During the last 6 months we had a stellar teacher aboard Nesi: Ian Bacon from Chicago (UCSB recent grad- go gauchos!!). He was aboard during the toughest sailing stretch we’re likely to have for a loooong time. We knew this was the case, so we wanted to find a super amazing person for the role… And guess what? We got very lucky 🙂
Here’s the story — and read at bottom for Ian’s impressions of life aboard & his favorite teaching activities with the girls.
Our goal: to SWIM across the Prime Meridian, in the middle of the ocean!! The prime meridian is the imaginary line of 0 degree Longitude, which divides Western and Eastern Hemispheres.
Haha this is admittedly a very random goal, but such things happen a week into a passage, I guess 🙂 There’s plenty of traditions about crossing the Equator, but not for the Prime Meridian… until now!
It deserves credit…. after all, the story of Longitude is fascinating. Longitude was a monumental problem that vexed navigators for centuries.
Latitude was relatively “easy” to calculate using a sextant, which measures the angle between celestial bodies (sun, stars).
However, Longitude calculations were basically guesswork. This caused countless shipwrecks , since vessels found themselves dozens of miles from where they presumed to be.
The invention of chronometer watches in 18th century finally gave navigators the tool to calculate Longitude reliably – by seeing the exact difference between their time and Prime Meridian time. This requires very precise astronomical observations. And guess who was at the forefront of this? The Royal Greenwich Observatory in London.
Hence it was no big surprise when delegates of 25 nations in 1884 agreed to establish the Prime Meridian as Greenwich, which had the most reliable data in the world at the time (the French disagreed and used Paris as the prime meridian until 1911 when they finally joined the rest of the world).
This supremacy in navigation technology helped the British become the largest empire the world has ever seen, and helped English surpass French as the world’s diplomatic & commercial language.
We crossed the Prime Meridian — this deeply important yet curiously arbitrary line — with our swim, in perfectly calm conditions, with Nesi adrift. And of course, followed by a cup of English black tea 🙂
DAY 7. Mahi Mahi transcendence.
The end to an amazing day… the breeze returned, we were cruising all day under spinnaker going 6.5kts, grilled burgers & pineapple in the outdoor BBQ … then at sunset we got a double hook up of mahi mahi…! Jumping and sparkling yellow- green-golden, skittered above the waves, what fighters! What fish! What an honor to land one and make get excited about a fantastic meal.
Day 9. Arriving by Sea: St Helena Island
After 9 days of open ocean & sky it is a delight to see land. Slowly she comes closer into detail. First just rocky shapes , then colors, then trees! This slow unveiling is like a brilliant wine, savored, unhurried. There’s nothing like making landfall by sailboat. St Helena island, mid Atlantic.
Nesi
DAY 10. Jamestown, St. Helena
Known as Napoleon’s final exile & deathbed. But this large island in the middle of the Atlantic is full of surprises.
It was protected tooth and nail by the British, as a critical reprovision station on the clipper route from Europe around Africa to India.
The island’s perimeter is absurdly dry, but the interior valleys are surprisingly lush. Ultra steep volcanic rock everywhere. The few landing places had massive fortifications built of stone into cliffs to ward off enemy ships.
Like a countryside English town plopped into a tropical island. The stone buildings are stout and charming, built into the narrow slots between the steep slopes. British pounds are accepted, no credit cards or ATMs . A feeling of stepping back into time.
DAY 11. Napoleon’s Tomb
Napoleon – the famous Emperor who navigated France out of the post revolution chaos, was wildly successful, then lost it all with one terrible decision – marching into the Russian winter and losing nearly 1/2 million men.
Then he was exiled to St Helena Island, this little mid Atlantic rock we are visiting, under close British supervision until his death.
What a story of hubris, ambition, and over reach. Amazing to walk down history lane and see his tomb and home-in-exile with our own eyes
DAY 12. Freediving St. Helena waters
40ft down in Saint Helena island 🏝️ 🇸🇭 with a wreck of a 1911 ship that was enroute from England to Australia and caught on fire so the captain ran her aground and there she lays to this day in shallow water
DAY 13. Catching a Nice Wahoo
Wahoooooo! Final gift from St Helena. Every day here I feel a kinship to the sailors from clipper ships who used this island to provision in centuries past. We are walking in their footsteps. Provisioning with blessings from the sea, ready to embark on the next leg of the journey… to Brazil 🇧🇷 !!!
Our Expedition Letters are about to ship
Sabrina is in Brazil with the twins getting our Letters project up & running. We hear that they’re going to arrive in mailboxes next week. Support our artist Joelie and support the Green Coco video productions: $10/month for custom hand made awesome educational materials from around the globe, delivered to your home. Learn more here: www.greencoco.org/#letters
Would you like to sail the world, explore beautiful islands, live on an amazing community boat, while helping create an innovative program?
We are a sailing cooperative called Green Coco with catamarans run by sailing families. We have space for a teacher and videographer in Brazil and Caribbean 2025 & 2026 aboard 60ft Nesi (with Kristian & Sabrina) and in French Polynesia aboard 46ft Selavi (with David & Eleanor).
We are looking for:
TEACHER. A passionate & enthusiastic teacher for kids age 4-10, who embraces a whole child approach. Preference for native speakers of French, Portuguese, and English. Duration: 1-6 months.
