends and maybe also a bit of a role model is Christian Sauer. The German is currently taking place in the ongoing Mini Globe 5.80 race aboard his DIY-boat, the ARGO. Thanks to modern communication tools like Starlink I managed to have a lengthy conversation with him aboard his tiny boat while he is sailing at the other side of the globe. 10 questions about the very practical side of solo circumnavigating the world.
Talking to Christian of the ARGO – on the other side of the globe
NO FRILLS SAILING | Lars Reisberg: „Christian, first of all: Congratulations for accomplishing the crossing of the Atlantic Ocean! What an adventure! Hand on heart: Hasn´t this at least at the start been a venture connected to a raised heartbeat? This tiny boat taking on those mighty waves?“
Christian Sauer: „Yes sure! A lot of raised heartbeat and also increased blood pressure for sure! She is not only very small, it´s a DIY-boat. In my personal case, due to external influences, I had not been able to thoroughly test the boat before starting the race. So that was really something. On the other hand, having built it with my own hands, I of course know her inside-out. I know every tiny screw, every piece of wood. This gives me enormous confidence in the boat. I am a professional sailing teacher and skipper, so I guess I have quite some competence in this respect. Now, that we have mastered our first oceanic passage, my trust in the boat and confidence into my own capabilities are rock solid. But heartbeat – yes, accelerated and still there!“
NO FRILLS SAILING | Lars Reisberg: „Did you really start in Lagos without even a short sea trial? I just can´t believe this right now …“
Christian Sauer: „Yes, that is right. My plan was to put her in the water in Les Sables d´Olonne and sail her through the Biscay down to the starting line in Lagos/Portugal. But in the end the time frame just wasn´t there. So I had to start completely unprepared if you will. There were a lot of questionmarks: How will I cope with the boat? Will everything work the way it is supposed to do. But now I am completely positive about this all: I did not stop this adventure on Lanzarote right away but remained part of the contenders of the Mini Globe Race. Mentioning the small boat, here´s a little thing that I experienced on the Atlantic: One day I saw two IMOCA 60 dashing by. High speed, huge boats. Flying on their wings, stable and elegantly, yet so powerful and fast. These skippers, when interviewed, often talk about how small they feel on their boats in the vast ocean. Now, look at me: In this little bathtub-sized boat! It´s really amazing.“
NO FRILLS SAILING | Lars Reisberg: „So, upon arrival in the Caribbean you decided to remain with the fleet and carry on with sailing around the globe. What forged this decision in you? Was this always your dream?“
Christian Sauer: „Plain: Yes! I don´t now why and where this urge is coming from, but the idea of sailing around the world – and at best alone – is stuck in my head for a very long time. But, your know how life goes, it just didn´t seem to be realistic. At first, directly after school, there is no budget at all to draw from and no boat to just do it. You first try to make some money. I read many books, the classics you surely read as well, and the idea remained very present. But life made me focus on many other things, mainly on the monetary side. In this, the idea of the Mini Globe did absolutely catch me! The concept of building your own boat. The idea of focusing on the very elementary parts of this venture. The itinerary, the stopover policy. I think it is a very clever and beautiful concept. I mean, even the famous Mini 6.50 usually do „only“ cross the Atlantic Ocean, they do not sail the whole globe. And now look at us: We are sailing even smaller boats and we take on the whole big circle. I find this very fascinating.“
NO FRILLS SAILING | Lars Reisberg: „So you planned for the whole 13 or so months right away?“
Christian Sauer: „Yes and no. Of course there were a lot of questionmarks. Back in 2021 when I was watching the start of the first edition of this Mini Globe in Lagos, I felt like the Atlantic might be a sure thing for me. I mean, it´s just barely a month aboard and, compared to the whole circumnavigation, the distance is not really that huge. But I was unsure if the whole year is something for me on such a small boat, you know? But after arriving to Lanzarote, all of these questionmarks had got their answer. It it was always: Yes, do it! After having crossed the Atlantic Ocean I felt absolutely fine and convinced. I really enjoy what I do, so … I went on into the Pacific Ocean.“
NO FRILLS SAILING | Lars Reisberg: „There are many articles and reportages about the big topics of circumnavigation and long haul sailing. I want to focus more on daily life and the routine stuff you do. Ordinary, maybe less spoken about topics. For example: What is a very normal day under sails like aboard ARGO? Can you stretch out and have a carefree nice day in the cockpit?“
Christian Sauer: „Honestly, it is never carefree and neither relaxed. The cockpit is a very cramped place. As you may see in my pictures, space is the one thing a Mini 5.80 die not have. Especiall for ARGO as I have optimized sheet-ergonomics and winch-positions in a way that handling sufficiently improved, but available space for me suffered. The idea to recline into a chilling position and look at the nice blue sky is nice, but that´s not happening here at all. Of course I had tested my alterations with a life-sized cockpit mock-up back in my garage when the boat was under construction, bit in reality, with all the wind, the waves, the heeling and movement and of course the incoming water and spray, it´s quite a different thing. I increased the length of the tiller and also fitted a double mainsheet system, which further decreases available volume here. And on top of it all, I completely neglected the fact that I would be wearing a life jacket at all times … It´s a pretty cramped crate, I tell you!“
