Who would have guess that once again our original plans did not work out as intended, and our sailing was pushed back one more day. No problem though, as we found a perfect spot to anchor next to Peanut Island and the Palm Beach inlet.
Between our first few days there, we were able to enjoy some people watching, a solar eclipse, getting into some Caribbean clear waters, and of course, getting our sails up for the first time! And what a magical moment it was.
Cheers from our shakedown!
Thank you SO MUCH to our Patrons. These charitable souls help keep us in the work yard, our camera equipment up to date, and the videos coming.
We’re off and running on our little shakedown cruise, but as we should have known, things don’t always go according to plan.
After running around Stuart to make sure we have all the necessary oil and discharge stickers, we begin to make our way south on the St. Lucie River with visions of sailing and swimming in our heads. Based on a complete lack of wind, a faulty (by us) depth sounder that had us staying directly in the channel, finally coming to a beach only to run into water nearing 90 degrees, we failed at all our attempts for fun that day.
We always take the good with the bad though, so instead of focusing on what didn’t work out for us, we enjoyed a secluded night at anchor in Peck Lake, gazed at all the multi million dollar homes along the ICW, and moved ourselves down to Lake Worth in Palm Beach where we knew we could get out the inlet and raise our sails for the first time.
Make sure to join us in our next episode where we *DO* make it out the Palm Beach Inlet and raise our sails on Elements of Life for the first time.
Cheers from our shakedown!
Thank you SO MUCH to our Patrons. These charitable souls help keep us in the work yard, our camera equipment up to date, and the videos coming.
To join the Patreon ranks, please visit http://www.patreon.com/mjsailing
Thank you!,
Matt & Jessica
—
Online shop: https://mj-sailing.myshopify.com/
Music:
00:22 – Changes – FAUL & Wad Ad vs Pnau
00:55 – I’m So – Andrew Applepie
04:23 – Rock Angel – Joakim Karud
06:28 – Sunshine – Lupe Fiasco
09:31 – Kick Push II – Lupe Fiasco
Camera equipment used:
– Panasonic Lumix G85 – http://amzn.to/2iv2g4G
– 6Mega Action/Underwater – https://6mega.com/ (use code MJSAILING for 10% off your order storewide)
Editing software:
Windows Movie Maker & Adobe Premier
After two long years in the work yard and additional two months in the water, and we’re ready to toss off our dock lines!
We aren’t headed out for good, but we are more than ready for a shakedown cruise to see how systems are working, what still needs to be addressed before we can shove off for good, and most importantly, just give ourselves a nice vacation away from work and from the marina.
Getting ready to go came with a few of its own problems, and even for a shakedown we left about two weeks later than anticipated. Once we shoved off though, it was a nice 28 mile ride down the St. Lucie River into Stuart, which is our first stop on our trip. We got the anchor down just before thunderstorms came in over us and even used them for a fresh water rinse on deck.
Stay tuned for the next episode where we hopefully move ourselves further down the coast on our shakedown and take Elements of Life for her first sail.
Thank you SO MUCH to our Patrons. These charitable souls help keep us in the work yard, our camera equipment up to date, and the videos coming.
We have now joined the ranks of sailors with the ability to shoot beautiful aerial views!
Deviating from the usual course once again, the drone we chose to purchase is the DJI Mavic Pro instead of the very popular Phantom 4. The Mavic Pro, when it is folded down it can just about fit in the size of your palm, meaning we’ll never have to second guess if we want to bring it out with us as we explore each location we sail to.
So far we’ve been having fun playing with it at the marina, steering through the maze of the channel and floating over all the boats in storage. We have a long way to go before finessing a fluid movement with the camera, but so far it has been a great addition to our camera gear.
In this episode I go over the new awning I just made for our cockpit, a simple design with no framing to adhere to. Also, while putting our headsails in place, we realize our staysail doesn’t have a good fit and we take measurements for hunting down a good used one to replace it.
