Salty Podcast #68 ⛵ Navigating Work and Sailing without Quitting their Day Jobs

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What does it look like when you refuse to choose between career and adventure? Casey and Steve have found that sweet spot—spending half the year aboard their 50-foot aluminum sailboat and the other half working as expedition leaders on ships traveling to Antarctica and the Arctic.

Their story begins at a whale research station in British Columbia, where marine biologist Casey met Steve, who was leading paddleboard expeditions through the Great Bear Rainforest. Their shared passion for the ocean quickly evolved into a relationship and eventually led them to purchase their first boat together. After outgrowing their 30-footer, they set their sights on finding an expedition vessel capable of high-latitude sailing.

Through an unexpected connection, they discovered their current boat before it was even officially for sale. What followed was a six-month refit that transformed the vessel from a solo sailor's minimalist setup to their dream home. They converted storage space into a comfortable V-berth cabin, completely refinished the interior with two-part epoxy paint, added a hard aluminum dodger for protection and rainwater collection, and prepared the boat for challenging conditions.

Their sailing adventures have already been impressive, including a figure-eight circumnavigation of New Zealand that took them through the notorious Roaring 40s, facing 42-knot winds and challenging sea states. Between sailing journeys, they work on expedition ships and in the film industry, supporting survival reality shows in remote locations—careers that complement their passion for exploration.

Casey and Steve offer a refreshing perspective on the cruising lifestyle—one that doesn't require abandoning professional ambitions. Their balanced approach provides financial stability while still allowing them to pursue their dream of eventually sailing to Antarctica and through the Northwest Passage.

Ready to reimagine what your sailing life could look like? Listen now to discover how these two adventurers have crafted a life that truly offers the best of both worlds.

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SALTY ABANDON: Cap'n Tinsley, Orange Beach, AL:
Oct 2020 to Present - 1998 Island Packet 320;
Nov 2015-Oct 2020; 1988 Island Packet 27
Feb-Oct 2015 - 1982 Catalina 25

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Episode Transcript

Capn Tinsley (00:05):
What if chasing the horizon didn't mean quitting
your job?
Some sailors sail at all,others go fully remote.
Then there are sailors likeCasey and Steve sailing 50% of
the time while working on remotepolar expedition ships.
We've seen all kinds of pathson social media and right here
on this podcast to living inlife under sail.

(00:25):
Casey and steve of at sailingfin explorer have crafted
lifestyle that blends both.
They uh, but they spent abouthalf their time aboard their
newly refit 50 foot aluminumsailboat and the other half
working aboard expedition shipsthat travel to some of the most
remote places on earth.

(00:46):
But before we get underway, ifyou like these sailing stories,
please consider liking andsubscribing.
It really helps grow thechannel.
I'm your host, Tinsley ofSailing Vessel, Salty Abandoned
and Isle of Packet 320, and thisis the Salty Podcast, episode
68.
Please help me welcome Caseyand Steve of Sailing Fin

(01:06):
Explorer.

Steve (01:08):
Hello Hi.

Capn Tinsley (01:11):
So welcome Welcome to the Salty Podcast.
Appreciate you agreeing to dothis.
Tell us first of all, let'sintroduce you.
You've got Casey and Steve.
Go ahead and say tell us whereyou're from a little bit, your
background and how you got intosailing.
You can go first Casey.

Casey (01:32):
So I'm Casey.
I was born in South Africa andthen moved to the UK and after I
graduated from university, Istudied marine biology in
Scotland.
I moved to Canada.
I studied marine biology inScotland.
I moved to Canada when I metSteve, and so I had studied
marine biology, I learned todrive boats and started working

(01:53):
as a guide, and I'd always kindof thought and dreamed about
sailing around the world.
It just seemed like a great wayto travel, and I learned to
sail while I was in university.
And then, yeah, I met Steve andwe found out we had a similar
idea.

Capn Tinsley (02:09):
Okay, where did you meet, steve?

Steve (02:15):
We so Casey and I both have kind of a love for the
marine world, casey with marinebiology, and then myself the
majority of my life I've been aprofessional guide of sorts
rivers and oceans of the world.
I was leading these seven-daystand-up paddleboard trips in an
area of the central west coastof British Columbia called the

(02:37):
Great Bear Rainforest.
So in these seven-day tripswe're remote, we cover some
distance but there is one littleplace that we stop and it's
this whale research station onGill Island.
So we paddle up there, we meetwith the lead biologists and
listen to whale songs and oursix guests kind of get to ask

(02:57):
some questions.
And in the meantime Casey wasworking there.
So in my sixth year or so ofguiding those trips, working
there, so in my sixth year or soof guiding those trips yeah.
Casey and I met on Gill Island,yeah, and then connected at the
end of the season and traveled abit together.

Capn Tinsley (03:17):
And then Casey moved to Canada about a year
later.
Did you ever think that you'dmarry your partner in British
Columbia?
I mean, when you were in South.
Africa, the UK, Scotland.

Casey (03:27):
Yeah, it was definitely a place that you wouldn't expect
to meet someone.
You know, there was like six ofus on the island for the whole
summer and we were camping andyou know, seeing all these men
paddleboarding towards us, I waslike, oh, who's this?

Capn Tinsley (03:42):
And that was history.
What are the chances?
Chances I do love Scotland, bythe way.
Where, where did you go?

Casey (03:48):
where did you?

Capn Tinsley (03:48):
go.
Andrews University, so justnorth of Edinburgh okay, wow,
that's another interesting partof your story.
Okay, steve.
So how about you?
Well, first of all, did you dosailing?
Did you ever sail before youmet Steve?

Casey (04:03):
yeah, so I learned to sail at university in Scotland
and then I also did a semesterabroad as part of my degree in
Australia and then I sailed morethere, but just kind of
casually.
You know, once a week wouldjoin boats as crew just for kind
of social sailing.
Yeah, and that was.

(04:23):
That was kind of the extent ofmy sailing.
So I'd always been an oceanperson, but not actually that
much sailing experience.

Capn Tinsley (04:30):
Okay, All right Steve.

Steve (04:34):
Background, or a little bit about sailing.

Capn Tinsley (04:36):
Yeah, first the background, and we'll end it
with sailing.

Steve (04:44):
So Canadian, through and through, born kind of more
towards the east, but themajority of my life has been
spent on the west coast, aboutan hour north of Vancouver, in a
small town called Squamish,which showed up on the map kind
of post 2010 Olympics, but, yeah, my younger years here was a
logging mining railroad town buthappened to be on the ocean.

(05:06):
So I started sailing a bit inthe kind of early to mid 90s or
yeah, I guess, around there, um,a little bit of hobby sailing,
jumping on other people's boats,uh, enjoyed it.
And then went through and didmy coastal skipper, coastal
navigator, and Then, yeah,wanting to buy a sailboat for a

(05:26):
number of years.
When Casey and I connected andgot together, it just seemed
like a natural fit for us topick up and have, you know, kind
of a pocket cruiser explorationboat in Squamish and see if we
could survive together in asmall space.

Capn Tinsley (05:41):
Is that the 50-footer?
No so we bought a….

Casey (05:44):
It's not a socket cruiser , no, it was a 30 foot.
It was a cs30 canadiansailcraft 30 we bought in
anacortes and um took it up uhacross the border to squamish um
, and that was a few monthsafter I'd moved to canada yeah
we kind of bought that straightaway and that was just for kind
of weekend cruising and, yeah,to get more into it, and that

(06:06):
was that was our first jump intosailing together?

Capn Tinsley (06:10):
did you guys long distance date before um?

Steve (06:13):
uh, technically I guess a few months, uh, but not yeah.

Casey (06:18):
We basically we we met in the summer of 2016, um kind of
spent some time together, fourdays together, and then traveled
together over Christmas and NewYear's and then I moved to
Canada in March, so it waspretty fast, wow, you knew.
And then we bought our boat inJune.
You absolutely knew, and let'salso tell the people listening

(06:38):
or watching how you and I got toknow, yeah, so I found out
about your podcast when I waslistening uh to uh sailing with
Phoenix.
So he, um, as most people know,blew up during his Pacific
crossing and Steve had actuallyshowed me um his uh on TikTok
some things, and so I startedfollowing his journey and then

(07:01):
saw that you'd done a podcastbefore he left and, of course,
um, as well, you're right yeah,um, and so I started listening
to that.
And then you know, searchingwhen you're on the boat you've
got lots of time for podcasts.
So then I just kind of searchedand listened to some other of
your podcasts.
So that was how I found you.

