We’re glad it helped you! So you say you’re researching a book? Are you writing a book about repairing sails? Or something else? -Mo

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Thank you, such a beautiful city!😊-Mo

This sail wasn’t very hard. But this one was: An 1100 nautical mile offshore sail straight to Svalbard in the Arctic Circle: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-F6NZJgroiE0.htmlsi=eflEZlmVIWNCMXSs

Or this one: Bermuda Nightmare, Part 1 of 6 (Westsail 42 Sailboat Paragon) ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-kBixPDkrqTQ.htmlsi=30YiD9EMHtV7g6dx

@@drakeParagon : ) Thanks for the suggestions, but I'm pretty sure I've seen them before... I'll take a closer look at them though. You were a baby in that older video. Thanks for all the videos you make. Fair winds.

As soon as we arrived in Spain, in a marina Gijon, Spain, customs agents arrived at our boat and we filled out the paperwork. You're required to have your passports, boat documentation, and boat insurance. Spain is a part of the Schengen Agreement, so if you are from the US or UK then you are limited to staying only 3 months in the Schengen zone. You have to get out before the 3 months is up, and then you have to be out of the Schengen zone for 3 months before you can return. There are tons of great anchorages all over Spain (and France!), and unlike Morocco, you don't have to fill out paperwork every time you move the boat.

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The Hydrovane has worked fantastic for us on some very long offshore voyages, but I haven't opted to use it yet in very close to dead downwind conditions, like much of this sail was, where there's more chance of accidentally gybing. But eventually we'll publish videos of using using the Hydrovane for countless hours at a time. We're really impressed with it. - Drake

It really does…and it felt a bit like that as well. -Mo

That’s so exciting! Where are you planning to sail once you push off? -Mo

@@drakeParagon hi Mo, I’m in Kilmore Quay, Southern Ireland. Spoilt for choice as far as which direction to go.

@@markbates713Oh nice, you are spoiled for choice. If you ever get the opportunity, I would very much recommend heading north and checking out The Faroe Islands. Incredibly beautiful and such a lovely place. -M

I must check out your videos of the Faroes trip. I just started watching from Killybegs onwards. Thanks for the advice.

@@markbates713 And if you have any suggestions for Ireland we’d love to hear them! Happy sailing! -M

It turned out there was a tiny piece of the original impeller that just took several months to work it’s way down and become a problem. Hazel had looked at her engine multiple times and had mechanics go over it as well, but the piece was somehow missed. However, it was found in the end and her engine has been working great since! -Mo

That’s a great idea. You should ask them…perhaps they’ll add it to future models. I know I’d love it if there were backpack straps. It would make carrying the bag even easier! -Mo

Köszönöm szépen. Hálásak vagyunk, hogy megoszthatjuk veletek kalandjainkat! -Mo

He just loves sailing for the sake of sailing soooo much. His enthusiasm is infectious! -Mo

Thank you! In Gijón there are a few nice beaches with lots of people swimming, and there are plenty of surfers, but I was really surprised to see that person swimming that far out into the harbor. I hadn’t seen anyone swimming that far out before.

I traded flying (Mooney M20J) for sailing and it amazes me how many current or past pilots are in to sailing. One person said they have one thing in common, it's the journey and not the destination... And, motorcycle riders are plentiful in both groups as well.

We’ve met so many people on sail boats that are currently pilots or were previously. Definitely a lot of similarities there. Just out of curiosity, what do pilots say to wish each other safe/enjoyable flying. Blue skies? Fair winds? -Mo

A lot of crossover for sure! -Mo

I have been dealing with severe asthma for my entire life. Sometimes it’s a bit of a challenge to manage, and nowadays ome days are better than others.

@@drakeParagon ah, I see. Be well. Hope to run into you guys out there someday…I saw in a comment that you have a Tides Marine track for the main. We recently added one to our Amphitrite. Game changer 🤙

@@drakeParagon Has your huffing and Puffing gotten worse with time? You could have asthma, and a heart/lung condition coming on as you get wiser. With regards to that clicking sound...did you check your main's halyard wench? Best...SV Aquila...Seattle.

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Thank you!

sigh* It’s a scary situation and I don’t know what the solution might be. I know there is some amount of self-reporting going on that is being catalogued, but for what purpose I do not know. Over the years Colorado (a state in the US) has seen an uptick in mountain lion attacks as a result of people encroaching on their territory. We’re basically building houses further and further in the back country and then surprised when there is an encounter with the lions. But that doesn’t seem to be the case here. I certainly don’t want an endangered group of Orca (or really any Orca) killed but, at the same time, I don’t want boats to keep getting attacked and even sunk. And it does seem to only be a matter of time before someone dies as a result of these attacks. But again, I don’t have a solution. Hopefully something will be found that works to reset this balance. -Mo

@@drakeParagon please don’t get me wrong: I love animals, and totally understand that we’re in their habitat as sailors. I understand it’s a very small group of <10 animals from which a few have attacked multiple times. There’s a few hundred reports now in that area. As far as I understand constantly from the same group. That means that 300-700 people have been at great risk. The authorities do not want to hear of any solution. But are happy to find boaters calling for help and towing a boat in costs severs thousands of euros. They protect these orcas like they are the most precious animals ever. But sent out fishermen to catch hundreds of tunas. None of that makes sense given the damage and danger. Hope you have a good journey. We’re still sailing in Asia. Situation in Red Sea makes it unlikely we’ll come north that route. Stay safe

