[Ep 16] Boat Life in San Diego | Rent Free & Prepping For Cruising Mexico

• July 18, 2025 by SmoCo Sailing |
• Language: EN
• Play Time: 00:23:18
• SAILING YOUTUBERS

We Moved Onto the Hook in Downtown San Diego 🏙⚓️ (And Started a Mountain of Boat Work)
📍 San Diego A9 Anchorage "Cruiser's Anchorage"
After finishing our solar arch in the marina, we moved to the free anchorage right in front of downtown San Diego and quickly discovered the real work was just getting started.
In this episode, we settle into life on the hook in the middle of the city, scout out a very questionable dinghy dock, and try to balance soaking up the SoCal vibes with prepping our boat for our cruising adventure to Mexico. We finally get to our 24 year old standing rigging and start knocking out a long list of boat projects.
We also take time to explore the city, shop for provisions, cook onboard, and dinghy into a reggae festival.
In this episode:
- Cruising life in downtown San Diego
- Anchoring at the Cruiser’s Anchorage
- Sketchy dinghy dock adventures
- Getting dismasted (no, really)
- A mountain of DIY boat projects
- Exploring, provisioning, reggae... and a nose piercing?

This is Part 1 of our extended San Diego stay. If you're curious what it's like to live on anchor in a big city while trying to refit your sailboat, this one's for you.
🔧⚓️ New “Mini Project” videos coming soon with deeper dives into each refit task!
👋 Don’t forget to like, subscribe, and follow along as we leave California and sail into new waters. Thanks for watching and sailing with us.

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About us
Ahoy there! We’re Armand, Liya, and Pinot and altogether we’re SmoCo Sailing. In 2020 we bought a sailboat with the dream of sailing the world and over the next 4 years we moved aboard and worked on boat upgrades and repairs to transform her into a cruising vessel. In 2024, we waved goodbye to our jobs and set sail from Monterey, CA and never looked back. We’ve got no plans, no timelines, and definitely no destinations! Join our adventures aboard SV Cosmo, where we explore foreign lands and tackle life as full-time cruisers and part-time everything else: amateur diesel mechanics, plumbers, riggers, seamsters, navigators, and whatever other trade we need to learn if and when stuff breaks.

SV Cosmo
Cosmo is a 2000 Dufour Center Cockpit sailboat. Supposedly there are only 15 of these models built in the world, which would make sense since we still haven’t found an owner’s manual or proper documentation from Dufour. She is a 43 foot vessel with 2 cabins, 2 heads, and we’ve beefed her up with so many upgrades and features since 2020, she’s practically a whole new boat.
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SmoCo Sailing

We're Armand, Liya, and our doodle Pinot. In July 2024, we sailed off from Monterey, California aboard our sailboat Cosmo and began the biggest adventure of our lives. Since then, we've been sailing Mexico and beyond, sharing the real highs and lows of full-time cruising. From remote anchorages and incredible wildlife encounters to boat projects, spearfishing, weather, and everything that breaks in between. Our goal is simple: explore beautiful places, live life on our own terms, and share the journey honestly. So grab a drink, pull up a seat in the cockpit, and come sailing with us. New episodes every week.

Channel Information:

• Joined: March 16, 2020
• Subscribers: 775
• Videos: 93
• Views: 74,507
• Latest Video: July 02, 2026
• Language: en

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[Ep 16] Boat Life in San Diego | Rent Free & Prepping For Cruising Mexico Locations

• San Diego (32.715738,-117.1610838)