Capn Tinsley (07:18):
I appreciate that and, uh, I was so glad to hear
that because I I worked prettyhard getting those on the audio
podcast too.
So I was so glad to hear thatbecause I worked pretty hard
getting those on the audiopodcast too, so I was happy to
hear that you found it there andI was glad we connected and you
had asked me for the boatmaintenance list checklist Right
yeah.
With Matt Yacht Services yeah.

Casey (07:37):
So I sent that through pretty fast, which was great
just to have those checklists.
It's always nice.

Capn Tinsley (07:48):
You have your own systems, but it's nice to kind
of cross-reference with otherpeople.
Yeah, just see if anything'smissing.
And if anybody wants thatmaintenance checklist, it's a a
daily weekly.
I don't know if it's daily,weekly, monthly, annually.
If anybody wants that, um, justsend me an email, salty abandon
at gmail.
I'll be glad to send it to you.
And also we might also sayplease like subscribe and share
and let us know if you have anycomments.
We, this is an interactivepodcast and we we love to answer

(08:11):
questions or hear comments andwhatnot.
Um so Steve yes.
Did you tell me everything?
You started as a rafting guide.

Steve (08:22):
Yeah, uh, always went like I won't go into too much
detail way back, but I think thethe grassroots of it was went
to summer camp as a kid, uh, andthen kind of transitioned to a
camp counselor and so thathiking, guiding, managing small
groups seemed like a kind of anatural progression.
Um, that said, it leads toseasonal work.

(08:44):
So I love the guiding lifestyle.
I love what I was doing.
Became a whitewater raftingguide and started a couple of
companies kind of built and soldthose.
I've had a bunch of differentkind of career paths between
guiding, both seasonal and thensometimes taking a couple of
years away.
So everything from the raftingcompanies to a farm, to a food

(09:09):
truck, to cafe.
I operated a hydroelectricplant for a year and a half.

Capn Tinsley (09:16):
You know what I'm hearing you could fix anything
on a sailboat.
That's what I'm hearing.

Steve (09:23):
I sold my last business about four years ago, and so I
think I just needed something tofix, and it sailed out in like
a natural fit.

Capn Tinsley (09:31):
That's a big job, yeah, so it's engaging.

Steve (09:35):
I enjoy it and, yeah, it's just part of being out
there, and the problem solvingcomponent is kind of what we do
naturally for work, and so ittransitions well to.

Capn Tinsley (09:45):
Now, what do you do on the ship?

Steve (09:48):
So, they're what we would call kind of smaller expedition
ships, so in that kind of 80 to120 guests, which is still a
lot of people, but you thinkabout other ships being several
thousand, kind of like a smallcruise ship.

Casey (10:01):
Yeah.

Steve (10:02):
And that goes into polar regions, so both Antarctica and
then, uh, to the arctic and asfar as the north pole.
So I work either as a guide oras the expedition leader.
As a guide, you're kind ofboots on the ground and out with
guests, driving zodiacs, goingto landings, hiking, uh and all
the activities associated withthat.
And then as the expeditionleader, kind of working hand in

(10:24):
hand with the captain, figuringout where you're going to go,
managing weather as it changes,and again it's just it's problem
solving and trying to createthe best experience for guests
that are often on a trip of alifetime.

Capn Tinsley (10:39):
Okay, Well, that is.
It sounds like you guys can dojust about anything between the
two of you.

Steve (10:46):
I'm technologically challenged.
That's where.

Capn Tinsley (10:48):
I come in While you're doing research over there
on the boat.
She's over there.

Casey (10:53):
We could do just so many things.
I work alongside Steve eitheras a guide and general
naturalist, so I'll sometimes dolectures on marine biology, and
then other times I'll be theassistant expedition leader.
So that's kind of working handin hand with Steve and
organizing the lecture scheduleon board and all the kind of
logistics and admin side ofthings.

(11:13):
So yeah, we kind of always work, work as a team.

Capn Tinsley (11:20):
OK, all right, so I think we got that question
done.

Casey (11:32):
Okay, how did you come into contact with this 50 foot
aluminum boat?
Yeah, so actually pretty coolstory, because we bought it
before it was for sale.
So we used to travel a lot thelast few years before we bought
the boat in between our workcontracts and we were on a
diving liveaboard in Indonesia.
We'd been looking for a goodexpedition aluminium boat for a

(11:54):
couple of years really.

Steve (11:55):
Yeah, looking for several years and then shopping for
about a year and a half almosttwo years just trying to find
the right boat.

Casey (12:02):
We had something really specific in mind and we were on
this liveaboard and we gotchatting to one of the other
guests about sailing and he waslike, oh, my uncle has a boat
like that.
And he showed us pictures andwe were like, oh, that's exactly
what we're looking for.
And anyway, he gave us hiscontact details and Steve
reached out to him and he said,yeah, it's not, not for sale.
But we just stayed in touch andevery now and then would send

(12:26):
him an email every kind of fewmonths, and then eventually he
was like okay, it's for sale.
If you guys want to look at it,it's in New Zealand.
And we just happened to befinishing a trip on an
expedition ship that finished inNew Zealand.
So we were like, perfect, wecould go and have a look at it.
That's how it worked.

Capn Tinsley (12:46):
It kind of serendipitous yeah, and is there
a reason you wanted to get?

Steve (12:49):
it's an expedition sailboat, right it is, it's,
it's robust, it has good analogredundant systems.
So it can be uh, it can bepretty autonomous if, if you've
got your food, it carries 1400liters of diesel, a water maker
and then another 300 of waterkind of in storage.
So, with the right amount offood and being in the right

(13:14):
place, you have quite a bit ofautonomy.
So it's yeah, there's a longlist and not every boat's
perfect, but this was kind ofwithin our budget.
This was as good as it gets.

Capn Tinsley (13:28):
Well, we have a comment already.
Oh, look at that.
I think this one is directed toSteve.
Yeah.

Steve (13:36):
Oh, jody Anderson so this is actually not curated in
advance but a very good oldfriend and who was a mentor to
me for a number of years and westill have space and stay
connected.
So the intrigued about summercamp and leadership origin goes

(13:58):
back to days I spent with Jodyhere who asked the question.
He was the sailing instructorfor the sailing camp and I was
kind of a young new counselorand we just connected and I
don't know if he was on the huntfor a little brother, but one
showed up on his door.
So we worked together for anumber of years, started at
summer camp and kind of, yeah,those leadership roles and

(14:23):
managing small groups of 10 and12 year olds.

Capn Tinsley (14:27):
Wow.

Steve (14:28):
Yeah, jody took me under his wing.
He was an entrepreneur andmaybe that was the beginning of
my entrepreneurial seed, but hetook me under his wing and put
me to work.
But he, yeah, he had severalsmall successful businesses.

Capn Tinsley (14:42):
Well, thank you, dr Jody.
He was kind of asking a slightquestion that he already knew
they had to do, but glad to seehim here.
Okay, the 50 foot aluminum boat.
What do you plan on doing withthis boat?

Casey (15:00):
Going to the polar regions.
So that was kind of ourultimate goal.
We wanted to look for analuminium boat with a lifting
keel and we wanted to do thatbecause of our exposure, you
know, working in Antarctica.
We just found out that, youknow we loved it.
It was such an amazing part ofthe world that not that many

(15:20):
people get to go to and we wouldoccasionally.
It wasn't very common, but we'doccasionally see other
sailboats down there and wethought wouldn't that be amazing
to be able to go down on ourown boat and just you know, our
own program.
So the idea is to yeah, do theNorthwest Passage go to
Antarctica, go to the polarregion, so kind of those high

(15:40):
latitudes is what we're mostinterested in.

Capn Tinsley (15:46):
Yeah, it'll take a few years, but that's here's a
controversial question.
Is Antarctica like a pie aroundthe flat Earth?
Like a pie?
Have you seen those?
That's what the flat Earthersbelieve.
That Antarctica is like a pizza.
The world is like a pizza andAntarctica is really a wall that
keeps all the water fromfalling off.

(16:08):
Yeah, yeah, that's what theflat earthers believe, yeah.

Steve (16:13):
I don't have any kind of hard facts to dispute things.
But, we semi-circumnavigatedAntarctica.

Casey (16:21):
On the expedition ship.

Steve (16:22):
On the ship, so you went around, you went okay.
Semi-cirque, so starting inUshuaia, at the very tip of
South America, and then throughthe Ross Sea and finishing in
Littleton, new Zealand.
I can attest to it being prettycovered in rock and ice on that
route.