NO FRILLS SAILING | Lars Reisberg: „So you can never really stretch out and relax?“
Christian Sauer: „Well, not really. The cockpit benches are too short. I am 1.86 meters tall. You can kind of squeeze yourselve and wedge in between tiller an sheets, but never stretch out. Either my head or my legs are bent. It also depends quite heavily on the seastate and other external factors. This tiny boat has a lot of motion. Every single wave, every puff of wind will make the boat move. What I have completely underestimated or simply didn´t know was how much water the cockpit is taking on in some conditions. The amount of spray and even wash is stunning! All in all I have found my best positions and can make myself comfy in here, but ARGO is certainly not a leisure cruiser!“
NO FRILLS SAILING | Lars Reisberg: „Talking of leisure, finding a good night´s sleep, getting some rest and at the same time maintaining a safe but fast passage is a tricky thing, right? How to you manage your day-night rhythm and your watches?“
Christian Sauer: „To be honest, I am in a mood of constant sleep depreviation. Although there are nights when I can sleep long and very deep, that´s more of a rareness. I do not have a specific watch system. Also, I don´t have a dedicated rhythm of specifically timed ons and offs. I sleep when it is convenient and when I have to. At least, I try. This is now a pretty well rehearsed „scheme“ and it works for me.“
NO FRILLS SAILING | Lars Reisberg: „And where do you sleep then? In the cockpit, as you said, it would sound a bit uncomfortable to me …“
Christian Sauer: „Right. So, usually I have a berth down below. There are two benches in the salon of the Mini 5.80. These are almost 2 meters long, so it kind of works for me. Also, during construction of ARGO, I optimized this section a bit: I lowered the height of the benches so that I could sit upright under deck. It´s really important for me. I also angled the sides of the benches, thus sacrificing a bit of stowage, but made it much better in terms of comforts. I still have some modifications for my next boat, but this set-up is fine.“
NO FRILLS SAILING | Lars Reisberg: „Even with all the stuff you have aboard?“
Christian Sauer: „You see, depending on the conditions, but mainly the wind direction and the side to which the boat is heeling, I re-stack the whole stuff down here to windward to improve righting moment of the boat. That usually frees up one of the benches for me to use as a bed. But sometimes, both would be occupied, so that I sleep on the floor boards or even transverse to the direction. I have already slept with all different body parts on my life raft or wedged between food in an upright positon. To call this comfortable would be a lie, but it works out.“
NO FRILLS SAILING | Lars Reisberg: „So you go to your bunk when ever you are tired and there´s no hassle outside?“
Christian Sauer: „Basically that is what I do, yes. Back at home, when I was still building the boat, I have tried out different sleep-management strategies. Even ahsore when there´s no ocean, no external factors and not the stresses of sailing, it is a quite exhausting and difficult experience for your body. Being back on the boat, the picture is quite different. So, usually, I try a 10/10-system at night. That means after a 10-minute sleeping phase I do have a thorough roundsight, check AIS and chartplotter, reset the timer and try to catch the next 10 minutes of sleep. This works out pretty well actually. My problem is that I have a very deep sleep, which of course is also a blessing because I can recuperate pretty fast. But the downside is that most alarm clock fail at waking me up. I have two egg-timers aboard. They regularly fail to wake me up. I used to have a pretty great alarm clock but ist electronic got destroyed by the seafaring experience. Now I have finally found a pretty cool setup that really works for me: It´s a combination of alarm-clock with electric shocks. Sounds weird? It is! Only downside is that it needs to work in combination with my smartphone – and this constantly drains electric power, of which you´ve already assumed, there isn´t plenty of aboard ARGO. I use this mainly when a landfall is imminent or I enter in high marine traffic zones. As a surplus, there I switch on my active radar reflector, regularly check AIS-targets on the chart plotter and VHF of course. Alltogether, it works out pretty well.“
NO FRILLS SAILING | Lars Reisberg: „Another big thing when sailing, especially these long distances, is of course the food. Let´s talk onboard cuisine. As ARGO is a very small boat, naturally, the stowage is limited too, right?“
Christian Sauer: „Actually, for such a tiny boat she offers surprisingly plenty of space! I never had problems to stow away equipment or food. The problem is somewhere else: It´s the weight. You see, the Mini Globe 5.80 is a thorough regatta. The fastest sailor will win. In this, you naturally try to have a boat as light as possible. Meaning, least payload wins. There are indeed some participants who are on all-out racing mode. I am more the adventure-guy, meaning I´m not that weight-focused. Nevertheless, I have an eye on it. When it comes to food, I feel pretty well equipped.“
NO FRILLS SAILING | Lars Reisberg: „So, what do you eat?”