Cheers from the WATER!!
Thank you SO MUCH to our Patrons. These charitable souls help keep us in the work yard, our camera equipment up to date, and the videos coming.
To join the Patreon ranks, please visit http://www.patreon.com/mjsailing
Thank you!,
Matt & Jessica
—
Online shop: https://mj-sailing.myshopify.com/
Music:
0:00 – Changing – Sigma feat Paloma Faith, Instrumental Cover
08:06 – Yes You Can – HookSounds
16:49 – The View From Here – Anders Schill Paulsen
Camera equipment used:
– Panasonic HDC – http://amzn.to/2lPlf9O
– DJI Mavic Pro – http://amzn.to/2f2IFHP
Editing software:
Windows Movie Maker & Adobe Premier
There’s nothing for me to sand or paint right now, so it must be time to sew!
Two big items we need done before leaving the marina are making a new mainsail cover and an awning for the cockpit. Tackling the hardest one first, I went with the sail cover. Since we were starting from scratch and yours truly was doing the work, we decided to go with a stack pack, where the cover never fully comes off, but instead is unzipped to allow the sail in and out. I’ve never attempted anything like this before, but luckily Sailrite makes a very helpful step by step video on building one. We’re making a few tweaks, so ours won’t be exactly the same, but it has helped me with the most important parts.
Also in this episode, we spend a little quality time with our friends Jeremy and Courtney of s/v Teho. We’d gotten to know them at the marina just after the new year, and were now able to reconnect after they’ve arrived back from the Bahamas. Their stay in Indiantown is a short one though, so we made the most of it with a night out to Waterway Cafe and Rocco’s Tacos in Palm Beach.
Cheers from the WATER!!
Thank you SO MUCH to our Patrons. These charitable souls help keep us in the work yard, our camera equipment up to date, and the videos coming.
Just to be a little bit different *again* we’ve set up our new boat so the head has a composting toilet. There are a few reasons for this decision that you’ll hear Matt discuss in the video.
I take on a job of adding scuff resistant tape to the slider of our companionway, since our brand new paint has been taking a bit of a beating. Even with my tiny hands, some of the spaces were almost impossible to reach.
Matt shows off all the hard work he’s been putting into our electrical panel and we show off our new WeBoost system that will help us get better internet as we’re traveling. To end the episode I go over some swag we’ve received that is up for grabs in a giveaway.
Cheers from the WATER!!
Thank you SO MUCH to our Patrons. These charitable souls help keep us in the work yard, our camera equipment up to date, and the videos coming.
In episode, Matt was wearing the Unisex Jersey T-Shirt in Deep Heather Teal in size Large, Jessica was wearing the Women’s Racerback Tank in Macchiato, in size XS, as she likes to look feminine and feel good with herself, and that’s why she also use toys and accessories like the Pro 40 clit sucker to have fun as well.
Swag Giveaway: To be eligible for our swag giveaway, you must be a patron. The drawing will take place on Friday June 21st at 6pm EST. Winner will be notified through personal message via Patreon.
Music: 0:00Â – Changing – Sigma feat Paloma Faith, Instrumental Cover 01:11Â – Let’s Go Skiing – Jorm 10:15Â – Water Lily – Pop Happy 12:19Â – A New Sun – Kalle (Rewind Remix)
‘Why aren’t you going to paint your hull?’ ‘If you’re going to leave it bare, you should at least shine it up’. ‘You’re in for a ton of corrosion if you leave your hull bare’.
These are just a sample of the questions and comments we’ve been getting through our last few videos, so we thought it was time to publicly address the issue. Our hull is staying bare aluminum, and we *want* it that way. Keep reading as to our reasons why, and to answer all the questions you may have about why there is no longer paint on the side of our boat.
In this episode we also dig our mainsail out of storage to see how it fits on the boat, and Matt goes over our plans for how we’re going to lay out our deck hardware. With all the changes we’ve made to Elements, the previous set-up is no longer going to work for us.
