Follow Mike and Sue as then learn the ropes, nope, lines of sailing.
We started our adventure into the world of sailing after Mike went on a business trip that ended him up at the Annapolis Sailboat show in 2019. Sue learned the details of the experience and we decided to learn more by going on a weeklong learn to sail ASA course at BlueWater Sailing School in Ft. Lauderdale, Fl.
We were hooked. We returned to NC and soon after, chartered a boat in Oriental, NC. That was fun, but wasn't enough, so within a couple of months we bought a sailboat so we could do it more!
Join us as we soak up as much learning and experience as we can; loving life and always planing for out next, bigger trip! You'll get to see the things we learn the easy way and the hard way, trying our best to enjoy both.
Come aboard and join two best friends as we get to return to enjoying the simpler experiences in life.
Beautiful boat and thank you for the detailed video! I have a 98 40cc that has the same headliner issue in the aft cabin. Do you have any info / advice for replacing it? Looks like a tricky job!
Tell me about it. There is history for both being accurate and I think it comes down to geographical preference. Apparently in the US, salon is more common, in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, saloon is more common. If you check out www.dictionary.com/browse/saloon and www.dictionary.com/browse/salon I think you will agree both can apply, though technically, saloon(definition 2 and 3) is more accurate. In practice though, as we have been sailing through the Caribbean, salon is what is heard 99% of the time.
I watched one of the company's last real and reliable model/products, I wish they had stuck to the same quality/design philosophy instead of making charter boats.
That happens to a lot of production boats. Gotta follow the money, I guess. That's why we ended up with the new boat we have, a semi-custom boat out of South Africa!
Hi there, would you be able to share the approximate upgrade cost for this option? We are having a catamaran built in SA currently and considering this option. Thanks!
Hi and thanks for the comment! I would have to look back for the exact amount, however, I’m retry sure it was around a $4-5k upgrade. A pretty significant upgrade, but so happy we did it.
@@kirkb3473 great, sorry for the late reply. You can even use something like a carabiner clipped to a segment of the trampoline, feed your spinnaker dousing line through it and you can then pull up to douse. Sometimes nice, especially if you are lighter. Keep an eye out for another video we’ll be doing about using a Tylaska as a spinnaker tack dump. Another one of those things that cost way more than it looks like it should, but so worth it! Helps with both safety and makes dousing easier.
@@OnANewTack Great tip thanks! We've actually sailed on a Balance 526 that used this type of set up let back to the winch to pull the 240sqm Asym down in a big blow. I've added this to my notes of "stuff I need" lol. Do you know which size you have by chance?
@@kirkb3473it is a T12 and we have their “release plug”, which is tied to a line with a carabiner on the end. Even in light conditions, we douse the sail and then pull the line to release the tack to get the last bit socked and pulled over the cables that support the seagull striker. We’ll cover all this in the video since it’s hard to explain.
Glad you like the boat. Sorry you don't think we cover the boat well. We still need to do a walkthrough of our actual Vision 444, "Mira". Any suggestions that would make the video better in your opinion?
Bridge deck clearance is about 24"/600mm. I'm not sure any catamaran is comfortable in upwind sailing condition, and very few monohulls for that matter (unless they foil!!). It's all a compromise. For us, we are glad to have the bridgedeck clearance we have because it means we have less windage, which helps when anchoring and docking. We, like most live-aboards, try to just avoid sailing on strong, up-wind days.
@@OnANewTack not really, like anything, once it becomes a job the passion goes. For you and us that’s what matters. Keep it fun keep it simple and keep it real. 😁👍
Despite living relatively close to Knysna, the first time that I heard about Vision was when you guys did the boat show tour all those years ago. Look how far you and the 444 have come since then! Congrats to all of you!
Tell me about it! By the way, you live in an amazing part of the world. ANYONE should look for an opportunity to visit South Africa, especially the Garden Route area.
Well we didn’t see this video until this morning! But it was so great meeting you both on jubilee on Thursday. Keep doing what you are doing guys! Cheers Mike and Kaurie (engineers from Canada)
Shopping while sailing - where i learned the importance of reading the expiration dates, BEFORE making the purchase! Ahhhh, the trip to NYC! Great time! We found some wonderful gunkholes on the trip North!
We absolutely love Oriental! Thanks for sharing! Melissa gave us your link. Wish we would have video chronicled our 25 years on our boat, so many wonderful memories We will try to catch up on your voyages.
So cool meeting you today in Washington! Now we missed out on meeting Chuck! Will definitely enjoy your travels. Thanks again for being so friendly today!