VIDEOGRAPHER OR SOCIAL MEDIA EXPERT. Someone who loves capturing and editing videos, and/or has social media skills. Duration 1-6 months.
Email to expedition@greencoco.org a simple intro video about yourself (casual selfie is fine, 2 min max) and a basic resume (list of your relevant jobs, education, experiences, if you have a career mission statement). Videographers/social media experts: please share a portfolio or similar. We will also need 2 references, which you can supply later, don’t get bottlenecked with this.
Read below for more details on the positions, and check out all the posts from all our previous teachers.
Catch our daily updates on our Community site (free enrollment required) or on @greencocosailing
Preparation: Kids depart, Last Minute Repairs, Provisions
We had 3 weeks in Walvis Bay, Namibia to prepare for the Atlantic Crossing but it just is never enough. The girls & Sabrina said farewell to Nesi and flew back to Brasil with Grandma & sister Sammy — we had an awesome road trip which we’ll share later.
Upon my return, it was non-stop hustle to do repairs on the boat. The diesel fuel tank had a leak; major job. The starboard engine was still giving us alignment issues; major job. The new lithium battery banks needed more protection; major job. And endless minor jobs.
Our deckhand & electrician Dophaise played a key role, as he has done in the last 4 months. He has been a massive help, but we had to say good-bye as his time with us came to an end. He got a work-exchange job at a local farm near Windhoek, Namibia’s capital. His journey to find work abroad continues!
Provisioning is a HUGELY time consuming. This is a task that Sabrina does so well, and without her, our steward & first mate Ian Bacon and I would now have to figure it out. It took us multiple days to shop & pack the boat with multiple shopping carts worth of food, for 5 people aboard 33 days across the Atlantic (assuming we won’t provision in St. Helena Island, in the mid-ocean).
DAY 1: Our Atlantic Crossing begins!!!
Such a frenzy to prepare the boat this last week- repairs, provisions, documents.
Yet we managed to leave on the 13th of Jan with our co-op guests Kim and friend Shawn, plus my dad Bob and our first mate Ian.
Riding a South wind into the SE trade winds, heading to St Helena island, 1200nm (9 days) to arrival.
We’ve been FLYING ever since leaving Walvis Bay, averaging 8kts.
DAY 2: Towards the horizon
I won’t lie – heading into 3000nm of ocean is intimidating and scary… takes some trust and faith in all our hard work on the boat & experience.
I thank these dolphins for leading us into the big sea with their playful joy 🙂
We did 200nm on the first 24hrs- over 8kt average. Nesi is flying. 1000nm left for St Helena island.
Night watches were 3 hrs each. Captain K sleeping in the cockpit close at hand, as we wove between some cargo ships and fishing vessels, showing up on radar and AIS.
Full moon popped up thru the clouds to illuminate the ocean.
We are so HERE !
DAY 3: This is what trade wind dreams are made of!
Gentle downwind sailing. Perfection all around. 15kts breeze from ESE. Sailing WNW.
Yesterday was a little nuts with wind shifts and spinnaker tear; gotta pay the dues. Today repaired the small rip (caught on spreaders while furling).
I’d like to report to my land-bound wife @sabby_sirena that although our cabin is still utter mess from our departure chaos, we did clean the bathrooms and galley and are keeping a hawk’s eye on food spoiling. Make you proud honey.
We’ve already gone 1/3 of the way to St Helena— less than 800nm to go. yeww!!
Day 4: Flipping eggs!
This is how we keep 360 eggs unrefrigerated during our trip 🙂
Managing food is a major part of a passage or expedition. Try making wholesome healthy food for 5 people for 34 days without going to the grocery store! Here’s how we’re trying do it:
Fresh Food. In Walvis Bay Namibia, we filled 4 shopping carts worth of fruits & vegetables, meats & cheeses, dairy & eggs. Divided this into 10 baskets, 3 fridges, and 3 freezers. Produce is ideally fresh from a farmer’s market, unrefrigerated, which lasts much longer. However, the Namibian desert isn’t exactly a farmer’s paradise, a lot is imported from S. Africa, so we had an extra challenge with that.
Provisioning. There’s the equivalent of about 15 shopping carts of food packed into Nesi’s cupboards & bilges; these require shelves and plastic bins with labels and easy access. About 3 months worth of food. There’s stuff from every country in there: Seychelles, Madagascar, South Africa, Namibia. Try to keep track!
Food Management. The worst is to let food go bad. Each food category needs careful attention. Heard of the saying “one bad apple spoils the bunch”? The superstition that bananas are bad luck aboard? Nope, it’s not true, but there’s a reason for all of this!
How to deal with each of these food categories is in itself a fascinating story. Ever since our first days on Aldebaran crossing the Pacific from Galapagos to Pitcairn (21 days, 4 people, with just 1 mini fridge!) we’ve learned a lot.
In our modern world of refrigeration and ready access to groceries 24/7, we’ve lost the knowledge of food storage & preservation needed for off-grid living. We like bringing it back little by little, because it’s super cool, and hey, might be good to know someday.
Day 5… Broken Oven, Slow Spinnaker
We are going so slow its like we are walking across the ocean … it’s very relaxing haha .
3-4kt boat speed today with spinnaker just barely staying in the air. With zero wind yesterday we even stopped the motor for a quick swim which was delightful, the water is getting warmer, entering the tropics properly!!
