Father and daughter battle storms and health scare as they sail around the world

Father and daughter battle storms and health scare as they sail around the world

11 hours ago

Christine Butler

A father and daughter from Australia have been putting their relationship to the ultimate test - by sailing together around the world.

Rob Donald and his 19-year-old daughter Freya set sail from New South Wales, Australia in March 2025, heading for Norway.

The pair have been through storms, a serious health scare and a close encounter with a tiger shark in an adventure that Freya said had been weird and difficult at times but also one that she "wouldn't trade for the world".

The BBC caught up with the Donalds in Penzance, Cornwall, as they rested and prepared for the final leg of their epic voyage.

The all-wood yacht Misha was built in 1937 by a famous Dutch boat building company.

Rob bought the 9.8m (31ft) vessel in 1989 in France then sailed it to Australia and then did another trip to France and back.

He had a dream to take the boat back to the Netherlands and show them it was still going after all these years, and that is what inspired the present voyage.

Rob, 59, said his wife Hanne, did not want to go on the trip and his daughter Freya, who was 18 at the time, said she would go instead.

The experienced sailor who has captained big boats for 30 years said people thought Freya would not last a week, yet they have logged 18,000 nautical miles in 15 months.

Freya said she passed the time by crocheting and watching movies, but really enjoyed the sailing experience, adding: "It was really really weird for starters but I got used to it pretty quickly but there were definitely points when I was very sick of it, but looking back, I wouldn't trade it for the world.

"We did an Indian Ocean crossing and it was 24 days at sea in quite rough seas, and then we got to Madagascar after all those days and it was just the most beautiful country ever.

"Chilling with the lemurs was top of my bucket list so that was probably the best experience I've had."

Cancer treatment mid-voyage

It is a journey that has had its challenges.

Rob said: "We left Sydney via Darwin, to Bali, Indonesia and then across to Madagascar and then down to Mozambique and then into South Africa and down around the Cape of Good Hope to Cape Town.

"When we got there I found out I had prostate cancer," he said.

"It was a bit of a shock."

Rob said he flew back to Australia and was the first in the country to undergo robotic surgery in a single-port operation.

He added: "The surgeon said 'come back next month' and I said 'no, I can't. I've got to get back to my boat. I'm going sailing, I've got to finish my trip to Norway'."

Luckily, Rob said the surgeon gave him the all clear: "If I had left the boat in Cape Town any longer I would have missed the weather window, to get from Cape Town out to St Helena."

Rob said he and his daughter had been able to stay friends by respecting each other's space in the cabin.

"We have our boundaries," he said.

"She has her bunk and I have my bunk, she's got her headphone and downloads movies and things."

Tuna v shark

They were able to supplement their diet by towing a fishing lure behind the boat, another activity that was not without its dramas.

"We caught half a yellowfin tuna once because a tiger shark took the other half," laughed Rob.

"For the next week we just had tuna every day, it was a bit like Forrest Gump and the shrimp, we had curried tuna, fried tuna, battered tuna, beer-battered tuna, raw tuna."

Freya, who turned 19 on the trip, was quick to catch a train to London to meet up with her best friend after tying up in Penzance harbour.

"I love the city, it's probably the thing I miss most about being at sea, and hanging out with friends, it was really really tough like that, it got to me at some points," she said.

"Coming to London, one of the biggest cities ever, was just amazing, very happy."

Rob said: "The last passage to Penzance from the Azores was quite challenging.

"It was 50 knots, huge 6m (20ft) seas and then when we got in the Bay of Biscay it went calm."

While Freya is enjoying herself in London, her father has been meeting up with old friends in Penzance.

Freya will rejoin her father in Falmouth and they will be joined by Hanne, who is flying in to celebrate his 60th birthday.

The intrepid pair will then set sail for the Netherlands, then on to Norway.

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