- A big, thank you to Squarespace
for sponsoring this week's video.
Boat life has been keeping us on our toes
so it's nice to know our website is running smoothly
in the background, but more on that later.
(upbeat music playing)
All right so it is a beautiful Sunday for sailing
and we really want to head out.
But last night we made a bit of a rookie mistake per usual.
- And we got our main halyard stuck at the top of the mast.
So now we're going to have to do something
that we've been putting off
and that is climb the mast for the first time
because we got to get that halyard down
if we want to raise the sail.
(increasing tense music)
(book cover hitting table)
(pages turning)
(drumming starts)
(relaxing music playing)
- [Lou] So this is our main halyard.
And the end of it is stuck right there
at the top of the mast.
- So the reason that we ended up getting the halyard stuck
at the top is because when I was raising the main
on yesterdays sail, I noticed a lot of chafe in the halyard.
And so I wanted to show Lou.
And so when we retired, we got back,
you know everything's done.
I was like, oh, I wanted to show you that chafe
and he was like, great.
So like, just raise it up
and then you'll get to see the line.
And then all of a sudden we're like, ah
and we couldn't get it back down.
And so now it's stuck at the top and yeah now we know,
don't raise a halyard without like a weight on it
or some way to get it back down.
But we have a mast climber little kit that my dad got us.
And so we're going to use that to go up the mast.
And then I just need to grab the halyard,
bring it down and then we can go out sailing.
That's the plan for today at least.
♪ Ooh-Ooh-Ooh ♪
♪ Oh, how easy it's to forget ♪
♪ Still thinking about how we met ♪
♪ Yeah I'm with you now ♪
♪ Oh, one thing that it's plain to see ♪
♪ The best thing in this life for free ♪
♪ And that's so true now ♪
- There, that's three knots.
♪ And there I was with my world falling apart ♪
♪ Hoping just to get by ♪
- Just enough (winding noise)
So now that's ah, the other halyard is tight
we can get the mast climber
and start this.
- [Lou] What about our back-up halyard?
- You wanna do that one too?
- [Lou] Yeah!
- Okay sweet, let's get that one down.
This is our foot strap system
and then this is just the chair.
So...
(relaxing music playing softly)
(straps pulling)
- [Lou] How do you get to go up the mast
and I don't?
- Because I asked you nicely
and you were like, yeah, you can go for it.
You're very supportive.
It's like both of us want to climb the mast.
It's going to be really fun.
Okay.
So that's our backup.
So now we go around
and then through
so did that click?
[Lou] Yeah
- That's through.
[Lou] Now, it can't fall off since this is around.
(distant engines running)
(seagulls calling)
- Now you put your feet around like that,
and then you stand up
Whoa!
and then you picked this up.
(laughing)
and then...
So that's good.
That's holding my weight.
- [Lou] Yeah, try bouncing around.
(squeaking noises)
(laughing)
- I think we're good.
So now we're going to do a little test
where I go up 10 feet and come back down
and with Lou doing the backup line.
- [Lou] All right, that's high enough.
- Okay.
- [Lou] Now try like coming down.
- Okay.
(ropes squeaking)
(spinning noise)
[Lou] Stay safe.
- I love you.
- [Lou] I Love you.
- Don't let me fall with this one either.
- [Lou] I'm not. We got two systems here.
- This is very exciting.
(uplifting piano music)
Ready?
(uplifting piano music)
- [Dana] Just trying to like not hit the mast
cause it's getting closer. Ugh.
I made it past the spreaders!
- [Lou] Cool!
- [Dana] How are you?
- [Lou] Okay, very nervous without you.
- [Dana] I'll be down soon.
Yeah. I'm almost there.
We really brought that halyard all the way to the top.
Yahoo!
(birds chirping)
This is awesome Lou!
- [Lou] (inaudible)
Yeah.
It's quite the view!
You're going to love it up here.
- [Lou] Yeah?
I'm proud of you.
- That was intense.
- That was scary.
- Right?
It was really wobbly up there.
- Yeah. It's high, it's like 45 feet.
- Yeah. It's so beautiful the view of up there,
but it's way more wobbly than down here.
- [Lou] Yeah.
- Like the wake you're like, Whew,
and we also, I think we kind of put the line
in a weird spot, like around the shroud.
So next time I think we should do it
on the other side of the shroud,
but that was really awesome.
- [Lou] Yeah.
- Right?
- [Lou] Now we can go sailing, right?
- Yeah. Now we can go sailing.
- Yeah that was intense,
I feel like my heart was going much faster than Dana's.
Like being down below and holding the line and yeah.
Whew!
(clicking sounds)
- One for you.
- [Lou] Thank you.
(buckles clipping)
(beeping)
(engine starting)
- [Lou] Alright, I'll get us off the morning.
- [Dana] Sweet.
(guitar playing)
- [Lou] We're off!