Hi Terry! We are on the ICW heading that way now! We will be getting in very late to Washington and plan on anchoring near town or on the free dock if there is room. Email me at mike@onanewtack.com and I’ll pass on my phone / WhatsApp number. I hear you are bring me something from Adam; thanks!
We met Mike & Sue after their Atlantic crossing in their new boat. They knocked down 1065 miles in 5 days. I think the boat did just fine with mini keels.
Thanks for the comment! Yes, daggerboards would definitely reduce leeway and allow us to point a little closer to the wind. Sue and I specifically were searching for a catamaran without daggerboards just to simplify, but we can certainly understand the want for every last bit of performance.
Hi John, thanks for the comment! Yes, for us, the compromise has been well worth it to reduce complexity and also to get maximum interior space (those daggerboard cases take up a good amount of room in the hulls). Getting the performance we do with a 3'9" draft and a 63.5' mast opens up a lot of close-in anchor spots as well as ICW access when we need it. Looking forward to seeing you and Tina again soon!
Awesome, I remember hearing the number while in Knysna, but didn't remember it being THAT high. Damn impressive. This trampoline option is on the pricey side, but so, so nice and worthwhile. First, having something with a lot of open area is critical / a safety feature when ocean crossing. We've had copious amounts of surf come through the trampoline that would have damaged or destroyed the typical white "charter" trampoline. But even aside from that, it looks great and has functional value being able to attach things to it. Love it!
I like the simplicity of the nanni engines and worry about lightning strikes taking out the Yanmars. The Vision is top of our list and it’s nice seeing people go in so many different directions with options. Also great to see Vision’s commitment to working with owners on their builds!
It's amazing how smooth they run too, since they are 4 cylinders in the 38 HP size. The 40 HP Yanmar is 3 cylinders and there is a noticeable difference in vibration at idle. Glad to hear Vision is at the top of your list; Mira is just such an awesome home! She is so safe and solid; we have no creaking, etc while underway, even when beating into 6 foot seas. Reach out if you have any specific questions!
Well, you could take a taxi to Clarke’s Court and then a water taxi to Hog Island, or a taxi to Woburn Bay and then either a water taxi or long walk to Hog Island. I found this nice site with some more info: www.caribbeanauthority.com/grenadas-hog-island-is-hog-heaven/
Great video. One question that I have is about shading. Do you have any problems with your boom? I have a ketch rig which could lead to shading. Thanks.
The boom does shade it a little bit. Usually just one panel gets a shadow, so that panel drops down to about 25% of the others. When we were on a dock, we would adjust the boom location throughout the day, but normally we’ll be on anchor or a mooring, so no point!
@@OnANewTack Sorry if I wasn't clear. I meant the Starlink antenna shading. Solar Panels do have shading issues. Does your signal degrade or do you notice. Just curious. Thanks for a response back.
@@johnchilds4156 Hi John, sorry, wasn’t paying attention to the video you commented on!! Shading from the rig didn’t seem to be a problem, at least we couldn’t identify a correlation. We had small periods of outages, but could have been lack of uplink or other issues, but it was never out enough to be more than a very mild annoyance. I think we had one 4 hour or 8 hour period that had no coverage, but we think we were just were there were zero uplinks nearby.
We have one! We used it a lot too. When this picture was taken, the wind was a bit above what the Levante was rated for and the wind was at 165 degrees. It’s great though;very happy we have it. We are going to do a video shortly about how we are rigging the control lines with some extra blocks, etc. to make control easier.
Thanks for sharing. I'm curious how the quality of the boat has been through its first big journey. I'm seeing other channels struggle with big ticket issues immediately after purchase and fighting constant warranty issues. I went on a short cruise on the Vision last year and loved it but not a lot of data yet on quality and durability. What's your experience so far?
👍 Yes - Ditto on that. Since the Vision was designed by sailors _for_ sailors, I'm very much interested to learn more about expectations Vs performance, function, operation. And in particular; the multi-chamber floatation design in the hull.
It is a Gori Overdrive prop. Factory is super dumbfounded as to how this could happen. They end up going on pretty securely. We'll find out hopefully soon. A new prop was assembled in Denmark and is already on the way with Fedex. It's currently in Memphis with and estimated arrival of "some day". (Must be an island time thing). We've heard that the same exact thing happened to SV Delos; we need to watch their video and see if we can learn anything. I'm leaning towards putting the new one on myself and I'll do a video and maybe can shed some light.