A little trip to Staniel Cay

It was to be a little trip from Georgetown to Staniel Cay. Although not on YOLO this time it was a YOLO crew get together with our good friends on the Texas Two Step, Dave and Leslie.

Lance, Amy and myself arrived in Georgetown together and after a cold beer found our way the the dingy dock behind the Exuma Market. With a few attempted hails on the VHF we figured we would just drink a few more Kalik's and wait for Dave and Leslie to appear. It was only a few moments later they came tearing through the cut and we loaded up the dinghy.

Pina colada's for all and the days long travels melted away. We settled in around the salon table and spread out the map. What to do with 8 days we pondered. Head south? Maybe north, but how far... what to, what to do.

After a few more Pina colada's it was determined that heading up to Staniel Cay for a few days of spear fishing and relaxation was to be the order of the week!

Check out the photos and stay tuned for the day by day update.

As the October winds begin to pick up in the north and the sailing season draws to a close at 44 degrees north, another adventure is brewing down in the mid latitudes.

Interline is only a few days away. Stay Tuned for UPDATES!

Team Zissou trying to make their way into the pack and out of the rain.

 Andy Working on lunch for the rest of us! 

Moonrise over Anegada

Support Vessel YOLO getting ready to cast of for day 5 of the Interline.

Bumm'in around the BVI's

Yolo made the trip from Palmas Del Mar, PR to the Interline Regatta. Admittedly we were the only non charter boat in the bunch, but that made it all the more enjoyable! Andy, Lance and myself (Chris) along with our friends from Compass, Frontier and Horizon Airlines made up Team Zissou. 

More on this amazing 10 day adventure to come!

Yolo rafted in Anegada, up with a Lagoon 48 and a Beneteau 50.5

Holiday trip to YOLO

Stay tuned to the blog for pictures from our upcoming adventure to ring in 2013 in Puerto Rico.  Tomorrow my good pals Andrew Plehal, Eric Alms, and I are leaving for a 10 day new years trip.  Tonight we are filled with excitement and can't wait to get back to paradise!  

A November Return

A Return is in Sight!!  Come On November!! 

It feels as though it was just yesterday that Andy and I (Chris) were sailing YOLO around the SVI's with our friends Kaleb, Stacy and buddy boats LeeLoomiani, Billie Rae and Sold The Farm,  but a quick glance at the photos reminds me that it has been nearly 7 months!!  With only weeks to go until we can again hoist a sail and send her barnacle ridden hull out into the blue waters off the coast of Puerto Rico, YOLO's list of chores has been growing by the day!


Stay tuned for more updates from Andy, Lance, Mark and Chris!

I guess we live more than once. Perhaps we are Hindu!

Breakfast with the whole crew aboard yacht Sold-The-Farm left to right: Doug, Leeloo, Dylan, Emily, Bruce, Bobby, Andy, Stacy, and Kaleb

Here is the tale of Captain Chris Warrington, the Silverberg`s, and myself (Andy) gallavanting around the Spanish Virgin Islands seeking and finding the good life! 

It has been over a year since my last blog post and since leaving the salt-life and moving back to Minnesota. In that time YOLO has moved back to Puerto Rico to her semi-permanent home at Palmas Del Mar marina.  After renting a car in San Juan and driving south to pick up groceries/booze along the way Chris and I made it to the marina to find YOLO waiting just as chris had left her one month ago. When we entered the cabin filled with our tropical possessions and catching up with our friendly marina staff, we both had the same feeling of coming home.  We had finally made it back to where the weather suits our clothes!



YOLO powering through some 7 footers


The plan for this week was to beat into the wind to Culebra where the next day our newlywed friends from Red Wing Kaleb and Stacy would be meeting us.  Another old friend named Dylan would also be meeting us.  If you are a dedicated YOLO blog follower you will know Dylan as the bartender of the Willy T`s floating pirate ship bar where we spent many nights misbehaving.
Here is the link to Dylan and Emily's new blog:    http://www.leeloominaiadventures.blogspot.com/
I'm sure they will get caught up in all kinds of adventure and this should make for some fantastic reading!  Their vessel is also a fine Bristol Yacht named Leeloominai after their baby girl Leeloo, she is ridiculously cute and i'm sure Dylan will post some pictures of the beautiful ladies in his life. (including the Bristol)

"Leeloominai" Dylan and Emily's floating home.  She's a beautiful Bristol 35 and they have done loads of work on her!

