Marion Schreiber, happy at the helm. Image: Pedro Urrutia.

The Ocean Globe Race 2023/24 was an exciting, fully crewed, round the world sailing race, with stopovers, that commemorated the 50th anniversary of the first Whitbread 1973 race. Sailing yachts from the same era as 50 years ago participated, with the same route and sailing with the same spirit and technology. Among the yachts that have completed the round-the-world yacht race is the “White Shadow”.

The “White Shadow” is a Spanish-flagged sailing yacht, model Swan 57 and design by Sparkman & Stephens, from 1978. Her Captain is Jean-Christophe Petit, and he has led a multinational crew of 12 people, in which veteran and youth have been combined; and part of the crew has rotated in the different legs.

The first leg (LEG 1) started in Southampton (U.K.) on September 10, 2023, and the participants arrived in Cape Town (South Africa). In the second leg (LEG 2), they crossed the Indian Ocean to Auckland (New Zealand). In the third leg (LEG 3), they arrived in Punta del Este (Uruguay), after crossing the Pacific Ocean and Cape Horn.

In the fourth leg (LEG 4) the yachts crossed the Atlantic again, finishing in Cowes. The “White Shadow” completed the round-the-world voyage on April 24, 2024, more than six months after the start of the first leg.

Among the crew of the “White Shadow” on the fourth leg (LEG 4) is Marion Schreiber, a passionate sailor and lover of the sea. Marion is of German-Colombian nationality and lives in Barcelona, from where she is involved in multiple sailing projects, including astronomical sailing voyages, while restoring her own sailboat.

We thank Marion for telling us about her experience in this epic adventure, in the fourth leg of the round-the-world sailing trip aboard the “White Shadow”.

Marion Schreiber, arrival at Cowes. Image: Pedro Urrutia

Interview with Marion Schereiber, crew member of the “White Shadow”

Marion, when did your relationship with the sea begin? How did you start in the world of sailing?

I have always felt a strong bond with the sea, even though I grew up far away from it. I started sailing at the age of 25, when I accidentally signed up for a PER type voyage on board in the Baltic Sea, in Germany. That voyage changed my life. I discovered what life on board was like and a way to travel slowly to remote places. I sailed my first 300 mn without GPS around Danish islands without knowing how much that trip would change me. Since then I have not stopped sailing.

What drives you to embark on the adventure of participating in LEG 4 of the Ocean Globe Race?

The adventure and the challenge called me. I feel a very strong attraction for the sea and sailing, the more demanding, the more exciting. I was very attracted to the “vintage” part of this adventure. On other occasions I had already sailed without GPS and with Sextant and I found it exciting. You sail in a more conscious way and you disconnect completely.

How was your experience aboard the “White Shadow” in this last leg in which you have participated?

My experience was wonderful. It took me about two weeks to really land on board and get used to the rhythm of the watches. The project had started for me two years before embarking, the preparation was long and intense and suddenly I was sailing from Punta del Este, Uruguay. I had waited so long for that moment that it was hard to assimilate that it had really arrived.

On board everything is simpler, everything is reduced to the essentials and in the end you live in the present without any distractions. Your day to day life is reduced to helming on watch, doing some maneuvers (basically sail changes, because we were on course 80% of the time upwind), eating, sleeping and repeating that routine for seven weeks. The sailing was light, the life on board more intense. I enjoyed it all very much and it was an opportunity to connect with the nature around you, with the crew and with yourself.

I felt a great evolution in me (personally and in sailing) from the first day I boarded the White Shadow to the last, arriving in Barcelona.

Crossing the Equator. Image: Pedro Urrutia.

In stage 4 you crossed the Atlantic Ocean and crossed the Equator, did King Neptune visit you? Did you celebrate?

The seven Rounders who had crossed the Equator on leg 1 prepared our ritual. Jean-Christophe got totally into his role as Neptune: wrapped in a sheet, with rags on his head and a trident in his hand, he came out from inside the boat to baptize us.

