SCARED FOR MY LIFE! Sailing at 22 knots boat speed down HUGE waves [Ep. 105]
Yep, La Vagabonde reached 22.7 knots boat speed. We couldn’t believe it. With a max of 28 knots wind behind us from about 120 degrees, we surfed down one wave and then caught the next one in front of that. Before we knew it we were all looking at a 22.7 on the nav gear. I had a close eye on the bows making sure they weren't going to bury, they looked like they might but Riley "promised" me that it was normal and fine!! Matthieu says we could have got 25 knots so looks like Riley will be aiming for that next time… I never thought I’d go this fast on a sail boat. Still in recovery from this wild experience. Very happy to still be here to tell you this tale, to be alive and writing this very description is a miracle. I love you guys, Elayna.
Comments (78)
Holy awesome, its basically sailing 3.0 - just a whole 'nother game! Does anyone know where one could get the globe Matthieu gifted Rilelay, which seems to have the prevailing global winds portrayed?
Riley's such a stud!
I had to say it. I tried to hold back but...
22 knots! Very good! If you pull my name one day we have to go for 23! ;-)
Amazing fun 😬
Really great to see you guys in action in such conditions! However, please tether up so that your "action" stays in the happy, safe zone! xoxo
have you still got the trawling lines at at 22knts ??? gonna catch like a super sport turbo charged tuna hahhahhaahahahahaha
What a boat! Hey guys, I just watched a TED talk by one of the founders of Patreon and he included SLV in his examples of creators getting paid for their content. Congrats for the extra publicity!
DUDE!!! 22 knots! Awesome! I was cheering out loud for you Riles. Soooo jealous. I get to go 5 MPH on the freeway in traffic on my way home. Love you guys! Living the dream.
So cool!
My boat is flying (and healed over on its ear) at 7knots. I've got to get a cat. Great advert for OutreMer. They've got to love this episode 😜
Fly that machine Riely⛵
Great video. Lots to learn about the boat and it's capabilities. I understand Riley's excitement and desire to test the beast out. But also understand Elayna's concern for caution. My only suggestion is to exercise safety in those conditions with PFDs and jack lines.
Awesome some people have to fund 1000hp to achieve 22knts.
I know. Crazy hey.
Wld also agree with Vlad: lifeline to harness and a pfd. It is a small inconvenience that can potentially save your life
Fantastic broad reach sail, really fun to watch
I just come from vacation from Corse i love this island i thought that i so you there on the see clobe to PALOMBAGIA beach but it can be some other cat. so i hope that you enjoy it there.
Josef I wish you had of come and said hello!
Love the music in this episode. It's pretty cool to see you hitting such high speeds in the new La Vagabonde. For being freaked out you appeared to handle it okay, can't want to see whats in store next! Will you be going ashore for awhile during hurricane season?
I (Riley) was ok. I thought the boat handled it perfectly. We are thinking about an atlantic crossing but not sure just yet.
Awesome Ep.. that was like watching the Volvo 70's... that would have been my perfect day, absolutely hammering to a new country... 👍
It was the best day ever. It really was.
Sailing on the edge of disaster, if you start hearing strange sounds when before there was none you might want to slow down, this is not an American's cup cat. But whatever you die happy right!
Very happy.
That humming usually comes from the rudders or the center boards. Fantastic feeling going that fast isn't it!
It feels like its the rigging Jim. I think its the rig.
Short video that is.
12-15 minute episodes Darrell. Thats what we have been doing for a long time now.
What a ride is right, although a short ride.
What a ride. Thanks for the adventure
You have the Unbakery book!! Nice one Elayna. Also, loved the video, must be awesome to get some wind and waves excitement. I'm in Greece and I'l LOVE to come on board while you're in the med. xxx
Margot we are in Tunisia now. We are organising a meet up in Southern Spain though. Really hope we call your name out...!!!
Hey people, I have to support Vlad Anto's comments. In addition anyone out and about the boat in those conditions should also have a life line attached. The old timers had a saying, "One hand for the boat & one hand for yourself". I also do hope that you have practiced your MOB drill (going about and coming alongside the person in the water then recovering them) and actually performed it enough so that any crew member alone can carry it out. Otherwise enjoy the sea. Love you all.
