Transatlantic Sailing on a 50' Catamaran. Day 4-5. Cold Wind, Waves and Fog on way to Namibia 

Tamas should have the rest of the crew out reefing sails so you all learn to sail the boat when he's gone.

I never get seasick but for those who do, if you have a lemon cut it in half and when you feel queasy just lick the lemon half and it will stop you from being sick. Put it in a baggy and in your pocket and when you just start to feeling ill lick the lemon again. My mother got seasick and she used this method for years and it made her days aboard much better.

In the old times of sailing ships, the night watch always reefed the main until morning. I always did that unless the weather report did not show any significant increase in wind speed at least over 15 knots. With a roller furling, you can always release or take in the genoa from the cockpit. If you require a second reef, it is time to wake up the rest of the crew.

Craig, I'm sorry , I have to say it, Tomas leaving the safety of the cockpit without a life jacket.... FORGET, and IGNORE all the negative comments, some people just like to criticise, he's a well seasoned sailor, a big boy, and well able to look after himself, you were neither the skipper or his keeper, so not up to you to tell him what to do. (Besides he has probably more experience that all of the crew combined so would probably tell you to back off in a more direct manner.) It was a great video of real life, INCLUDING some very seasoned sailors getting complacent about their own safety; that's on them, not those who reflect real life in what they record. I speak as someone who some years ago lost a friend that was a very seasoned sailor who got complacent and paid the ultimate price as a direct result in what would be considered very safe waters. That was on HIM, nobody else! I could understand the comments if it was you that went up there, but it wasn't and I am sure mostt commenters would have read the previous ones, so why on earth keep repeating the same thing. Great video, by the way, keep'em coming, and please DON'T let these haters cause you to censor future episodes. Keep it real as the Americans would say!

thats fantastic sight I have had a pod of 20 or so dolphins follow my friends boat on the way to the canaries that was fab as theywould come right upto the hull

On forward deck with no pdf or tied off and cold water, not good. On the other hand. More food for others

it is much like the fog that decends on the A4 motorway/ autostrada, between Torino and Milano

I'd love to see more shots of the B&G display to see the boat's performance stats.

Looking forward to the next episode!

Me and my wife bought a bread maker years ago. we both put on 10 lb. Love fresh bread but we got rid of it.

Really loved the video, exciting! Would have felt more comfortable for Lamus to have a PFD on when setting reefs in the main in strong winds and waves.

That is a pretty slick setup with all the lines running back to the helm.

Looks like the Xquisite handled the ordinary conditions well. If the weather is going to be a bit yuk it looks to be a nice boat to be on.

outstanding Craig

Your videos are great

She looks like a great boat

Old time sailing. I don't see any women [which are bad luck according to Cpt. "Lucy Jack" Aubrey]. I can't wait for spotted dog on Sunday after swabbing and the holy stones.

Craig, great video! Tamas out on the bow in 26-28 kts. with no life line. That breakfast sounded good. Fresh bread from a bread maker is pretty common on boats now but smells great. I thought this episode is where a seal hitched a ride on the sugar scoop. Guess not. Be safe now that you’re back to work. Take care!

Very cool vid ! Love the seals & I'm sure the challenges you face provides great experience in the long run.

cool stuff. looking forward to next episode

I have in-boom furling on my cat. I wouldn't leave home without it.

Exciting episode Craig!! Thanks for sharing! Funny how the waves do not look so large and how it swings the boat around is amazing,,, but that's the ocean I guess!

W O W!

Love the solid rails

I hope the Owner of Xquisite boats gives you & wife a discount price when you buy your X5

Man it seems that some of the people on board took a very cavalier approach to safety on the X5. Nobody should be on deck in rolling seas without their life jacket. It didn't look like there were jack lines either. Well cats are safer than monohulls in the man overboard respect, but it can happen nonetheless. Maybe I am just being overly callous!

Really nice Cat love your videos. Thanks

Looking forward to the guided tour!

Love learning about reefing on this boat, very interesting, all good to learn and know about, no matter what type of boat you have...However, it's also interesting that on a million dollar yacht that this isn't set up to be a bit easier and less dangerous. I would not feel comfortable going outside like that and hopping up there without being locked in, anything can happen, a sudden gust of 30 knots and MOB drill kicks in, and in that cold weather you can get hyperthermia very quickly, that will kill you first before you drown. Also, not sure why the reefing wasn't done WAY earlier before you all got into that weather scenario, unless it literally started minutes before you started filming. I see you stated it happened over night on the night watches, and wasn't dealt with sooner, as it required to wake up Thomas, which apparently no one wanted to do initially, as it SEEMED like the weather wasn't going to get any worse. My understanding is that WEATHER and NAVIGATION are the two most important things to learn when sailing, it can literally make the difference between life and death as anyone can learn to sail a boat, but not everyone can make the best decisions to keep yourself out of harm's way. Yes, squalls come out of nowhere, so you have to react quickly, but you should learn through knowledge and experience the importance of preparing for such eventualities. Overall, it all worked out for this cruise, and no one was in any danger fortunately. I think for me I learned to start reefing early and often, far better to be prepared, and I learned that probably for night watches its best to reef before it gets dark, especially if there is any possibility of foul weather coming through. Thanks for capturing all this and teaching us about the reality of sailing and how it's not always beautiful and perfect blue water sailing, LOL.