Our power is ample with 2.5kw of solar ☀️ and new 800ah lithium batteries 🪫. This is fortunate because the gas burner in the oven is malfunctioning, so we are using the electric backup (which mows thru power. The oven thermocouple disconnected from the wire, i fixed it, not sure why it still is broken.)
No surprises here, everyday something breaks, usually small things… it almost seems like a law of boating. We are bobbing along. We had a massive egg & bacon breakfast to keep the crew morale up 🙂
Catch our daily updates on our Community site (free enrollment required for Public Updates; co-op membership required for Private Member site) or on @greencocosailing
Don’t forget!
Deadline for our Expedition Letters Launch is January 20, 2025 — you’ll receive a raffle ticket for a FREE boat trip (if you’re one of the 50 first subscribers); and option to nominate a teacher to receive the letters. These our monthly delivered by snail mail to your house, ideal for families, kids, and schools.
Instead of snow we have sand dunes nearly 1000 feet
Like incredible airbrush paintings so soft and so sweet
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It’s a white christmas in Namibia this year
It’s so cold the equator doesnt feel at all near.
The benguela current makes humpbacks gather and leap
And thousands of sea lions go beep beep beep.
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Its a white christmas in Namibia this year
Nesi again hit a sandbar, need to play it by ear!
The diesel tank leak got a bad seap
We must repair it so the fuel we can keep.
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It’s a white Christmas in Namibia this year
We arrive in Walvis Bay our final place for beer
Before heading in January across the Atlantic
Bound for Brazil’s Carnaval for the dancing romantics.
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It’s a white christmas in Namibia this year
We travelled from Seychelles all the way here.
Down Madagascar and South Africa we got gales galore
We’re excited for what’s next in store!!
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Sending you and your loved ones love, health, stoke, and adventure for this coming year!
Big Hugs, K+S
Dunes at Sandwich HarborNesi near the dunesNearly 1000 foot tall dunesXmas with Beadle family & friendsFlamingos at Sandwich HarborSea lion colony, Pelican Point, Walvis Bay. Nesi is in the background 🙂Near Spencer Bay & Mercury Island, enroute from Luderitz to Walvis Bay
Some Background…
Wondering how we got to Namibia?? Apologies about the epic delay, our last blog posts were from the Seychelles! Well, it’s been an intense year, sailing 4 months in Madagascar, 3 months in South Africa, and now we’re working our way north, preparing to cross the Atlantic in mid January.
You can catch up on news from the trip in our community site, and watch our new video series to follow the journey. Don’t miss the premiere on December 29, 6pm PT (with a chance to win a trip on the boat) Click here to get on the watch party waitlist.
Have you dreamed of cruising on a sailboat in tropical paradises, hosting friends & guests, and living a healthy awesome life at sea? The Green Coco cooperative makes this possible for aspiring captains with amazing hosting skills, who may not have enough funds to jump into multi-hull ownership, but really want to do this now while young!
Aldebaran in Tikehau, western Tuamotus (French Polynesia)
Our world-cruising trimaran Aldebaran is ready for new owners. We’re looking for an awesome couple with these skills:
experienced seamanship – prior boat ownership a big plus
love to host guests – positive energy is a must
culinary arts – you love to cook wholesome food for groups and are creative with ingredients
holistic health – like yoga, meditation, and similar
business acumen – you’ll be running your own business, with the co-op’s support
boat work – carpentry & fiberglass skills are essential, plus normal boatwork
French language and/or European citizen are a big plus.
Please see the sale listing for the 42ft trimaran Aldebaran including prices.
The Green Coco cooperative can offer seller financing to the right applicants — which means you may only need money for the deposit (~30% of boat price). You’ll own the boat outright, run a sailing cooperative business with adventurous guests, and live the cruising life in the South Seas.
If this is your dream and you fulfill most of that list above, we welcome you to apply! Please review the information here and see “How to Apply” at bottom.
Aldebaran in Ahe, northern Tuamotus (French Polynesia)
Quick info about Aldebaran:
42 foot trimaran built in 1968 in Hawaii with mahogany and polyester resin
Accommodation: Sleeps 6-8. Includes:
sleeps 2: 1 private aft cabin with 1 double bed, deck access behind cockpit. Usually the couple who owns the boat sleeps here.
sleeps 4: 2 double beds in the open plan salon
sleeps 2: 2 single benches in the cockpit (all-weather enclosure) for short term extra capacity
The boat has been imported into French Polynesia — the boat never has to leave! This is worth several thousand $$.
Hi! We are Billy & Kimber. We’ve had amazing adventures on Aldebaran in the Society Islands (Tahiti to Bora-Bora) and around the Tuamotus (Tikehau to Tahanea), while running Green Coco trips in the past 4 years. She is a fantastic liveaboard, we’ve spent weeks aboard the boat in remote atolls, which are total paradise. We’ll able to stay off-grid thanks to her 900w of solar panels, new AGM battery bank, and watermaker.
We also love that Aldebaran is super stable and spacious which helps a lot with comfort at anchor and underway. The guests love Aldebaran’s stability and wide deck / nets. She sails well on all points of sail, although she doesn’t go upwind very well in rough seas. We try to wait for good conditions which is viable in the tropics.
