David Ruiz: "I slept in my clothes and set my alarm every 30 minutes."

BarcelonaDavid Ruiz is a graphic designer, but also a lover of the sea. Several years ago, he decided to close his business and put everything on hold to fulfill a dream: to sail solo around the world on his sailboat.

Let's start from the beginning. Where does this passion for the sea and this desire for adventure come from?

— My passion for the sea began when I was little. We spent our summers on the Costa Brava, and one day my father bought a small boat. Without having any idea, it was a disaster. The whole family would go out and have a terrible time. We were all terribly scared. Then, as a teenager, I started taking sailing courses and then went crazy. windsurf. Until I grew up, I started working hard, got married, had two children, and completely disconnected from the sea until I turned 40. As if on impulse, I bought a sailboat and started sailing again.

And at ten years old you were crossing the Atlantic alone. Deunidón.

— Yes, at fifty I was able to fulfill my dream, which was to cross the Atlantic alone.

This, if I'm not mistaken, you've done three times.

— Yes, the Atlantic solo three times. Think about that before you do it, The longest crossing I'd ever made was from Barcelona to the Balearic Islands, and I was already scared. But there was something calling me. On my first solo Atlantic crossing, I first went to the Canary Islands, and I remember that when I left there to head for the Caribbean, my legs were shaking. But it was amazing. That trip went really well and gave me a lot of strength. I still remember arriving in Saint Lucia, twenty days after leaving the Canary Islands. That feeling still gives me goosebumps. It was wonderful. And then I said: I have to do it again. Then came the second, then the third, and finally, the round-the-world trip.

But to do these adventures you had to leave your job?

— Yes. I saw clearly that I had to stop because I'm a workaholic. I have a creative job, and I love it, but it absorbs me, and at that moment, I saw clearly that I couldn't spend my entire life working. My body was asking for it. And so, I decided I would stop working for at least three years, possibly four.

Already thinking about sailing around the world solo on your sailboat?

— No. The idea was to take the boat and head west. Without putting the pressure on myself to travel around the world or anything like that. At the time, I thought I might reach an age where I wouldn't feel like doing anything and I'd think about what I'd done with my life. And then the answer would be that I'd only worked: that seemed like a drama to me. I closed the graphic design studio, got all the workers employed, and then I got them all sorts of jobs., and I left.

I imagine it will be a difficult decision.

— Yes. I spent six months preparing for it. I couldn't do it leaving shadows and bad vibes here, right? And well, yes, I did it. At first, heading west, and then I went around the world.

This has been four years, right?

— Yes. I left at the end of 2016, until 2020.

What is the best thing that happened to you?

— Well, a trip that I did not expect, in parallel to the geographical trip that I have made, which is the trip Interior. When you go alone, it's completely different from when you're accompanied, because you have time to learn to observe and observe yourself. And you discover many things. For example, that you are not your thoughts, which are inevitable, but if you are aware that you are not your thoughts, you can control them. And when you achieve this, you manage to control your feelings. And emotions are caused by feelings. Therefore, you end up controlling emotions. It's like a distance, something from consciousness. And this now helps me in life; I have this new perspective.

And the worst thing that happened to you during the trip?

— It's changed my sense of right and wrong a lot. I mean, I wouldn't change anything about what happened to me because it was a tremendous learning experience. The worst thing that It happened to me in northern Australia, passing through the Torres Strait, between Papua New Guinea and Australia. The winds pick up a lot there, there are very dangerous currents, and I was exhausted. I arrived there and had a breakdown on the boat and spent 48 hours unable to leave the helm and, therefore, without sleep, because I had a problem with the autopilot. I arrived exhausted, at night, and I made a mistake, I made the wrong decision, due to a lack of concentration. And then I entered a place I shouldn't have entered and encountered brutal currents that the sail couldn't withstand because I had the wind completely against me. I started the engine and it started smoking because I couldn't go upwind, and to avoid hitting some rocks, I had to drop anchor. I was trapped in a messed up, dangerous place, not knowing what the hell to do, and absolutely in shock.

And how did you get out?

— Something very strange happened to me. First, I fixed the engine problem, but I didn't dare attempt the entire maneuver to get out of there on my own, and besides, the current was still strong. Any mistake would have meant crushing myself against the rocks. And that whole area is full of crocodiles. And suddenly, right there in the middle, I was overcome with a brutal euphoria. I think it was the adrenaline. I saw the entire maneuver I had to perform, clearly in my head, step by step. I did it very calmly, but following perfect rigor for each step, without making a single mistake. I saw that I could do it. I took out two speakers and put the Ride of the Valkyries by Wagner. At full volume. And I started doing what I had planned in my head, step by step, with absolute certainty. And I succeeded.

