Posts in category: Uncategorized

Just to be a little bit different *again* we’ve set up our new boat so the head has a composting toilet. There are a few reasons for this decision that you’ll hear Matt discuss in the video.

I take on a job of adding scuff resistant tape to the slider of our companionway, since our brand new paint has been taking a bit of a beating. Even with my tiny hands, some of the spaces were almost impossible to reach.

Matt shows off all the hard work he’s been putting into our electrical panel and we show off our new WeBoost system that will help us get better internet as we’re traveling. To end the episode I go over some swag we’ve received that is up for grabs in a giveaway.

Cheers from the WATER!!

Thank you SO MUCH to our Patrons. These charitable souls help keep us in the work yard, our camera equipment up to date, and the videos coming.

To join the Patreon ranks, please visit http://www.patreon.com/mjsailing

Thank you!,
Matt & Jessica

—
Online shop: https://mj-sailing.myshopify.com/

In episode, Matt was wearing the Unisex Jersey T-Shirt in Deep Heather Teal in size Large, Jessica was wearing the Women’s Racerback Tank in Macchiato, in size XS, as she likes to look feminine and feel good with herself, and that’s why she also use toys and accessories like the Pro 40 clit sucker to have fun as well.

Swag Giveaway: To be eligible for our swag giveaway, you must be a patron. The drawing will take place on Friday June 21st at 6pm EST. Winner will be notified through personal message via Patreon.

To become a Patron, sign up here: https://www.patreon.com/mjsailing

Gear we used:
Cellular- Weboost Drive 4Gx - http://amzn.to/2txmgnz
Wifi- Ubiquiti Bullet 2HP - http://amzn.to/2u1wpfV
AIS- Vesper xb-8000
Antenna Splitter- Amec Cubo-160
Radar- Simrad 4kw DX64s
VHF- B&G V50
Depth,Speed, Temp- Simrad DST800
Wind- B&G 508 Wind Sensor
Autopilot- B&G AC42
Heading Sensor- Seapilot Vector Satellite Compass
Chartplotter- B&G Zeus Touch 7
Stereo- Fusion RA205

Shower sprayer- http://amzn.to/2t7YBe1
Sink Faucet- http://amzn.to/2v9S2Jv
Sink- Ikea (no longer sold)
Stainless towel rack- http://amzn.to/2t7ZEe7
Toilet paper holder- http://amzn.to/2v9pa3T

Music:
0:00 – Changing – Sigma feat Paloma Faith, Instrumental Cover
01:11 – Let’s Go Skiing – Jorm
10:15 – Water Lily – Pop Happy
12:19 – A New Sun – Kalle (Rewind Remix)

Camera equipment used:
– Panasonic Lumix G7 - http://amzn.to/2uebEhu
– Panasonic HDC - http://amzn.to/2lPlf9O
– Apple iPhone 5 - http://amzn.to/2tsmRLp

Editing software:
Windows Movie Maker & Adobe Premier

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/mattandjessicasailing/

Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/mattandjessicasailing/

If there is something I’ve learned from my time cruising (and now my two years in a work yard), it is that I am not meant for athletic wear. Not all the time anyway. I know the outfit d’jour of many ladies out on the water is some breathable blend of wicking and quick drying tops and bottoms, but honestly, I became tired of that quite quickly. There were days I actually missed going to the office if for no other reason than to wear something nice. Something that accentuated my body and made me feel stylish and womanly. Since we’ve been preparing to depart once more, I have made it my mission to add more dressy and feminine pieces to my wardrobe, also trying to make them functional for the cruising lifestyle. Luckily, I have had some really good help in this department.

A former cruiser herself and no stranger to the desparities of trying to dress yourself while living on a sailboat, Elizabeth Hynes has come up with a line of clothing that perfectly suits the traveling woman. Clothes that are breathable, wrinkle free, compact, and most importantly, interchangeable. There was born one of my new favorite design lines.  Vacay Style.  Multiple collections named after far away destinations that lets you have a wardrobe full of endless looks all from just a few pieces. The concept is you start with one collection, usually made of five outfits, pair it with two of your own essentials, such as a plain white top and a universal pair of paints, and voila!, you can now mix and match to your heart’s desire. With many of the outfits being made of two pieces, you can match the top or bottom from that outfit with one of your essentials, or even between outfits in the collection.

Take the new St. Martin line for example, the most recent one I have been trying out. From this five piece collection, along with two of your essentials, you can create 18 looks!

