Definitely some sporty conditions and possibly too much power at times. The gas bottle was scary to see below deck. Keep those life jackets on. Not a cliffhanger because the first few minutes, thank you! Glad to see how calm you both were
Well done for getting through this and you will be much better, more confident sailors as a result. Similar to other commenters below these conditions are not exceptional or abnormal so I am not quite sure what you expected before attempting an Atlantic crossing. Always better to plan for the worst, it is not unusual for forecasts to be 15 to 20 % stronger than the models predict and it is always useful to look at the higher altitude forecasts on Windy and Predict wind to have a better picture of the dominating patterns. I am also a bit surprised that you didn't decide to take on additional crew to spread the load a bit.
I wrote this over a year ago, but Jason never seems to get rattled when the sailing gets rough and unpredictable. He is quite the sailor and you are lucky to have him as the captain of the boat. You handle adversity much better than most people I know.
Get a spare autopilot/windvane Learn how to slow the boat down so the autopilot can cope Figure out what your boat's ideal downwind sailplan is so that she's balanced and you reduce the load on the autopilot Never keep gas or gasoline below
Great episode. Real. Well done. Please follow up after your crossing with some detail about the autopilot break and what you will plan to avoid this going forward.
Thanks so much for starting the video showing you in calm waters and arriving safely. Otherwise, it would have scared the hell out of me. I've been in swells that big, but not a washing machine. I'm glad you guys are ok. Great job. BTW, my sister's cat watched your cats while lying in my lap. Apparently, he likes the girls. LOL
Hahah awww 🫶🏼❤️thankyou! That made me laugh 🤭 that is so cute! lol our girls also love watching things on the phone or laptop. Especially other animals
As a non professional sailor with multiple ocean crossings, I find these VLOGS that make great drama out of quite normal, even ideal, conditions disingenuous. It’s sailing 101 to close all your through hulls when heeling to avoid back flow, etc. I could go on. But, the main thing is, I’m thrilled to see people out there meeting the challenges.
These were far from ideal conditions. As you know, you meet a load of people when prepping to cross an ocean that plan to do the same and we don’t know anyone else who had these conditions (except for the others crossing at the same time 😅) it really was roughy out there and I wouldn’t call 38 knots and 5 metre swell ideal or normal with an unpredicted low pressure system. However I do understand, of course it can be much worse than this. But it’s certainly not something I would choose to go out in again and we know others that had incredibly calm and chill conditions before and after us, that of course Then took longer to get across. The water wasn’t coming from thru-hulls but actually through our solar arch where it’s drilled into the deck. We’d never had problems before this but the constant pooling water in that area obviously was enough to cause an issue unfortunately. But thankyou 😊
I'm assuming apparent wind speed as it doesn't look like enough for 37knts true. I'd recommend you both hand steer far more than you do. Hand steering is an invaluable skill, it also allows your boat to "talk" to you, which it can't via the Autopilot. Brace for impact if you think this was a rough day at the office with "monster" swells...I'd call this a standard ocean sea way.
The water coming in from an unknown location made me a little sick to my stomach just watching. I’ve been in the water overnight twice. There’s a moment when you know the boat isn’t going to make it. I hope you never have that moment.
Oh wow that’s so scary! Luckily for us it wasn’t enough to get worried and was just something we had to keep ontop of. It ended up being through the deck from the solar arch, the guy who installed it clearly didn’t silalex seal it off very well. The problem was the deck was so wet from the rough sea’s and constantly healing to the port side we couldn’t dry it out enough to fix the problem. So it ended up being an issue for majority of the crossing
Wow, my heart is thumping as I’m sure yours was. So glad to know you have arrived safely. No 1 issue for me would be to slow the boat down. Doing 11-12 knots is too fast and puts considerable force on the boat. Ok for a day sail occasionally but not on a long crossing. If the wheel feels heavy the sail balance is wrong and you need to shorten sail. If you are broaching when hand steering the Autohelm will not cope with that, plus you will be using excessive power to try. Sail balance in big seas is critical. My Autohelm in 1986 used beep and shut off completely when the effort was too much. We just had 30 knots in a huge swell yesterday and my current Autohelm did something similar by sending a warning alert. At that point you need to reef right down to 5-6knots. Gas bottle floating loose in the back cabin is a definite No No. No gas bottles down below at all. If that bottle leaks the gas will sink to the bilge and then when you light the stove for lunch BOOM.😮 even if it’s empty it will still contain enough gas to explode. All bottles must be kept on deck or in a proper vented gas locker. Apart from the screw holes leaking which I’m sure you have fixed there are lots of things to learn from this episode. It’s amazing how much water comes in through a screw hole. I’ve had similar issues delivering boats that owners have made alterations to. Not fun in a big swell. Congrats on graduating to the big league, I’m looking forward to the next nail biting episode. Janaye you have come so far in your sailing skills since those early days. Give yourself a big pat on the back, superwoman. Love you guys sail safe.xxx