Fantastic sailing. The hum will be coming from the centreboards.
Great footage... I love sailing like that; fast and rough.
Awesome video! The humming is usually the vibration of the retractable daggerboards. I experience the same sensation when sailing Tasar's in high winds. The centre-board hums when you begin to aqua-plane over the water. Additionally, I noticed the same issue as Vlad. Flying along at 18ish knots, even though the conditions looked quite favourable, it would be safe to have some self-inflating PDFs. You wouldn't want to get knocked over board and hit your head on the way over and not have anything to keep your head above the water!. Stay safe and keep making awesome videos!
Jumped off the back of the boat to grab the rope and go for a tow and split my head open on the way to Tunisia. Nearly died Toby. I'm going to try to be more careful but how do you stop an accident like slipping? I don't know.
Thanks for that!!!!, was amazing to watch, I know nothing about sailing but I think I would be wearing gloves if I was messing around with ropes and that much wind... just sayin'
I probably need to.
Absolutely epic. Be safe out there! Cheers!
La Vaga was flying, that hum was probably your running rigging.
Just loved this video....!!!
Wow now that's sailing!! I'm new to sailing and my top speed is 8 knots can imagine topping out at 22 knots...well done!!
Don't think I have forgotten my life on the monohull. At least your out there mate.
Cool speed, but I think you should check the true wind speed when sailing that fast down wind. Sailing away from the wind hides the wind, and at that speed it is hard to stop. If you turn into the wind, you suddenly find yourself in 40-50 knots of wind. Spare those shrouds. They are not singing, but screaming.
Always got my eye on every instrument Jim. They are built for that speed. Outremer said we could have gotten a bit more and that I did a really good job handling the situation.
Hey guys, great video. Epic sailing conditions and sea state. But I noticed you were moving around on bow/deck at 15+ knots of boat speed and no one had a life jacket on. Not a huge risk during a day with full crew, but with only two people left onboard, at that speed it only takes one rogue wave to throw boat off and if anyone slipped and went overboard, by the time you take sails down, fire up engine and turn around you would be a mile away and poor soul in the water would already drifted in waves way off course so you would be looking for a tiny head in the middle of the sea with big waves. You would have to be extremely lucky to find a person dead or alive. Could be a disaster. Just be smart and safe when you reach those speeds and realize you only have 3 people or less onboard in case of emergency. We had rough Mac Race this year with rough weather, 35+ knots of wind, big waves and violent wind shifts in the middle of the night. 100 boats retired due to boat damage, injuries, one cat capsized with 5 people, several maydays and MOBs all night long. One guy spent over an hour in water after MOB in the middle of night in 50F degrees water and almost died of hypothermia. Boat was over a mile away by the time they realized he was gone and they managed to turn around. If they found him 30 minutes later he would be dead. As much as it is fun to sail fast, please be careful as bad things can and will happen in those speeds and conditions. It is not worth the risk unless you have full crew with years of sailing/racing experience. Consequences can be devastating. On other note, I wanted to ask if there have been any issues with Patreon website this past weekend? I tried to log in few times and website did not recognize my password. I had to change it twice in two days. Have they been hacked and our log in information compromised? Any updates for Patrons would be much appreciated as we have some private information stored by Patreon. Thank you! Cheers....Vlad
Totally agree with you, Vlad. One brief second of cockiness can lead to a lifetime of regret. It also sets a very bad example for those who don't know any better and are watching these videos.
Great camera skills, give some credit to Daniel for me! Super excited to see the up coming videos! QUESTION: what do you have for a spot light? if one at all. Is it just those head lamps? That can't be enough to light up the water to see around the boat at night, If ya don't I'll bring one when I get my name called out... any day now hahaha love you guys keep up the amazing work! -logan
Deck light up the front it pretty awesome, lights up everything and we have one powerful spotlight but I can't remember what candle power it is. It works well though.
The rig sings when you get enough wind, we were out in 60+ heading up the NSW coast and I swear I heard "heard it through the grape vine" just as I was going to sleep. 4 knots on the top of the waves 16 going down the face, made our 53 foot boat feel very small.