Casey (16:40):
Yeah, and what we always say.
One of the main differencesbetween the two antarctica is
land covered in ice surroundedby ocean, whereas the arctic is
basically frozen oceansurrounded by land.
So antarctica is an actualcontinent, um land and then ice

(17:01):
and ocean around it, whereas thearctic is frozen ocean and then
obviously in the summer it'snot all frozen anymore, um with
land around it and mostlyantarctica is just research
teams research and tourism now,with ships visiting, but the
only people that are there longterm, like over, like that will
overwinter or stay for the wholesummer, will be research.

Steve (17:23):
Yeah, research teams, okay, I would almost say it's
more there's, there's tourismand then there's research
happening.
So, historically, uh, research,yeah, research stations, uh,
quite an important part.
Um, and then expedition ships,kind of small, small ships,
started venturing there withwith tourism, tourism, and I

(17:44):
think it's I wouldn't say it'sexploded.
You know, we're immersed in theworld, so, you, you see a lot
of it, but it, it has expandedand there's a number of ships on
the peninsula side, which is anincredible place, as well as
Falkland Island, south Georgia,but things are still a little
more wild in the Ross Sea.

Casey (18:03):
So this is an area that we've had a strong desire to to
work in and are slowly shiftingin that direction so that's just
the other side, um, that youwould access from new zealand as
opposed to accessing from southamerica, and there's still
research stations there.
So there's the new zealand'sresearch station, the american
mcmurdo base is there, but, yeah, lots of research stations from

(18:27):
all different countries thatare based there.

Capn Tinsley (18:29):
Yeah, I've interviewed some sailors that
like the cold.

Casey (18:35):
I think I listened to it, yeah.

Capn Tinsley (18:38):
The ones from.
They were Dutch, yeah, yeah,and they went up to Svalbard and
yeah, and then they would goall the way down to the bottom
of South America.
It was one extreme to the otheryeah they.
She said I love sleet and Ilove ice and glaciers and I was
like, wow, yeah it takes all,then, not everyone's cup of tea,

(19:00):
but it's kind of um yeah, yeahso it's probably pretty remote I
mean there's probably not a lotof sailboats anchored, too many
in the anchorage no, definitelynot.
Uh, let's see what was thevision or goal when you started
the refit uh, the refit the boatwas in in really good condition

(19:25):
.

Steve (19:26):
Um, its bones, its structure, its rigging, all of
this was in great shape.
It needed a refresh.
It was built in 2009, um, andso it just needed kind of a
refresh, cleanup and then maybea couple of items that were
built okay, just like the showerpan was built okay back in 2009

(19:46):
.
And we just thought there was abetter way to do it.
So we completely removed it,rebuilt it, fiberglassed it and
put it back in as kind of moreof a single piece.
So I think it was to make itcomfortable, to make it our own,
yeah, to dive into every nookand cranny and then to make sure
that she was mechanically sound, um, rig checks and, and you

(20:10):
know, kind of get everything upand ready and we re, uh, we
spray paint.

Casey (20:15):
Sprayed the entire interior so sanded all of the
walls and surfaces down, um,with like 400 grit sandpaper you
can see in the pictures thereand then sprayed it.
So, again, steve, very handy,um, I wouldn't want to sail with
anyone else we bought.
So that was it, that was itbefore.
So kind of that, just a littlebit oh, wow yeah, um.

(20:37):
So yeah, steve, we bought acompressor and a spray um air
like an same as a gun yeah likean airless sprayer and so we
sprayed the whole entire insideof the boat so it was all
two-part epoxy paint, um, soeasy to wipe down, uh, really
kind of bomb proof.
We got the cushions allreupholstered and and then

(20:59):
actually surprisingly for a50-foot boat, there was only one
cabin in it.
So it was owned previously by asolo sailor, um, and he was
very kind of rudimentary basics,hard, poor kind of sailor and
so he had one um after birth andthen in the v-birth was just
storage, so we had thatconverted to a second birth
because our ideas is to have tobe able to have friends and

(21:21):
family, um, you know, come, comeon board uh, to visit and to
have that little bit more spaceum is I can see the v-berth here
yeah, yeah, so it

Steve (21:32):
was a big area that was just storage previously yeah, it
was just a, it was a cold spaceand where, uh, he kept all the
gear and all the spares and twokayaks and an e-bike and wow the
dinghy could fit in there andthe outboard had a bracket um.
So yeah, it was a great spacefor that.
But we just knew long-termliving I was going to be home

(21:54):
that having a kind of acomfortable spot of our own um
forward.
I think not a lot of ownerscabins are in that forward
section, but just the way theboat was laid out and built it
was kind of the only option.

Capn Tinsley (22:08):
Yeah.
This is an impressive galleyright here.

Casey (22:11):
It's really good for wedging yourself in.
Is this a heater right here?

Steve (22:16):
It is yeah.

Casey (22:17):
Yeah, diesel heater, which is actually on a gimbal as
well, which is amazing.

Steve (22:22):
So when you're over, yeah , yeah, well, which is amazing.
So when you're over, yeah yeah,yeah it holds a little
whistling kettle perfectly Ithink that was by design.
Yeah, and then it's on a, on agimbal or a pivot, so if the
heater's on while you're undersail, you can level it out yeah,
yeah, so this was painting,yeah, painting the first color.

Casey (22:45):
And we really just like to get to know the boat.
We just emptied everything out.
Yeah so all the you know bilgeopened up all the floor panels
and the bilge yeah, some thingsneeded a cleaning.

Capn Tinsley (22:57):
Yes it was not that.
You probably looked at that andlike oh goodness, two weeks
just cleaning it yeah.

Steve (23:06):
It was really time.
Yeah, To me it's just perfect,right.
So I have this old thing whereI've never sold a vehicle for
less than there it is after.

Capn Tinsley (23:16):
Yeah, there you go .

Steve (23:18):
I've never sold a vehicle for less than what I paid for
it.
I've always been able to kindof find the right vehicle, fix
it up slightly, use it for anumber of years and then sell it
.
So part of that recipe isfinding ones that are kind of
like dirty and out of the wayand you can take them and add
value to them pretty quickly.

(23:39):
So I think we did really well.
Purchase price I think it wasfair um, but part of the reality
that it needed to be scrubbeddown and kind of cleaned up um
would have been a contributingfactor to the price as well.

Casey (23:53):
so a little dirt was good by me, because that's just our
time in elbow grease and we diduh, so when we bought it, it was
actually already on the hard umin new zealand so nice um, I
think a lot a lot of people saidoh, you know you doing all this
work, but you haven't actuallytaken it sailing yet, which you
know.

Capn Tinsley (24:11):
Maybe in hindsight , we should have taken it out
first you didn't take it out,you didn't do a sea trial no, we
had one scheduled with theprevious owner um yeah, but this
is kind of one of thosesituations where a really great
job opportunity comes up um sothings change, you make your
decisions, so we well, it'sworked out yeah, we chose a good

(24:33):
contract.

Steve (24:34):
We would have been further ahead had we sailed with
mark yeah um, but he's been anexceptional previous owner and
that he gets back to us withgreat detail.
Yeah, he's just really proud ofkind of what he had done with
that boat, uh, and is happy toshare kind of the details and
nuance of you know what he didto to make it so capable yeah

(24:55):
yeah, so it was, we were.

Capn Tinsley (24:56):
So this, this is the head afterwards.

Steve (24:59):
Yeah, yeah you can just see forward of that.
That's the storage area.
So that's what we turned intoour V-Bird.
So you have the front there, oh, oh yeah.

Casey (25:11):
It was sitting for a couple of years during the
pandemic, and then he sailed itacross from Australia to New
Zealand to sell it.
Oh, interesting.

Capn Tinsley (25:20):
Why did he do that ?
I?

Casey (25:22):
think it was just that it had its maximum time in
Australia.
Um, so in, in, uh, new zealandand australia, you can, um, you
get as a foreign flag vessel.
So in new zealand it's called atie temporary import exemption
so you, as a foreign flag vessel, you can go into new zealand
and you get two years with theboat to stay in new zealand, and
over that time you also don'thave to pay gst on anything that

(25:46):
is boat safety related, whichis great.
So if you're getting work doneand things like that, and then
in Australia they have a similarthing called a control permit,
which is good for one year andthen pretty easy to extend it
for another two years.
So I think because it had beenleft there over the pandemic, it
just reached its maximum timeand so he moved it to New

(26:06):
Zealand to sell it.