Yes the At;antic can get rough. If you are headed for the Caribbean you have to spend some serious time in the San Blas Islands of Southern Panama. This area is a top destination for serious cruisers…Not Yachties. Best snorkeling, in the south eastern Caribbean. Be very careful in the Caribbean, life is rough and impoverished. What ever…DO NOT GOT TO BELIZE OR RORATAN, We were boarded by drug smugglers “pirates” very common occurrence. We were the 2012 Placentia incident. Lastly just to underline the San Blas once again, cruisers visit for 3 months and 3m years later they are still there. Great cruising community. Tramp freighters “really Cool’ come up the coast on a regular basis and anchor up for business, meat, beer spirits, hardware etc. This is a really unique shopping experience that your viewers will undoubtedly love to see. The local indigenous tribe are the very peaceful and happy go lucky Kuna Yala tribe. The matriarch of the tribe is the Mola maker, which are embrodried tapistry cherished for their unique artistic value as well as being. a story piece that are quilted together into garments. The Kuna will bring out barrels of water and fish for sale. The worst offense is to take a coconut which definitely belongs to someone and is a primary source of income much like the days of old in the south pacific. The San Blas has often been compared to French Polynesia in tranquility and natural beauty. Be sure to get the crushing guide which is the go to last word on the matter. If you are going through the Panama Canal, DO NOT pull into Colon which is very rough. Pull into the marina on the opposite side the old Fort Sherman. If you are interested I can give you insights into the Panama Canal and the incredible beauty of the Pacific coast of Panama. Feel free to comtact me on Panama and the Inland Passage between Pudge Sound Washington and Prince Rupert, British Columbia. Captain Dan George
You can make a boat go really fast, for a while. Then stuff starts breaking. After the near tumble over the side, I'd think you guys would hook up to the boat via jack lines when going forward on passages. Risk management.
I near spit my coffee when I saw that camping gas bottle below decks. Safer to have a case of dynamite than that. That was some tough innings to start your crossing. I'm looking forward to the next segment. The current record holder for the crossing is Orange II. Averaged 28.5Kts 4 and a half days.
At least your doing it) I should say done it) well done it’s going to be a great memory and something only a few people do,🎉 I was just wondering, how safe did you feel on your Jeanneau as a lot of discussion between sailors considered production boats to older heavier so called ocean going boats? Don’t know if you ever thought about it, but it would interesting to know your thoughts I have been following you guys since day one of your adventures I take my hat of to you, well done I have been sailing around the med for 3/4 years now I am hoping soon to cross the Atlantic Great videos and appreciate the reality of your posts Thank you ✌️⛵️
Oh thanks so much for your kind words ☺️🫶🏼 I would say we felt safe. As safe as we could in such crazy conditions. It wasn’t that we were worried about if the boat could handle it because it’s a production boat if you know what I mean. If anything it’s just worrying about things that we’ve done to the boat later and how they’re going to hold up or if they’ll create problems. I know so many people say stuff like that about beneteau, Jeanneau etc, they’re obviously not blue water sailing boats. But then you think about how many people have circumnavigated the world/crossed oceans in them and you can see that they’re clearly Capable of it. I think it’s more the preparation’s of everything else that makes your boat ready like inspecting the rigging, and buying all the spares you need etc etc 😆
After our own crossing I've refused to watch anyone else's on RU-vid for a while, but glad I broke that streak for you guys 🤣 You handle each problem as it crops up as team, which is what sailing is all about 💕 Kitties look comfy and snug, you're making wise decisions, handling the rough seastate like champs... and yeah, the odd cry is valid! Proud of ya.
I realize that the stress and chaos that we see is not anything near the reality you both felt on board, but I am still on the edge of my seat. Only day 2 and already a broken autopilot, water filled bilge, supplies scattered everywhere, and endless towering swells. I would hide in my cathouse too. Excellent storytelling and drama. Looking forward to the next s#!t show... I mean, episode. Cheers from Idaho!