Mo and I are not sure what makes you think that we were not communicating. 🤔 We have lived aboard Paragon for 14 years, and depended on each other as we have sailed many tens of thousands of nautical miles together. At this point I think we have the communication thing down pretty good. 😁 - Drake

- I’ve never seen a sinking boat pole. I’m afraid that you still haven’t. 🥺 I stand corrected. I just did a test, here at anchor, and found that our boat poles do indeed not sink. But at the time, my split second decision was thinking that it probably had. Thanks for letting us know. 🙏 - Drake

Thank you 🙏 😊

- Good question, thanks for asking. We have a special track in our mast called a Tidesmarine track, and modifications to the mainsail to use it. The track makes it extremely easy to quickly raise, lower, or reef the main by taking out the friction. With the Tidesmarine track, I have never had to go up into the wind when reefing or unreefing. And the vast majority of the time, I can quickly and easily raise the main without having to go directly into the wind, and without any hassles. I’ve done it hundreds of times, and so I think it’s faster and easier for us and for our boat and how we sail it. Our boat has a full keel and weighs 40,000 lbs, which is pretty heavy for a 42 foot sailboat, and she is not nimble. Just about everything takes longer to do than it would on a smaller, fin keel boat. She also tends to hobby horse when motoring straight into the wind, which can be extremely uncomfortable. So… in most windy situations, if I had to choose between motoring straight into the wind, and then hobby horsing for however long it would take to raise the main, or stay on a reach and raise the main without the hobby horsing and then just keep going, I would rather do the later. Of course, in this video, it didn’t quite work. I was able to raise it to the second reef, maybe even the first reef, but then ran into a little problem with the last part going to a full main. But it usually works, and even in this case we were able to correct it easily. I hope this helps convey my thinking about it all. Please note that I’m not recommending doing it this way to everyone out there on all boats. I’m just showing what we usually end up doing. - Drake

Yes, of course. 😊 Hazel is a great friend, and we really look forward to convoying with her again.

Thank you. Sure! That thing is one of the best things I ever got for the boat. :) It is made by a company called Tacklife. But I will have to get back to you on the model # later when I can find it.

@@drakeParagon Thanks so much, couldn’t locate it by make only. Maybe a “Drake’s Favorite Things” episode??? Maine is very bulky and takes up way too much space.

My understanding is that a piece of an impeller had broken off and gone into the closed fresh water circuit. Back then, the engine was overheating and Hazel hired a mechanic in France who worked with Hazel to swap out the impeller among other things. Then the engine was running fine, not overheating, and Hazel continued on, sailing a great distance to Spain, with lots of engine running without any problems. I suspect that the French mechanic didn’t realize, and I don’t think Hazel knew, that that tiny bit of broken impeller was still in the system. But it wasn’t until we did our convoy that it got caught somewhere and plugged the circulation and caused the overheat. But I don’t know all the details, and if you want to know more I would recommend you ask Hazel on any of her videos at RU-vid.com/SailingAlanouwoly.

They are great! We do have a fantastic pair of top of the line headsets made by Hollyland. We almost always use them when we are raising anchor. And we found them invaluable when I had to go up to the top of the mast, if you search for “DrakeParagon work at the top of the mast”

In this video I actually was at no point was scared or thinking that things were getting out of control in any way. We’ve seen a lot of heavy weather sailing in our past voyaging. This was not anywhere near as demanding. One time I was actually a little scared was in our voyage to Svalbard. If you want to see that video search for “DrakeParagon a hellacious 1100 nautical mile voyage to Svalbard”

Thank you! I’m not certified or qualified to offer profesional advice on electrical systems. However I think plugging your 220 volt shore power cable into the power station’s 220 outlet would work great as long as you don’t exceed the 2400 watts. However, please note that the Bluetti AC200L’s 12 volt output is via a car/cigarette lighter outlet, and that it is limited to only 10 amps, so i suspect that it may not be enough to power all of your 12 volts stuff without tripping. I actually purchased a separate, waterproof converter that I am planning to plug into the AC200L’s AC outlet. It will convert that AC to 12 volts at up to 25 amps. I got it because I want to run a portable, 15 amp, emergency bilge pump on the power station. If it works well then we’ll make a video about it. :)

I’m sorry you found this video stressful to watch. But I can assure you that there was no panic.

Thanks for the tips!

In your opinion, what weather model would you consider to be the most accurate? If you could only have one, which would you choose?

Thank you Kevin! In our experience comparing the weather models for our voyages, it’s very rare that they do not all pretty much show the same thing for the weather for the day of the forecast. And then for each day out in the forecast they tend to differ more and more. For our sailing in the EU, I usually tend to focus on the ECMWF weather model. I know this sounds incredible, but that jabbering sound went away and we never figured out what it was! At the time, it really did sound to us like it was coming from the main, but for the life of me I couldn’t figure out where or how.

We even have a 3rd spare boat pole that we use as a towel rack in the forward head. It’s also used to push down the anchor chain when it castles as we’re raising anchor.