What is the longest number of days you have been alone, without any contact?

— Thirty-three days. It's the journey I made from Panama to the Marquesas Islands, the first archipelago in Polynesia, islands that are remote from all sides, wonderful. Arriving here after thirty-three days alone, without seeing land, pushed by the winds and currents, is the most beautiful thing I've ever done. Twenty-four hours before arriving, even without seeing land, the scent of flowers already invades you. Traveling by sailboat also makes you realize what it means to travel. Because, in a way, if you travel by plane, or any public transport, the journey isn't complete; you arrive at your destination suddenly. On the other hand, by boat, when you arrive, you realize you're very far away. The journey is completely transformed, because you're able to admire everything around you, which is nature, and you come into contact with nature in a spectacular way. We don't have that. And I believe this is one of the causes of the imbalance we all carry.

Lack of contact with nature?

— Of course. Because in the end, nature is our essence; we are nature. I've realized that, after these years connected to nature, it's become the center of my life. I see nature completely differently than I did before. I'm clear that we're just another piece of property, equally insignificant or equally important, neither better nor worse. And people believe the planet is ours, and we divide it up, and we draw borders, and we say, "This land is mine." and this makes no sense.

And apart from storms and natural phenomena, have you had any other scary moments?

— Well, there was a more complicated moment. I tore my biceps tendons in the middle of the Atlantic. Because I encountered very bad weather, a storm against me. And this was also a brutal ordeal for me. I spent four very bad days because I couldn't even take off my wet clothes. I told myself: "You're a hardworking ant, you have to do your job, and whatever happens will happen, but do what you have to do and do it well." Then the weather started to improve, and I reached the Caribbean, in Saint Lucia.

And so many days alone... when you sleep, when do you rest?

— Sleeping is the hardest part when you're traveling alone. If there's a slope nearby, you can't sleep because it's very dangerous. But if you're in the middle of the ocean, what I do is set an alarm every half hour. And I sleep with all my waterproof gear on. I'm perfectly prepared to go out. With this, I've learned to fall asleep instantly under any circumstances; I can sleep anywhere even if it's very noisy. It's mental training.

And the pirates, didn't they scare you?

— Today, what we have is information, a lot of it. I know the piracy hotspots. The most dangerous is in the Gulf of Aden. I wanted to enter through the Red Sea; I was really excited because I love the Mediterranean. And that means going through the Gulf of Aden. I was researching and studying the subject. There's a whole section called the High Risk Area, which, if you want to cross, they can't prohibit you, but they warn you of the danger. I did it and I was there for twelve days. Every day you have to send your position to a security agency of the international coalition that guards the waters and report if you see anything unusual. And I also prepared myself mentally. If I had been accompanied, I wouldn't have gone through there. And even less so with a woman. In the end, nothing happened to me because I think boats like mine are no longer of interest to pirates, because the loot they get is small, and if they hijack, it's a problem for them. I went through there very calmly, to be honest. Because I was mentally prepared.

Had you mentally prepared yourself not to be afraid?

— The word is acceptanceI told myself, "I'm accepting everything. I'll try to make it as best as possible, obviously." Before leaving, I made a list of everything that could happen to me and I went over and imagined different scenarios, and that freed me up.

From this list of scenarios, was there one that was scarier than the others?

— Well, the hardest thing was losing my life, obviously. But how could I lose it? There were many ways, and I went over them and mentally prepared myself, and in the end, I came out calm. Because we're afraid when we don't know what might happen. If you're clear about everything that could happen to you, fear no longer exists. It's your decision.

How do you adapt or readapt to urban life and routine after an experience like that?

— This is what scared me most before leaving, because I'd read stories of people who had done something similar, and some had fallen into depression. I'm very disciplined, and I thought I should work on it. For the first three years of traveling, I decided to forget about my job and what I was doing in Barcelona—I mean, I really disconnected. But in the last year, I started doing my homework: for twenty minutes each day, I would think about returning and try to get excited. And I have a great advantage, which is what has saved me, which is that I love my job. I wanted to keep working. And with this, I started getting excited, and I kept coming back for a year, mentally.

Would you do it again?

— I wouldn't do it again, but simply because I've already done it. Because I love it.

What about something similar? Do you have another adventure in mind?

— Maybe so, but I think the navigator part is over. I've already done everything I wanted to do.

It is important to accept that things sometimes end.

— Exactly. And sometimes it's hard for us.