Elouise Pemberton, who sails as Sylkie on SailTies, first went to sea in 2006 aged 19 on a Tall Ships Youth Trust bursary, aboard Prince William.
After twelve years away from sailing, a December 2022 delivery from Vigo to Madeira brought her back: engine failure 100 miles offshore, rationed supplies, a Force 9, and a tow into port from the Portuguese coastguard.
She is now working through the thirteen Challenge yachts built for the BT Global Challenge, the race sailed the wrong way round the world. Seven done, six to go.
Her SailTies logbook holds 3,958 nautical miles across 24 voyages, 8 vessels and 73 days at sea, none of it on a boat she owns.
She joined the Royal Naval Reserve, and writes up her voyages on her blog, Beyond Horizons.
Elouise grew up inland in northern England, in a family that did not have the money for holidays. Sailing, and offshore sailing in particular, was not something she knew was available to people like her.
In 2006, aged 19, she was offered a bursary through her youth group and the Tall Ships Youth Trust. It put her aboard Prince William for her first voyage: Southampton, Torbay, Weymouth, Portland and home again. Eight days and 221 miles, and the first line in a paper logbook she still keeps.
“Suddenly I was standing on the deck of this incredible ship, heading out to sea and becoming part of a crew. It opened up an entirely different world.”
The first page. Prince William, 2006, at the top, and Vigo to Madeira further down with “Force 9” written in the margin.
She is clear about what it changed, and it was not really the sailing. Before that first voyage her world felt small and largely decided by where she came from. At sea, that mattered far less than whether she could stand her watch and keep going when things got hard.
“Sailing didn't just show me a new part of the world, it opened up my idea of who I could become.”
Then twelve years passed with almost no sailing at all. What ended that was a delivery from Vigo to Madeira in December 2022.
Around 100 miles from land the engine failed and the wind dropped. Nobody knew how long the passage would now take, so food, water and electricity all went on ration. They eventually harnessed a Force 9 to work their way towards Madeira, and were towed into port by the Portuguese coastguard. 851 miles, logged.
It reads like the sort of trip that ends a sailing career. It did the opposite.
“After 12 years away from sailing, it made me feel completely alive again. There is something powerful about being faced with a situation you cannot simply walk away from.”
Most of Elouise's sailing is voyage-based, arriving to a boat full of strangers.
Elouise's long-term goal is to sail on every vessel in the Challenge fleet: the thirteen yachts built for the BT Global Challenge, the race that went the “wrong way” around the world, against the prevailing winds.
Seven of the thirteen are done. Some of the rest are still actively sailing. Others have changed owners, countries and purposes entirely, and she does not know whether completing the set will ever be possible. That uncertainty is most of the appeal.
Between watches. Elouise plans her year around whichever vessels come up.
She does not own a boat and does not have a regular crew. Most of her sailing is with youth and sail-training organisations: the Tall Ships Youth Trust, CatZero, Panexplore and Challenge Wales. She plans her year around whichever voyages and vessels come up, which often means a long haul from Lancashire before she even reaches the marina.
The paper log came first and still exists. SailTies is where the rest of it lives now: 3,958 nautical miles, 24 voyages, 8 vessels, 73 days at sea, and 14 people she has sailed alongside. Because she moves between boats, the record is the only continuous thread through it.
Still keeping the ship's log by hand as well.
Her four legs through the Atlantic islands aboard Challenger 4, Madeira to Porto Santo to Lanzarote to Tenerife, are grouped as one collection: 462 miles across seven days at sea.
Four legs, 462 miles, one collection. Open it on SailTies.
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Elouise credits sailing with most of what came next, including joining the Royal Naval Reserve. At sea things rarely go to plan: the weather turns, gear fails, people get tired, and you still have to find a way forward. She tries to carry that ashore.
The Reserve came out of the sailing, not the other way round.
“I think the 19-year-old version of me is always there. Each voyage feels like I'm keeping a promise to that younger version of myself: that the world really did open up, and that I would keep exploring it.”
Six more Challenge yachts to find, and whichever voyages get her closer to them. Everything gets written up on her blog and logged on SailTies as she goes.