The boat’s greatest downside is that she’s very maintenance intensive (err… I guess all boats are??). Aldebaran in particular constantly needs love with woodwork and fiberglass repairs. We’ve been keeping up with the maintenance & repairs. The boat is in overall good shape, but needs work & funds and could use a fiberglass overhaul in the next few years.
Aldebaran is scheduled for a haul out in Sep 2024 so she will have a fresh coat of bottom paint and be ready to continue the adventure. If interested in seeing her out of water (very recommended) we can suggest flying down to Tahiti and taking the ferry to Raiatea to meet us.
After the last 4 years sailing Aldebaran in French Polynesia and participating in the Green Coco cooperative, we’re now planning a different project back in the East Coast of US, so we are selling the boat.
Recent adventures of Billy & Kimber on Aldebaran
Aldebaran’s history
Prior to Billy & Kimber, Aldebaran crossed the Pacific with Kristian & Sabrina, the founders of the Green Coco sailing cooperative. They launched the co-op by running trips in the Channel Islands of Santa Barbara aboard this trimaran, which is nostalgically beloved by many of our members 🙂 Over the course of 4 years, they sailed down the coast of Mexico and Central America to Galapagos, then 21 days across to Pitcairn, and finally up to French Polynesia, where the boat has been since. Under their ownership, they hauled out Aldebaran in Ventura (2009, 2011, 2013); in Marquesas (2017); and in Tahiti (2020). They sold the boat to Billy & Kimber when they upgraded to their 46ft catamaran Selavi in 2020, as they began expanding the cooperative.
This video gives you a great idea of life on Aldebaran in 2018 (Huahine, French Polynesia)and also our fun-loving co-op ! 🙂
Pictures from our first year in 2015:
in mexico near Mazuntein Panama near Isla Coibain Costa Rica near Murcielagos
About the Green Coco sailing cooperative
Green Coco is a community organization that offers authentic sailing adventures in French Polynesia and around the world, which are family-friendly and off-the-beaten path. Our boats are owner-operated, offering a real taste of the cruising life at sea. Guests participate in boat activities to feel truly part of the journey. We create transformative, learning voyages with a wellness focus: offering workshops in breathwork, yoga, sailing, cooking, and more, which contribute meaningfully to visitor’s daily life back at home. The majority of trips include members who come back regularly over the years; everyone lends a hand on the boat. As a result, our trips and interactions with guests are like family & friends, very different to conventional charter trips.
The co-op was born out of the question: how do can we live the cruising dream together with our friends, without waiting until retirement? Normally this is financially out of reach for younger people. We came up with a system for everyone to share resources: to pitch in funds and/or work exchange to be able to get time aboard.
Co-op members are like micro-partners who have access to the boats, having a say in where the boats go, creating schedules that accommodate their plans, etc. Member contributions are designed to cover costs of operation and overall basic life needs — not generate substantial business profits. If you’re looking to make plenty of money running charters, this isn’t for you! This is about the best lifestyle possible, covering all our costs of life, where you look forward to hosting people because they’ll become great new friends.
The co-op’s service to the community is to offer affordable, authentic sailing experiences which are invigorating and strengthen our connection with Nature and ourselves. The co-op makes this possible by enabling & supporting young couples who want to live this dream but may not have the funds to do it on their own. We offer several programs to help finance the boat and your ongoing expenses.
Currently the co-op has 3 boats: Aldebaran and Selavi (46ft Bahia catamaran) both in French Polynesia and Nesi (60ft Eleuthera catamaran) currently in the Indian Ocean. Nesi is leading the Green Coco Expedition, an innovative world schooling project. Read more about the Expedition and our co-op. We are growing the co-op which will bring more resources to all the Partner Boats.
Why not just sell Aldebaran?
That is an option! If we don’t find a perfect candidate, we may sell the boat outright. But we want to make it available via seller financing including the co-op business, because we believe in this model and we think it’ll make the pie bigger for everyone.
The value to us? Our co-op members continue to have access to a great boat in the South Pacific, and another awesome new couple gets to enjoy this lifestyle. We get to “pay it forward”, and see the co-op grow.
What does the co-op do for Partner Boats?
For folks who want to participate in the co-op (running trips for members and new guests) we offer seller financing and reduced interest rates (muuuuuuch lower than banks!). Green Coco also provides ways to raise funds to pay off some of the boat loan and have money for your boat expenses — it is very important to be well capitalized with boat ownership.
This is Selavi, the Green Coco 46ft catamaran shown in Bora-Bora. The boat was sold last year to new Co-op PartnerDavid & Eleanor (@designedtoexplore) who are learning the ropes and will start running trips next year.
Partner boats operate like independent businesses that collaborate through the co-op. Green Coco offers several aspects to help you with back-end of business — pre trip documents, protocols for hosting guests, accounting systems. We are building a co-op website for trips and schedules so you don’t have to. Running a boat is already a lot of work, so the co-op tries to make the rest of life easier for everyone by joining forces with different partner boats.
What about sales and marketing? The co-op does general marketing and sales for all boats. Although Green Coco makes no guarantees on sales or revenues, we create alignment of interest so we can bring you business. That said, you’ll be running your own business and it’s on you to succeed.
If interested in learning more, send in your application and we’ll send you an deeper financial overview of the Co-op and the relationship with Partner Boats.
Who are the ideal candidates?