I feel like ours is a bit more like Hendricks, maybe "All along the watch tower" but I'll keep an ear on it.
I Like the big following seas at 17 knots plus but from the angle it is difficult to experience the speed. Looks like you have a "resonant frequency " at about 17 or 1`8 knots. Hopefully not the hull itself vibrating but there may be a spar or something else of a particular length that vibrates at that speed give in a tuning fork effect. Maybe coupled with a standing wave associated with the volume of air in a compartment? Elyna will be delighted to learn that you can test my theory by going even faster say 25 knots to see if the hum attenuates. Just kidding you should notice if it is gone by 23 knots anyway.
Hahahaha. Thanks Bart! I enjoyed that.
Chouchenn D'Armor [pronounced Shoe Shen dar more] is a MEAD. It is brewed in Rostrennan in the Côtes-d'Armor department of Brittany actually it was formerly called Cotes du Nord. thats the one that borders Normandy and covers the southern english channel or La Manche as they say. To the West is the tip of Britanny Finisterre which is actaully a Latin name from the Romans who probably thought they had reached the end of the Earth ~ Finis Terra. To the South is the only french department not having a French name Morbihan which is breton ( a celtic language similar to Welsh and literally identical to Cornish) for "little sea" and indeed there is an inland Gulf there. Cote dAmour also has Breton spoken still and further east Gallo which is a romance Latin language and was a Breton influenced version of language of the Normans. It literally means the armor or armored coast and this may be due to abundant rocks and sea cliffs or the fact that it was fortified against the English. I don't know. It also sounds like the coast of love ~armour and it is indeed a lovely coast. I Like the big following seas at 17 knots plus but from the angle it is difficult to experience the speed.
Very nice crossing :)
Still cracking me up! - Riley "Take a reef, take a reef!" :) - The look on his face of pure joy is just so awesome, so happy for you both that the boat is working out so well for you
Great episode! I loved the rawness of the sound combined with the great camera work. Felt like a really great action documentary :-)
Another great video...anxious to see the island! Elayna...you're just getting your "sea-legs"...pretty soon 22 knots will become the norm on that boat! I've done over 30 kts on a 50' footer sailing from L.A. to Hawaii and after a while anything less that 20 kts is a crawl! Enjoy the island...hugs as always to U all!!
Rob that is absolutely crazy!!! Hahahaha!!!!
Please forgive me for asking this, what's a donkey slap?I know nothing about sailing but enjoy watching the videos,Riley said it was just a "donkey slap"
When the waves come between the bows of a catamaran and slap underneath it can cause a bit of a shake and a boom. Its not bad at all on this boat but we need to get into worse weather.
Great video! Love watching while I sit waiting for Irma to decide whether to head for Tortola where my cat is docked. Fingers crossed Irma stays away from all land.
I'm not sure what the latest is Missy but we're all thinking of you.
Great action. Amazing speed. Any downside to the cat, compared to the original SV LaVagabonde, or is it all for the better?
At the moment its just the price of a berth at the marina which will change when we leave Europe and I'm pretty confident that because we are a cat we will be able to spend more time on anchor in the long run.
Great video, keep it up !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Wow, what a great show !!!!!!!!!! So used to a mono hull, looks pretty damn fast !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I just love it. It's great to see everyone and everything in action. Having a dedicated camera man is starting to pay off. I'd love to see more forward looking shots while at sea and more establishing shots in general. It would also be cool to see more of the sail changes. Wider shots so we can see how the rigging works. I can't wait for you guys to leave the Mediterranean and enter less touristy places again.
We are in Tunisia now mate. Its not very Touristy here!!!
Very nice....... I hear you picked up SV Delos crew member looking forward to that that episode. I love there adventures as well as yours !!!!!!!
Josje is the nicest girl Michael. We all had a great sail together to Tunisia. We're going camel riding today!
It's better to get to those speeds whilst it's daylight and you have control. Not the best to happen at night. Job well done Cap'n Riles, First Mate Elayna and Boatswain's Mate Daniel!
We would have of course reefed by night time. No way I would want to be tired and doing that sort of stuff.
Epic!
really inspiering stuff guys!
Thanks Jacob.