Capn Tinsley (26:08):
Well, I would say that you're an expert on what
you were just talking about, soI'm just going to put your
information up there in casesomebody needs to know about
boats in Australia and NewZealand and timelines and
permits and all that Sure.

Casey (26:22):
Yeah, definitely reach out because, yeah, we had a lot
of experience over the lastcouple of years with the boat on
the hard.
For a year we did a six monthrefit.
Um, it wasn't necessarilyplanned to be six months, we
thought it might be two.

Steve (26:38):
Yes, we thought six weeks we'd go in and give it a fresh
lick of paint and clean it andgo.
But and then one job turns intothree, and three turn into I'm
impressed that you did that insix months thank you.

Casey (26:50):
That's usually, it seems like everyone's like, oh, that's
so long, but it was.
It was a lot, it's a lot ofwork.

Capn Tinsley (26:56):
Yeah, are they boat owners that said that?

Casey (27:00):
um no, probably not they don't understand, but yeah, so
it was six months over a periodof a year, because we've gone
back to work and then finallygot to splash the boat December
last year.

Steve (27:16):
Yeah, December 10th.

Casey (27:17):
So it's still pretty new for us, I guess.

Capn Tinsley (27:20):
So this is these walls.
Yeah, you had already sandedthem down.

Casey (27:25):
Yeah, so that's after we sanded them all down.

Steve (27:27):
So it was a marine grade ply with a two part epoxy on it.
But just as the paint had kindof it wasn't applied in the same
way that we wanted to finish,so we wanted kind of a flat,
mirrored finish and this hadbeen rolled so it was a slight
bit of texture to it.
So to remove that from thefinal, from the finished product

(27:48):
, you had to sand it down with400 grit, yeah, but you can see
like at first appearance it'slike it was pretty good.

Capn Tinsley (27:55):
There wasn't anything catastrophically wrong,
it just um yeah, just a bittired, yeah, yeah, wait, let me
go back to this other one.

Steve (28:04):
Oh, not that one, yeah, so that's yeah, so there it is
finished, oh you've got black uphere now.

Capn Tinsley (28:08):
Yeah, so we changed to blue, corinthia blue.

Casey (28:12):
And then Steve also redid the whole floor.
We added a shower, because sothere's a shower on the side
wall there.
Before it was just, you know,the shower in the tap faucet,
but we wanted a stand-up shower.
So Steve added that all andthen redid the floor so that it
was all waterproof or fiberglassthat yeah, so that was kind of

(28:34):
how it was originally, with anaccess panel and it.

Steve (28:37):
It kind of yeah, it wasn't ideal, like it kind of
functioned, but had seen betterdays yeah, so that was whoa
that's underneath yeah.
I needed a good cleaning yeah,so everything in there is
spotless now.
So I slowly started kind ofbuilding the structure and the
frame and this all becomes onesolid unit.

(28:57):
It is a bit of a there's like athree-part move to get it into
place or remove it, um, but yeah, well worth it.
And then completely sealed andfiberglass.
That, uh, both sides andprobably wow, I'm a real estate
agent.

Capn Tinsley (29:11):
By the way, this is.
I like this.
Oh, thanks, yeah there's alittle.

Casey (29:16):
Uh, it's kind of splash back with these, like vinyl
stick on tiles, which whichright well and uh is, is this
quartz right here?

Capn Tinsley (29:25):
uh, it's like a composite, so it's kind of like
corey, not as heavy, right.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's um, it'slike a composite.

Steve (29:30):
It's not as heavy.
It's an epoxy composite.
There's the floor finished andinstalled.
It's one solid piece.

Casey (29:40):
Before, after, in between , after.

Steve (29:45):
Then the beaver.

Casey (29:48):
This was from Instagram.
There we go when we signed theBieber at this.
Oh, this was from fromInstagram.
There we go.

Steve (29:56):
When we signed, the money was exchanged the final deal
and that's it sitting on thehard where it was in New Zealand
, and I would put a bit of aplug in for the North sand boat
yard in Whangarei in New Zealandon the North Island.

Capn Tinsley (30:05):
Okay, those guys are legendary.

Steve (30:07):
It was as we visited other yards and have hauled out
since we realized this was justabsolutely the best place for us
anyway to do it.
Great yard Say the name of it.
Again, Say the name of it.

Casey (30:22):
North Sand, north Sand Okay, north Sand yeah.

Capn Tinsley (30:27):
We like to plug people here?

Steve (30:28):
Yeah, they were just family business, a huge capacity
, they can haul big catamarans.
But just yeah, the support fromthe yard, the location, and
that they give us the ability todo all the work we wanted to.
And then had you know kind ofgood recommended trades that

(30:49):
they had worked with that couldcome in a new you know welding
or anything else that was beyondour scope.

Capn Tinsley (30:55):
Yeah, okay, painting.
Doing the shocker, yeah, yeah.

Steve (31:04):
So lots of days spent in those suits.
I think this I was trying todoodle out.

Capn Tinsley (31:08):
You were designing our new logo, our logo.
Yeah, a nice tattoo, a new logo.
Yeah, yeah, nice tattoo, by theway.

Steve (31:13):
Yeah, there's a few, and that one goes right to my ankle
I think.
But yeah, just penguins.
So that's kind of more on thework side of things, but
nonetheless a little happy jetfuse and this is what you like,
right here yeah exactly sothat's work but often doesn't

(31:36):
feel like work because it'sthat's some amazing places.

Capn Tinsley (31:39):
That was the lamar channel in antarctica yeah yeah
, yeah is that when you firstsaw it?

Steve (31:44):
this photo just reminds me of our um, just our initial
arrival at the boat and kind ofgoing like when they're out of
the water they look so big.
Um yeah, having seen it andwalked up on it for the first
time, I was like holy cow, likethis is just it's.
It felt massive and I think nowwe're quite comfortable, it's

(32:06):
home and and you're you're usedto it.

Casey (32:08):
But this photo reminds me of our first impression kind of
overwhelming, like exciting butoverwhelming and like this is a
lot of boat and the fact thatwe, you know, had sailed we had
owned another boat before butthis was a big jump up to go
from 30 foot to 50 feet and wereally, you know, we hadn't
necessarily been looking, wewere looking in the 40 to 50

(32:29):
foot range, um, but we knew wewanted our kind of forever boat.
We didn't want to have to getone in between and then worry
about selling it again, and sowe thought, if we get one that
we can grow into.
And that's what we found,really, with this kind of six
month shakedown cruise thatwe've done in New Zealand, is
it's it.
The boat is, at this stage,much more capable than us, which

(32:50):
is a good thing because itmeans it gives us room to grow
into it.
But she's a sturdy boat andreally, really capable, and we
have grown a lot since we've puther in the water and we've
still got a lot to learn.
Of course, it's never-ending,as you well know, with boats.

Capn Tinsley (33:07):
The best way to learn is just to get out there,
right yeah as long as you'rebeing safe, and you're, you guys
, if you're just away from land,I mean yeah, yeah, and you
watch the weather, of course,all that yeah I think it was a
little bit of, you know, trialby fire in um, in sailing in uh

(33:27):
in the roaring 40s and, you know, circumnavigating New Zealand.

Steve (33:32):
It's just, you know, we work with weather a lot in our
jobs so we're able to kind ofunderstand and watch that and
know what's coming it just keptcoming.

Capn Tinsley (33:44):
We had some pretty heavy days I've interviewed
quite a few people, and one ofthem is Kirsten Neuschafer, and
one of them is Kirsten new, newshape, new shaper.
You know who that is.
She won the 2022 golden globalwar First woman to win, first
New Zealand.
New South African to win yeah,she's.
I mean she was tough and humble.

(34:05):
I mean I really enjoyed talkingto her because that's a, that's
no joke down there.
And you guys were in there howmany days in the Southern Ocean?

Casey (34:17):
Well, around New Zealand we were.
It was probably five months.
I think we did total just overfive months around New Zealand
and that was going.
We did a figure of eightcircumnavigation.
So we went all the way down tothe, to Fiordland and Stewart
Island, right off the South endof New Zealand, and it's a place

(34:39):
that actually a lot of peoplelocal sailors and then people
that come from abroad oftendon't go down to the South
Island, they just stay in theNorth Island.
It's just, it's a lot colder,it's the weather is more
unpredictable.
Down to the south island, theyjust stay in the north island,
it's just, it's a lot colder,it's, uh, the weather is more
unpredictable.

