R7 (Daily Vlog 11 of 21) In this episode I will point out with a straight face that sleep is important. That was to be my major point of the day. I will discuss this completely banal maxim for about a minute and point people towards “offshore safety” meetings, I had not even been involved in, just present for, to mislead people into thinking I am some sort of authority on the matter.
Cheers,
Riley
(Daily Vlog 12 of 21) Today we went to ‘Adventure World’. It was fun. Good on ya Abbey for taking on that rock wall! Hahaha bless.
Elayna
2017-01-26 00:17:09 +0000 UTC View Post
(Daily Vlog 10 of 21) Some sail changes and fitness in todays episode. Mother nature however can’t seem to make her mind up as we have a bit of inconsistent wind and sloppy seas causing La Vagabonde to wobble around a bit. There is a bit of a 12th man quoting Richie Beneaud fitness camp (most of you may not know what I'm referring to here unless you have been following the sport cricket for the last 10 years or more), some podcasting and poor captaining decisions.
Cheers,
Riley
2017-01-24 23:16:56 +0000 UTC View Post
It was a sunny day. Hot even. Sorta. Myself, Abbey, Graham and Jac were a bunch of happy chaps. We jumped on a ferry and cruised over to the other side of the bay - Russell, to check it out!
Cheers,
Elayna
Hope you're enjoying being on board my solo sail from Tonga to New Zealand.
So obviously a bit of safety information in here for the kids. To be extra cautious, I decide not to sleep as I get closer to the only island I would encounter on this trip. This causes a few problems and perhaps a bit of delirium. We have the “Annoying thing of the day” segment and some nicer wind.
Cheers,
Riley
Here's what we got up to today. Chocolate and catching up with our pal Travis. Oh yeaaahhhhh. Trav tells us all about his experiences of his Tonga to New Zealand crossing, making me feel better about Riley, although sounds like HeapsGood had some tough days out there… Tune in tomorrow to catch up with Riles :) Hope you're enjoying our 22 days of 'daily vlogging' (one week ahead of the public).
Elayna & Riley xo
2017-01-22 23:51:08 +0000 UTC View Post
I actually didn't have much to film as it was a VERY slow day so we've kept this one short and sweet. We have the next daily vlog to put up very soon. These daily vlogs are for a limited time only. Stay tuned!!
Cheers,
Riley & Elayna
Departing from Tonga and deciding what course to take, hoping that the forecasted weather holds true and really really really being like… not worried… but like when you get butterflies but they are the good kind and your feeling ok but have a big task ahead of you but think that you will be able to do it but also know that people have died doing this trip before and definitely wanting to do everything you can to make sure it goes as smoothly as possible. Conscientious, sedulous, respectful o...
2017-01-21 12:04:28 +0000 UTC View Post
My day started off good, peanut butter toast for breakfast and a walk through Haruru Falls. Then an unexpected message from Riley saying he had left Tonga to begin his voyage! It was weird not being there with him to make sure he was well prepared and to wish him all the best of luck.
Hope you're enjoying our daily vlogs. Plenty more to come! Stay tuned....
Elay xo
2017-01-20 14:34:32 +0000 UTC View PostBye bye Australia and my lover, for now. Riley and I seperate for different adventures. Mine being a LOT less adventurous than his adventure! Abbey and I would be staying in the Bay Of Islands - New Zealand awaiting Rileys arrival from Tonga. His single handed sail from Tonga…. looking out my aeroplane window while we were flying over that large blue ocean made me nervous, but very excited for him :)
2017-01-20 00:40:25 +0000 UTC View Post
Just ironing out a few details here and gearing up before the 1200nm sail. I enjoyed making this one, hanging out with Kjell and Adrianne and getting LaVagabonde as close to perfect as I could. Also there is a bit of sea salt on the lens which you won’t want to miss out on. Quality stuff.
The closer I got the more I heard people saying how tough the crossing can be. This became concerning. They were always talking about a crewed sailing vessel and some didn’t know that I was attempting to do it solo so didn’t hold back in their descriptions of the weather they had encountered in the past. The fact that all of these very experienced sailors had had such a difficult time with a crew was giving me doubt and worry before the huge event!!! and a title for my first kind of solo vlo...