The ideal candidates are a captain & first mate/chef couple. They are exceptional hosts, very adept sailors, able to fix most things aboard a sailboat. For Aldebaran, they need to be able to do regular wood work and fiberglass repairs (which is always in need of love). They enjoy cooking delicious wholesome food, practice wellness like yoga & meditation, excel at communication, are natural at teaching (sailing, freediving, etc) and are endlessly patient, hard-working.. and of course are an avid waterman/woman who love ocean sports like surfing, kiting, diving, long distance swimming, etc.
This position is for a couple with entrepreneurial spirit who always dreamed of owning their own boat and business, and are very community oriented and sociable. You’ll be part of the Green Coco cooperative, a sailing organization that creates unique, participatory adventures at sea. We aren’t a regular charter company… we are a private group of ocean lovers and adventurers who also offer public trips. Read our testimonials.
Requirements for applicants (see “How to Apply” at bottom):
a captain with experience navigating in complex environments under pressure keeping 100% cool and good attitude
an enthusiastic first mate/chef with passion for wholesome, nutritious food
knowledge and enjoyment of wellness practices such as yoga, breathwork, meditation, non-violent communication, and similar
experience in freediving, scuba diving, surfing, kitesurfing, and other water sports
loves to teach others and has patience with guests and kids
you have some savings or access to financing — both for the deposit and have capital for ongoing improvements until the boat has cashflow.
Co-op crew in Bora Bora
Details
The sale listing for our 42ft trimaran Aldebaranis here. She is available for purchasing outright if we don’t receive qualified applicants.
What you’ll get exactly:
full ownership of a classic 42 foot catamaran with 3 double beds + 2 surplus bunks (sleeps 6-8). Includes French Polynesia importation duties.
business partnership in Green Coco, with a revenue stream that is fun and satisfying.
if needed, seller financing with very competitive terms — extremely tough to get these days
As a business partner / boat owner, you’ll be in charge of your own future and gain profits according to your work, backed by the Green Coco cooperative to reduce your risk.
Through our co-op investment program, we may be able to help you secure a part of the downpayment with pre-sales, and reduce your total debt.
We’re really proud to be able to offer this to someone. We consider ourselves super lucky we pulled off the best sailing lifestyle imaginable (at least for us!). Now we get to help someone else launch their dream too. Honestly, it is all thanks to our cooperative, who continues to make this epic Green Coco adventure possible. We are harvesting some serious collective stoke 🙂
Timeline
Billy & Kimber can offer sea trials on Aldebaran in August 10-30, 2024 (transiting from Tuamotus to Raiatea), just pay our normal co-op rates. They will haul out in Raiatea for bottom paint and maintenance in early September, then the boat is available for transferring ownership after mid-September.
HOW TO APPLY:
If you’d like to become the next Aldebaran captains in French Polynesia, please apply by sending the following 3 items to captain@greencoco.org:
VIDEO: a 2 minute video introducing yourselves. A casual selfie is fine! Don’t overthink it, it’s just an opportunity to say hi and introduce who you are.
RESUMES: please send your resume (nothing fancy needed.. please don’t spend too much time on making this perfect, we don’t judge editing mistakes…). Important: send us a short addendum about your experience with sailing, cooking, hospitality, holistic health, boat work & repairs. In your email, please mention anything that wasn’t covered in your video and resume.
FINANCING: How much downpayment can you make? We recommend minimum 30% of boat value and equal amount in savings for the year 1 costs.
Please send the above 3 items to captain@greencoco.org.
THANK YOU AND GOOD LUCK!
Aldebaran was on the cover of Multi-hull magazine back in the day — her 15 minutes of fame 🙂
“These rocks are fake. It’s just a Hollywood set for a movie,” Ian said, after we anchored next to the St. Pierre islet. “They are actually styrofoam cutouts with spray paint.” We laughed. They simply don’t look real.
We were now in the area around Praslin & La Digue islands, the most famous cruising ground in the Seychelles. We were halfway through our 12 day shakedown cruise testing Nesi‘s systems.
After three weeks of intense work we cast off the lines for our first sailing trip aboard Nesi, our new-to-us 60 ft catamaran.
We hustled for 3 weeks until the very last second to wrap up projects. We needed help, but struggled with the labor force… Luckily we had amazing co-op members coming: both to help us prepare the boat, and do a “shake down” of the boat with us.
Zoe was our second pre-school teacher to come aboard Green Coco — she is from Corsica (a territory of France), and recently finished her teaching credential. She wanted to experience alternative forms of education for kids. She was onboard starting in French Polynesia, and helped us fly to California and then to Seychelles, and make the transition across the world to our new boat.
Zoe & Naiyah in Mahe, Seychelles
Have you ever seen people so excited to make something happen, you just know they’ll be great for the job? That was Zoe. As I picked her up with the dinghy at the dock in Bora-Bora, she said, “Only seeing you now, do I believe you guys are real. I mean, teaching kids on a cruising sailboat? This is my dream.”
Aside from the jet lag — 7am in California is 7pm here! — we felt a surreal sensation to be aboard Nesi .
While sailing in the Tuamotus, one year ago, we envisioned this distant, unlikely possibility. I sent an investment proposal to our community for a 15 year sailing circumnavigation, took the chance to fly across the world to visit 2 boats in the Seychelles, leaving Sabrina in command of Selavi with the kids in Fakarava (and guests that arrived before my return!) and spent the next several months in a whirlwind: fund-raising, hosting trips, Burning “Muddy” Man, never-ending boat repairs, a complicated boat sale, growing our co-op, squeezing in a snow vacation, and finally moving across the globe with 2 kids and 18 bags.
