All posts by : Jessica

Now that we’re back on land after a 1,200 mile passage, it’s time to tackle all the things that weren’t working while we were at sea.

Remember on our passage when we’d try to cook meals in the oven, only to have the burner continuously go out on us? We’ll now that the boat isn’t constantly rocking back and forth, it’s time to take it apart to see what’s causing the problem. Maybe Matt will have it fixed in no time….or maybe we’ll be eating sandwiches for the next week.

We also rent a car for 2 days to explore what we can of County Cork. After getting some errands out of the way (checking in with immigration at City Hall; visiting marine stores; and many stops to Aldi), we get our hands on one more big chore…the 80 pounds of laundry we’ve had building up since Thailand.

But then it’s time for fun. We spend an evening walking through the streets of Cork, and the next afternoon going through the even cuter town of Kinsale. The highlight of our exploring is when we stop at an area called The Old Head. Staggering cliffs of a peninsula.

This spot showcases thousands of birds on the cliffs and in the water; forts dating back to the 3rd century; and is even the site of the sinking of the Luisitania in 1915. Steeped in history and beauty, it’s a spot we’re happy to spend a few hours just wandering around in.

Much love from Ireland!
Jessica, Matt & Georgie

Thank you SO MUCH to our Patrons. These amazing supporters help keep us on the boat, our camera equipment up to date, and the videos coming. Without our patrons, these videos would not be possible.

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Thank you!,
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We pick up on the last few days of our 1,200 mile passage from the Azores, to Cork Ireland.

On our approach, about 36 hours from making landfall, we realize at our current speed we’ll make a midnight arrival. Slowing ourselves down by only sailing with a reefed headsail, we decided to do a bit of fishing to catch ourselves a nice dinner. Besides, we were just about done with the trip and I still had a few fishing accessories I was looking to test out. Once we were done we were quite close, so we tried to keep a speed of 4 knots to make sure we won’t arrive before sunrise.

We also begin to encounter all kinds of ship traffic, but mostly fishing vessels which continue to cut back and forth across our path in the middle of the night. We experience a little more heavy weather on our last full day at sea….with some more big waves that are having fun tossing us around.

But…we finally make landfall just at sunrise and have beautiful views as we motor into the harbor of Crosshaven. Our arrival deserved a fine Irish welcome, so we celebrated that night with Irish sirloin steaks and cold Guinness to drink.

Much love from the Ireland!
Jessica, Matt & Georgie

Thank you SO MUCH to our Patrons. These amazing supporters help keep us on the boat, our camera equipment up to date, and the videos coming. Without our patrons, these videos would not be possible.

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Those 4 meter seas we had been expecting? Yup, they finally made their appearance.

On Day 4 of our passage from the Azores to Ireland, the remnants of a nasty depression just east of us finally made their way over to where we were sailing. Winds gusting up to 30, not too bad, but the waves did start to build as well, becoming very frothy and topping out at a little over 4 meters. By that same afternoon though the storm passed and we were back to our usual 2 meter seas.

We still haven’t quite got out of our passage ‘blahs’ yet, and we’re not sure if it’s just taking us this long to adjust to a life back at sea, or if the constant gray skies are keeping us in a subdued state of being.

We do hit one more milestone though, where we sail the furthest north we’ve ever been…47 degrees! Plus it marks our halfway trip to Ireland.

Much love from the North Atlantic!
Jessica, Matt & Georgie

Thank you SO MUCH to our Patrons. These amazing supporters help keep us on the boat, our camera equipment up to date, and the videos coming. Without our patrons, these videos would not be possible.

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We’ve now entered into the 40 degree latitudes.

But wait? Am I thinking of the wrong ocean with all the terrible weather I’m expecting?

Our passage from Terceira to Ireland is well underway now, but conditions have picked up just enough that we’re not feeling so hot.

Our departure from the Azores was kind to us, but by day two the seas are growing and we’re feeling a little queasy in our stomach. Not much else to do but sit around and wait for it to pass.

