Catamarans vs. monohull is a popular and common discussion with dozens of talking points. It’s a subject we’re not uniquely qualified nor experienced to debate. So why did we produce this video and write this blog? The simple answer is: catamarans vs. monohull doesn’t matter. Live your dream. That’s it. Don’t wait for the perfect time or the perfect boat. There is no perfect time. There is no perfect boat. Do it now. Live and love your adventure in any shape or form you can. It’s what we call passion for the passage. Passion for the passage for us in this stage in our journey is about downsizing our life, purchasing, fixing, and learning our boat. That’s our current passage.

This spring has been one of the wettest and coolest in a while. But even in Portland, Oregon the spring ends and summer begins. On one of the recent weekends, the temperatures were hovering just below triple digits Saturday through Monday. With this video and blog, we share our tips to beat the heat. We recognize these tips apply to us while at the dock and may not be suitable for everyone. And certainly, our tips to beat the heat will change when we can be out at anchor!

While most of our time is spent aboard Yara doing projects or editing videos we also must sprinkle in some fun. Each year at the end of May for Memorial Day weekend we travel with friends to Bellingham, Washington from Portland, Oregon to help prepare their boat, Kehaulani, for the sailing season.

Boat projects come in many different forms, degrees of complexity, costs, skill levels, and areas of knowledge. And some you can see daily. Others hide below the cabin sole, behind lockers, between layers of fiberglass, up the mast, below the waterline, and everywhere in between. This project focuses on a system we don’t use or even see every day. But it is critically important to a successful sail. The steering system.

Propane system on a sailboat. It’s one of the areas where we’ve spent the most time, money, and energy figuring out. It’s an important system for us because it’s a system that if not done properly can result in catastrophic failure leading to devastating (and perhaps deadly) explosions. Fortunately, after replacing the original propane system with all new parts and materials we are operating safely and have had no significant issues (knock on wood) and feel safe with it. However, we have experienced annoyances. Particularly around false alarms from our remote propane control and

If you’re a Game of Thrones fan you’ll be familiar with the phrase: “Winter is coming.” Aboard our boat, we have a phrase of similar significance: “hot feet weather is coming.” It’s currently the month of May in Portland and the weather is turning warmer.