Life on the Water | Changing Tides with Kayleen VanderRee

Hi! My name is Kayleen (@fromsnowtosail). In 2016 my dad, one other crew and I sailed across the Pacific Ocean, from Canada to Hawaii, on our 34’ sailboat. We went in search of adventure, but we were mortified to find much more than that.

Life was simple on the water. We took turns on shift, keeping an eye out for other ships and trimming sails. It was just us and the sea birds out there on the big blue for 25 days each way.

We didn’t have a fridge aboard, just an icebox, which melted within a few days. Although we were prepped for weeks of food, we were hoping to catch tuna and dorado along the way. We dragged a luer in hopes of dinner. The can we hooked up to notify when a fish was on clanked and like Pavlov’s dogs we ran to the cockpit with mouths watering. We pulled hand over hand only to find we had hooked a knot of garbage: rope and other commercial fishing gear.

For five days we sailed through what is known as the Pacific Garbage Patch. We pulled in bits of garbage on our fishing line constantly until we finally gave up.

In the morning and evenings when the sun was low, I kept my eye out for glass balls that the Japanese used for fishing. My hope was to find one to take home as a treasure. Instead the sun beamed through massive red lightbulbs that floated by. I later learned that these bulbs are from fishing boats that use light to attract fish at night.

It wasn’t just fishing gear, we floated by plastic razors, a toilet seat painted in colours and flowers from the 70s, and a door from what looked to be a mini fridge. I didn’t take any photos, we sailed by them too quickly, but I will never forget looking out and seeing garbage floating in patches for miles.

Fast forward to 2022. I’m living aboard my Tartan 42’ and about to sail to Mexico. The trip to Hawaii changed my life in many ways, solidifying my need to be on the water and living a life that coincides with the changing tides.

Living aboard makes me realize how much garbage, recycling we create and what we put down our drains. Aside from our black water holding tank, everything goes directly overboard. I’ve changed all my showering products to shampoo bars, a reusable wood razor, and only wash with products I know the ingredients of. Although I’m not perfect and still love getting takeout when in cities, we try and reduce waste aboard as much as we can, not only for reducing garbage on our earth, but because we only have so much storage aboard!

Boat life is off grid living and part of my love for it is the simplicity. You can only get to as far as the wind will take you, or how much diesel is in your tank. You can only use as much power as your solar panels bring in, and living in a small space forces you to look at your role as a consumer in this world. I recently sold my car now that we are living away from a marina and although traveling by foot or folding bike isn’t as convenient, it’s much more enjoyable.

On World Oceans Day I hope you take a moment to reflect on how we live on this planet, because maybe not everyone has the chance to sail through endless amounts of garbage, but we definitely all contribute to it.