Christian Sauer: „My food mainly consists of freeze-dried survival food. I am very happy that I discovered by chance a brand that makes really, really tasty stuff! Now that I am more into this topic and have also tried other products, this one is best for me. For breakfast I usually have a porridge. I refuse to pay money for such a relatively easy to make dish: Back at home I had therefore prepared a lot of my very own „ARGO´s Atlantic Mix-Porridge“ which I restocked in Panama recently. I heat up water with a gimbaled Jetboil, which works out just fine. Only thing that I miss is, of course, fresh food. As this boat is too small and the abundance of elecrtic current is very, very limited, there´s no fridge either. That means, taking on fresh ingedients will make for maximum one week. This sometimes sucks, but therefore I look forward to the next landfall to a much greater extend. For the jetboil it might be of interest for your readers that I have installed this outside of the boat. When cooking, I kneel down in the salon. I also always work with gloves: Given the harsh movements of this yacht, this separation of inside and outside makes it very safe. Even if something spills due to an unexpected wave, I won´t necessarily get hit by boiling water. I also don´t fill up the boat´s salon with fumes and humidity.“
NO FRILLS SAILING | Lars Reisberg: „A word on ARGOs fresh water supply: Do you stockpile or use a desalinator?“
Christian Sauer: „Let´s start with fresh water situation aboard. You should know that I am a guy who usually drinks a lot of water over the day. Restricting myself to this scarce commodity aboard is still one of the most uncomfortable sides of sailing. The total amount of fresh water I can carry aboard ARGO is 280 liters. I have this water in canisters of 20 liters. The idea was to being able to re-position those to windward and by changing the weight distribution increase stability of the boat in heeled sailing. Now it turns out that re-positioning 20 liter canisters while down on my knees in a moving boat is very tiresome, at times impossible. So I will downsize the individual volumes of the canisters albeit the overall capacity will remain the same. 280 liters, that´s enough supply for the current leg from Panama to the Marquesa Islands, but it´s not plenty for sure. Regarding the water maker: According to the race rules, we are allowed to carry a manual desalinator with us. But it is sealed and must only be used in case of emergency. This is a precaution because some overly motivated racers might get rid of their fresh water supply after the start to sail in a light boat and rely solely on the device, which would be foolish, of course. For me, I am happy having one aboard, it´s good for my peace of mind. I try to catch rain water, but – another learning – this turns out to be much harder than shown in the movies. Party due to the harsh movements of our small boats, party due to the construction, this doesn´t really makes sense. I rather utilize rain showers to … shower.“ (laughs)
NO FRILLS SAILING | Lars Reisberg: „Last not least: What goes in, that must come out. How do you tackle the waste on board?“
Christian Sauer: „Good question! First of all, every participant in the Mini Globe race had to submit a „waste and sustainability plan“ which was then checked and approved. The idea is obviously to reduce our impact on the ecosystem and prevent pollution. This plan delves into all aspects of the boat, even the use of antifouling bottom paints. Basically, I only threw over board – and this also only in a certain distance to land – what as either been digested by my body or can be digested by marine life. Everything else must remain aboard and be stowed away. That said, every participant has their own approach. For me, I brought with me a number of those big 5 liter bottles for water. These can take on astonishingly huge amounts of waste. Best thing is that I can also kind of compactify the contents and since they can be closed with lids, there is no stink whatsoever. Reaching the next marina or port, I dispose of those properly. To reduce the amount of waste, I try to restock avoiding packaging as much as I can, which also reduces the risk of unwanted visitors aboard.“
NO FRILLS SAILING | Lars Reisberg: „By the way, do you try to catch fish underway?“
