Hey Chris! Glad you enjoyed the whisker pole demo! We thought that might be helpful to some! Hope you had a good weekend!

The Sea of Cortez is a beautiful place!

Thank you! We are looking forward to sharing our crossing video(s) with you!

Hey Chris! I just looked this up....amazing! You are going to have some fun with that! 🤣

😊😮😮😊😊😊😊69😊😅t😅😊😊😊😊😅😊

Thank you very much! We are proud of our little floating home!

Glad you found it helpful!

Haha true, but the sea lions and epic sunsets help to offset the other!

Thank you! We are thrilled with it!

Haha, yes, it has! I remember a couple years ago trying to hand stitch a rip in our old dodger. I'm pretty sure I poked the needle through my hand more than through the material. Love you!

Thank you, George!

Hahah, thank you! yeah I try to block that 'thing' from memory as well. I can't imagine stitching leather! Yowza!

Thanks, Trent! Gary always knows how to make me smile! Hope you have a good week!

Thanks, Ian! We love the new pole! It is such a valuable upgrade for us!

Jeeping in the desert sounds like a blast! We actually tried putting a sponge filled with water on the back deck (when we were headed north in the Sea of Cortez last year) and no idea why but half of them ended up dead on the sponge. 😭 Wondering if the sponge had some sort of toxic coating on it.

Hey Rick! We really appreciate you going back and catching up on some of our older videos! 🙌

Hi Frederico, yes we put a lot of time and energy into preparing the boat and ourselves for the crossing!

Thank you for replying folks😀

Hi Ana, thank you! Ha, yes my sewing skills have come a long way since the Caribbean days!

Hi Don! Oh wow, thank you :) Really happy to hear you enjoyed this video. See ya for our next episode!

I agree with this totally. Early in the episode I was hoping you would use the drone to show that picture. Bravi tutti!

Ah thanks, Robert! 🙌⛵

Ah thanks, Hannah! I remember the first time I had to hand stitch our dodger when we just started three years ago....I've learned a lot since that day!

Thank you, James! We are pretty proud of her!

Thank you, Jorge! Hope you have a good week!

😂😂 So true!

Hey Mike! Yeah, a bit of different feeling when you are thousands of miles away from land and help. Of course, there are always things to do on a boat but we do our best to keep our critical systems and parts maintained the best we can. Our lives depend on it.

Yes indeed, twin poled headsails is a great setup for ocean sailing but requires quite a bite more equipment than we currently have!

Hi Ray! Thank you! We are happy to be part of your iPad screen!

Hey Tammy! Yes, you are exactly right about that! I've come along way since I first attempted to hand stitch our ripped dodger when we left a couple years ago. See ya on the next episode!

Happy Sunday, Gibb! 😎

We bought a new camera for our journey across the Pacific! Happy you noticed!

Thanks, Christopher! Glad you are enjoying our videos!

Getting that lean on!

Thank you, Paul! :)

Thanks, Donald! We appreciate you coming along on this journey with us! See ya next video!

That's right, LET'S GO!! Thanks for the love!

Thank you so much, Freddy! We appreciate you following along with our journey and so happy to hear you are enjoying our videos. See ya next video!

Thank you, Donna! We agree, the Sea of Cortez is a gorgeous place!

Thanks, Larry! We have been using the heck out of it! Definitely happy we decided to install it up the mast. It makes it extremely easy to deploy and store, even in rough seas.

@@SailingOneLife When we build Bluebird I'll be following your lead on that!

The new cockpit enclosure has been so nice to have. A great upgrade to keep us dry and cozy! Thanks for coming along with us!

Hey BJ! Ah, so glad you noticed that! We thought it was a pretty epic shot, too!

Hi Paul! Boat life has it's ups and downs just like any life style! Thank you for coming along with us out here!

Thanks, Jay! See ya next video!

Thanks for watching & commenting! :)

🤩⛵🤙thank you!

Woohoo! Can't wait to share it with you!

Hi Joe! Hope you are doing well! We missed you on our last couple Patreon Zoom calls!

Thank you so much! We are learning new skills out here all the time. Glad you enjoyed this episode!

Hey Steve! Thank you! We think she looks pretty good with all her sails up too! ⛵💙

Thanks, Eduardo!

Hi Bill! Thank you so much! Maybe one day we will make it to Hawaii. For now our plan is French Polynesia to New Zealand with a few stops in between. We appreciate you offering to show us Hawaii!

Thank you! We are learning new things every day out here!

Hi Terrance! Thank you! We are really excited to share our crossing with you as well! We appreciate you following along with us! Cheers!

Thanks, Jack! I always get annoyed when I see how 'ugly' the repair looks afterward. The marks really helped with that!

Thanks, David! I was pretty happy with the stitch job!

Hahaha, thank you! Hand stitching, my favorite...🙄

Thank you, Scott! We really appreciate it!

Thank you! The Sea of Cortez sure provided us with some gorgeous drone shots!

Thanks for watching, guys! The Swell Pro has been great for those risky drone sailing shots! And yes, it took me forever to realize it is much easier to use the speedy stitcher without that pesky bobbin!

Thank you, Lois! Glad you liked this one! See ya next time!

Thanks, Dennis! Hope you are doing well!

Cool, I’m watching from beautiful East Tawas bay in Michigan, USA. Hopefully will make it down under Someday cheers, my friend!

Hi Di! Glad our video helped ease your soul a bit today! Cheers!

We also hope to make it down under one day!

@SailingOneLife yes, I also saw your email to me recently and will reply back over the next couple of days. :)

No hurry! 💙

Hi there! Welcome to our channel! Yes, the pole is a bit more challenging in big seas. You'll see us using it during our ocean crossing soon!

