Their YouTube homepage says:

We are an Australian couple with the dream of circumnavigating the globe by sail boat… initially having no clue of how to sail. We have now sailed over 60,000nm each across many oceans. Through our videos we hope to inspire others to explore alternative options of living and to spread ocean awareness. With YOUR support we can keep these movies coming every Monday/Tuesday (depending on your timezone)

They have 1.18 MILLION subscribers. Their web page https://sailing-lavagabonde.com now shows more then 90,000 miles sailed since 2014. It also shows the track for their current voyage. At this point it would appear that they know what they’re doing. Winter doesn’t actually start until 21 DEC. It should not take them that long to get to Spain. The Brest Atlantique multihulls went a good bit farther - from France to Brazil - in about a week.

I don't watch or support them financially, but many do because they like the vids. No one is being harmed so who really cares? As long as they are respectful, leave a clean wake and maybe inspire others to experience the sea first hand... there is nothing to criticize. They were very clever in monetizing what they were doing... but clearly not every sailor could pull it off.

Number one, any ferry driver can rack up thousands of miles each year and never leave the harbor, as can fair weather sailors, with nary a puff of wind over 25 knots, so "miles" don't impress me much.
Next, their boat is hardly an ocean racing foiling multihull, but rather a big waterborne floating hotel room with huge windows and I'm pretty sure not set up for sailing consistently in winds over 50 knots and certainly is [B]not [B] going to be flying along at 25 knots plus and probably nowhere near their expected 7.5 knots much of the time.
As this is supposed to be a voyage w/o the use of polluting fuels, how are they expecting to keep all their fancy equipment going without operating a genset? On the same note, what happens when they hit the common easterlies if they do take such a southerly course? Fall off and spend days going the wrong way, south or worse north, or crank up their engines?
No, their best shot at a quick passage under sail is by the traditional northerly route and as I said, even with a lifetime as a professional seafarer that is not a voyage I'd contemplate lightly, and certainly not without 3/4" storm boards over every window.

According to their track they are making 6 knots beating into 7 knots of wind. Course 174º into wind of 122º.

I'm sure the wind speed and direction is very approximate.

There catamaran is nowhere near your description. The Outremers are solid performance cruisers with great safety records. They have narrow hulls which give them good performance but they don’t have the space of the more common “ floating hotel room” cat. I would expect a pretty easy 7-8 knot average.
The owners are well known for their non polluting attitude and I’m sure they have plenty of solar to handle the loads.


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I'm curious to see long how Riley will be able to put up with Greta the environmental drama queen for the entire voyage. He has enough to deal with moody Elyna.

I have no quarrel with them and the transportation of Greta. However, they also have their one year old, Lenny, with them. Ouch.

They did clock 22 knots on this Outremer when in the Med a year or so ago, but it was nothing like what they may experience on this trip.

You clearly haven't seen their early videos. Riley was sailing solo, on an 80's Beneteau mono-hull he bought and fixed up. He admits that he didn't know fully, what he was doing, at first. He crossed the Atlantic a couple of times with that boat. He also has sailed in some extreme weather. On more than one occasion, he has cautioned viewers, to understand that most of their videos are shot during fair weather sailing, because, during storm sailing, they are usually too busy sailing, to do a video. He has stated this disclaimer several times. In one video, he made a point of setting up a couple of GoPros to capture some extreme sailing, to show some of what they hadn't shown enough of before.

In one video, he sailed single-handed from some island country, back to meet Elyna in Australia, and sailed through a storm. He described it in the end of the video, and apologized for not having video of it, explaining that he was busy at the helm, and managing the reefing of the sails, and couldn't worry about filming. But he included his description, because he didn't want non-sailors and novices to get the false impression that the cruising life is always the "smooth sailing" that their videos have made it seem.

When they got the Outremere catamaran, they were given some additional training in sailing the catamaran and motoring with a multi-engine boat.

Maybe they are planing to use Greta as an Au Pair for the trip. So they can finally have some couple time together Then as the Wynns pointed out on their Pacific Passage it's not always serene as
people think even in good conditions. Cats can be pretty noisy in the cockpit when moving along. Also it's a beamy platform. Hope no one gets hurt after being tossed about. It's not going to like a cruise in the Bahamas.

Well, I shall say nothing as Riley and Elayna are friends of mine and Riley is a member of Sailnet.

I have messaged Elayna and they are both clear on my thoughts and my message of 'good luck'.


Now that I have finished commenting on this thread, I shall change the subject completely.

Have I ever told you of my 1 (one) rule of cruising?

No?

My 1 (ONE) rule of cruising is ONLY EVER SAIL IN THE RIGHT SEASON.

My other rule of cruising, lets call it Rule 1A, is NEVER LET SOMEONE ELSE INFLUENCE THE TIMING OR THE ROUTE.

If anyone neglects either or both of these rules (of mine) (and Jimmy Cornells) (and Lin and Larry Pardy) (and about every other sailor who has put pen to paper) then I reserve the right to call them out.

I am sure they will come through this passage safely. However I expect them to be a tad reflective on their arrival. Taking this risk with a 1 year child on board is cause to be most reflective. And suddenly having to be responsible for a teenager and parents who are just a political agenda and the boat and owners just a . in the program, well....


Mark