Capn Tinsley (34:53):
um, and we were just very yeah I guess ambitious
ambitious yeah, well, that's, Imean, that boat probably
handled it really well, I meanthose people that do the globe
they have to.
I think it can't go above 38feet.
Yeah, 36 foot.

Casey (35:11):
I can't, can't remember, yeah, so impressive and no GPS.
No, no, no, no, no.

Capn Tinsley (35:16):
Electronics it's a whole lot.
So how did that?
But was it a handle the wavespretty well yeah it does we.

Steve (35:23):
We made a few changes to it.
One of them was um, the chainlocker used to be down at the
base of the mast, so it would.
It would come up over the bow,the chain would run down the
deck and then drop in to thatwow just forward of the mast, so
great placement, um, you know,kind of midships, uh nice, and

(35:44):
low center of gravity for that.
However, with that eventuallybecoming our, we made the
difficult decision to move ouranchor locker forward, which
also meant we moved the windlassforward, so we added some
weight up front and then we feelas though we probably mitigated
it by keeping that forwardsuite really simple, minimal and

(36:04):
light, and then removing allthe gear.

Capn Tinsley (36:07):
So why was it mid-shift to begin with?
You said it balanced the weight.

Steve (36:12):
Yeah, so it would bring the weight of all that you know,
100 meters of 14-mil chain.
It would take that and place itdown low and center, just in
front of the mast.

Casey (36:21):
So you get less of the….

Steve (36:22):
Less of the slamming and less of the bow porpoising in.
Yeah, on this last crossing wedid take even more weight out of
the front.
Uh, we had our spinnaker upthere, a bunch of spare lines
and sheets, um, and removingthat seemed to be a pretty
noticeable difference.
So just we're starting to kindof get more in tune with, uh,

(36:43):
with the boat and kind of whereto place things, both for access
and and weight distribution.

Casey (36:49):
And we had probably our kind of biggest day we had on
our crossing that we just didfrom New Zealand to Australia,
like three meters, which is like10 foot.

Steve (37:01):
Yeah, so yeah, three meters, 10 feet, with the odds
kind of set.
It would be another 20% or 30%,but at like five second
intervals, so very closetogether.

Casey (37:13):
Um, you know, three meters, if you're at 12 seconds,
is just rolling swell, it's noproblem.

Steve (37:18):
But it was very close together, so that was not not
that comfortable six to six toeight range.

Casey (37:24):
But but fine, um and and yeah, and we've had, yeah, like
30 knots and maximum we had was42 knots.

Steve (37:34):
Yeah, so just really like two reefs in um and yeah,
shorten the sails and and uh,and we hope to once on the
crossing just when we were inthe transition of uh of a low
pressure and high pressuresystem, just right where they
met there was probably about sixhours of pretty uncomfortable
slow progress sailing.

(37:55):
So we just thought let's heaptwo and uh have a cup of tea and
kind of relax, uh, checkweather, make sure that we are
where we think we are with thissystem yeah, hope to, and kind
of made a cup of tea and did afew things around the boat.

Casey (38:11):
It was like it's amazing how that how effective storm
tactic, essentially like thatweather tactic of just stopping
the boat and just calmseverything down yeah, yeah.

Steve (38:21):
So I think, um, yeah, otherwise it was a mixed bag on
that last crossing, kind of 10days of big water.

Capn Tinsley (38:29):
Somebody said I quit, no, no, no, you're just
committed, once you go rightlike yeah, you have your your no
turnaround point and theirpoint of no return.
So well, so what kind ofequipment did you put on it?
What did it have?
And what did you put on there?

Casey (38:47):
electronics and whatnot it was pretty well equipped, uh,
in terms of safety equipment.
We obviously had our life uh,life raft all serviced, um and
everything.
Uh, there was already a watermaker on board.
There's a generator, but we'reprobably going to sell the
generator.
Just, I don't think we'd ratherget more solar than use the
generator.
And then there's a?

(39:07):
Um wind generator as well,which is great.
Um, we didn't add too much interms of equipment we know that
if we do another kind of refit,it will be to update the
electronics.
We add an ais because therewasn't that and that was really
essential so it was, it justwasn't functioning it wasn't
working know and withelectronics anything more than

(39:29):
10 years old, and they just saythey're probably.

Capn Tinsley (39:32):
Yeah, it's crazy.

Steve (39:34):
So yeah, that AIS was a game changer, our chart plotter.
Some of the other elements arestill pretty dated, but
everything's functional.

Casey (39:42):
Yeah.

Steve (39:43):
And we have you know kind of several redundant systems
for navigation.
So we're well covered, yeah butthat was kind of.

Casey (39:51):
There's always something to do I think um the other sale
the other thing we, we wouldwant to add, or that we, um, we
have a hydro, hydrovane hydrogenerator, but it wasn't.
We thought we didn't know.
But it it the engine, somethingit's?

Steve (40:08):
the uh, one of the bearings.
The seal had gone, so one ofthe bearings seized it just salt
water instantly.
So we've set that off to berepaired because that would be
pretty.

Casey (40:18):
That was.
That was sometimes a struggleto keep the power um, you know
the power maintenance up.
When it was not sunny.
Yeah, um, the wind generatordid pretty well, but if it
wasn't sunny and it wasn'treally that windy, then it was
difficult to keep up with thepower consumption.

Steve (40:33):
Just the fridge and freezer kind of thing is the
most but the hydro generatorwill resolve that because it'll
run 24 7, as long as you'remaintaining that kind of five
knots, six knots, then it's sohow much?

Capn Tinsley (40:46):
solar do you have right now and is it sunny at the
poles?

Steve (40:52):
Oh yeah.

Casey (40:53):
Yeah, so go ahead.

Steve (40:55):
I was going to say solar.
Right now we have 400 watts.
There's two 200-watt panels.
They're a little dated, right.
They're probably 10 years old.
Yeah, so an update on those.
We can now get two 400-, 400watt panels in the same yeah
yeah in the same place, you'resure yeah, it's the same size,

(41:17):
yeah

Casey (41:18):
otherwise equipment stuff we didn't add um yeah, yeah and
and as far as it being sunny,yeah, in the polar regions, um,
you know, there's obviously somesnow and and bad weather, but
when we go with the expeditionships and obviously when we
eventually do go with our boat,it's going to be summertime.
So then you have, you know,extremely long days, 20 hours of

(41:41):
light of daylight.

Capn Tinsley (41:43):
So you then yeah the pictures I've seen of like
teams at antarctica.

Casey (41:49):
It looked pretty bright yeah yeah, especially with all
the snow and ice, you know,reflecting the sun sure so it
does, it does get.

Steve (41:57):
It is pretty bright so we , we kind of have eternal summer
, but it happens to be in prettycold places.
Yeah, so we're northernhemisphere in the arctic, uh,
during the northern hemispheresummer, and then you know the
opposite, polar opposite, in inthe South.

Capn Tinsley (42:13):
Literally polar opposite.
So what?
What are the temperatures getdown to?

Steve (42:21):
Oh, it depends a little bit on region and space, but I
would say on average, on thepeninsula you're kind of looking
at minus five to plus five,with some exceptions kind of
swinging and wind chill makingit feel colder.

Casey (42:28):
Yeah, you're kind of looking at minus five to plus
five, with some exceptions kindof swinging making it feel
colder, yeah, but in thatsummertime kind of, and that the
peninsula of antarctica isreally much warmer than the rest
of antarctica.
So the continent itself andwhere the south pole, you know,
if you have people doingexpedition like sailing I mean
skiing across antarctica, theywill get much colder conditions

(42:49):
in the center of the continent,but because you're just on the
right, on the edge.
It's actually not that bad.

Capn Tinsley (42:57):
Not that bad meaning 5 above.

Casey (43:00):
Oh like minus 5 to plus 5 , probably, or plus 10.

Steve (43:04):
Yeah, give or take 5 degrees on either side 32, so
kind of low 40s up to kind ofmid to high 50s, kind of in that
range, with it not beinguncommon to be plus 10 later in
the season and and you knowwe're talking celsius, yeah,
yeah yeah, um, but uh, and thenwhen you go to the Ross sea, so

(43:29):
to the other side, uh, it can beminus 20, minus 25, strong wind
chill, yeah, uh, and, and quitecold.

Capn Tinsley (43:36):
You get your sunny days, but you guys are pretty
wrapped up all the time downthere.
Yeah, yeah.

Casey (43:42):
Good gear and lots of layers and yeah, definitely.

Capn Tinsley (43:48):
I'm just trying to imagine.