Culebrita, view from the lighthouse

As our luck would have it we had two professional photographers onboard and thousands of dollars of camera equipment.  So for your viewing pleasure I will be sure to post many spectacular photos.  If you would like to purchase any copies I`m sure Capt. Chris or our mate Stacy Silverberg would be happy to send them to you.  They both have their own photography businesses so google them!

Captain Chris is ready to take on these storms with his lifejacket, raincoat, and gigantic balls!



Perfect hammock location on Vieques


Everything was going as planned!  Kaleb and Stacy showed up at the dock and we swam in to meet them for lunch at Mamasita`s in the town of Dewey.  It was really great catching up with them as it had been nearly a year since their wedding which was the last time we had gotten to enjoy each others company.

Kaleb and Stacy Silverberg, our newlywed guests 

Some of you may be wondering why we swam to shore for this reunion instead of just taking Papa Smurf our trusty blue dinghy.  During an unexplainable event during Chris`s last visit Papa Smurf was Stolen/lost and we were dinghyless!  Luckily Dylan and his crew were coming to meet us with a spare dinghy we could use.  Yet they weren`t arriving until later in the day so at this point swimming or hitching a ride was our only way to shore!

Luckily Dylan and crew made it.  We spent the day meeting his wife Emily, and beautiful baby-girl Leeloo!  They named their boat Leeloominai and have a built in Crib on one of the settees!  What a way to raise a baby, they make it work very well.  There were also 2 more boats in our new flotilla.  One of them is called the Billie-Rae and the other one is called Sold-The-Farm.  Bobbie and Doug of the ``Billie-Rae`` are Leeloo`s godparents and very close friends will Dylan and Emily as they spend their winters anchored in the same bay as the Willy T on Norman Island in the BVI.  Sold-the-Farm is captained by Bruce a wonderful man from Nova Scotia who quite literally did sell the farm and bought a 43ft boat.  He lives on the boat and does captained charters for groups up to four people.  He invited us over several times for breakfast and a potluck as his cockpit could easily accommodate the 10 people in our group.  Once we even had everyone aboard YOLO for breakfast burritos.  It was very tight but a fun morning with little Leeloo crawling around in the cockpit!

It`s wonderful to have new friends in the islands to buddy boat with.  Sailing into a harbor and seeing familiar boats and people is one of the greatest parts of traveling aboard a boat!  We are all looking forward to another flotilla with these fine people!!!



Kaleb, Stacy, and myself.  Kaleb wore his ``fancy shirt`` for our potluck aboard Sold-the-farm!



Dylan and Emily`s 8-month old boat-baby Leeloo

Leeloo is laughing and happy because she's aboard another Bristol



Look at those eyes!



YOLO`s new home at Palmas Del Mar marina Puerto Rico


The next morning we spent trying to fix up the dinghy that Dylan brought for us but to no avail as it turned out to be a piece of shit.  We used it anyway one person bailing and one person pumping with the third steering, it was quite a sight for our neighbors.  Dylan helped us out big time by giving it to us though and the motor that came with it works very well.  We plan on selling one of our 2 dinghy motors and buying a hard bottomed dinghy that should our saga of dinghy issues.

Chopping some limes in YOLO`s cockpit

Another award winning Photograph courtesy of Capt. CW!  Stars in Vieques with YOLO`s anchor light on the bottom left.

Parting ways.  Time for me to go home and for Kaleb, Stacy, and Chris`s adventure to continue.   From this point I hitch-hiked to the airport on Culebra holding my uniform  ready to jumpseat on an island hopper to SanJaun.

 

I got to be the copilot on this Britton-Norman Islander from Culebra to San Juan.  Absolutely love taking advantage of my jumpseating benfits!

Isla Grande airport in San Juan.  Right at the Cruise ship terminal.

Our ``New`` Dinghy and motor nicknamed Rinky-Dink



This Hawksbill sea turtle let us get as close as we wanted to!  Could have had turtle-soup, if we wanted.  Anchorage off the coast of Culebra.

People often ask what the best part of this whole experience has been and my answer is always the same, ``meeting new adventurous people that all have a story to tell!``  The highlights of this short trip were definitely meeting old and new friends, snorkeling and fishing, and the phenomenal potluck dinner! Captain Chris and the Silverbergs are still aboard YOLO and are taking great pics and videos so check back soon, I will make sure they update the blog!

