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from zero to sailing with no experience

Lessons From Sea – Zero to 10,000 Miles in Two years

Looking back at the last two years of our life I am both exhausted and exhilarated. We’ve gone from road warriors to salty sailors. RVers to Cruisers. Landlubbers to Shellbacks.

And, we did it all with zero previous sailing experience.

We’ve never worked harder, or pushed ourselves more, than we have in the past two years. We’ve also never had so many jaw-dropping-breathtaking-awe-inspiring-make-me-want-to-pee-my-pants moments. The pendulum swings drastically in the sea dwelling world.

We answer directly to mother nature and so far, we’ve managed not to get in her way. Which means, we’re still floating and exploring.

So, grab a sundowner and join us on the deck! We’re celebrating another year as sailors by looking back on the major milestones and biggest lessons we’ve learned.

It’s been a helluva couple of years! As we sifted through over 10 terabytes of documented footage, we laughed, cried and cringed. But mostly, we were amazed at what two painfully ordinary humans can accomplish in as little as two years. You don’t have to be uniquely qualified, or special in any way, to do something extraordinary. We are all capable of doing anything we put our minds to.

When one man, for whatever reason, has the opportunity to lead an extraordinary life, he has no right to keep it to himself.”

-Jacques Cousteau

As ordinary as we may be, we do lead an extraordinary life.  Sharing this incredible journey with you has made it far more meaningful than we could have ever imagined.

Your support big and small is what makes sharing these adventures possible.  So, big bear hugs to everyone who has left words of encouragement, shopped through our Gear Store, left a tip in our jar or joined our virtual crew over at Patreon.  We love you guys and couldn’t do it without you.  It takes a village and you are our virtual community, no matter where in the world we might be.

landlubbers to sailors

In case you missed it, here’s a recap of what we talked about in the video.  (And here is our Year One as Sailors video for perspective: gonewiththewynns.com/dream-first-year-sailors)

Major Milestones Of Year 2

To see our full map with interactive pins, click here: gonewiththewynns.com/map

sailing and traveling around the world map

Big Passage Making Takeaways

  • Sail Conservative – Do not push the boat or ourselves too hard.  This means reefing early, putting Curiosity to bed for night sailing, being well prepared and doing whatever necessary to keep ourselves rested and feeling good.
  • Mind The Weather – Sea Conditions affect everything, especially crew morale.  Wait for a good weather window on short sails and research wind/weather/wave/current patterns heavily before setting sail on longer passages.  Never have rigid plans, sail only on Mother Nature’s schedule.

What Does Year 3 Hold? 

We’re not sure but we do have a few goals.

  • Explore as many of the 118 islands and atolls of French Polynesia as possible (we had to jump through some hoops to get the French Polynesia long stay visa, so we may as well enjoy it).
  • Going through all the necessary paperwork and processes to get the cats, ourselves and Curiosity into the countries of New Zealand and Australia.
  • Host at least one grand Patron group adventure.

The Unofficial, Marquesan Greyhound Recipe

salty dog sailors celebration cocktail

For my fellow grapefruit lovers out there, this one is a solid twist on an old classic.  Salt the rim and you could call it a Marquesan Salty Dog.

  • 4oz Marquesas grapefruit juice (or any sweet grapefruit, we like to leave the pulp)
  • 1oz Gin (we’re nursing our last bottle of the good stuff, Swallowtail Small Batch)
  • 3 Small basil leaves pinched (to release oils) as garnish on top
  • Ice

Hello there! I honestly don’t know what to say, so I am going to tell you a bunch of random facts instead. I'm a fish eating vegetarian who hates spiders and loves snakes. I almost never took vacations growing up. I wanted to be Pippi Longstocking (still do). I misspell about every other word I write and still struggle with grammar. I love splurging on a good high tea (which is really hard to find these days). And whatever you do, don’t tell me I can’t do something, because then I'll HAVE to do it!