Steve (43:51):
It's not as harsh as you would think.
It's still cold and you get weton Zodiacs and sometimes it
snows a bit, but it's you kindof get used to it yeah you get
used to it and it's.

Capn Tinsley (44:02):
It's nice that you both like that.

Casey (44:04):
Yes, that's convenient.
It's very unfortunate.

Capn Tinsley (44:08):
All right, let me go back to my questions to see,
if I've.
How do you divide the roles onboard?
Are you both hands on withsystems?

Casey (44:18):
navigation.
Casey just does everything.
That's not true.

Steve (44:23):
No, we're pretty even, we're even in the galley, we
both cook and do dishes.

Casey (44:30):
We both uh take alternate helm, helming um roaming.

Steve (44:35):
Yeah, I would say, casey vacuums more than I do, and
Steve fixes more things.

Casey (44:42):
So, as much as it is a kind of I hate that like old
school blue job, but Steve isjust better at main maintenance
stuff, so I'm so I'm learning,yeah, but that said you're, when
we were doing the refit, caseyruns a saw.

Steve (44:56):
We built a pretty substantial little building or
cabin in a remote place on thewest coast and it was just the
two of us for 40 days and so,yeah, casey's a pretty good
sawyer, good carpenter, uh mixesconcrete, lifts heavy things,
and so that it's no exception onthe boat and that yeah this is
a heavy lifter and a goodgrinder, and um and we, uh, yeah

(45:19):
, we, we fit in where we haveour expertise, but both of us
can support the other one uh inwhatever they're doing.

Casey (45:26):
And you know, Casey's also tech, uh, technologically,
uh, uh, with tech and and itstuff is yes, like a savant
compared to me I tend to post,you know, post online more and
um, and when we have kind ofpaperwork things to do, I kind
of organize that side of thingsas well.
Um and yeah, but but we'repretty.

(45:50):
I'd say, yeah, we're pretty,even, and we have our areas, but
we definitely like there'scrossover with everything yeah,
yeah.

Capn Tinsley (45:57):
Well, um, did you watch?
Uh it, I don't know if youheard it and I won't put you on
the spot.
Last week, when I interviewedsailing magic carpet, he was
like a master boat builder andshe was like a more artistic and
she did the editing and thatthey're in bc.

Casey (46:13):
Yeah, yeah, I've, I've watched, um kind of followed
their refit journey.

Capn Tinsley (46:17):
Um, it's pretty impressive and when they they
were talking their, their roleswould cross out of necessity.
You know they she helped alsowith the refit and everything
and yeah.

Casey (46:29):
Yeah, and with the refit part we were definitely hands on
50-50.
Like I did all the scraping offthe antifoul, you know all that
kind of.
Casey did the entire haul Twoweeks of scraping, I didn't
touch it.

Steve (46:41):
I wasn't allowed to Like once she had gotten kind of
about a third of the way in.
There was this pretty sternconversation.
I was told how it was going tobe.
There was this pretty sternconversation.
I was told how it was going tobe, and then it was that.
You know, there was.
There's no way that I was justgoing to rock up and scrape for
an hour every few days.

Casey (46:54):
And then be like we did it and be like we did it, so she
took full ownership of that.

Capn Tinsley (47:00):
And why was that Casey?
Was it because he didn't painta straight line or later, or
something?
No, just because I felt like itwas something that I could do
so.

Casey (47:09):
I did a lot of the prep work.
So when we were redoing thewhole interior, I did all the
sanding, but then Steve did thefinishing, you know with the
spraying and then with the.
So it just felt like it wassomething I could contribute,
because it was just grunt work,Like it didn't really require
much skill you just have to puta lot of elbow grease in.
So I felt like I just tookpride in the fact that I could

(47:33):
say that.
I'd done the whole thing bymyself.

Steve (47:34):
Yeah, essentially while we were on the hard, we just
wanted to do as many of thosekind of big jobs that would be
distractions or time consuminglater.
So Casey scraped and sanded thehull completely, end to end,
and then we media blasted itwith garnet.

Casey (47:51):
so we sandblasted just to get that final, to get that
final, everything, absolutelyclear, all the welds all the
joints down to bare aluminum,aluminum and uh.

Steve (48:02):
And then uh, put on that inter protect, put on our epoxy
within four hours of mediablasting so there's no
oxidization.
So just that foundation.
You know, like, like the roofon a house.
You want to.
I want to be like metal andsolid and big overhangs.
I felt like with an aluminumboat and the opportunity we just
needed to take it back to barealuminum and and put on a really

(48:24):
solid product in exactly theright way it was specified to be
applied and it's served usreally well.

Casey (48:30):
well, because we've hauled out a couple of times,
like when we go back to work, wetend to haul the boat out
instead of leaving it in thewater.
And it's been like really cleanevery time.
Everyone's always reallyimpressed, so I think it's held
up well so far.

Capn Tinsley (48:44):
Well, there's three.
When I interviewed SailingSongbird, another big content
creator yeah, he said there'sthere's jobs that you do in the
yard yeah, got it.
Then there's jobs you can do atthe slip yeah, there's ones you
could do at anchor, and so youkind of he.
He was talking about how heorganized it all in order, so he
wouldn't spend so much money inthe yard or so much money in

(49:07):
the slip yeah, it's time andbudget management it's a good
way.

Steve (49:10):
Good on him to yeah to either be kind of cornered into
having to do it that way, or tothink about it be able to think
about it in those pieces and andactually implement that because
otherwise you could just spendthe whole time in the yard.

Capn Tinsley (49:22):
There's always jobs to do, so you have to come
right, yeah, like you, just it,just, it's endless yeah you just
have to be careful.

Steve (49:31):
Living on the boat in the heart and doing work is like
living in an awkward tiny home.
So the boat's meant to be onthe water and at some point you
just have to pull the pin, setyour splash date and go.

Capn Tinsley (49:45):
Well, it sounds like you guys took.
You will not regret all thatstructure stuff that you did.
No.
Definitely not whatmodification or feature on the
boat that changed everything foryou.
What do you think you're mostproud of a change that you made?

Steve (50:02):
Hmm, I would say I'm pretty stoked with the like, the
moving of the chain locker, andthen we put a hard aluminum uh
roof on the cockpit and I thinkthe benefit from that is is
endless.
There's like great handholdsand there's just so many great

(50:22):
things about it, so oh yeah, doyou have an enclosure for when
it's cold?

Casey (50:27):
it's not fully enclosed um, we just have a hard dodger,
so it was just canvas before andwe had to replace the canvas
and when we got the quotes itwasn't actually that much more
expensive to get the aluminiumhard dodger made um hard top and
I would agree with steve thatthat was probably one of the
best things because it also weum got it designed with uh

(50:49):
gutters so that we can do watercollection from it um and we
were in fiordland, in the southsouth end of the south island of
new zealand, where itnotoriously rains a lot.
I think we collected like 80liters in a day or something oh,
at least like we.
Just it was just when it'sraining that much it was really.
It worked really well, so yeahsky juice sky juice.

Steve (51:12):
Yeah, I think.
I think that's probably one ofthe things that we benefit from
on a daily basis yeah, does itgo into your tanks?

Casey (51:20):
uh, we just have.
Uh, we connect the hose andthen and link it up.

Steve (51:24):
Yeah, yeah, so I think it .
It keeps our tanks um to notexposed, not lose the cap.
So we fill these 20 liter jugsthat we know are clean and then
we're not putting the odd bug oranything into our tanks, and
then that we transfer, which youknow it doesn't take long with
two of us it's, it's pretty good.
So, I'd say that was a reallybig one, the comfort kind of

(51:48):
cleaning up the inside.

Casey (51:49):
Yeah, the V-berthth, just having that as a cabin, as a
living space, um, especiallybecause you know you end up
spending a lot of time at anchor.
Um, and to have thatcomfortable bed, we decided to
get a proper you know mattress,a memory phone mattress for our
bed, rather than the foam, um,and yeah, we have not regretted

(52:09):
that once yeah, so it has twocabins now, right?
Yes, it does.
Yeah, so, and you're and youguys moved into the v-birth yeah
, um, when we're underway wewill sleep in the back or in the
kind of pilot berth saloon, um,but yeah, when we're and when
you're on a starboard tech.

Steve (52:28):
actually sleeping in the saloon is pretty comfortable.
You're close by Kind of wedgedin.
You're kind of like wedged inpretty comfortably.

Casey (52:36):
Yeah, so we kind of move around, but the V-Bird is not.

