To The Islands! 🏝 The Perfect 2 Day Sail | Ep. 36

The day has come for us to finally leave the marina. It's been a while so we are really excited also a little bit nervous to get back out there because it's been so long. It's important for us to get out again because I think that if not we literally just keep finding boat projects for us to do and end up staying here forever. Classic us though we are doing some last-minute jobs before we leave so we're supposed to leave like in the next hour but Lars is just busy here installing a new float switch because our last one just seemed to die on us so when that's done and then we can go right Lars? That's right. Can't wait. How are you going? I'm going alright actually. The wiring is all set up. I put it down there but yeah I mean this makes it look like we've left a bunch of jobs the last minute but that's not really what's going on here. We've been pushing trying to get the boat ready to go for months now between the solar and this whole project and the hull outside and a whole list of other things. We've just been working on the boat now all the briwork and the wood and everything working on the boat pretty much every day and this is the last job that was on the list of has to be done before we go and then we can go. So once this is in we'll get ship-shaped, tidy up and then head out. So we're out for the first time in seven months which is amazing and we're trying to figure out where we're gonna go we don't actually know yet. The decision basically is do we just work our way up the coast of Spain, mainland Spain, as high as we can until we get bored or do we shoot across to the Balearic straight away and just try to make it there in one shot. The reason why it's a hard decision is because there's a bit of pressure for me because I've got some calls for work on Friday, it's Tuesday now, Tuesday evening and so we would have to be able to keep up speed the entire way to the Balearics if we did that whereas if we follow the coast then there's a bit more flexibility we can duck in on Thursday evening wherever we end up. But I think both of us would rather just get there now and be there and not drag out the passage it's not really fussed about seeing anything on the way so we'll see what the wind does what we've decided is either decision you pass close to Cartagena so that we're gonna shoot for there first and we'll get there probably sometime tomorrow afternoon and then get a new weather update see how we're feeling and go from there. How do you feel being back out? So good, I'm really enjoying it. I feel like Michelin Man at the moment though because it's a bit cold but I'm feeling really good. I was a little bit out of principle obviously because it's been a while since we've been out on the water but now I'm feeling really good like I'm actually really relaxed and it helps that there's like zero swell and some good wind. Conditions are perfect so yeah I'm feeling pretty good. we're averaging like six and a half knots or so. So all in all, a successful sail so far. Just gotta do something with that head sail. Oh yeah, it's gonna keep flapping. A little bit, yeah. That's the other panel though, right? Oh yeah, yeah. I could even tilt it a bit more now. Now you're just showing off. Oh, I've tilted too far. Too much tilt. I'm looking forward to continuing my book that I've been loving. I really recommend it if you're looking for something, well if you're a human and you have a mind and you, yeah then you should probably read this book. The Untethered Soul, I'm really enjoying it. Basically just explains how our minds work. I haven't sat down and read, there's a physical book too which is awesome. A secondhand book bought in an actual secondhand bookshop. That felt good didn't it? It did feel good. It was one of the highlights of our trip to Granada. The title stood out to me because it just made me think of the work that I'm doing, the research that I'm doing. I work with deep parametric models of self-inquiry so deep self kind of stuck out. It turns out it's John Lilly, he's the inventor of the float tank. And all round awesome guy so I'm looking forward to it. We couldn't have been luckier with the weather and wind for our first sail of the season. We had a steady 20 knots from the stern and not so much swell so we were pretty comfortable overall. We were loving being out on the water again after having had moments of doubt that we would ever leave Almerimar and started settling into life underway again. With the sail set and the sun coming down we enjoyed the slower pace and not having anything else that needed to be done. We even went down memory lane and listened to Stephen Fry reading Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone through the night. Good morning, so the wind is right behind us and we've decided to shoot for Ibiza in the end or for Matera. Just because we want to get there and the wind isn't looking good and we don't know when the next window will be. So today is Wednesday, we've got a full day of good wind and it's right