I didn’t grow up dreaming of sailing around the world. The calling arrived suddenly, unplanned, impossible to ignore — and I said yes to it.
What began as a passion for human connection and Couples Therapy with Loveworkx has, out on the ocean, transformed into Sailing Loveworkx — a journey of pure self-reliance, resilience and navigation. Aboard my 27-foot ship, S/Y Loveworkx (a Danish Grinde), I’ve been sailing solo, ocean after ocean, ever since.
Sailing has been part of my life since I was ten years old — but nothing quite prepares you for doing it alone, across oceans, on a boat this small.
The counter for this circumnavigation now reads three years and over 26,000 solo nautical miles. A good moment to look back on what this journey demands, what it brings, and what the horizon looks like for the legs ahead.
The Miles, in Numbers
A solo circumnavigation on a small boat requires no grand display of luxury. There’s no shower, no watermaker, no fridge, no anchor winch, no roller furler — just a bucket shower and the basics.
What I do have is front-row seats to every sunrise and sunset, a sky full of stars with no light pollution to dim it, and a daily ritual of reading, playing the ukulele, singing, and meditating.
It’s deepening my awareness of self, letting go of my ego more and more, and welcoming a deeper sense of feeling with every mile.
- 26,000+ NM sailed solo around the world
- 5,000 NM of preparation and offshore qualification sailed before departure
- 3 years of solo sailing
- 3 ocean crossings: Atlantic, Pacific, Indian
- 30 days — longest non-stop passage at sea
- 4,000 NM — longest single ocean crossing
- OCC Jester Award 2025, in recognition of outstanding achievement on a small ocean-going yacht
Capabilities & Expedition Qualities: Lessons from the Ocean
When you’re alone on a 27-foot boat, you are simultaneously the captain, the engineer, the navigator, the meteorologist the chef and the crew. There’s no one to take the helm when the wind builds past 30 knots, or when a technical problem appears.
1. Mental Resilience
Thirty days alone at sea force you into absolute presence in the here and now. As a Kundalini yoga teacher, a Mental Golf Coach at Iron Shirt of Golf and Vipassana meditation student, one of my main dreams for this voyage was to deepen that practice in the ultimate proving ground. Out here, mental agility, adaptive decision-making, and a deep trust in your own ability aren’t just spiritual concepts — they make the difference between merely surviving and truly enjoying the raw power of the elements.
2. Vessel Mastery & Technical Skill
On a small boat, every detail counts. Being self-sufficient means knowing your engine inside out, being able to repair things that break on a rolling sea. Vessel mastery isn’t optional — it’s a requirement for staying safe.
3. Ocean Seamanship
Boat handling and offshore experience are what get you through heavy weather in one piece. There is no substitute for hours at the helm and the instinct that comes from having sailed through conditions that test both boat and skipper.
4. Navigation & Routing
Passage planning is a discipline in itself — reading charts, currents, and the realistic limits of the boat, then making the call on when and how to go. Every ocean crossing starts long before the anchor comes up.
5. Risk Management & Weather Insight
The ocean gives constant feedback. Making go/no-go decisions based on reliable weather data and situational awareness keeps you from sailing unnecessarily into dangerous conditions. Staying calm under pressure, and anticipating changing conditions with discipline, are at the heart of ocean sailing.
6. Safety & Emergency Management
Man overboard procedures, damage control, and survival systems all have to be second nature — not something you look up when it’s already happening. Preparing for the worst case is what makes the rest of the voyage possible.
7. Expedition Operations
Planning, logistics, provisioning, and self-sufficiency for weeks or months at a time — a circumnavigation is as much a supply-chain problem as it is a sailing one, especially on a boat this size since I don’t have a lot of room for spares.
8. Expedition Qualities
Beyond the technical skills, this journey asks for a specific kind of character: self-reliance, situational awareness, preparedness, risk management, adaptive decision-making, resourcefulness, calm under pressure, and resilience.
Preparing for the Ocean: Professional Development
None of this happened by accident. Before departure, I completed 25+ professional maritime courses and certifications, including 5,000 NM of preparation and offshore qualification:
- Navigation & Passage Planning
- Seamanship & Boat Handling
- Offshore Safety & Survival
- Medical & First Aid
- Marine Communications
- Marine Electrical Systems
- Diesel Engine Maintenance
- Ocean Weather Routing
This wasn’t about accumulating certificates for their own sake. It was three years of systematically preparing — not just racking up sailing miles, but building the layered competence a small boat, sailed alone, actually requires. And I loved every minute of it.
The Route: From the North Sea to the Indian Ocean
Whilst carefully planned within the cyclone seasons, the journey has unfolded leg by leg. With each ocean revealing its own character and Loveworkx and me responding to it.
2023 | Netherlands → Atlantic Ocean → Bonaire
Departure from the Netherlands via the English Channel coast, Spain, Portugal, Madeira and the Cape Verde Islands, toward the Caribbean Sea.
2024 | Panama → Pacific Ocean → New Zealand
Sailing from The San Blas islands to Panama, through the Panama Canal to the Marquesas, Tuamotus, Society Islands, Tonga, and finally New Zealand.
2025 | Fiji → Australia → Indonesia
Onward from New Zealand back up to Fiji, through the South Pacific via Vanuatu and Australia to Kupang, Bali and Lombok in Indonesia.
2026 | Lombok → Indian Ocean → Mauritius
A demanding crossing via the Cocos Keeling Islands over the Indian Ocean to Mauritius — now completed.
Looking to the Horizon: The Way Forward
With Mauritius as the current base, the focus now turns to the next major challenge on the route:
- South Africa: via the treacherous Agulhas Current, along Richards Bay, Durban, East London, Port Elizabeth, Knysna, Mossel Bay and Simon’s Town, to Cape Town.
- South Atlantic Ocean: from Cape Town to remote St Helena, and on to Fernando de Noronha off the coast of Brazil.
- Final leg: via Cape Verde and Malaga, toward the endpoint in Spain.
“Sailing the open ocean teaches you that you can’t change the weather — only how you trim your sails. That’s exactly as true at sea as it is in life, and in love.”
My name is Jacqueline Evers from The Netherlands. Solo sailing around the world in my 27 foot sloop. While my husband and son may have chosen a different path, their unwavering support fuels my solo pursuit of this lifelong dream.
Not confined by age or the constraints of conventional life, in my 50s, I bravely departed from the rat race, trading it for the serenity of the open sea. Through my unscripted videos and blogs, I offer a glimpse into the authentic tapestry of my sailing
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