Still an awesome boat.

Practice practice practice - no more Thomas; the rest of you need to get to work handling the sails every day whether you need to or not. Over and over again until you can do it by intuition in the mass confusion of a real emergency. Now is the perfect time to start.

Guys....if you freshmen sailors doing your first trans-ocean crossing learn anything from your great adventure, please please please let it be that personal safety while at sea is of paramount importance; particularly when you are sailing in cold waters where you have a short window before a man overboard is in a life threatening predicament. The ocean floor is littered with the bones of tough guys who eschewed basic safety equipment/procedures in a blow. Don’t be the tough guys who don’t need no stinkin’ PDF’s, jack-lines and other ‘sissy’ safety paraphernalia. Be the ‘wimps’ who always arrive in port safe and sound. If you tempt fate enough times, fate will eventually intervene. Be safe, enjoy the great adventures in your future.

You sure got a lively crew there ^^

canibalisum is alive and well on board the SV sea sick

For us noobs what was Tamas doing on the deck, was he attaching a rope to a reefing point then pulling that line in and what would be the difference than lowering the halyard to make the sail area smaller? Sorry for the noob question I have only ever sailed dinghies. Also, love the series I will be at Annapolis this year to look at the X5 and make a final decision on which Yacht to buy cheers.

very funny conversation ! Love your stuff and the slow motion was definitely more effective at capturing the huge size of the waves! You need to quit being a copper and do this full time my man, just avoid the cannibals!

Did you manage to get time off from " your regular job??

hey craig, did you happen to do a mini review of the OC Tender during the crossing? Would be really cool...

you should have rods in the water. probably tuna under that bait ball.

Hacking your body up, eh? That explains all the fava beans and chianti bought during provisioning.

I’ve heard those cross seas are bad. I hope you’re out of that soon.

Seems like a lot of this could have been done before hand. If your single or short handing you don’t want to be going out there.

love the video!!! If you guys ever need a crew give me a call

You continually give the wind speed, but I want to know the wind speed. Does the boat sail in the double digits?

is the x5 on sail drives or prop and rudder?

He who fits an inmast furler on a cat will not go to heaven!

👍

Hey! Who's stern with the fishing line?

you want to try sleeping witha fridgebox behind yor truck then have someone pull into the stop at death oclock in the morning

Please explain the reefing a bit. If I understand correctly, you were capable of reefing from the cockpit and would have the same/similar amount of line tension and chafe from mast to cockpit as any other cat with lines runs to the cockpit. But, the X5 also has a additional/optional clutch at the mast for the reefing lines to relieve tension/chafe from mast to cockpit. Is there also a clutch for that reefing line in the cockpit? Is it correct that in bad weather you need not go to the mast at all and the mast clutch would just stay open? Why add the clutch at the main? Was there a chafe problem on an earlier boat and this was the solution?

High wind, big waves, no safety line, no life preservers.

I'm curious what model of bread maker was used....it looks larger than most I have seen.

still waiting for the massive swells🤣

What kind of speed did you get out of the X5 with those heavy winds? I know the cross-seas weren't helpful, but with 25+ knot wind, it must have been getting near the operational/sane maximum. FWIW: "possibly" depending on species, dolphins can swim at least "over 45 knots" without much trouble if they want to, so if they seem to be just goofing around your boat in whatever conditions, that's part of why. Whatever you and the sea are doing, it's a fraction of what they are up for. Crazy superior life forms in their own realm...

That's not a crew. It's Tamas, Craig, and a few guys who don't particularly care for either of you. Seems that Tamas single-handed it to Namibia.

Massive swells?

Not sure the crew members will have a common X-Mas card list.

5:20 .... is THAT the EXACT reason they opted to PAY for THOMAS's expertieese on this first leg, so that the boat is *SET* *UP* *CORRECTLY* the first leg not 4 legs into the journey???? ;)

13:50 banner edit: *except Janice

The “massive swellls” comment made me laugh. That’s easy sailing brother. When I was 8 years old I was on a 42’ sailboat from Nova Scotia to Annapolis in 20’ swell. Once you see some serious sea conditions then the weather shown in this video will be nothing to you. The boats today are built pretty damn tough including computer design and tougher methods of construction.