Originally published at: Watch: a day in the life of a solo sailor on the high seas | Boing Boing
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Fans of this video may be interested in the ~90 part video diary of the keel-up restoration of Tally Ho, a 1910 gaff-rigged cutter out in Washington. Full disclosure: I know a few of the folks involved here.
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That was great, and about as boring as you’d expect. Only way I’d consider doing that would be somewhere warmer.
It looks like solitary confinement but with a risk of drowning added in.
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(As a blue-water sailor, an introvert, and a spectrum-y guy, this is some version of heaven to me.)
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Sailing from Miami to Nassau is about a 9-hour trip over some beautiful waters, though running it from 9pm to 6am is supposedly a good way to do it. It’s considered an easy passage for someone with moderate open-water experience to do at the right time of year.
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Great channel. I love that giant vintage bandsaw, among other things.
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And that’s two of the selling points.
My longest lasting obsession is to build a boat to sail in the Race to Alaska. As they themselves say: “It’s like the Iditarod… with a chance of drowning”.
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An old school way of doing this is with either a drogue or a sea anchor. No 'leccy required.
Sampson Boat Co is one of the channels I hold up as a shining example of what “reality TV” can be. I’m sad that Leo’s slowed to a 2 week release schedule, so it’s a long wait between fixes. Latest episode was about his initial thinking on the rigging. Fascinating stuff!
My wife thinks I have a man crush on Leo. Little does she know Dangar Stu is my true love. Even bought one of his T-shirts!
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Regular books still work when wet, can be traded at marinas (if the marina has a transient slip they likely have a book exchange), don’t require recharging and are much more tolerant of sea water.
Capt Slocum was right, we are too reliant on modern do-dads for navigation.
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Also a shout out to SV Seeker, a guy building a huge steel sailing ship in his backyard in Tulsa. I’ve been watching him since video #1 almost a decade ago, when he built a dry dock in his yard, and he’s very inspiring. A real role model of what you can do when you let go of fear of failure or of doing things you don’t know how to do. The only barrier to entry is a strong stomach for his occasional privilege-blind libertarian rants.
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That’s damn cool. But . . . pouring your own lead ballast? What a nightmare for a whole host of reasons, not least of which is the lead vapor going into the air. I found the episodes where he did the lead and wonder what the consideration was for not going with water ballast. His comment of “Apparently can still type and form sentences so call it an oops, and don’t make a habit.” doesn’t inspire a great deal of confidence.
Oh, for sure- don’t emulate him safety-wise. He’s very lax about a lot of things. I cringe every time he cuts aluminum on a table saw without so much as a riving knife- even carving curves. It’s a miracle he hasn’t been impaled by a kickback doing that (though perhaps he has had close calls and edited them out). But it’s his choice and I watch for the audacity and bravery of the project, not as a how-to. As a fellow YouTuber, I know that everyone loves to be a safety nazi watching other people work, and it’s not really fair to pass judgement based on edited clips about how safe someone is overall. Plus, safety is a personal choice anyway. I wouldn’t do a lot of what he does, but I also keep those opinions to myself.
Sure. I see that he discusses feedback he’s gotten and modified his build based on that. That got me wondering about the lead vs water (or other type) ballast choice. Maybe the boat type doesn’t work with water ballast.
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