Rather than crossing the Rubicon into adulthood with a party surrounded by friends and family, Ellis was on a boat as part of a 10-strong crew - in which he was the only Kiwi - aboard Australian boat Explorer, competing in a race where he wasn’t even allowed to have a cellphone onboard.
“It would be pretty easy to forget about a party, but I won’t be forgetting about that one,” Ellis told the Herald.
The Ocean Globe Race was set up as a tribute to the early Whitbread Round the World yacht races, with all boats being sailed designed before 1988 and using only technology available in those early races being used to get from port to port. It was the only stretch of the four-leg race Ellis was competing in.
All yachts must carry at least one sailor under 24 on board. Ellis is one of four young people who will sail on Explorer as part of the McIntyre Adventure Youth Opportunity Scheme, sponsored by race organiser and Explorer owner Don McIntyre.
Ryder Ellis celebrated his 18th birthday while sailing in the Southern Ocean as part of the Ocean Globe Race. Photo: Team Explorer / OGR2023
In the first edition of the Whitbread (1973-74), two sailors were swept overboard and unable to be recovered on the leg from Cape Town to Fremantle. The leg was later lengthened, making Auckland the stopover rather than the Australian port city, and another life was lost in the Southern Ocean during the 1989-90 edition when a sailor was unable to be revived after being swept overboard.
“Everyone always tells you the stories of the big waves and the big winds, but that’s kind of what got me excited,” Ellis admitted.
“You hear all these stories and before you go it sounds like it’s like that all the time. You do get some really nice days out there, but it does turn bad quickly. We got some pretty serious seas just south of Cape Town in the Agulhas Current and a lot of cross-seas and big waves breaking over the boat.
“We had about a steady 50 knot breeze for a few hours then puffing to 60, and some 5m seas. You’ve got some really rough conditions and you’re wet all the time - wet and cold - but that’s what I love. Flat seas are nice every now and then, but the big seas, that’s what I was chasing.”
Explorer experienced plenty of the tests that come with sailing on big seas. After just three days at sea, they were forced to return to Cape Town for repairs after losing their head sail and damaging rigging. They were then forced to dodge a potentially hazardous storm two weeks into the passage, which extended their trip.
Ellis spent 49 days at sea aboard Explorer, which started the leg a week late due to its late arrival in Cape Town. The days were generally split into four-hour or two-hour watches, with three people on watch at a time. A watch was usually followed by a meal, then cleaning - “dishes and other boat chores”. When sailors found themselves with some free time, some wrote in journals, Ellis read a few books. And they took in their environment, although getting as much sleep as possible was important given how tiring the journey was.
Ryder Ellis (second from right) and the Explorer crew celebrate finishing the second leg of the Ocean Globe Race. Photo / OGR2023
Ellis said it was a surreal feeling to be in that environment, with plenty of wildlife sighted on the trip including albatross, whales and dolphins.
But while there was plenty from his introduction to ocean racing that the 18-year-old will hold in his memory for years to come, the highlight came at the very end.
For the final week-and-a-half of the trip, Ellis had been added to the watch leader rotation and was given the wheel to steer the boat into Auckland and over the finish line.
A moment to remember in itself, it was all the more special as he sailed alongside his family and friends who had gone out to meet him down the home straight.
“I steered all the way through Rangitoto Channel, up the harbour and across the finish line. That was a really special moment for me. I didn’t think I’d get to [do that],” Ellis says.
“I’ve always looked up to ocean racing. The Ocean Race was one thing I was marvelling [at] when I was a kid. I’d never done ocean racing before. I thought I’d like it but hadn’t done it. Now, I have, I love it and I want to see what I can get on to next. Hopefully some fast boats – it’d be cool to do it in some of these new machines.”
Ellis was one of two Kiwis involved in the race, alongside David Sturge who sailed aboard Outlaw, another Australian entry. Both Kiwis were only sailing the second leg, so there will be no New Zealand sailors aboard when the fleet sets out on the start of leg three on Sunday from the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron.
Christopher Reive joined the Herald sports team in 2017, bringing the same versatility to his coverage as he does to his sports viewing habits.