This 12 month tornado somehow deposited us back onboard Nesi, at the dock in Mahé island where I’d last seen her, except now, with the whole family together. The whole thing felt like a strange and beautiful dream.
My greatest pleasure is that Sabrina and the kids loved the boat from the first moment, which I was wondering about! After all, Sabrina wasn’t the hugest fan of the boat (AquatikiII in Fakarava) that inspired our hunt for this specific model around the world (a Fountaine Pajot Eleuthera 60ft catamaran). That boat was running dive charters and was quite beat up and messy. When I saw Aquatiki II, I knew she was the right model, the right foundation for our next phase. Nesi is the exact same model boat, yet she feels palatial and elegant, well-cared for and delightful in all her spaces. All the videos of the boat weren’t nearly as convincing as the moment that Sabrina stepped aboard and said, “Ok, now I get it. This is amazing!” How satisfying and relieving!
Takamaka plantation houseGirls are happy about their port holes
After arriving, we had 3 weeks to prepare the boat for our first Shakedown Cruise with two co-op members, our rigger Ian, and my mom. This was much too little time, yet I figured it would push us to act quickly. Push us it did!
The basic problem is that Nesi is a “marina boat”, and we need to convert her into an “off-grid cruising boat”.
To understand this task, imagine that a huge flood caused your suburban house to suddenly lose all its utilities: water, power, gas. The huge flood also caused the main hardware store to close, leaving only the mini-stores open; and all the good handy workers (electricians, carpenters, etc) simply can’t reach you, only an array of inexperienced workers. Worse yet, the mail delivery stopped, so you have no access to online purchases.
In such a huge symbolic “flood”, we suddenly must turn to complete self-reliance and independence. This is a challenging shift to make.
The good news is that Nesi is a well cared for boat and all her systems were functional; the foundation is excellent. The bad news is that Nesi is still aboat , and all her systems needed tons of attention, and major upgrades to transition her from “marina boat” to “off-grid cruising boat” status.
First item on the agenda: figure out how to run this big 60ft boat.
In general everything is similar to our old 46ft catamaran, but massively sized, and much more complicated. The mainsail is gigantic and runs on multiple electric winches. The windlass is enormous with 14mm (unmarked) chain. There are twin 110HP turbo engines (which were misaligned), a 12kW electronic Generator, and a complex series of battery chargers and inverters. The electrical system is the most complicated & non-intuitive part of the boat, featuring both 24v and 12v, and three different 220v circuits. There is an air conditioning system with 3 compressors that cools all five cabins plus the large salon. There is a high output 65 Gallon per hour watermaker (which was not 100% well-maintained)
We also had to figure out how to live aboard the boat… how to keep food in the fridges (which were icing over and dripping wet), to cook properly (the oven needed a new burner), and store belongings (this boat strangely has less storage space our 46ft catamaran). Meanwhile we had to entertain and teach our kids, who were thriving with our onboard teacher Zoe from Corsica, who helped us in the epic journey from Tahiti.
Lest we forget, we are in East Africa. It’s easy to overlook this since Seychelles is the most affluent African country, and everything costs a fortune, so you’d hope this would translate to good quality. Alas, this was optimistic thinking.
Seychelles is a fascinating and beautiful place, but efficiency is not her forte. She has plenty of character, being a melting pot of Middle Eastern, Indian, and European cultures. Seychelles’ history is unique. When the French first claimed Seychelles in 1756, there were no permanent inhabitants, only transient Arabic sailors.
This is surprising because Seychelles are large islands with relative proximity to many populated areas. To get a sense, some of the closest places are Madagascar is 550nm SW, then Somalia is 700nm NW, then Tanzania is 900nm W. In the other direction, India is 1500nm NE.
Do you know another archipelago (near the equator) that was uninhabited when Europeans arrived, just 500nm from a continent? Galapagos. It’s probably no coincidence that the only two places on Earth with wild-roaming Giant Tortoises are Galapagos and Seychelles (as far as I know). Those species were prolific around the world, but they were exterminated by hunters, except in these two island groups that remained largely uninhabited until the mid 1700s.
Just 40 years after the French colonized Seychelles, they gave it up to the British in 1796. Unfortunately, this means the baguettes and croissants aren’t nearly as good as those in Tahiti. On the plus side, English is the lingua franca. Seychellois, the creole language spoken by all the locals, is essentially like French with an extremely heavy African-style accent, which survives from that first era of French control. We can’t understand it, but if we speak French, the locals can understand.
The Seychelles feels like a Caribbean island — with its relaxed “island time” vibe and Rasta influences — yet with African edginess. Many people are gentle and chill. Yet we are constantly caught off guard by the proud, head strong approach of many locals that can be mistaken for unfriendliness and even bitter spitefulness.
The fact that tourism is the primary economy in Seychelles causes a well-known distortion in culture. Places like Costa Rica and Mediterranean villages also reflect this issue: when flamboyantly rich visitors contrasts with a humble community, it can be a ripe breeding ground for resentment and local self-entitlement.
