I came along thinking I'd work on and improve my sailing skills. Once here, I realized there were many more things I've learned and experienced that I will take away from the two weeks on Oceans of Hope. I'm so thankful for the support of my family, friends and co-workers whose encouragement helped me realize I could to this (even with a healing fractured tibia!!).

Being part of the Oceans of Hope journey has made me realize I've never spent continuous time with others who have MS. As expected perhaps, this group of individuals brought together by no reason other than a love of sailing and adventure and, of course, MS talked about various details of our MS: how long with MS, what drugs we take, and how we first knew. But then we've spent the last 10 days talking about life, kids, and what we would, tonight's pairing, make for dinner. What a normal place to be. Beyond that, however, resemblance of normal disappeared for me. This trip has proven to be just as described: To show the world and people themselves with MS that they can do hard things successfully.

A few things were outside my normal and proved to be difficult challenges. Getting on all the foul weather and safety gear in order to go out on the deck in less than 15 minutes. This includes overalls, jacket and lifejacket. While not particularly difficult in general, it requires balance, coordination and fine motor control. This proved quite difficult for me on a moving and rocking boat! But I was able to get it done!

The crew works shifts – three hours on and six hours off around the clock. Expected shifts included cooking meals and cleaning. They also included three-hour night watches. This meant learning how to manage sleep opportunities and lack of sleep. Challenges for me were night shifts, for example 1:30 to 4:30am! More than I realized was difficulty staying upright on a moving boat for a period of time. I did, however, learn quickly how to use all stable objects around me!

Despite the challenging difficulties I've had, I've been so lucky to have experienced many gifts as well: Spending time with others who have MS, working towards a common goal and sharing similar experiences. Being outside of my comfort zone and taking on ''moving the marble out of the old well and into a new well'', in other words shaking up old patterns in order to allow new ones to emerge - (dynamically speaking). Being ok with doing things differently than others do, like scooting rather than walking out on deck, managing everything while the boat is heaving to and from.
The permanent crew who worked with us with kindness and optimism, finding ways in which we could each be successful.
The gift of an extra hour of sleep by the partner I was supposed to be replacing on night shift. Awe inspiring moments every day; in the middle of the Tasman sea, with no other boats, ships, land as far as the eye can see. Just the vastness of it all, huge swells with crashing white caps, gentle rocking waves, the enormity and all encompassing brilliant stars made perfectly clear, and the immediate quiet when the engines are turned off and the wind takes over.

So I've asked myself has this experience changed me? Has it been worth it? The answer to both is simply yes.

Report from Bosun Bertram:
The wind comes and goes and so does the rain. Some hours we are flying with 8 knots, other hours we, unwillingly, have to go and poke Mr. Perkins to provide some speed through the Tasman Sea. We don't want to stall, because that low pressure is still on its way. It's an easy late thursday evening onboard with calm seas and the engine at 1500 RPM, but tomorrow around noon the wind is expected to hit up to 45 knots out the south east - a decent direction for us to sail on, but still a lot of wind. Even more in the evening when we should reach up to 50-60 knots of wind - the sooner we get to Sydney the better!

Local time onboard is 19:45 and our current position is 34,14.56S , 156,33.31E