Christian Sauer: „Actually yes. At least, at the start of my journey. This seems like a must-have when crossing oceans, right? I´m not much of an angler, so I did only bring a basic kind of fishing kit: A towing line and small bait. And guess what? Not shortly after entering the wide open Atantic, literally after three minutes of having the line in the water, I catched my first fish. A wonderful Mahi Mahi. Luckily it had the most perfect size: This is my biggest fear, to catch a big fish which I´d not be able to eat myself. I don´t want to waste a life for throwing half of the food overboard, right? But this first one, man, it was quite something! I devoured the first third right away, raw, from the bones. The second third I turned into the most tasteful Ceviche you can imagine. And the same evening, my Jetboil fried the last third. So tasty I don´t fish by chance. Mostly, when I see fishes in the water of smaller fish jumping out, I try my luck.“
NO FRILLS SAILING | Lars Reisberg: „Let´s tackle the elephant in the room: Taking a dump and hygiene-related issues. Aboard ARGO, how do you manage to maintain cleanliness and personal hygiene?“
Christian Sauer: „First of all, ARGO is not equipped with a toilet. Most Mini 5.80 boats don´t have one. It´s funny, by the way: If there is a partner willing to join in Mini 5.80-sailing, these are the boats where a toilet is installed. For the most part, we simply don´t want to waste precious space aboard for a toilet. On the other hand, I also do not utilize the good old shitbucket. What I did instead was to optimize the boat´s transom. Pulling back the aft pulpit, which in ARGOs case is not an ordinary guardrail-wire, but a massive stainless steel frame. I gained more than 15 centimeters. So, between mainsheet and windvane I can make myself comfortable and have my business done, dumped right into the wake of the boat. This way or the other you will become wet, so the „comfort“ of doing it in a bucket down below is in my eyes a fallacy anyway. I secure myself by a tether and can enjoy a breathtaking view as well. It works perfectly for me!“
NO FRILLS SAILING | Lars Reisberg: „And what about personal hygiene: You mentioned that you use rain to take a shower with fresh water: How do you keep your body clean?“
Christian Sauer: „This is actually one of the most important issues aboard. The hotter it gets, the more important it becomes. For the frequent proceedings I utilize wet wipes, no perfumes and based on water, not oil. I know this creates some waste, but it is the most practical and also convenient solution. This of course doesn´t work for the whole body, it´s more a punctual cleansing. For taking showers, usually, I use salt water from the ocean. Now I´m sailing in really nice latitudes, so the temperature is fine. This was different when I was still heading for the Canaries … Now, slowly, my long hair is trained to get along without proper shampoo. It took a while and sometimes I feared I´d have to cut them, but now it works just fine. The trick is to use warm water. I fitted a camping shower that gets heated by the means of exposure to the sun. So, showering mostly with salt water, and using a little amount of fresh water for desalination of my skin.“
NO FRILLS SAILING | Lars Reisberg: „Does this as well apply to your clothing? How do you keep clean your trousers, shirts and underpants?“
Christian Sauer: „Yes, usually I utilize special saltwater detergents for washing my clothes. But normally I don´t have to do the laundry too often. I have a large setup of vacuumed spare clothes, very volume-saving stowed away. So in general I just open the next package and have a supply of fresh clothes at hand. That´s quite a cool system and it can be utilized in any marina.“
NO FRILLS SAILING | Lars Reisberg: „As we speak, I can hear the water rushing and occasional clanking in your rigging: Where exactly are you right now?“
Christian Sauer: „Right now I am some 120 nautical miles southwest of Galapagos. You see, I´ve had a little medical emergency: Arriving in Panama, where the tropic weather with an unbelievably hot and moist atmosphere was just awful, I must have catched an infection of one of the frequent bruises you get when moving around on such a small boat. It turned out to become a serious inflammation so that my medical counselors back at home suggested to immediately seek help by a professional. So I approached the Galapagos Archepelago, which is very strictly prohibited and if, only in such emergencies. Being closely watched and escorted all the time, I had to leave also as early as I could. Now I am heading down south for the trade winds, taking an antibiotic. I also re-stocked on Galapagos with a lot of disinfectants. I´m not a big friend of those on land, but I have seen now myself how fast you can catch an infection of bacteria here, so I´d rather be careful and prepared now.“
NO FRILLS SAILING | Lars Reisberg: „How is the Pacific Ocean so far? Also in comparison to the Atlantic Ocean?“