Megayachts in the Marina
Like the Caribbean, the Seychelles has the added karmic load of dealing with absurdly affluent yachts. This ranges from the fleets of charter cats that rake in $20K per week, to dealing with several multi-million dollar mega-yachts owned by Arabic sultans and Russian oligarchs which flaunt their shores. An incredible number of foreign-owned mansions also dot the islands.
All these factors lead to a community of boating professional that is generally, ahem… difficult to work with. The golden goose (rich yachties) is constantly being squeezed of its fat. What’s left is a mishmash of boat workers who range from too busy, to utter incompetence. The default situation here is to over-charge wildly for mediocre work.
In fact, we’ve been struggling with these issues ever since we purchased the boat last July. The charter manager that was going to run the boat on a few ten day charters, to cover the costs of our boat sitting at the marina hemorrhaging money, failed abysmally. Not only did we not cover our costs, we lost a pile of money.
Screenshotwhat’s wrong with this picture? driving on the left side of the road!
The issue of having reliable help continued in the first 3 weeks we were aboard. People were charging us for services we didn’t ask for. People were charging us steep fees for “using their own tools” ontop of their regular wages. Ridiculous stuff. Yet as a newbie just trying to get stuff done, I was stuck between a rock and hard place. Worse even than incompetence, people responded to critique with verbal attacks. I got into more fights with people in those 3 weeks than I have in 3 years. Granted, I was stressed, but I was not proud of this, nor was it conducive to my mental wellbeing.
As the weeks passed and the repair / improvement list was ticked slowly, I became increasingly anxious. Just to get a straight price or quote from anyone was like pulling teeth. To get them to show up was an exercise in incessant phone calls and perseverance. Eventually, the generator was serviced, we bought a brand new dinghy & outboard, fixed various leaks. But as we approached the start of our Shakedown cruise, the boat still felt in pieces.
A few people were redeeming forces: our boat manager & surveyor Vincent Leon is an honest, incorruptible & super helpful guy. The previous owner of the boat, Stephane is responsive to any questions and spends time so I can understand systems. The old captain of the boat Patrick is a delightful hard worker, and straight with his word. Sadly he injured his knee and had to stop working but his very presence gave me hope. Eventually he connected us with a deckhand Kenneth that had those same virtues, which I appreciated greatly, amidst the chaos of everything else.
The best money we spent was flying our friend and rigger Ian Weedman to Seychelles. He is an absolute joy to be around and a total master of his craft. His plan was to join us for a week of boatwork, the 12 day Shakedown Cruise, then 2 weeks of re-rigging Nesi with the mast laying on the ground. A huge job to do in a foreign country, and simply irreplicable, because the one rigger on the island can’t keep up with the work demand of all the charter boats. More on this essential piece of our sailing preparations later.
Finally I felt grateful and re-charged to see my mother Susie, who arrived at the end of this 3 week period. Our current teacher Zoe was departing and we had a gap of a month before the next teacher arrived. So my mom took over the duties of being with the kids, which was simply a joy to watch and be around.
During those 3 weeks, we managed to cast the dock lines twice. We spent one night each time at a nearby islet 20 minutes from the harbor, to test the battery systems. One time we managed to lose our brand new dinghy due to a pathetic slippery line, and we came way too close to the reef in our effort to recuperate the dinghy (Sabrina eventually got it back by swimming!) The second time was better, so this was re-assuring, but we still didn’t really understand how to manage the boat’s electrical system. Furthermore, one of the engines still had charging / alignment problems.
With some things going our way, and many things not, we hustled to prepare our first Shakedown Cruise with our co-op members Judy and Matt. They signed up for this knowingly, ie. the unknown of our preparations. Yet, we personally didn’t anticipate being in such a state of disarray.
Breathe, I reminded myself. It’s all gonna be ok. In this process of keeping faith, and moving forward, we remembered a simple truth: We don’t belong in the marina. Within a few days of leaving, and being offshore again, everything seemed to fall into place….
Interested? See our schedule of trips here — we only have one cruising trip still open this year (plus a few passages available).
Chronicling our journey from our last boat in Tahiti, to our new boat in Seychelles, preparing for the around-the-world expedition.
As we boarded our plane in Tahiti for San Francisco, I wondered, “Perhaps we should have just purchased a new boat in French Polynesia! That would have made life much simpler!”
Why leave? We’ve asked ourselves a few times.
We had a nightmarish experience at Papeete airport, and now I was having second thoughts about flying to the other side of the world with the entire family in tow.
In mid-2023, we signed the purchase of our new catamaran Nesi in the Seychelles — a 60ft Fountaine Pajot Eleuthera, perfect for our world schooling expedition — because there’s not many of this type of boat available in the whole world.
Soaking up our final sunsets over Moorea
There were Eleuthera models in the Caribbean and Europe, but the one in Seychelles was a much better price… I figured, if we have to fly part way across, might as well go to the other side of the world, right??
Our trip from Tahiti to San Francisco was presumably the easiest leg. Non-stop 8hrs, with two well known airports, what’s the big deal? We prepared reasonably:
– We picked a French Bee daytime flight (7am-5pm) to avoid United’s red eye flight (10pm-6am) which was really challenging for the kids and us last time.
– We packed our 15 bags (gulp!) and arranged 3:30am pickup by a huge Tahitian guy with a gigantic van, plus a separate taxi for the kids, Sabrina and Zoe (our onboard teacher-nanny). Granted this was an exhausting way to wake up, carrying heavy bags across the marina with very upset kids, but it seemed better than the red-eye flight.