Thanks for coming along with us! ⛵🙌

Hi Captain Bob! So cool you are in Cocoa Beach! Thanks for coming along with us out here. Hope you can get back on the water soon!

Thank you! The sewing turned out much better than I anticipated!

Thank you, Richard!! Hope you have a good week! See ya next week!

😂😂 sure was!

💜💜 thank you!

Hey John! Hahaha I don't think we are ready for the blindfold test yet!

We've never heard of one of these, we will have to look into it!

🙌🙌

It was a bit of a learning curve the first time but once you do it a time or two it becomes pretty easy!

Thanks for watching, Jerry!

Back at ya, Cindy! 💙💙

100% agree! Stitching on the ocean would be zero fun! We are in Maupiti, French Polynesia.

Thanks for the prayers, Smee! 💙

Hey Dave! The sailing drone shots were shot with the SwellPro Splash 4, it's waterproof so Gary just lands it in the water ahead of the boat, we slow the boat down and then we grab it with a boat hook on the away by. The landscape and other drone shots were shot with the DJI mini 3 from land, so Gary just lands that on a flat surface nearby.

I guess the bridle could be permanently attached, but I think the main reason for it not to be is storage. It's easier to completely remove the 20 foot line than to have to tie it up and secure it while still attached to the pole. Our mainsail is over 20 years old, so a few rips and tears are to be expected we guess! Stitch it up and keep on going!

Hey Thomas! Ha yeah we call this the 'Pirate Gary' look haha.

Thank you! :) Yes, when we were furling down our main into the boom (we have an in-boom furler) it jammed. Unfortunately, we didn't notice it and continued to furl which put a lot of friction on the unfurled section on the sail and viola, torn sail! 😭

Whoop whoop!! PACIFIC OCEAN!! We like to yell it out too! The set up of the whisker pole goes pretty fast now that we have the system down. Of course it depends on conditions but on average we can have it up with the sail out in about 5-7 minutes. Gary has deployed it a couple times on his own in favorable conditions but has yet to try it solo in rough seas.

@@SailingOneLife It would be interesting how long solo sailed can put a whisker pole out and then in

Good idea, we will try to include this in a future video!

Hi Russell! Thanks for coming along with us on this adventure! We have been super fortunate and have had no theft or piracy issues.

Yep, totally! Maybe some day we will have a second pole!

Thanks, Dave! Yep, I did both but guess we didn't get a video of both sides. That speedy stitcher sure is handy despite my dislike of using it! :)

Yes sometimes we do put the main out on the opposite side and go wing-on-wing. We find it doesn't really help much though, as we can't swing the boom out too far because we are cutter-rigged with check stays. We can't really get the main out perpendicular to the wind. Our genoa is almost double the sail area of our main, so most the power comes from up front. We're quite well balanced with just the genoa poled out, since its pulling the boat straight forward. In really calm conditions though wing-on-wing is definitely one of our favorite sail plans!

Our main sail is on an in-boom furling system and when we were furling it down (of course, when we weren't filming) the sail jammed in the furler which put tension on the portion of the sail that was still in the track. We continued to try to furl the sail without realizing it was jammed and that's when it ripped. Also, our main sail is around 15 years old and probably due for a replacement so that didn't help our case.

Thank you! :) Yes, when we were furling down our main into the boom (we have an in-boom furler) it jammed. Unfortunately, we didn't notice it and continued to furl which put a lot of friction on the unfurled section on the sail and viola, torn sail! 😭

We actually show us running wing on wing to La Paz in our next episode!

We've been sailing! And editing when we have time! We put out a video last week if you didn't catch that one go take a look!

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Great question! Interestingly, we have never noticed a performance difference when we are light on fuel and provisions.

Whisker poles are generally best used with jaws down, like we showed, and follows the recommendation by Forespar. Spinnaker poles are generally used with jaws facing up. The case could be made that for a whisker pole without a furling jib/genoa, you'd be better off using it with the jaws up.

Hey there! In this video Calico Skies was about 450 miles north of us in the Sea of Cortez.

Haha, yeah it took us a time or two of 'doing all the steps in reverse' to remember how to do it too!

This is the first time we have replaced our running rigging. According to the maintenance log from the previous owner it was replaced in 2015. We hope our new lines last 8 -10 years but it all depends on UV conditions and usage.

Hi Michael! Unfortunately, no. Maybe one day!

It's pretty easy to deploy after doing it a couple times!

Yep! Poling out two headsails would be great but requires a bit more equipment then we currently have.

Yes, we actually have two onboard! ⛵🙌

@@SailingOneLife Sorry to ask that question. I remember you practicing with them recently. I don’t remember you trying the pole with them though. I’m getting old and trying to sell this business, some days remembering my name is difficult. Liking forward to clearing my mind while sailing. 🧠🏄‍♂️🏊🎣⛵️.

No worries and that's a valid question. We do not have a spinnaker pole, only the whisker pole for our genoa. Hope you can sell your business soon so you can get out sailing and clear your mind! ⛵🙌

Yes, if we needed to change it over we would need to unclip the working jib sheet and switch to the other sheet. We find it's pretty rare we need to jibe the pole since we can go about 30 degrees off dead-downwind to either side without a problem when it's set.

Yep, we are still near Bora Bora.

@@SailingOneLife...are u watching the hurricane 🌀 hitting the big bend florida

Yes, we have many friends and family in Florida. Hoping everyone makes it through the storm okay. 💙

Hi .. what's your next destination

We aren't sure yet but we hope to be in NZ for cyclone season.

We tried once leaving a wet sponge out on the stern deck to redirect them. They went a little overboard and mostly all died on the sponge.