- [Dana] We are going out for another sail
and we're going to try practicing some upwind sailing
which we haven't done very much of.
Um, which I'm excited about
cause I feel like it's a very useful skill
and we definitely will have to do a lot
of upwind sailing in our future
so we just wanted to like practice it a bit more.
It's so much cooler out here on the water
then in the Harbor you know, the wind is blowing!
(engine running)
I think it's going to be 20 knots.
(reeling sound)
- [Dana] Hey what was that?
- Good thing it fell on the deck.
(wind in the sail)
(beeping noise)
Hey, hey! We're sailing!
- [Lou] We're sailing.
- Isn't that amazing?
- [Lou] Such a nice sound when the engine turns off.
- I got a bit of a booboo.
- [Lou] Ugh...
(relaxing music playing)
- This thing is so annoying.
It's like to pull out the main sheet,
you have to pull down, but this gets really stuck.
And so to get it off, I like pulled
and then I smashed my finger into this nail
- [Lou] Yeah we to...
- or this screw.
Yuck!
But we're sailing so that's all that matters.
And now we just need to get the jib sheets out.
We have a one reef in the main just to be safe
and it's a beautiful day! Right?
- [Lou] Yeah.
- It feels good to be out here.
I have my sunscreen shirt on
cause I was getting sunburned before we came out here.
♪ I can reach you ♪
♪ From a distance ♪
♪ I can ♪
♪ So beautiful ♪
♪ I can hear you ♪
- [Dana] We're cooking!
♪ We're in the sun at last ♪
♪ Ohh-Ohh-Ohh ♪
- Whew hoo!
♪ We will dance away. ♪
♪ The grueling days right here. ♪
(waves crashing)
- All right, we are about to go by the point
where the wind picks up quite a bit.
We've got our jib reef.
We've got our main reefs.
We've got 20 knots of wind coming up soon.
It's going to be a good day on the water.
(wind roaring)
(boat crashing through waves)
- I can't believe we're out here.
- [Lou] Right?
- It's so cool.
And I feel like I'm actually getting the hang
of the steering thing like today.
Like
well, we went out to sailing of the new friend this weekend
and he was talking to us about how to like balance the boat.
So you don't have to steer as much.
And I feel like that is really helped me
because I feel I was over steering a lot
and the boat was just going like this.
And like
if you looked at our like recorded tracks or whatever
on the GPS, it was this dotted line that Kevin zigzagging.
And I feel like now you can like you
and I are finding a rhythm of balancing the boat
and being like, okay, now we are on a close haul.
Let's get the jib sheet right
and then you barely even have to steer
and you can like sit out here
and you can see the tops of the mast
with it's little wind arrows and see the sails.
And I feel like, I don't know,
this is so luxurious!
Just as I say that they say that
the boat turns a little bit.
Ha ha.
But seriously
like I can't believe that this is our 10th time sailing
and we're actually like,
calm, you know?
- [Lou] Yeah,
- Like we can figure it out
and we can make the boat move
and by no means are we good sailors.
But I'm just really proud of us for being able to like go
out and take the boat out in 20 knots.
Like that's a big deal!
And we learned how to reef.
And now that I'm talking to the camera,
I can't keep the boat straight.
Can you tell?
- [Lou] Yeah, we're zig zagging again.
- We're zig zagging again.
But I just am really happy and really proud of us.
And it's so calm out here on the water,
like to be able to just come out here whenever we want,
it's just such a luxury.
And I feel like compared to driving the van
it's like, we don't even have destination Lou,
we just like go out and sail because it's so fun
just to be sailing, you know?
- [Lou] Yeah.
- I think the thing is we're trim for our close haul,
but for, I have some buoys coming
up and we're going to have to switch
to a beam reach.
- [Lou] All right.
- So, shall we?
- [Lou] Yeah.
(upbeat music playing)
- [Dana] Oh yeah, that's better.
(boat skimming through water)
(waves crashing)
(ropes pulling)
(wind in the sails)
(engine running)
- [Lou] Look at how calm it is now.
- [Dana] Really!
(inaudible)
- [Lou] Right? All of a sudden,
the wind just like really died.
- [Dana] I don't think we've ever been out here Lou,
without wind.
- [Lou] Right? It's usually like 10 to 15 knots.
- It's so nice!
(laughing)
- [Lou] It's really fun.
- It's very calm.
What a nice way to come back in.
- [Lou] I know we are just slowly drifting home.
(water splashing)
- All right. We are heading in.
That was our 10th sail on Penelope.
The wind is dying down.
It's actually really nice for just
like slowly getting pushed back into the Harbor.
And we're going to try and get the jib down
without changing our course because the wind is so light.
And then we'll turn into the wind, drop the main.
(music plays softly)
A big thank you to Squarespace
for sponsoring another adventure aboard Penelope.
We've been running our website with Squarespace
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(thunder crashing)
(birds calling)
(waves rolling)