behind us and so we thought it was a perfect opportunity to try our new spinnaker pole. We picked one up second hand in the boat yard in Almerimar. Essential for the Atlantic, which is what we were thinking, but also really good for just running downwind. And so I've got it out now, check it out. It just means you can have the headsail pulled out and catching as much wind as possible. As well as the main ventured out to prevent it from driving. And together we're doing great, we're doing about 6.5 knots. So just making some coffee, it's about 8 o'clock in the morning. I haven't slept very much, Alex and I took turns keeping watch over the night. There's so few boats out here that keeping watch basically means just napping in 20 minute intervals. Waking up, poking the head out of the hatch, making sure the sails aren't flapping themselves to death. And then going back to bed for another 20 minutes. And then when we got up this morning there was dolphins all over the bow. It's so cool. They're just chilling, I mean you just look at them and they're just having a good time. They're just messing around, lazily swimming in the bow wave and then jumping around. It's almost like for our entertainment. And just wrestling each other. And it makes you wonder how smart these things are. This book I'm reading at the moment, the author John Lilly, before he invented the float tank he was doing a lot of research on dolphin intelligence. And he was like an animal scientist I guess. And so he had all these dolphins in captivity. He was treating them as well as he possibly could because he had respect for them. But in captivity and was studying how smart they were. And then the conclusion he came to is that he should basically stop all research because he figured that the dolphins are way more intelligent than he initially realized. Although they aren't able to communicate in the same way as us and they don't have the same kind of intelligence, that they were having a very sophisticated and rich experience. And therefore he couldn't bring himself to keep them in captivity and keep studying them until he let them go. For a while he tried to study them in the wild, see if they would come back and be with him. But it didn't work out so well. Interesting. What's going on? I'm just lost in thought. Capturing the chill over here. I'm flying alone. Check out that big tank over there. Just ran into her the next day. Quite a lot of sail up. A bit more support. I don't know if it really makes a difference but it makes me feel more relaxed. I am just horizontal and I've been horizontal for the past 24 hours. We're having a great sail. I just saw it hit 9.8 knots which is insane. The wind's really picked up now and we're flying. But it means that it's obviously a little bit cold because, well, it's just a lot of wind and it's not the peak of summer yet so we're still a little bit chilly. But, yeah, things are good. It's coming along nicely here. Enjoying my spot. Got a blanket on me as well. And life is good. So, it's about 4 in the morning and we... What? No, keep going. It's 4 in the morning and we just changed the sail plan because... Well, the wind has shifted. We've been sailing with the wind behind us for the last 48 hours or so. It's been great. It's not been that long. 36 hours. And had the headsail pulled out which has been working great. And then the wind died so we took the sail, the headsail down and left the main out for some stability. And then as we were sleeping there the wind picked up and it took me a while to get the energy and the motivation to go out on deck and finish taking the spinnaker pole down and get the headsail back out. Could have probably done it about an hour ago. But, got it up and now we're sailing along really nice actually. We've got the last 30 miles or so to get to Ibiza. And yeah, feeling good overall but I think we're starting to get excited to get there now and have a proper night's sleep. Yeah. Or maybe even a proper day's sleep. Yeah, exactly. Sweet. I'm excited to go for a swim. I'm going to film this because it's actually going to be really cold. It's going to be freezing. But we can't get to an anchorage and be on anchor and not swim. You can put your wetsuit on I guess. I think something just fell in the toilet. Did you close the toilet seat? Yeah, I closed the toilet seat. Good job. Woohoo! We made it! We did it! I'm sorry. So what time is it? It's 11. 11? That took us less than two days. Yeah. 250 miles. It took us about 44 hours or so. Exactly, 44 hours, about 250 miles. That's pretty darn good. This is a great spot. I mean this is probably the prime spot in these two islands I think. Look at the water colour. Insane. We're really happy to be here. Now we just need to get showered, have a coffee, breakfast and clean up the boat that's just been left into a bit of a mess with all the to and fro. We made it! It felt amazing to be on anchor again and even better when you're greeted by friends at your arrival. Thanks for watching and see you next time for some chilled island living.