After the storm end of 2017 at the polar circle in the harbor of Akureyri, we had the most challenging time in our live.

Sabine and I were already exhausted after the 9 months never ending repairs. We were shocked last summer when we continued our project in East Greenland, where we realized that the boat is still not sound.

Last autumn Christina and Sverir helped us to sail Pachamama for further repairs to Medemblik in the Netherlands. Pieter Heerema helped us out with a slip at the Medemblik Regatta Center. Pieter Storm and his friend Ric Stevens were always in contact with Remco Sol from Medemblik Yacht Service to sort out open issues after the storm that couldn’t be fixed before.

Pieter Storm organised us some bicycles and we cycled from Holland to the source of the Rhein in Switzerland visiting schools. In Switzerland we were based in the lovely mountain village of Ftan. We knew from Iceland that outdoor sports is the best medicine for the kids. See the activities we got our kids involved to keep them smiling on our Instagram.

For Sabine and Dario it was the most difficult time. We had to deal with housing, boat repairs and try our best to run our program in the schools. The result was that our batteries were soon empty. Jaap and Maya Wurman Joles opened their house for us during the most demanding stage of the repairs and filled us up with food and positive energy. We like to thank you all for your support. Specially also the people of Ftan.

Everest is small compared to the struggle we went through. In retrospective we were not sure if all the troubles of repairing the boat, was worth it. But now we are on top of it. Pachamama is again smiling, breaking the waves for the dolphins to play. This experience will bond our family for ever.

At the moment we are in Medemblik taking part of the Toppers World Championship in the Netherlands. Laura Moser will report soon about the event and sustainability day.