Capn Tinsley (52:40):
Depending on conditions.
Yeah, exactly the V-Bird is notcomfortable in heavy seas.
No, yeah, so what's it likewhen you transition from your
boat back to your work ships?

Steve (53:01):
It's like a whirlwind, yeah, yeah go ahead.
Oh, I was just going to sayit's a whirlwind because we'll
have, wherever we are, whereverwe're sailing, whatever we're
doing, we have to be somewhereready to haul out and pack our
gear, pack our boat, yeah, kindof put the boat to bed.

Capn Tinsley (53:22):
So the call can come at any time.

Casey (53:26):
So we have this expedition work, which we
generally know when we're goingto be working, but we also have
another job which we didn'tmention which is working in the
film industry.
Also have another job which wedidn't mention which, um, is
working in the film industry.
Um kind of uh, we work in thesupport safety logistics kind of
back end, a role of um likesurvival shows and some kind of

(53:47):
box network.

Steve (53:49):
So they're like kind of survival reality shows totally
so totally different.

Casey (53:54):
But essentially that is always very last minute.
So, you're behind the scenesdoing, yeah, driving the boats.
Steve's doing safety, so he'skind of overseeing the safe
operations of the show.

Capn Tinsley (54:08):
Oh, interesting.

Casey (54:09):
So that can kind of come at any time.

Steve (54:12):
You know generally when it's going to be.
If it's going to be in thenorthern hemisphere, yeah, the
time of year.

Casey (54:16):
If it's going to be in the Northern Hemisphere.
Yeah, the time of year.

Steve (54:18):
If it's Southern Hemisphere, you can kind of
guess, but television just tendsto confirm or green light stuff
.
Last minute, kind of lastminute.
So we've known.
On the latest contract, we knewit was in the works-ish a
couple of months ago and thenyou know it's probably going to
happen.
And then you get a contractthree weeks ago and then you

(54:41):
know that triggers flights andall that kind of stuff.

Casey (54:43):
So it can be a whirlwind, like Steve said.
I would say that the transition, though, because of the work
that we do, that's this contractwork, so it's very full on.
You know, when we're on theship or when we're on the show,

(55:03):
it's seven days a week.
You know there's no days off,there's no right, so it can be
very full-on.
But also your accommodation issorted.
You've been cooked for, so youdon't have to cook, yes, you
know.
So it does have its perks and Ithink that it's we like.
We like the mix and the balanceof sailing and doing that,
having that independent time andthen having that work time.

Steve (55:20):
I like that it's kind of, for me, the best of both worlds
and that, um, when a workcontract is coming up, I'm like,
okay, like I'm ready to go backto work, Like I feel like I'm
ready for that shift and thatchange.
And then you see the light atthe end of the contract and
you're like, yeah, like now Ifeel ready to go back to the
sailboat.

Casey (55:38):
So there's, uh, a change is as good as a rest sometimes
and there's there's no rest forthe wicked um, let's see what's
next more sailing, more remotetravel, yeah, so so we have a

(55:59):
film contract coming up here inCanada, so that will be the next
few months and that's we can'tsay exactly where or what show,
but it will be in the Canadiankind of Arctic sub-Arctic.
So we have that coming up,which will be for the next few
months, and then we have a fewmonths of work, three months of

(56:21):
work in antarctica, um.
So we have that planned andthen we will go back to our
sailboat in march so the boatsin australia at the moment it's
a bit of a longer work stintthan we would like.
We we tend to try to do two orthree months working and then
two or three months sailing andkind of like that.
This one just happened to be abit longer with two back to back

(56:44):
.
But it means that then we'll getfrom march and we'll have, you
know, the next six months tosail.
And we haven't decided yet ifwe're going to sail around
australia, like the east coastof australia, or if we're going
to go to one of the PacificIslands, you know, the Solomon
Islands or Vanuatu.
We're not really sure yet.
There's a lot of choices there.
There's a lot of choices.

(57:05):
There's so many places toexplore, so I think we'll see
how we feel when we get to it.
Yeah, yeah, I like that?

Steve (57:11):
Yeah, I don't think there's.
No, there's box-ticking bucketlist for where to go, I think
it's when we have time, and it'skind of that one-for-one Like a
month of work gives us a monthof sailing.
Yeah, Three months of workgives us three months.
So yeah, this one's longer, butit's diverse, and we'll be on
the peninsula for part of theAntarctic season and then in the

(57:33):
Ross Sea for another two months, yeah, so again, those changes
are recharging and there'sspecial places to go.

Casey (57:40):
So yeah, and, like we, it won't be for a few years before
we're kind of headed to thepolar regions, because while
we're, you know, sailing sixmonths of the year, we slowly
making our way.
We also said, oh, it'd be quitenice to have some time in the
south pacific, you know, sometropical, warm, casual sailing,

(58:01):
after sailing around new zealandand very little clothes on, you
know?
yeah, that's yeah I think we'realso looking forward to that.
Um, before we, before we headhead across to yeah I can't wait
to see where you're going nextoh, thank you um, so I've got a
few rapid fire okay questions.

Capn Tinsley (58:21):
I've already asked the first one hot sailing or
cold sailing?
Okay, cold anchor or marinaanchor always trim the sails or
fire up the engine.

Steve (58:34):
Uh, trim the sails or fire up the engine.

Capn Tinsley (58:37):
Trim the sails, all right, sunrise sail or
sunset anchorage oh, that's agood question.
This way you're at anchor.
Do you prefer the sunrise orthe sunset?
How?

Steve (58:50):
about that one I would say um I like leaving in the
dark.

Casey (58:55):
Yeah, I like the sunrise, sail.

Steve (58:57):
Yeah.
Yeah, Casey usually wecoordinate our watch around
Casey watching sunrise.

Casey (59:04):
Because Steve doesn't mind, but I always like if I'm
at sea, like if I'm sailing, Iwould just I want to watch the
sunrise and the sunset, so Ialways make sure I'm on the
sunrise watch.

Capn Tinsley (59:14):
So you've got to leave about an hour before
sunrise.

Casey (59:18):
Yeah, so that you can yeah, just when we're doing
short passages or, you know,multi-days, casey always takes
that early morning shift butit's always nice to be at an
anchorage and watch the sunset,um, but yeah, I do like that
feeling of of being under sailwhile you're while you're
watching this nice, okay, umcalm seas or sporty conditions

(59:39):
uh.

Steve (59:39):
Calm seas with 15 knots of wind all day long you know
we're 20, 25 knots downwind, um,but you need wind and that
kicks up the sea state.
So I'd say, uh, I'd say alittle sporty I like the sporty
conditions.

Casey (59:53):
Yeah, I like to go fast and and have a little bit of
wind and yeah.

Capn Tinsley (01:00:00):
I like that a lot gets the adrenaline going yeah
sailing days or exploring ashore?
That's a good question.

Casey (01:00:08):
That's a good question can we say a mix?

Steve (01:00:12):
I'd say you say one and I'll say the other.
We're a team.

Casey (01:00:16):
I a mix.
I'd say I you say one and I'llsay the other okay, um, I, I
really enjoy um walking andkeeping fit and going for a
paddleboard and a snorkel andthings.
So I like to have uh time to beable to explore.
Um for sure, but more aboutlike hiking and paddle boarding
rather than like going to a townor something so I would say

(01:00:38):
that you're not going to themall shopping no no I like going
to like villages and smallplaces.

Steve (01:00:45):
Yeah, but yeah more often than not we'll dinghy to shore
and try and time it with ahigher tide, so we don't have to
haul the dinghy up.
So far, let it drop and thenwe'll roll it back in yeah but
yeah, and exploration around thesouth island and the north
island as well just kind oflends itself to finding a nice

(01:01:06):
little bay and going for a walkyeah, okay, galley duty or deck
duty, oh deck duty, yeah, Iwould say it depends on sea
state, if it's rough all the way.

Casey (01:01:20):
I steve never gets seasick, like regardless of the
situation he has never gottenand he has never gotten seasick.
I tend to sometimes get seasickand if it's rough I just like I
can't be in the galley whenit's rough, yeah.

Steve (01:01:34):
Or looking at a phone yeah yeah, just being out on
deck is is the way to go butusually the way it works is if I
cook, casey does the dishes.
In case he cooks, I do thedishes.
So we're both engaged in thatyeah I'd rather cook than do the
dishes, so I'll take the galleyanswer do you guys do like

(01:01:55):
couples counseling?

Capn Tinsley (01:01:57):
sounds like you guys have a great system.