2017-01-16 22:38:44 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello family. Thanks for being legends. I hope you like the daily vlogs to come, starting for you guys as of this Monday. Just wanted to let everyone know what the deal was with Patreon. Nothing will change, you will still be charged as usual
**edit** Just to clarify, whilst we are doing a short period of 'dailing vlogging', we will only charge for one 'daily vlog' episode every Monday.
:) I hope you enjoy my creations yippeeeeee. Thanks to you and sending my love!
What an inspiring story. You definitely don’t come across stories like this too often and after reading Ians email in response to the winning patron call out we smiled, laughed, cried and took the time to really appreciate what we have.
You can read his email we made into a blog here
http://sailing-lavagabonde.com/a-yacht-called-cynthia/
Thank you so much for your support Ia...
2017-01-14 04:22:16 +0000 UTC View Post
After a year of sailing thousands of miles from Grenada in the Caribbean where we spent the hurricane season of 2015, all the way to Tonga, we decided it was time to go home and visit the friends and fam! Being this close to Australia has felt so good and homey. We’re only a flight away. Join us in episode 72 as we say an awesome goodbye to Tonga and our good friends Adriana and Kjell. What a place! Filled with such wonderful people... Stay tuned for 'A Yacht Called Cynthia...
2017-01-09 21:49:46 +0000 UTC View Post
There I was, stranded on a tiny little deserted island in the archipelago of Vava’u - Tonga. However, I did do it to myself. I wanted to see what it would be like to be completely alone. I can’t remember ever being completely alone for longer than a day. EVER! That’s scary. And so were the wasps. Enjoy and tune in Monday for more sailing adventures in the beautiful sunny Pacific Ocean. Xox Elayna.
Song Credits:
00:08 Deeds - Thomas A Major
00:57 From the Outside - Circl...
An abandoned, creepy looking yacht called the ‘Sea Oak’ that was covered in security tape, was anchored right near La Vagabonde in Neiafu - Vava’u, Tonga. The captain of the vessel, Dean Fletcher, allegedly killed his wife onboard in July of 2016. He was placed in a Tongan jail until one night when he escaped his cell, swam out to his yacht and took off. The most action packed event the police have ever had to deal with in these quiet islands in the Pacific! With some pretty chilled out da...
2017-01-02 21:40:48 +0000 UTC View Post
There is an endless list of jobs that needs to be done and fixed onboard most yachts, like, always. You could stay in one port FOREVER if you wanted, preparing your vessel for a particular sail or even a circumnavigation up to your standards… but at some stage, you’ve just gotta leave or you’ll never go! Regardless of a few broken parts onboard, we left the main island of Vava’u for a little island hopping adventure (I should be noted, that we wouldn’t have done this if it was a ...
2016-12-26 23:10:01 +0000 UTC View Post
We were so lucky to get to swim right beside a big mumma and her calf, for 3 whole dives. Vava'u - Tonga, what a place! We celebrate a traditional root tea ‘Kava' ceremony, which made our conversations amongst our table a liiiiiiittle deeper and more relaxed... Riley claims it was just the beers. Also, meet some of our new pals from the water and get a real taste of the place. Congrats to our winning Patrons, we hope you can make it aboard! These videos are made p...
2016-12-19 21:32:43 +0000 UTC View Post
Double episode!!! So as of today, you will be receiving videos a week early before they are made public on YouTube. Just something else we can do to show our appreciation. Let us know what you think.
So.....a marlin! It was a bit of a battle pulling this beautiful, majestic creature onboard just out of Tonga, but we finally did it! In the whole 30,000nm miles or so we have sailed around the world in total, we have hooked a good 10 massive Marlin that have all managed to get away (and take our ...
2016-12-12 22:57:37 +0000 UTC View Post
I must say, the beginning of our 236nm sail from Niue to Vava’u - Tonga was a bit of a downer, considering the auto pilot had once again stopped working and this meant we would be hand steering for 2 days. Any old salt would have probably just stayed in Niue until it was fixed, but us kids decided to keep going and sort it out when we got to Tonga. We’d heard nothing but good things about the place from fellow sailors and we were super keen on exploring a new destination. So maybe being a...