We expect heavier conditions to come, although on Day 3, things aren’t as bad as they’re supposed to be. The winds and waves have calmed down a little…but now we have a new problem of the oven not wanting to cook our dinner!

Oh well, at least it’s only a 10 day passage instead of 25!

Much love from the North Atlantic!

Jessica, Matt & Georgie

Thank you SO MUCH to our Patrons. These amazing supporters help keep us on the boat, our camera equipment up to date, and the videos coming. Without our patrons, these videos would not be possible.

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or Buy us a beer through PayPal! https://www.paypal.me/MJSailing

Thank you!, Matt & Jessica

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As we know our last few days in the Azores are coming upon us, we take a little time away from the boat for one last opportunity to see what makes these islands so special.

Next to our marina in Praia da Vitoria, we take the first sunny evening we’ve had in months to hike to the top of a monument overlooking the harbor.

A few days later we rent a car to get further inland, for provisioning, errand running, and a little sightseeing. The first stop of the day is the Serra do Cume. An overlook just outside of Praia which sits over vast green farmland, and even has a platform to make you feel like you’re floating hundred of feet above the earth.

Our other big sightseeing stop for the day is the Algar do Carvão. A set of emptied out lava tubes in the center of the island. This set is unique because the lava escaped through a secondary vent, preserving the magma chambers and allowing them to be toured without thermal dangers.

The next morning, we toss off the lines and begin our 1,200 mile journey from the Azores to Ireland. We set off in perfect conditions, and even though quite a big rain shower passes over the island and chases us down, it can’t dampen our mood as we begin to make our miles north.

Much love from The Azores!

Jessica, Matt & Georgie

Thank you SO MUCH to our Patrons.

These amazing supporters help keep us on the boat, our camera equipment up to date, and the videos coming. Without our patrons, these videos would not be possible.

To join the Patreon ranks, please visit http://www.patreon.com/mjsailing

or Buy us a beer through PayPal! https://www.paypal.me/MJSailing

Thank you!, Matt & Jessica

Help support productions by becoming a patron, and get instant access to bonus videos, Patreon only updates, and our private Facebook group. https://www.patreon.com/mjsailing

It’s time to go back in the water!!

The day before launching, Elements is lifted up into the sling to give us a full afternoon of painting while we reach the spots previously covered by jackstands and straps. Come 9 am the next morning though, we’re ready to go!

Conditions, although rainy, stayed fair enough for us to get in the water and to our slip the next morning, but then it turned quite windy and we didn’t get much done for the rest of the day. The next morning was beautiful though…so time to put on our sails!

As an extra bonus, in the fall Precision Sails had taken measurements for us to get a brand new main, and when we returned from Asia it was at the marina waiting for us. Since we couldn’t raise it while on the hard, this was our first opportunity to get it up and see what it looked like.

Enough time on the hard, let’s get this boat back in the water!!

Much love from The Azores!

Jessica, Matt & Georgie

https://www.precisionsailloft.com/

Thank you SO MUCH to our Patrons. These amazing supporters help keep us on the boat, our camera equipment up to date, and the videos coming. Without our patrons, these videos would not be possible.

To join the Patreon ranks, please visit http://www.patreon.com/mjsailing

or Buy us a beer through PayPal! https://www.paypal.me/MJSailing

Thank you!,

Matt & Jessica

Not only are we adding new antifouling to our bottom, but we’re testing out a NEW silicone paint for our propeller!

We hope you like boat work, because this episode is jam packed with it! More specifically, focusing on the bottom of our boat. The winds and rains have died down enough to give us two perfect days to get our bottom covered with anitfouling before we go back in the water. Switching over to new Seajet paints, Matt gives an explanation of why we chose them and why they should be the best for our boat and the waters we’ll be sailing in.

Then, it’s time to get to work! One coat of primer and three coats of antifouling later, the bottom is *almost* ready. We just need a little work on the prop, where, also from Seajet, we’re trying a new silicone paint on our propeller. It should let growth just slip right off, and that will be great for us keeping up speed.

Much love from The Azores!

