What’s it like to move aboard a new boat with your family in the Indian Ocean, prepare the boat, and get her ready to sail around the world as fast as possible?
When we moved aboard Nesi in Seychelles in 2024, we gave ourselves just three weeks to make her sailable for a shakedown cruise, and then another five weeks before departing into the big blue, heading south to Madagascar.
The first job was to find whatever was wrong with the boat – and fix it!
The second job, however, was to change Nesi from a “Marina Boat” into an “Offshore Cruising Boat”. What’s the difference, you ask?
A Marina Boat is dependent on electricity and water at the dock, and assumes access to repair technicians and spare parts.
An Offshore Cruising Boat is nearly self-sufficient – it is designed to live at sea and in remote anchorages for long periods of time, with all the tools and majority of spare parts required to keep up the systems.
Transforming a vessel so it’s ready for the sea is what sailors call “outfitting a boat”. We tried to do it as fast as possible!
Ep8. Outfitting Nesi at Record Speed. From Marina Princess to Offshore Queen.
About Episode 8. We spent a whole week just figuring out what we purchased! Digging into storage room (aka “Magic Room”) and trying to rapidly learn & troubleshoot Nesi’s systems. After a week, we left the dock for the first time. Almost lost the brand new dinghy, what a fumble!! Discovered that anchoring & docking a 60ft boat is a whole different ball of wax! Fix fix fix, organize organize organize. We haven’t worked this hard since aboard Aldebaran when we did emergency haul out repairs in Marquesas (coincidentally with Judy and Matt, the same guests that joined us for this Seychelles shakedown cruise!) Our rigger Ian is the cavalry that comes to save us. Getting ready, biting our nails.
Ep9: The Shakedown Cruise. ‘Shake It’ And See What Breaks?
About Episode 9. Judy & Matt join us as our first guests aboard Nesi on a 10 day trip around the inner islands of Seychelles. We aren’t ready, but we go! Head to North Island for a leisurely stop, then to the remote Bird Island, the northern most point in Seychelles. As expected, equipment starts failing: we have alternator issues, bilge pump trouble, and a damaged jib furler. But magical moments keep us energized and we push through, making the most of the start of this shakedown cruise.
From Shaky Beginnings to Steady Horizons
Transitions are like organized chaos! Just getting to Seychelles across the world from Tahiti was tough, as we shared in five episodes.
Now it was pedal to the metal. Full of friction, luck, stress, and unexpected beauty. Outfitting Nesi and testing her in the field!
We reminded ourselves, “don’t sweat the small stuff”. It’s not about perfection. It’s about making the boat safe and reliable. It’s about finding weakness before they turn into problems.
This task stretched us to our very edge. We tapped hard into our experience : our 10 years of expedition sailing experience and 4 boats owned since 2003. Everything in the past contributed to our know-how … to make this possible.
But let’s not forget – we were also in the Shakedown Cruise to have fun and learn! Our next episodes cover the cool things we discovered in the inner islands of Seychelles.
💚
—The Green Coco Expedition Team
PS. Wondering what happened in Episodes 3 till 7? The dream of a school at sea was born, we had a pit stop in SF and the Bear Valley, then traveled to the Seychelles before we finally moved aboard the boat.
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