2016-12-12 21:36:05 +0000 UTC View Post
Niue, one of the most unique places we have ever stumbled across. You can drive around the whole island in just over an hour and the ocean that guards it, is absolutely filled with Humpback Whales! We hangout with Pinky, a nice local lady and get a real taste for island life.
A big congrats to Malcom and Elad, we hope you can make it onboard for an epic sailing adventure very soon!
Double episodes next week to bring you a week ahead of YouTube!
If you live nearby France or ar...
2016-12-05 21:55:11 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello to our wonderful Patreon family. We are here to give you the run down of all that's been happening lately. Who would have thought our little home made videos would ever make us so busy... Although, it's all very exciting stuff ahead for us and we couldn't be happier. A huge thanks to you guys for helping us keep our production OURS. We've said it before, in the video above and I'm about to write it here in the description as well, THANK YOU. Stay tuned for more updates from us and extra vi...
2016-11-28 22:42:09 +0000 UTC View Post
Good morning dear Patrons. I am here to present you, Episode 65 today. Thanks so much for helping us to keep the production going. Videos made possible by you.
WELL it was bound to happen. Boats and drones don't really mix well, do they? How do you even fly a drone of a rocking monohull? Or you just don't? Anyway. Join us on our 140nm sail from the magical Beverage Reef to Niue. We see our first Humpback Whales, and have a whale of a time. Stay tuned for the mastering of this new, strange, ali...
2016-11-28 22:17:12 +0000 UTC View Post
Hey Hey!!!
Several weeks ago Riley interviewed Jose, a fellow sailor who had many stories in common. There's a number of questions we get asked regularly such as:
- Maintenance costs and the complications involved when in remote locations
- What we would do differently if we had our time again
- Upsides and Downsides of cruising and the lifestyle
- Scary moments out at sea
- Relationship / friendship challenges whilst cruising
It is 32 minutes so if th...
2016-11-25 17:48:23 +0000 UTC View PostHey hey!!! How cool is this view for starters!!
We navigated through two reefs using an old chart we had found on the internet. Mix that with an overcast day and we were sorta pushing it... but we made it to the inside of Beverage Reef! Completely uninhabited, with the clearest blue water you’ll ever see (even on an overcast day) and some now well-fed reef sharks lurking in the pass. Still devo about losing that Tuna. Another 'Lesson Learned' haha :) Despite the fact we didn...
2016-11-21 21:24:51 +0000 UTC View Post
We got new sails! We put them to the test and the start to our sail to Niue (590nm west across the Pacific Ocean) was a rough one. Poor Julian was as sea sick as they come and couldn’t go down below for most of the trip (I’m telling you, coffee is the devil when the seas are high!). We are hoping to get to the inside of a tiny reef in the middle of the ocean, a few hundred miles before Niue if the weather turns around. I guess we’ll see. Stay tuned and I hope you enjoyed :)
Anothe...
2016-11-14 22:32:53 +0000 UTC View PostA bit of extra footage from our time in Rarotonga for you this fine Friday! Riley visits a jail and an abandoned hotel, we go spearfishing with Kyle and hangout with the little ratbags swimming around La Vagabonde. Surprise! Happy Friday! Until Monday humans.
Thanks for watching and your continued support here on Patreon.
We couldn't do it without you!
Riley & Elayna xo
Meet Andy and Julie, a lovely couple from Vancouver. They welcomed us on there 70ft power yacht ‘Infinity’ to check her out and to eat some oh so delicious pasta. We quiz the pair of them on the pros/cons of what it’s like to circumnavigate the globe in this beauty. We also take care of a million and one jobs onboard which is always good fun.
Thank you Patrons!!!!!!! We can keep these videos coming so regularly because of YOU.
Made with love
Elayna xo
2016-11-07 21:50:52 +0000 UTC View Post
We're so close to home! (yet still so far). Rarotonga - Cook Islands is a hot spot for the people mostly of New Zealand to visit, when they're in need of a little escape... and we can see why. The unprotected harbour wasn't too flash, so we spent most of our time exploring land instead. Also, meet our pal Julian! Here to help with all things SLV for a month or two.
Another video made because of the amazing support of YOU! Thank you!
Love, Elayna xo
2016-10-31 21:17:34 +0000 UTC View Post