We are a 40’ cat, Silba, my video’s didn’t do the conditions justice of how confused or big the primary swell was. I thought we were sailing the confused seas you often experience in the Mediterranean, but on steroids!!! We did stay more south than Kerpa, Sea3PO, and others. By the 3rd day, I went to 3rd reef on the main and jib, mostly because of the swell and with the consistent 25kts, gust to 35kts, we surfed several times over 15kts!!! Hopefully, when you are in Grenada, we can swap stories on our crossing, as we had plenty of things go wrong, and challenged us, too. All about the Macgyver abilities and adaptability out in the middle of the vast ocean! Cheers! ⛵️😎
Yeah it’s so hard to get it on film hey, so when we find footage we’ve taken that even remotely shows what it’s like we always hope the viewers realise that it’s actually far worse than it looks 😅 That’s insane! We got 12.7 top speed and then all our instruments failed for the remainder of the trip as you’ll see in future ep’s 🥴 For sure! We’re actually sailing back south now from BVI’s but we probably won’t make it to Grenada until July unless a hurricane rears its head earlier 😅 if you guys have instagram add us @leading.the.escapade and give us a message and we’ll keep in touch for when we get down that way ☺️ cheers
I really enjoyed this video, took me back to that experience, as we were one of the first Viking Explorers Group sailboats out that morning, Silba. I think just ahead of you. Most of the Viking Explorers group stay north, as you guys, compared to us. The several that stayed southbound were headed to Suriname, a Dutch Colony. I chose to stay south to stay out of the weather conditions I saw developing up north. I did have the initial plan to sail north after the most westerly island, but changed during the first night of bashing, to have a better a,ngle to the primary bashing swell! While we still had the rough conditions, we didn’t experience the squalls as much, but did put us going wing on wing for most of the voyage. We made the crossing in 15 days to Port Louis Marina, Grenada, almost completely under sail!! ⛵️😎 The sense of accomplishment shared with a small group, all experienced the same conditions, has made a forever bond of a lifetime. Many sailors dream to cross the Atlantic, never get to do the challenge or take the risk, we the Viking Explorers Group of 25 boats, Qi, and you guys did it!! Congratulations!!!🍾🎉🙌👏
Hey guys! Oh this is amazing! We didn’t know you watch our channel, but we kept seeing you guys on the tracking page of the Viking rally as our friends Brea and pat on SEA3PO sent us the link. We hope you enjoy the next few episodes then ☺️ that’s awesome! we completed our crossing in 14.5 days to Barbados almost completely under sail also, with about a 7 hour heave-to a few days in, when shit hit the fan and the exhaustion really kicked in 😳 we were projected to complete the passage in around 12.5 days which is Insane for our little 40 foot monohull but we had numerous things that went wrong and unfortunately we decided to sail about half of the passage with no main up as we broke our traveller This is so true! 👏 What an accomplishment to share with everyone, especially with the testing conditions we all had! So Congratulation’s to you guys also, we all did it 🫶🏼❤️
I was so looking forward to this episode..really felt the tension!..as a fellow Aussie you done us proud!!..memories created for a lifetime..you’ve both come a long way in two & half years!..congrats & well done 🇦🇺
To be fair 3-5m swell is not unusual in the open ocean. Its just another day sailing. And its not easy. You do get used to it. At 11 transatlantics and 4 pacific crossings I am quite used to it. I still get nervous the night before we leave though. In two weeks I will be leaving Tahiti for Brisbane. Its an easy trip much like your transatlantic, but I guarantee I will be just as nervous as you were....
Oh yes for sure! Not unusual at all mid ocean We had 4-5 metre swell on our crossing from the Canary Islands to Cape Verde too, but it was a completely different experience as the sets were so far apart I think around 15 seconds or something and also we had light wind, it was just residual swell from a system further away. whereas the swell we had for a few days on this crossing was 4-5 metres, 7 seconds apart, plus confused sea’s like a washing machine, due to the low pressure system that we actually ended up in. We had 38 knots there for a bit which was not enjoyable 😅 We also didn’t really get the downwind conditions some had and was slightly more on a beam, kind of on the back quarter I suppose so some swell really pushed us all over the place Wow that’s insane! I can’t believe you’ve done so many 😧 wishing you the best of luck for your next crossing to Tahiti 😆🙌🏼
They were ok. We just had to lock them inside a lot when it was rough as we cared for their safety most importantly. We just couldn’t give them much attention while all the problems were happening as we were just so exhausted and stressed. But they were kept well fed and as soon as we could give them attention we’d go down and sleep with them etc They did really well though and got into the swing of passage life. We gave Lulu something called calmex at the beginning of the trip for a few days to keep her nice and relaxed. All natural stuff too so it doesn’t make her like a drowsy zombie just calm and sleepy
when you set out on an adventure, together, did you originally think "oh we will meet people along the way and tag onto them". Sailing is a skill and passion without fear, dinghy sailing is where you start and progress your skills. Just remember that you are playing with your lives and there are easier ways to make a living on the back of youtube.
