ABOUT ME

Hello, I am Lucas Elderhorst (18), from the Netherlands. Growing up while sailing, I have always had a passion for the water. Since I was born, my parents have a 39 ft sailing yacht, on which I was sailing before I could walk. When I was seven I did my first sailing camp in the Optimist, and since then I have never stopped sailing. I sailed my first races when I was eight and I immediately wanted to join every training possible. This led to sailing weekend races on the different lakes in the region. When I turned 13 I changed to the Laser, on which I also sailed bigger races within the Netherlands.

At the end of 2020 I came across the Laura Dekker World Sailing Foundation, with which Laura and her husband Sander were sailing around the Atlantic with teens from 12-16. After hearing about this I had one goal: Joining them and fulfilling my dream of crossing the Atlantic. I joined them in February, at the age of 14, on St. Maarten for the crossing back to the Netherlands. Sailing in the Caribbean was an amazing experience, but sailing across the Atlantic was even better. No one around you for days, only the boat and the crew on board.

After my Atlantic crossing I was so captivated by offshore sailing, I wanted to do more offshore sailing. Sander also told me a lot about the offshore racing he did in the Classe Mini 650, so I went looking for offshore racing options. I came across Holland Ocean Racing, a youth racing team sailing on a modified Whitbread 60 (Boudragon) under the lead of Hans Bouscholte. I joined the team and did a lot of offshore sailing on the Boudragon. Next to that I did a lot of boat work which improve my skills.

The first season on board the team was quite new, so we were getting used to the boat and each other. We did quite well in the first races, the ‘Lightvessel’ and ‘North Sea Race’. For the summer we did a Baltic season, which meant I made a lot of miles. We sailed the ‘Gotland Runt’ for which we were chartered by a family with really experienced and good sailors. We sailed the ‘Baltic Sea Race’ with just the team, because of all the miles sailed the growth was clearly visible. In the winter we trained and did a lot of boat work. This gave me the opportunity to learn a lot about the different systems.

The next year we did even better in the ‘Lightvessel’ and ‘North Sea Race’, finishing both ahead of our biggest competitor ROST. This was also the season of the ‘50th Fastnet Race’, so all of the focus was on this race. The team’s development had been impressive. My position was main trimmer, in which I had been training for over a year. We could sail the boat almost blindly. The ‘Fastnet’ went great, first Dutch boat in a race, where even finishing was a challenge. After the ‘Fastnet’ we kept on training and did the season closing race on the Westerschelde, the ‘Antwerp Race’.

The 2024 season was different for me. I was finishing High School and was asked by Laura and Sander to join them as a crew member on their ‘Scotland and Norway’ trip. During this trip, I became even more interested in Sander his experience in the Mini650. This was my new goal. After summer I got the opportunity to buy Sander his mini, Boatsje, leading up to this project. End of August I sailed my first race, 'de 24 uurs zeilrace’ with Boatsje. We won this race, which was an amazing experience. End of summer I started my study, Bachelor of Maritime Officer in the Merchant Navy. So now I need to find the balance between Studying and sailing.

After altering my schedule with my university, I was able to join Holland Ocean Racing for the Middle Sea Race season. It was a great opportunity to sail deliveries in the Mediterranean, building up over 2000NM. The start of the race was impressive, starting from inside the old city center. Because of the unpredictable weather conditions, it was not safe to continue the race, so we decided to retire from the race. Nevertheless it was a great experience.

There is more to come...