Cheers from the WATER!!
Thank you SO MUCH to our Patrons. These charitable souls help keep us in the work yard, our camera equipment up to date, and the videos coming.
To join the Patreon ranks, please visit http://www.patreon.com/mjsailing
Thank you!,
Matt & Jessica
—
Music: 0:00Â – Gitty Cat – Andrew Applepie 00:59Â – Welcome – CyberSDF 09:34Â – Gold – Artificial Music
The day has finally arrived. After taking a junk boat sitting in the graveyard to do a complete overhaul on it, we’re now ready to move it to the water!
With rain like we’ve never seen before in south Florida, our launch was pushed back an extra few days as we scrambled to finish last minute projects in the work yard. With the exception of a little paint peeling off the bottom as it stuck to the jackstands, our launching went as smoothly as we could hope for and we are now peacefully floating in the water after gazing at it for two years.
A few more weeks of projects at the docks and we can finally get ourselves on the move!
Cheers from the WATER!!
Thank you SO MUCH to our Patrons. These charitable souls help keep us in the work yard, our camera equipment up to date, and the videos coming.
To join the Patreon ranks, please visit http://www.patreon.com/mjsailing
Thank you!,
Matt & Jessica
—
Music:
0:00 – Changes – Faul & Wad Ad vs Pnau
05:12 – Fast Forward – Ukiyo
08:36 – Let’s Go – Sebastian Florian feat Elizabeth
10:56 – Won’t Let Me Down – Andrew Applepie
Camera equipment used:
– Sony NEX 5T – http://amzn.to/2glc9zG
– Panasonic HDC – http://amzn.to/2lPlf9O
Editing software: Windows Movie Maker & Adobe Premier
Daze Off is no longer. From here out our boat shall be named……
After holding on to this specific boat name for 9 years now, we are finally able to use it as we rename our boat. Going through a complete refit, it seems only fitting she comes out of it with a new name as well.
We prep the boat for her new name and decals, do a big reveal, and explain how we came up with it and what it means to us. Even though we’re not yet on the water we still had a renaming ceremony and I found a way to appease the gods of the wind and the sea.
Stay tuned for the next episode where we make our big splash!
Cheers from the work yard!
Thank you SO MUCH to our Patrons. These charitable souls help keep us in the work yard, our camera equipment up to date, and the videos coming. To join the Patreon ranks, please visit http://www.patreon.com/mjsailing
Thank you!,
Matt & Jessica
—
Music: 0:00Â – Changes – Faul & Wad Ad vs Pnau 02:41Â – Summer Sensation – Wonki
We’re so close to getting in the water, and yet still so far. It’s been a hectic time for us as we try to finish all the last projects before splashing.
With our centerboard dropped we had the well soda blasted (even though I accidentally say sandblasted about 5 times), which gives Matt and I the opportunity to get fresh coats of aluminum primer and barrier paint into the centerboard well. A much harder job for Matt than for me.
With the Awl Grip applied it was time to go back and reapply our Kiwi Grip non skid that had initially been applied in October, but sanded down for reapplication. I taped off the cabin top and combing, and we spent one morning getting a nice new coat on half the boat.
Matt gets working in the anchor locker to have a nice clean area for our chain to drop in so we don’t have metal sitting on metal, and I have a little whine session about how our decals came back wrong. All in all though, things are getting done and we’re moving closer to the water every day!
Cheers from the work yard!
Thank you SO MUCH to our Patrons. These charitable souls help keep us in the work yard, our camera equipment up to date, and the videos coming. To join the Patreon ranks, please visit http://www.patreon.com/mjsailing
Thank you!,
Matt & Jessica
—
Music: 0:00Â – Changes – Faul & Wad Ad vs Pnau 01:34Â – Ventrillo Sunset – Klubz Production 05:02Â – Keep on Trying – Andrew Applepie 12:24Â – Signal – Lakey Inspired