Casey (01:01:59):
I think owning, owning a boat is like it's coupling
couples, counseling yeah, it's areal test we're good 90 of the
time.

Steve (01:02:08):
I think our weakest moment is dropping the sail in
heavy wind, because casey justwants to do it perfectly, yeah,
and and at that point it'scoming down.

Casey (01:02:17):
Yeah, I can get frustrated when the you know the
wind always seems to pick upjust before you want to take the
sail down and then you want toflake it.
All nicely, but the wind andyeah.

Capn Tinsley (01:02:27):
So yeah, Steve's like just drop it.
We'll get that later.
We can tie it up.

Steve (01:02:35):
I just kind of, we'll get that later.
Bring it down, we can tie it up.
I just kind of want to get amove on, because it's usually
not ideal conditions.
It's getting dusky and we'relooking for our anchorage.
So I think that's probably ourmost tense moments.
Are doing that, but everythingelse.

Casey (01:02:53):
Yeah, like anchoring is fine, but yeah, I'd say dropping
the sail and then also umcoming in, like we do obviously
go into marinas sometimes, um, Itend to do the docking and
steve jumps off with the linesum, and that can be stressful,
like I think it's just it's abig boat.

Capn Tinsley (01:03:10):
It's the most stressful part of yeah, someone
has like really highexpectations for for docking and
things in general.

Steve (01:03:18):
So I would say we've like oh, we got.
We got kind of blown off thedock, like a bit of a gust
coming into the marina with 15ish knots and then a bit of a
blast kind of just as we wereturning into the finger.
Yeah, and so it means likestruggling a bit with lines or
it's not perfect, but that'sabout as bad as it gets with
Casey at the helm.

(01:03:39):
She's quite good at it, butstill disappointed with that
last one.

Capn Tinsley (01:03:44):
I want it to be.
Conditions are always.
They're never the same when youcome into.
So, who does the night watch?

Casey (01:03:53):
We split it so we'll do kind of four hour, four hour
shifts or um.
On this last crossing we wentup to five hours, which meant we
could get a like a really goodsleep, um.

Steve (01:04:07):
So yeah, we'll do anywhere between three and five
hours and that's really long ifit's cold, I mean uh, we're like
wrapped up like sleeping bagover and and we tend to stay in
the cockpit and do our 20 minutechecks.

Casey (01:04:20):
Yeah, not inside, but yeah, in the cockpit it's it can
be.
It's relatively protected, um,but yeah, we definitely had some
times when and then we'll.
We always say to the otherperson if you need us, like,
wake us, right, so if afterthree hours you're struggling,
then we just switch it.
Yeah, we're very flexible withit, so you have crews sometimes.
No, no, just the two of us,okay you know, if I'm on watch

(01:04:44):
and I'm struggling to stay awakeor it's cold, then I'll just go
and get steve and yeah, we'lljust change it up.

Steve (01:04:51):
It's fine, so it's a soft four hour watch.
If you're feeling like a hero,you do four and a half or
something, and and if if you'rejust like I'm like I'm fading,
um, it's, there's aresponsibility with being on
watch and if you're fading,you're not meeting that
obligation, so you may as welljust switch out yeah, so um out
to sea or coastal cruising um, Ithink it's nice to have a mix.

Casey (01:05:16):
This last uh crossing we did was our biggest passage.
Um 10 days 10 days of ofcrossing.
You know, in the eight of thoseyou're not seeing land.
That was definitely our biggestand I really enjoyed it like
being being out.
You know, at night we had some,it was it was not calm well,
the first half.
First half was calm.

(01:05:36):
We had downwind sailing for thefirst half yeah, we had.

Steve (01:05:39):
We had downwind sailing in that kind of 18 to 25 knots,
so it was pretty sweet.
Um, like two meter ish seas,but we're traveling fast enough
to kind of spread out theinterval yeah um, then a bit of
a dead spell for a number ofhours.

Casey (01:05:56):
Yeah, but I would say I like the passages for sure.
Yeah, but coastal cruising isnice too, because then you get
to explore.

Capn Tinsley (01:06:09):
Well, I hear it from my interview last week and
from other people.
I hear that the west coast ofBC is uh-oh, it's raining.

Steve (01:06:15):
You guys get what?
Nah, it's not going to.
Yeah, west coast of bc ispretty rugged yeah, I hear it's
beautiful to be on the sailboatthrough there.

Capn Tinsley (01:06:25):
Beautiful.
I pulled up the map and becauseone of the questions I like to
ask people, um is what's theirfavorite anchorage?
And we pulled up on Google Maps.
I can't remember the name ofthe place, but it just looked
beautiful.

Casey (01:06:42):
Yeah, it is pretty amazing.

Steve (01:06:43):
Yeah, there's a series of fjords along the coast.
You've got decent protectionthrough the Gulf Islands, the
protection of Vancouver Island,west Coast, like full open West
Coast sailing.
On the other side of VancouverIsland there's not much and
there aren't many kind of placesto stop and visit.

Capn Tinsley (01:07:02):
Well, they took their boat up all these rivers
and everything.

Casey (01:07:07):
Yeah, probably up the Inside Passage.
Yeah, the Inside Passage.
Yeah, it's really stunning.

Capn Tinsley (01:07:13):
So I think, they're just going to hang out
there, so do you see yourselfever?
Last question do you seeyourself ever taking the boat up
there?
Because oh yeah it'd be somereally nice sailing up there.

Casey (01:07:25):
That's the kind of goal eventually get the boat back
back home, back to canada, yeahso I think that kind of precedes
or follows the northwestpassage.

Steve (01:07:34):
Uh, depending on which direction we do it in yeah, yeah
okay ever, ever.

Capn Tinsley (01:07:40):
Okay, so this is the last question are you ever
coming to the caribbean?

Steve (01:07:45):
oh, I mean, it's funny spend a bit of time there for
work.

Casey (01:07:48):
I think it's a an incredible spot yeah, I feel
like we're drawn to some otherplaces first I think because of
those kind of high latitudeplaces that we figured that's
what we'll we'll start with andthen, once we're, you got a long
life to live yeah.
And we're, we're.
You know, once we're a bitolder and we're maybe based back
in BC, then those places are somuch more accessible.

(01:08:11):
Yeah, yeah.
So I think that definitely downthe line, but Go right through.

Steve (01:08:16):
Yeah.

Capn Tinsley (01:08:16):
Right through the.
Panama canal yeah, so I thinkthat definitely down the line,
but go right through.
Yeah, yeah.

Steve (01:08:19):
Panama canal.

Capn Tinsley (01:08:20):
Yeah, yeah, all right.
Well, you guys, this has been ablast.
I sure do appreciate you comingon.
Thank you for contacting me andasking me for that list.

Casey (01:08:27):
Yeah, Thanks for asking us on it's.
Yeah, it's been super fun.

Capn Tinsley (01:08:31):
I we really appreciate it.
Yeah, so our pleasure after youget on back on the boat maybe
we can do another one a littleupdate yeah, that'd be lovely,
that'd be great.

Casey (01:08:41):
So it's not till march though yeah, it's a little while
away, okay, well I'll still bearound then and when is your
trip.

Capn Tinsley (01:08:49):
I am planning october, like the first week of
october.
Um, this is, uh, the height ofhurricane season during that
time.
Actually it's September 9th,but we've had historically a lot
of major hurricanes in October,so it all kind of engaged with
that.
But I'm prepping and I lost myhusband nine months ago.

Casey (01:09:10):
Oh, I'm so sorry.

Capn Tinsley (01:09:12):
Yeah, it's been tough.
I did most of my sailingsingle-handing but he would come
, but we were always talking.
We were always in touch.
I've been reluctant to get backon the boat.
It's been really hard and healways took care of our cats,
and so I'm prepping to take thecats to the Bahamas.

Casey (01:09:33):
Oh wow, that's awesome.

Capn Tinsley (01:09:35):
Yeah, so like sailing Phoenix, but I'm a widow
with two cats.
That would be nice to have themwith you.
Yes, I could not leave themhere, but I plan to go and get
down to the Keys and I'm goingto buddy boat and that's a
pretty long way from OrangeBeach, alabama.
And then my friend QS John Ilike to nickname people he's

(01:09:59):
gonna be on his boat and we'regonna buddy boat over to
georgetown, bahamas so perfect.
So by then, by the time you getback on your boat, I'll be back,
okay we'll have lots to talkabout.
Great to meet you guys, thankyou, you so much Thanks.
With that Salty Abandon.