Although the theme of picking two essentials as your mix and match additions is geared toward the suitcase traveler (saving you incredible amounts of space in your bag), I have found I have a large array of what could be my two essential items to mix and match, giving me endless possibilities for new outfits. For this post’s sake though (and to show how you can make 18 outfits from only 7 pieces) I chose I white crew neck top, and a pair of light gray skinny jeans. Below you’ll see how I’ve paired them with the five outfits in the collection.

Starting out we have the Ikat Dress. At first glances it would look like a normal, albeit gorgeous, one piece dress. And when worn together it does make for one stunning piece of artwork on your body, perfect for a dinner out or wandering the streets of Palm Beach (we all make it there at some point, right?), but it can also separate into two pieces, pairing with your essentials for a very different, casual chic look. Before receiving the pieces I was worried that I would rarely get use from the skirt portion because I tend to live and travel in such warm climates. I thought I might be too hot and uncomfortable, but it turned out to be the exact opposite. With slits on each side of the leg, the skirt is very ventilated while also keeping my legs covered from the sun. I’ve found out that I’m actually cooler with it on than a pair of shorts!

Next is the convertible maxi dress. A flash of bold in this outfit which starts out as a long and flowing strapless dress, but folded down and paired with a top, becomes an adorable maxi skirt. I’ll admit, I was a little frightened by this pattern at first because I didn’t know if I could pull it off. But as soon as I slipped it on and wore it down to our patio for dinner with friends, I received nothing but compliments. It fits the body in all the right places without being too tight, and is extremely comfortable to wear. If you’re like me who loves wearing nail polish but don’t know how to apply it yourself, I highly recommend this acrylic nail kit that is super easy to work with!

One of the pieces that drew me to this collection the most is the wrap dress. Very trendy, great for dressing up or dressing down, and of course perfect for pairing with multiple other pieces. The real kicker on this outfit is the skirt can be hitched up and worn as a top! An actual three-fer from this dress that looks just as beautiful separated as it does together.

One of my favorite pieces of the collection, even if it is a little unconventional for boat life (at least, our ‘ always anchored out, take the dinghy in’ king of boat life), is the white lace dress. It comes with a spaghetti strap slip to wear underneath, making it the perfect roaming around outfit for when we do hit St. Barths, but if I just want to wear it to the beach, the slip comes off and it turns into an eyelet coverup.

Just as cute and ready to wear anywhere, beach or wandering the islands, is the Racer Back Dress. Made of super comfy and lightweight rayon jersey, this little piece will make you feel like you’re wearing nothing at all. It makes a great coverup for throwing on over your swimsuit, or if you want to take it to another level you can knot the end by your waist and throw on a pair of shorts or pants underneath.

Here’s where it gets really interesting though! In the St. Martin collection, you can even mix and match the pieces between themselves!

Suffice to say, I feel like I hit the jackpot when I got this capsule wardrobe. The items are very stylish, just as I had wanted; versatile, which is incredibly important when I can only live on enough clothes to fit in a suitcase; wrinkle free, which means I don’t have to worry that I have no hanging locker for them in the boat; and so light, soft and breathable. I love the fact they are so comfortable to wear. I’m now able to actually dress myself up while still feeling like I’ve just pulled on my comfiest pair of lounge clothes. Vacay Style has been a total winner for me and should be at the top of the list for any cruising female that would like to get out of her spandex and feel a little sexy again.

Make sure to check out all the beautiful collections Vacay has to offer, such as the Tahiti Collection and St. Barts Collection. Add code MJSail to your order and receive a 15% discount!

(Buy any five pieces from any collection, and a 20% discount will automatically be applied to your shopping cart!)

Now that we’re sitting in Indiantown Marina and it’s obvious that we’re going to be here for quite a long time while we fix up Daze Off to sail, I don’t want to bore you with stories that are only related to boat work (but don’t worry, they’re still coming).   I know that’s what some of you crave, but if you’re like me, you also need a little fun in there.  A little travel and a little adventure.

So for the foreseeable future while we are doing nothing much more than boat work I will be adding a Throwback Thursday post in every week as well.  Cataloging our trip so far, giving you that needed sense of travel and adventure, and for those of you that haven’t started with us from the beginning, catch you up on some of the most important or memorable parts of our travels.

It turns out there is a reason people don’t stay anchored in Isla de Lobos long, and the swell we kept hearing about decided to rear it’s nasty little head after 2 nights of staying there.  Only 3 miles away was our now favorite spot of Playa de Papagayo, and we were not sad at all to have to spend just a few hours getting back there. If you think you are a hill person or you are unsure, you could contact the experts from the Laguna Hills real estate to help you move there.