Jessica, Matt & Georgie

https://www.seajetpaint.com/en

Thank you SO MUCH to our Patrons.

These amazing supporters help keep us on the boat, our camera equipment up to date, and the videos coming. Without our patrons, these videos would not be possible.

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Thank you!,

Matt & Jessica

We’ve been without a working watermaker for just about a year now….so it’s time to get it repaired!

Matt takes apart our HRO Seafari watermaker and replaces all the seals since we assume this is what had kept it from working just before our Atlantic crossing. After a little trouble with getting the parts shipped out to the Azores, it only takes one afternoon of work to get things ship shape again.

In our attempt to keep the boat work moving along, we’re stuck when bad weather brings days of torrential rain. But luckily for us, new friends Herbbie and Maddie (the Rigging Doctors) have a car and they swing by to take us out to lunch. We stop at the local Quintas Dos Acores and enjoy some burgers and ice cream sourced locally from all the cows on the island.

When things clear up we’re able to get back to work, focusing on the vinyl for our dodger. After tracing a template and cutting our Strataglass, we spend days trying to get just the right curve as it bends around the side of the boat. There are a few days of attaching it to the zippers, finding it’s not right, and then taking it apart and doing it again. But eventually we get all the pieces in place and now the next step is to work on the canvas which will cover our zippers on the top and bottom.

Much love from The Azores!

Jessica, Matt & Georgie

Thank you SO MUCH to our Patrons.

These amazing supporters help keep us on the boat, our camera equipment up to date, and the videos coming. Without our patrons, these videos would not be possible.

To join the Patreon ranks, please visit http://www.patreon.com/mjsailing

or Buy us a beer through PayPal! https://www.paypal.me/MJSailing

Thank you!,

Matt & Jessica

Do you like the name of this episode? So do we! We actually left it up to our Patrons to decide on this one by giving their suggestions after they watched it. Thanks for the title David, we really love it!

In this episode Matt starts with the sanding of our bottom so that we can get it ready for paint. Inevitably in a few spots he goes through down to bare metal, which means they need to be primed again with our Interlux Interprotect before any of the new bottom paint can go on.

We also make a trip from Praia to Angra do Heroismo to visit our friend Carlos and pick up a few packages he’s been holding for us. We were a little surprised to find a few have been held up in customs and then went on a search to see if that could get taken care of. It was fruitless.

Just a little more of our every day lives while getting Elements prepped to go back in the water.

Much love from The Azores!

Jessica, Matt & Georgie

Thank you SO MUCH to our Patrons.

These amazing supporters help keep us on the boat, our camera equipment up to date, and the videos coming. Without our patrons, these videos would not be possible.

To join the Patreon ranks, please visit http://www.patreon.com/mjsailing

or Buy us a beer through PayPal! https://www.paypal.me/MJSailing

Thank you!, Matt & Jessica

After three months away, we return home to a boat that is not supposed to be in the water….but still is.

Jumping an early morning flight from Lisbon back to Elements, sitting in Terceira Azores, we arrive with just enough energy to climb on board and fall asleep….while still grumbling about the fact she was supposed to be hauled out of the water 10 weeks ago.

The next morning they are able to make space for us in the work yard though, and Elements gets taken out of the water for the first time in nearly two years. We have a chance to see how our antifouling has held up.

Back in Indiantown we applied Interlux Interprotect, and we can see once she’s out of the water that it has wiped off almost back down to the base coat. We had planned on applying new antifouling during our haul out, but this time we’ll be switching brands to something that hopefully works a little better for us.

With Elements out of the water and sitting on stands, it’s time to dive into projects so we can have her back in the water within a few weeks, planning our next leg north.

Much love from The Azores!

Jessica, Matt & Georgie

Thank you SO MUCH to our Patrons. These amazing supporters help keep us on the boat, our camera equipment up to date, and the videos coming. Without our patrons, these videos would not be possible.

To join the Patreon ranks, please visit http://www.patreon.com/mjsailing

or Buy us a beer through PayPal! https://www.paypal.me/MJSailing

Thank you!,

Matt & Jessica