Christian Sauer: „Well. Where to start? Up until now the Pacific surely lives up to its name: It is very calm, peaceful. What really strikes me is the amount of thunderstorms here! I mean, I´ve had many of those in the Atlantic Ocean as well, but here it´s a much more frequent phenomenon. Also, the Pacific thunderstorms are different: Not so much wind here, so no fear of huge squalls and – good for me – no need to take down or change sails. But loads of rain showers coming down. At the beginning I was in awe: I mean, seeing the flashes all around your boat is quite scary, to be honest. But bottom line: The Pacific thunderstorms are loud, but less violent. At least for now. I have predominantly low wind speeds, 8 knots right now. But a very strong current, which is lots of fun to ride. Sometimes there is no movement at all which made me take a swim around the yacht a couple of times. Yes, the Pacific is very different. But … there´s something that really grinds my gears …“
NO FRILLS SAILING | Lars Reisberg: „… what is it?“
Christian Sauer: „Well, it´s the amount of garbage in the water. At first I couldn´t believe my eyes and thought that this was just a sole exception. But now I come to the conclusion that pollution with waste and garbage is a huge, very huge problem here! I mean, imagine my boat, a Mini Globe 5.80, sailing through these literal garbage patches: If I´d have a brailer and would scoop out only the stuff I can reach with it, my boat would be filled up with plastic waste to the brim in a few hours! It is really unbelievable! This makes me very sad. It´s an appalling situation, really! Other than that, I notice a lot of flotsam, natural stuff. Lots of driftwood, even whole trunks of trees. I apparently hit one big log with full force and dicovered that the leading edge of my keel has quite sufficient damage. Partially the antifouling, which for ARGO is an adhesive sticker, came off so that the keel is corroding now. I cannot repair this underway so I keep a close eye on this issue. I wouldn´t have expected that much garbage and flotsam, really surprising in a not so nice way.“
NO FRILLS SAILING | Lars Reisberg: „That is really sad to hear, especially the plastic part and your sustained damage. I hope that it has no serious consequences! Lets conclude our conversation with this last question: Do you sometimes wish for 2, 3 or even 10 feet more? And, a bit more seriously asked: If the size of a boat is not what makes sailing, what then is the essence of it?“
Christian Sauer: „Haha, that´s a good one, Lars! Well, boat size: It all works out here aboard ARGO and it is great fun! But of course, thinking of maybe having the comforts of a proper bunk to lay down in, a fridge with fresh food or even the space to walk a few feet is very tempting. And as my idea of sailing around the world non-stop isn´t „cured“ even by my ongoing adventure, maybe a bigger boat will become an issue in the future. But I don´t have any specific plans. This circumnavigation has just begun, there are some 11 months still ahead of me with so many wonderful destinations …“
NO FRILLS SAILING | Lars Reisberg: „And the essence of sailing?“
Christian Sauer: „Well, what´s the essence of sailing if it is not the boat? I really don´t know the answer, Lars. For me, right now, it just feels right. You see, people who know me for a long time and follow my progress on social media for example, they do tell me that they haven´t seen me being that happy for a long time. I can assure you that I am now much happier than I´d be if I would be on land. It is a wonderful feeling of being away. You see, I am not out of the world: Modern technology, like our conversation now, makes it possible that I can still communicate without any time delay with family and friends. This kind of destroys this „sacred solitude“ of sailing, but on the other hand prevents from feeling lonely. I can go where ever I want. Despite a 200 meter long trail behind ARGO, that is my wake, there is not a single trace of me here. I am very, very small against the backdrop of this wonderful and mighty ocean. I am taught humbleness. If I am here or not, it makes no difference to the ocean. This is a very, very sobering feeling, making you to bethink almost everything. So, it´s a great voyage – in so many regards“
Christian, thank you so much for sharing these intimate insights and taking so much of your time for our conversation! I wish ARGO and you fair winds and following sees. Be safe, mate!
Connected articles you might find interesting:
Tailwind for MAKANI: A Mini 5.80 boat is in the making
My (cancelled) first plan for an Atlantic Loop
Halfway ´round: The story of a disrupted circumnavigation