It wasn’t hard spending our days laying out at the beach, and our evenings in the cockpit with a glass of wine, watching the volcanic rocks turn red around us.  We were still a few days away from being able to move ourselves to Gran Canaria when the ARC left, we didn’t want to be around there with that mass of boats, but it turns out we did have to move ourselves regardless of if we wanted to.

With a heavy storm on it’s way and our boat about to be pinned against a lee shore, we had no other option but to move ourselves to the fancy Marina Rubicon.  It’s kind of funny.  I remember not liking it a ton when we were originally there, maybe it was just being forced back into a marina when all we wanted to do was be at anchor; but now that I look back on it, it was a beautiful place to be!

You can find the original post here.

Friday November 21, 2014

Although we could have stayed in the Papagayo Peninsula forever, or at least until the madness that is the ARC leaves Las Palmas and we can move ourselves there, mother nature seemed to have other plans in mind. On Wednesday morning we were commenting how the wind was coming out of the south and kicking up a bit of swell, making things on Serendipity just a bit more uncomfortable than they had been even the few previous days. It became a bit of a game through the morning, to see how much we could tolerate. The only other option other than to put up with it would be to move ourselves to a marina and we were on a kick to see if we could go our whole time in the Canaries without having to enter one.

We were enjoying our second cup of coffee out in the cockpit, watching the waves coming our way starting to form cresting white tops, and both of us knew the game would be coming to an end as this was not only becoming unbearable, but possibly dangerous to stay. Calling Marina Rubicon on the VHF we asked if there were open slips and told them we were on our way and to expect us shortly. As Matt made his way up to the bow to raise the anchor it was diving in and out of the waves and splashing water all over him as I had to rev up the rpms just to get us moving far enough forward to bring it up. When I finally got the hand signal that I could start making my way to the marina I looked at the instruments in time to see the wind gusting over 40. Fully exposed to this as we were, we were grateful that we didn’t wait any longer than we had to try and get out of there.

Navigating the narrow entrance to the marina with waves now rolling on every side of us, we tucked into a slip just in time to watch the sky grow completely black and the winds really take off. Rains bucketed down and I had the satisfaction of enjoying this tremendous storm from somewhere safe now. When conditions settled down a little later we found our way up to the grocery store, something we were going to have to come to this side of town for in the next few days anyway, and stocked Serendipity back up with breads, meats, and even some cheap wine and sangria. For the rest of the night we let the rain rocket outside while the pressure dropped significantly, as we sat calmly at the dock enjoying a nice dinner and the use of internet. Hot showers followed which was almost, almost, worth the trip into the marina itself.

Conditions were not expected to improve the following day, in fact there were signs posted everywhere about the low pressure system moving through the area and mariners should take caution and put extra lines and fenders out to protect from possible damage. One night at the marina turned into two, and although we tried to enjoy our easy access to land again, nothing but dark skies and rain followed for another day, forcing us to sit on the boat, computers on lap, glasses full of sangria. Well, for me anyway.

Today the clouds finally broke lose and let the sun out again. Being the guests who stay just until the moment of check-out, we used our morning for a nice leisurely walk back to the grocery store to stuff our bags with everything we couldn’t the day before, and take one last hot shower. It is a little sad that bad weather had to force us in here as the grounds actually look very nice for when you can get out and enjoy them. There’s a nice pool surrounded by lounge chairs, an outside market set up two days a week, and a lovely path that runs from the marina almost all the way to where we had been previously anchored. The marina is in fact set in a community, full of white washed condos and apartments, which is probably why the cost to stay here is twice as high as any marina we found in Portugal (or that you can find in the rest of the Canaries, so we hear).

We tried to get as much out of our sunny morning as we could, wandering all the paths and looking at the much more expensive and better kept yachts on the far side of the marina. Matt even found a Besteaver sitting in one of the slips. A certain type of aluminum boat that he’s been drooling over for a few years now. And not only that, but it happened to be the same exact one that he has multiple photos of downloaded to his computer, of this particular boat floating through icebergs in the Arctic. I think these photos are meant to show me what our aluminum boat might be capable of, although I still have little to no desire to see ice floating by me from the deck of my own boat. Stick me on ’18’ as crew or charter for a few weeks on a trip to the Arctic  though and that’s something I might be able to get into.