Cheers





YOLO 2.0

Hello faithful followers! I am probably writing to myself here as most followers have long since forgotten about the blog. However, if there are some true YOLO readers out there straggling along, here's the latest YOLO update:

Originally the plan was to sail for 6 months and sell the boat to finance the next chapter of our lives. This plan was thwarted by two amazing friends who didn't want to see this beautiful vessel go away. Two of our friends offered to purchase quarter shares of YOLO. With this new influx of money and 2 more ways to split insurance/storage, it was now feasible to keep YOLO for more adventures.

May I introduce to you YOLO's newest crew...

Mark Tinucci is a college buddy of mine as well as Andy. He's in the restaurant business in Newport, MN and is a partner in the family restaurant "Tinucci's". (Go eat at Tinucci's Restaurant in Newport, MN.... shameless plug over) He made time over new years to fly down and catch up with YOLO in the Bahamas. Also, Mark can be credited with the whole idea of fractional ownership of YOLO. It was floating in the water at his cabin where the idea struck him.

Chris Warrington is a fellow Red Wing native and a high school friend of Andy's. He is probably responsible for the whole YOLO idea in the first place. He also owns and captains a 31' Hunter on Lake Pepin. This is certainly where both andy and I got our sea legs. Chris joined the YOLO adventure in February in the Dominican Republic to help aide in our most notorious sail from the DR to Puerto Rico. Because of his expertise, we made it without incident.

In less than 72 hours, Mark and I will be reunited with YOLO which is stored on the hard in Tortola BVI. Mark and I have a laundry list of chores to complete to get YOLO back in ship shape and BRISTOL condition. We are against the clock as Mark only has 8 days with her. Our goal is to have it in the water within the 1st 3 days.

Chris will be joining us on the 14th and Mark will be headed back on the 15th. Lucky for Chris, most of the projects will (hopefully) be done so he can sit back and enjoy some sun and boat drinks.

Stay tuned, another update will come with photos and progress of projects!

YOLO: A trip of a lifetime!

After we said our goodbyes to the Hufford's aboard Eclipse, preparations were underway to ready the vessel (and ourselves) for separation of YOLO and crew. We were now about to be landlubbers once again as we planned on leaving YOLO under the care of the crew of Eventide. We cleaned her up, stripped the sails and nonessential lines, dove the anchor to ensure a good hold, and briefed Eventide on all of YOLO's idiosyncrasies, for Sally would be making her home aboard YOLO for the summer. On March 30th, Plehal and I flew back to reality while Andy followed a day later. YOLO, 1st edition, has come to an END!

A bit bittersweet. Andy and I had the time of our lives over the last six months. We've seen some beautiful places along the way and done some amazing things. We've met a lot of interesting and amazing people along our journey that we'll remember for the rest of our lives. The Huffords, Sally and the Goulet Brothers, Pete and Ellie, the yellow trimaran crew, Ultra, Seabatticus, The crazy Luperon bunch, the Womacks, Gary & Celeste, Sebastian and his folks, Grandma and Grandpa in key west, John & Erin and Jimmy & Kim from the rivers, the wild St Louis crew, Dick and Dick from Mackinac, all just to name a few. You guys made the trip that much better!

Like anything good, it all must come to an end sometime. Although we were living the life, it was still nice to be able to come home and see everyone we hadn't seen in half a year or more. Neither Andy nor myself could have imagined our blog would be frequented by so many readers. We are certainly flattered by the following and we hope we've inspired others to take a little more of a YOLO approach in life.

The rumors are true. YOLO is currently on the market for sale down in the US Virgin Islands so if anyone wants the opportunity to pick up where we left off, here's your perfect opportunity. She's listed at http://www.sailboatlistings.com/view/22744 so check it out!

Both Andy and I will be starting new chapters in our lives. We have a lot to look forward to in the near future and cant wait to get started writing it. Many followers have been asking for before and after shots of the stripping of the YOLO beards. HERE YOU GO:

Nights I can't remember, friends I'll never forget...