Comments (32)

  • Pamela Kinley

    We love watching your videos and have been following you since you started rving. We hope to be rving soon. I tried in earlier years to talk my husband into a houseboat but rving seems to be the way we are going. We are both excited and hope to be on our way in a few months. We will be part-time at first looking toward full-time in the future.
    Your rving tips are what attracted us to your videos in the beginning and we have been followers ever since. Thanks for all of the hard work that you put into them.
    The last video we watched you were making a coconut and oat bread in you bread maker. I would like to try your recipe but haven’t been able to find it on your site. (I could be looking in totally the wrong places) :} If you’ve posted it could you tell me where I’m missing it?
    Thanks again
    Pam Kinley

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  • Tanya Robinson

    Hi you two plus kitties! I’m wondering if I’m missing any other videos after your sailaversary? I started watching you when I came across a video of you going to Chicken, Alaska and have tried to watch every single video since! Lol I have a close friend who gold mines out of Chicken and he goes into Chicken for the big festivities on 4th of July.

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    • Curious Minion

      Hi Tanya, Curious Minion here. Yes, there have been a couple of vids since then. If you go to the main sailing page on the blog, videos appear in reverse chronological order. So just find the Sailaversary in the que and click on the next one toward the top.

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  • Gil

    It all looks awesome! Safe travels!

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  • Sanford Simmons

    Congratulations may you both have many more years of adventures together.

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  • Mike G

    I have started watching your videos, but only when you started sailing. I was pleased to see so many of your videos in Panama and Ecuador. I spend 4 years in Panama and graduated high school there and your videos brought back many fond memories. I also spent a few weeks in Quito and was able to travel around. If and when you go to Africa I want to encourage you to visit Zanzabar Island, the history is amazing there. Also, you should go to Kenya or Tanzania and go on a 3 or 4 day safari. Finally, if you have time go to Rwanda and track the Mountain Gorillas, this was truly one of the most incredible things I have ever done. Thanks for sharing your videos, I have enjoyed your videos and your ability to tell a story.

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  • Scott Taylor

    Hey guys – where did you get the folding deck seats you were using in the video? Haven’t seen them listed under favorite gear, etc. Thanks, and keep smiling!

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  • Pat Parker

    Congratulations you two what a great adventure you have had for the last two years sailing. Many more adventures to come so good sailing and stay safe

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  • cindy

    Two years!!!! Does it seem like six??? lol I hope you get your play time this year. You deserve a break. Look forward to sailing with you 2019. Love and miss you!

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  • James Dillon

    CONGRATS GUYS. AWESOME ACCOMPLISHMENTS. REALLY ENJOYED THE VIDEO! AND NIKKI- IT WAS WORTH THE WAIT!! TAKE CARE, BE GOOD AND PROUD OF YOURSELVES! GREETING FROM THE SHORES OF LAKE HURON- SARNIA- ONTARIO- CANADA. YOUR BIGGEST CANADIAN FAN- JAMIE!!

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  • Alan Solomon

    Congratulations on 2 years of sea-going success. Powerless of open ocean currents, your skill and experience got you through it and brought you to where you are now. 7000 nautical miles plus**. Congratulations. Big achievement**.
    Every video is better than the last. I have not missed a week in more than 2 years too. Cleo and Singa have adapted to the sailing life too. Your cats make me smile. I would think they provide you both a lot of down home love and affection in the boat, on the high seas and nestled in a quiet cove. If you are there for a year I would love to come and visit sometime if the Planets align and the lottery cooperates!!

    Kind Regards,

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  • Jimbo

    Anniversaries are a great time to reflect on accomplishments, but also wonderful opportunities to give thanks….
    -Thank you, for smiling into the camera when you really just wanted to scream.
    -Thank you, for postponing or advancing (departure, arrival, meals, life) so that you could capture “the shot” that would really make us all feel like we were right next to you during one of the most amazing moments life could offer.
    -Thank you, for smoothing out your (clothes/ hair/ face) so that your outer beauty always matches your inner beauty.
    -Thank you, for hiking the hard way around a volcano so that the sun wouldn’t be in OUR eyes.
    -Thank you, for searching, asking, begging, bartering, and finally connecting, so that we can sit on our couches in climate controlled comfort, with an icy beverage, and be magically transported to locations that we didn’t even know existed, and almost certainly will never get to visit ourselves.
    -Thank you, for the (3,4,5,20) retakes that we’ll never see, just to get the one we’ll never forget.
    -And thank you, for approaching each new location, adventure, and challenge with the same enthusiasm and humility as the very first.
    We know you don’t have to do all of this for us, there are any number of ways you could have chosen to live the life you wanted. But you decided to bring us along and for that we say Happy Sail-iversary, Congratulations on all of your remarkable achievements, and thank YOU. See ya next Sunday.