We were 5 crew members who had not yet crossed the equator and had to ask permission to pass from the southern hemisphere to the northern hemisphere. With his dramatic staging, Neptune blessed us and baptized us with a mixture of coffee, oat flakes, tomato sauce and sardines. We had each written a few words to Neptune and together with a personal offering we threw them into the sea.

It was a very memorable moment that you only get to celebrate once as a sailor, so it was pretty special.

What would you highlight about life on board during such a long voyage on a sailboat? What is the coexistence and daily routine like?

Living together is undoubtedly the most challenging part. You share a small space with 12 people for 7 weeks. Although you rarely get together all 12 of you, you feel the presence of so many people and the sailboat feels small at times. The most important thing is your attitude and not to take anything personally. Tiredness, humidity, heat and hunger can bring out the most unpleasant sides of everyone and on board you experience everything more intensely. So you have to be very tolerant and have a lot of patience.

The bad things stand out quickly, but I would also like to say that living together has its wonderful side. After all, you are living an adventure that will mark you for life and you share it with your crew, especially with your watch. Memories that will remain forever will be, to name a few: Mate time at sunset; the exchange of books and devote so much time to reading; listening to music with a walkman and exchange mixtapes; the countless games of chess, I became a fan; the attempts to practice yoga with a remarkable heel; the weekly assemblies in which we each valued the past week and toasted with a bottle of wine between 12 and just being together, talking, singing, staying quietly contemplating the sea and laugh a lot.

Leg 4 crew. Imagen: Pedro Urrutia.

 In this regatta you sail in the traditional way, obtaining the situation with the sextant, is it more complicated than sailing a more modern boat?

It’s different and requires more work. With GPS we relax a lot nowadays. Traditional navigation forces you to be attentive. You take the necessary measurements during the day and then you have to spend even more time on calculations. Monitoring the logbook every hour becomes essential in order to be able to sail by estimation as well. It’s a much more conscious way of navigating than just GPS.

Which has been harder, the strong winds or the equatorial calms?

I would say that in general the hardest part is usually the lulls. They force you to do nothing and look for an occupation, be it in the form of leisure or work on board. You have to be patient and wait for the wind to come in. At the helm they are harder, because you see that you can’t keep the course well and you don’t move forward. I enjoyed the strong winds (which we had almost none on leg 4) as much as the lulls, which forced you to slow down.

Marion Schreiber, my position in the White Shadow maneuvers. Image: Pedro Urrutia

The arrival in Cowes was the culmination of a great effort for the whole team, which has successfully completed this great adventure. What was this moment like?.

The arrival in Cowes was very exciting! During leg 4 there were two feelings present, especially in the Rounders: For them the fourth leg meant the end of the round the world trip, so on the one hand they were thoroughly enjoying this last leg and at the same time they were feeling closer to home. There were moments of melancholy and also of uncertainty about what the future held for them once they were back on dry land. We leggers were embarking on a “new” adventure, so that more melancholy feeling of the end of the project came much later, the last few days before arriving in Cowes.

The arrival couldn’t have been better! We entered the Solent Sound with the current in our favor, with a speed of 10 knots. We were greeted by family, friends and some crew from other boats and the happiness of having achieved such a challenge was exuberant. It was a very memorable finish.

Finally, Marion, would you repeat this ocean sailing adventure?

Yes! I would definitely go back on board. One leg was too short. Arriving in Cowes I could have done one more leg. In fact, I also made the transport from Cowes to Barcelona and it allowed me to land a little softer, sailing and having occasional contact with land.

Now the Indian Ocean and the Pacific are calling me. Let’s see what adventure awaits me in the future.

From “Navegantes Oceánicos” (Bluewater Sailors) we thank Marion Schreiber for her support with this interview, and we wish her good luck and good winds in her next projects and navigations.

Our thanks to Pedro Urrutia, crew member of White shadow and photographer of this article.