Our final visitor Andrew James Plehal landed at the St. Thomas airport and after hightailing it 45 miles back from Virgin Gorda we dropped the hook 10 minutes before we saw his plane come in overhead.  Plehal got off his plane and found us, we walked across the street to where our dinghy was and were aboard YOLO within 15 mins.  Then we went for a swim to shore in Lindbergh bay all within the first hour of our visitors touchdown.  It was a great way to start a vacation and we followed it with a short sail over to Charlotte Amelie where our friends aboard Eventide were eager to meet the new guest.  That evening Andrew got a great look at the local St. Thomas nightlife!

Plehal's first night in St. Thomas, joined by the Eventide crew!

We realized there was no way we were going to make it to Tortola for the full moon party at the Bomba Shack.  So next on our itinerary was St. John's.  It was an easy sail on a beautiful day and we moored in time to hike across the island to Cruz Bay.  There was a Blues festival going on at the beach bar and we watched a great band for a little while but decided to make it an early night in order to feel good for our morning passage to Tortola, BVI.

Beach on St. John's

Our guest had the honor of hoisting the Q-flag for clearance into Tortola, BVI

First stop in the British Virgin Islands

Captain Ple-ditty was a natural at the helm of YOLO.  The Naval Admiral in his blood really came out!

We were eager to show Plehal our favorite place in the BVI.  Norman Island has it all; a beautiful beach, snorkeling, caves, and of course the Willy T's.  Dillon was working on the pirate ship again and was as excited to see us as we were to see him.  We anchored our little ship as close as possible to the huge pirate ship and took the dinghy over to say hi.  Dillon welcomed us with a drinks, dinner, and t-shirts on the house! He's was far to generous and we had a phenomenal time.  Earlier we heard Ultra and Sabbaticus on the radio and had planned a reunion.  We hadn't seen them since Luperon, and we all had a great time trying to hatch business ideas that could keep us cruising forever!  It still amazes me how quickly friendships grow when cruising, they already feel like old friends and we only met several months ago.

Great night with great friends at Willy T's pirate ship bar!

We finally met long lost fellow cruisers Bill and Joanne (Ultra), Kevin and Deena (Sabaticus)

Lance laughing about the cougar behind him...

This is Dillon, fellow Bristol owner, ridiculously fun guy, and bartender at Willy T's

Bill and Joanne felt good enough for a scuba dive the next morning.

Snorkeling in the caves on Norman Island

Giant beach Jenga loser buy's frozen drinks (Plehal)

Skype on the beach? typical of YOLO crew.

7am Andrew says:  Were we this close to Willy T's last night?  I jumped out of bed to see that we were indeed much closer!  The giant ship was swinging around it's anchor toward us so I roused the crew and by the time we got the anchor up we could nearly give Dillon a high-five while he was standing on the dock snapping pictures of us and laughing.  I hope some of those pictures will make the slideshow that is always playing at the pirate bar!

Early morning wake-up call, the Willy T' was swinging to within meters of us! We had to spring into action and raise anchor just before impact (we got much closer than this)

The time had come for our final sail back to St. Thomas to say our goodbye's to Eclipse, and Eventide.

Notice Lance bathing in the Dinghy whilst underway

Our guests always have to catch at least one fish, even if it's a nasty Barracuda 

The Hufford family has always been so hospitable to us aboard Eclipse and it was finally our turn to take them out for a daysail.  Geoff, Michelle, Miles, Jerome, and Jared joined us aboard YOLO for a short daysail around Water Island.  The quarters were a bit more cramped than what they are used to aboard their big catamaran, but a good time was had by all.  Both kids got a chance to take the wheel and feel the boat heeling over with the wind (something they're not used to).  We had heard about a beach concert and potluck on water island and Geoff skillfully took us into the bay with the party under sail power alone.  We dropped the anchor without starting the engine and all piled into the dinghy.  Michelle had come prepared with something to share at the potluck and that got us all in for a great meal, she's always ready for anything!  It turned into a gorgeous evening sunset, with a moonlit sail back to Charlotte Amelie.

9 Lobster tails for a dinner party abourd YOLO (all provided by Jared, the lobster slayer)

Jerome at the wheel on our sail to Water Island

Miles took his turn too

So did papa Geoff

Great daysail with the Huffords.

Water Island party, band, and potluck.  Mama Michelle was of course prepared for the potluck.

What a great family!

Water island was a stellar place to spend one of our last evenings together.

That's is one loaded up dinghy

Plehal looks pretty relaxed, he needed it after taking the bar exam.

Way too many people in Eventide's tiny dinghy!