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    • Bernard Schaer

      Jimbo, I couldn’t have said it any better!! I’ve been following these guys’ adventures for ever, always looking forward to the next video.

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  • Beth

    Awesome job, you two!! Thanks for sharing your travels with us. You always have wonderful videos, photos and information. You never put out a bad or boring video! Thank you so much!
    It is kinda weird how I worried about you on your huge passage by yourselves and we have never met! Keep sailing conservatively!

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  • Deborah Kerr

    Awesome!! Can’t wait to see French Polynesia! You’ve come along way baby!! Keep smiling 🙂

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  • Don

    Always enjoy watching your videos. Keep it going. Be safe.

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  • Roger B

    WOW! Another very entertaining and informative video. A big thank you and occasionally I go back and watch Going RV again to enjoy your first excursion into RVing and your motor home shopping experience. You’ve come a long way.

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  • Brian

    Wow, hard to believe it’s been two years. Looking forward to future adventures. Can honestly say, there hasn’t been one video yet, that I haven’t enjoyed. Thanks for sharing.

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  • Louis

    Just one word ” Wow “

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  • Ann

    Happy sailiversary 🙂

    I seem to recall one more crew member … a guy who joined you just for a short time when Dale and Justin we’re still aboard.

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  • We started full time RV travel in August of 2016, so just after you guys started full time sailing. You were a big inspiration for our RV travels so we were a bit sad when you moved on to sailing just as we were getting started, but all of your prior videos really helped us figure things out. Your seemingly endless courage still inspires us today. Sailing is no joke and what you all have been able to accomplish in such a short time speaks volumes. I’m glad you guys didn’t listen to the naysayers and went for it. Enjoy some hard earned rest in French Polynesia. You deserve it!

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  • Bill Doty

    Wish you guys a lot of luck and fun. You are the type of Americans that represent the best this country has to offer. One question—It sounds like sailing is a LOT more complicated and involved than RVing. Thoughts?

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  • mary

    It is hard to believe it has been 2 year. Congratulations! I love Sunday videos and seeing what you all have been up to. Wish I was there for more of your adventures, it is always so much fun. Safe travels!

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  • Ward

    Great video to wake up to this morning. Thanks for sharing your ongoing adventures!

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  • Terry Jones

    wow 2 years , I have learned so much by watching you two ! I have always dreamed of doing what you two are and in 1 year 8 mouths 6 days ( who’s counting ) I will be done with work , Going to buy a boat and who knows !
    Keep doing what works for you and safe sailing ,

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  • Ed Grant

    Wow, it is hard to believe how far you’ve gone in these past 12 months! I so look forward to each of your postings, living vicariously through you. I have tried to explain to people the fascination I have for this but until you’ve watched a few postings, folks just don’t understand. Of course you kids Make it all worth the viewing. Such a great couple, full of fun and togetherness. Love the interactions of your cats too! Having been to Polynesia on a cruise ship many years ago, I know what a beautiful place it is. My late Dad spent time at Bora Bora during WWII and never lost his love for those islands. That cruise I mentioned was with my parents and one of my brothers and his wife. Traveling with those you love makes it all so much better. Of course you kids know that! Looking forward to staying “on board” with you on your next adventures.

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  • Judy Hornbeck

    Happy Sailiversaty!!!! You guys are my hero’s……love all you do. Keep up the wonderful videos, relax and enjoy this next year!!! ❤️

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  • Pam McClure

    Two years! Time goes so quickly. Thank you for sharing your ups and downs. I love watching you. I’m getting to see places, in depth, that I’ll never see. You are now in the area I’ve always longed to see so can’t wait. Kinda weird to think how much I care about you two when I’ve not met you and you have no clue who I am, but I do.

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  • Steve

    You two are not ordinary, adventurers, living on the calculated edge between safe and unsafe takes an extraordinary person. You two are amazing.

    We have followed you for years. We “held our breath” during your long voyage and are sharing you joy and accomplishments from the comforts of our land yacht.

    Be safe and thanks for the best adventure channel.

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