Mountain of bags, Tahiti edition
Why so many bags, you wonder? These are nearly all our portable belongings in the world! We also shipped 8 boxes to Seychelles, but together with these 15 bags, it’s all we got that’s portable in the material world 🙂
We arrived at the airport 3 hours before the flight, everything looked good… but we made two consequential mistakes. I share these lessons as they caused us grief and stress we hope others can avoid.
Zoe, shortly before she was “left behind”
ISSUE #1: Don’t miss the VISA fine print!
Zoe was flying on a French passport. I asked her, is there a Visa to enter the US? She had flown to US many times, but just in case, I asked google. The top lines of the search engine said, “There is no visa for French citizens…” “There is a visa-waiver program…” I assumed we were golden! Had I actually clicked on the link, I would have read further, and discovered that although there was no VISA per se, there was an entry permit application called ETSA. A small detail that messed us up royally!
Due to this glitch, the French Bee check-in counter wouldn’t let Zoe through. I asked them multiple times to let Zoe go to the gate on standby status, which is fully in their power to do so. Had they done so, she would have got on the flight! Her ETSA approval came precisely 45 seconds after the check-in counter closed, leaving Zoe stranded in Tahiti with 3 of our bags. Imagine being left behind! She broke down crying, but no matter, the ticket counter wouldn’t help her. Lame!
Meanwhile, I was on the phone with French Bee trying to change her flight, which had to occur before the plane took off, otherwise she would be considered a no-show. They refused to do so — Zoe had to call herself. I explained her phone wasn’t working, and furthermore I had purchased the ticket, so I should be able to change it!
This went on until all passengers had boarded and the flight attendants insisted I enter the plane, turn off my phone… which I promptly snapped back at them, “I’m talking to your own company!” As the plane was about to start taxiing, I punched credit card numbers into an email authorization they sent me, to pay $30 for the change fee. Got it done with no time to spare.
Suffice to say, this situation was very stressful for everyone. Thankfully, David and Eleanor (new owners of Selavi) took Zoe under their wing. She went back to the boat and waited 4 days until the next flight .
The fateful carry on bags… they looked ok in the official dimensions but in real life they were too floppy and gave us crazy problems with the officials at the airport.
ISSUE #2: Don’t get the wrong carry-on bags
The long story here is that shipping boxes from Tahiti to Seychelles was WAY more expensive than I presumed. Ocean freight was unavailable for less than $10,000. We didn’t have enough stuff to fill half a container. Air freight was absurd. Typically, if you’re a passenger on the flight, airlines charge $200-300 per extra bag weighing 50lbs. Guess what? Those same airplanes charge 2-4x if they’re taking your boxes as freight! This was wholly unexpected.
However, we simply couldn’t physically carry SO many bags ourselves. We caved in, and decided to ship 8 boxes to Seychelles, and carry the rest on our flights.
Prepping 8 boxes for shipping to Seychelles
This was a moving target… as we packed up our belongings on Selavi, we had to consider each item carefully, asking ourselves: is it valuable and hard to replace? is it heavy? is it essential for the next few months? This process took weeks.
In the meantime, we were running trips and also fixing the boat as we prepared for the sale. It was madness to pack in this chaotic environment, but we had too much to do.
In a last minute decision, I asked our friend Ian to bring extra bags from the US. Ian was doing our rigging survey on Selavi over New Years. Based on the website listing, the bag dimensions should work as carry-ons. Or so I thought…
This was the second drama at the airport in Papeete, at 5am that fine morning. While we fumbled with Zoe’s ETSA application, the French Bee check-in counter said my carry ons were too large. I put them each individually into the box that says “Your Carry On bags must fit here”. The ticketing agents said I wasn’t allowed to squish them in like I was doing (the bags were cheap and floppy). I told them to get a measuring tape, and read their own website policy! I couldn’t believe this debacle.
Our patient but exhausted 4yr old kids were slowly losing it. I was also losing it. When we were finally allowed to proceed, we experienced “insult ontop of injury”. Every step of the way — from the security check point, to the gate, to the airline stewards themselves — stopped us for having carry on bags that were ‘too large’. This annoyed me to no end, as I was also on the phone with French Bee trying to change Zoe’s flight. I was starting to snap.
The entire experience just felt like a bloody battle. From carrying 15 bags across the marina at 3:30am to fighting French Bee at every step of the way until we took off at 7:15am… I was spent. The worst part is we had lost Zoe for a few days, which derailed our plans upon arrival in SF.
Exhaustion central… noting how the kids legs flop over the seat uncomfortably, preventing continuous sleep. For the nextround of flights, we fixed this problem, see next post…
Reflecting on this experience, we could have prepared better to avoid these two issues. French Bee also could have done better by us. This is a lesson in customer service.
The French Bee agents were trying to “follow the rules”. Fair enough. The question is, when should we follow the rules precisely, and when should we accommodate customers and small discrepancies, in the name of making it work? Airlines get a bad rap because of this exact issue.
Fortunately, on our super difficult journey with United from San Francisco to Seychelles — which included 3 flights over 24hrs — we had a very different experience. This shows us that it’s possible for a company to provide amazing service in challenging situations, and also, for us to learn our lessons and prepare better 🙂
Good bye tahiti! View from the Papeete Marina, night before departure
