This week Thomas finally cast off. After years of refit work in Almere, his 16-metre steel ketch left the dock, and on 2 November she leaves Blankenberge, Belgium, bound for the Canary Islands with a boatload of ocean nomads aboard.
From the Canaries, two very different expeditions lie ahead. First the boat sails on to Mindelo in Cape Verde, where Thomas and his crew support Koen’s attempt to cross the Atlantic by kitesurf, roughly 3,000 nautical miles without an engine. Then Thomas heads north to prepare for a much colder challenge: deliberately freezing his boat into the Arctic pack ice.
But the story we want to tell starts long before they leave the harbour. Almost everyone on board met through Ocean Nomads.
Years of showing up
Thomas has been part of the network since its first season. He skippered Ocean Nomads trips, led the fleet from Galicia to Portugal, and hosts our new moon meetups. Many members first sailed with him on a trip, kept sailing, and eventually became skippers or boat owners themselves. Maciej teamed up with Thomas to run the sailboat manoeuvre training near Amsterdam.
This is what a network can look like over time. You sail with someone, meet again at a meetup, help out when they need a hand, and keep in touch. A few years later you might find yourself crossing an ocean together. Nobody on this crew list was matched by an app.
How the crew came together
While the boat was in the yard, Thomas put out calls on the notice board inside the network. He needed hands for the refit, then crew for the coastal passages and the Atlantic preparation, and members showed up. Some had joined a trip a couple of years back and stuck around. Some came to the Netherlands meetup on board this September, with fresh harvest from the garden and boat projects of their own. A few of them are now on the crew list for the ocean.
Koen came in the same way. He was looking for a support vessel for his solo kite crossing, and Thomas was looking for ocean miles before the Arctic. They found each other in the community. We wrote about Koen’s crossing here: Crossing the Atlantic by kite for the ocean: Koen’s expedition.
The kite support crew is complete. Later legs will need crew again, and Thomas re-crews from the network every time.
The timeline, and where to meet the boat
- Late October 2026: cast off from Almere, where the boat was refitted.
- 2 November 2026: the boat leaves Blankenberge, Belgium, for Lanzarote in the Canary Islands.
- December: from the Canaries on to Cape Verde.
- From 30 December: the Ocean Nomads New Year gathering in Mindelo, with boats sailing in from the Canaries and the crew of Thomas’s ketch.
- Early January 2027, weather permitting: Koen’s kite crossing leaves Mindelo for the Caribbean, with the ketch alongside.
- Summer 2027: a reconnaissance season above the Arctic Circle.
- Winter 2028: the boat gets deliberately frozen into the pack ice.
- Summer 2029: if the ice allows, an attempt at the Northwest Passage.
If you are near Blankenberge on 2 November, or in Mindelo for New Year, come and say hi. The gathering is for members, with the details in the New Year in Cape Verde event inside the network.
Thomas put it himself when we wrote about the project earlier this year: “The expedition isn’t about records. It’s about preparation, self-reliance, and respect for the area.” The full story of the boat and the plan is in Into the Arctic to get frozen into the ice. Along the route the network keeps doing its job. Members near the ports show up on the map, and the ocean impact moments along the way go into the Ripple Log.
Your turn
Do you have a boat and a plan? The people who have sailed with you, helped with your refit and know what you are like at 3am on watch may be the very people who make it happen.
And if you don’t have a boat yet, this is one way aboard. You say yes to a trip, you show up at a meetup, you help someone out in a yard, and the next opportunity grows from there.
The current sailing crew opportunities for autumn and winter 2026 are a good place to start. You can also join Thomas at the next new moon meetup inside the network.
Fair winds, Thomas. We’re proud of you, and of everyone who showed up along the way. 💙
Come sail with us.
Come meet your people
Thomas found his crew by sailing with people, seeing them again at the new moon meetups and asking for hands on the notice board. The same network is open to you. Inside you find the map, the crew calls, the meetups, and sailors, vanlifers, hikers and basecamps in all the wild corners of the world who say yes when you need a hand.
More tips and tales to live a little wilder
