How Much Food & Fuel Do We Need? [Ep. 63]

Our planned bluewater passage is 4000+ nautical miles to South America. We prepare for storms, big waves, and for cold weather sailing as we go across the Atlantic ocean, AGAIN!

#sailing #prepping #diesel #bluewater

0:00 We say goodbye to our good friend Peter Lawless, who is sailing back to Portugal, and then Ireland from Tenerife. Due to a collision with his rudder and damage, he has decided to postpone his non-stop around the world circumnavigation until the next sailing season. We give him a proper send off. @peterlawlesssolosailing7189
1:26 Our new friends from the catamaran JAMS arrive at the dock and Curtis grabs a line for our new neighbors Outremer 51. They are headed in a different direction for now, transatlantic with the rally, but we hope to see them in the future in the pacific ocean.
1:47 Fixing and Re-Installing our Diesel Heater. After installing the new fuel pickup, fuel pump, lines and filter for our Chinese diesel heater we noticed a major problem, it was not working. We had to completely remove the unit and install a new heater in our sailboat to solve the problem.
5:45 We deal with our international pet travel paperwork, Roxy goes to the vet for an updated health certificate so our dog can sail with us across the ocean to the next country.
6:07 We buy Roxy a surprise from the sporting goods store. New tennis balls for the dog.
6:34 Extra cold weather preparation and clothing for sailing in the southern latitudes. We purchase extra sets of foul weather gear, fleece, and other gear to sail in cold weather.
8:11 Discussing our route, charts, weather routing, and updating our electronics at the nav station to get ready to sail a 30 day offshore Bluewater ocean passage, 4700 miles from Tenerife, Canary Islands to Mar Del Plata, Argentina.
9:12 Rig inspection. Curtis goes 65′ up our carbon fiber mast with rod rigging to inspect the rig before offshore passagemaking. We expect strong winds, storms, and big waves, so it is important that our sailboat is well prepared. Kate cranks him up using the winch, and we get a birds eye view of Tenerife harbor.
14:21 We take on additional fuel to prepare for the next adventure. We meet with a superyacht to get some fuel directly from their delivery truck into our jerry cans. We discuss how much diesel fuel we normally carry in our sailboats tanks, and how much extra we are carrying in jerry cans for extended range for ocean crossing and heat in Argentina and Chile.
16:44 Provisioning for our second transatlantic voyage in a year. We onboard our food stores. Final send off, and huge thank you to our Patron Crew!

What More at Our Sailing Channel: www.youtube.com/c/sailingsweetruca
Website, Blog, and Live Tracker: www.sweetruca.com
Support Our Work on Patreon: www.patreon.com/ruca

So who is this crazy sailing couple making fun videos to share? Well, we are Kate and Curtis. We both sold up and headed out to sea, with the goal of sailing around the world via Cape Horn and the Cape of Good Hope. We are excited to get to the fjords and channels of Patagonia and we are working hard to get there. We brought our mixed rescue dog along with us as she loves sailing and swimming too!

Our boat is a year 2000 J Boats J/46 (The previous version of the new J/45). We searched for 3 years for our perfect sailboat for sale. We debated whether to get a catamaran or a monohull. When we found the right boat, we knew it was the one. We spent 6 months re-fitting it in Rhode Island and then went for our shakedown voyage in Maine. We stopped in Annapolis for a bit to do some more refit work and offshore modifications, then we set off to the open sea. We went to the Bahamas, Miami, US Virgin Islands, BVI, Grenada, Carriacou, St. Maarten, where we enjoyed outdoor adventures, scuba diving, and have now did an Atlantic Crossing to the Azores where we had a chance to fly our DJI drone (and learned how to fly a drone from a boat) and one of our favorite past times, mountain biking. We are in the Canary islands preparing for a huge sailing passage south to Argentina, Chile and the Patagonia fjords. We have sailed over 10,000 bluewater miles to date. We put on miles like a trucker in a freedom convoy 😉

Being from the great lakes, we already knew how to sail, but cruising was new to us, so we watched other sailing channels before we left as well. We even considered van life, a tiny home, or a motorhome / rv. Some of the channels we enjoyed were Gone with the Wynns, Sailing La Vagabonde (before they had kids :-), Sailing Uma, Project Atticus, and MJ Sailing. We didn’t really set out to be influencers, but we wanted to return the good karma and pass our inspiration and knowledge along. We are having fun creating sailing videos, helping others learn how to sail, and giving those that can’t get outdoors right now something fun to watch.

Enough of this, we hope you enjoy our relaxing video on #sailingsunday!

XO XO Kate, Curtis & Roxy