Salty Podcast #74⛵ RV Roads to Sailboat Dreams: LIVE with @2Brits1Box

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The transformative journey from land to sea captures the imagination of many adventurers, but few make the leap quite like Billy and Lizzie of Two Brits, One Box. In this captivating conversation, they reveal how they traded their RV lifestyle for life aboard their 1980 Pearson 365 sailboat, Stephney Thames—with absolutely no sailing experience.

Their story begins on the highways of Canada and the United States, where their RV adventures took them through the stunning landscapes of Utah, Arizona, and along the Pacific Coast. It was the misty shores of the Oregon coast that rekindled their connection to the sea, both having grown up in seaside towns in England. The pivotal moment came unexpectedly one evening while watching television, when Lizzie casually mentioned she could see herself living on a boat. By morning, Billy was researching how to make it happen.

What makes their journey particularly remarkable is their methodical approach to this dramatic lifestyle change. Rather than diving in headfirst, they researched extensively, viewed numerous boats, and used Vancouver Island as their training ground before attempting longer passages. Their first multi-night sail featured 35-knot winds and accidental jibes—challenges they overcame through perseverance and a willingness to learn.

Now sailing along the California coast and approaching San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge, they share candidly about the realities of boat life: the mechanical challenges, the adjustment to living in small spaces, and the incomparable joy of watching whales breach against a sunset backdrop. Their future plans include Mexico's Baja Peninsula and potentially crossing the Pacific to French Polynesia.

For anyone harboring dreams of a similar adventure, Billy offers this encouragement: "If you're thinking about doing it, definitely go for it. But set small, manageable goals and build it up from there. You'd be surprised what you can achieve within a few months." Their journey stands as compelling proof that with determination and a thoughtful approach, even the most dramatic lifestyle changes are within reach.

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Episode Transcript

Capn Tinsley (00:04):
Good morning and welcome to a special edition of
the Salty Podcast.
Today I'm joined by Billy andLizzie from At Two Brits, one
Box.
They started their adventure onthe road, traveling far and
wide in an RV, and recently madethe leap to sailing.
They bought a sailboat and arenow sailing south from Vancouver
Island and have worked theirway down to the west coast

(00:26):
towards San Francisco.
We'll dig into how this switchhappened, rving to sailing, what
challenges they faced and whatcomes next.
But before we get underway, ifyou're enjoying the sailing
content, please like, subscribeand share.
It really helps grow thechannel and I'm your host,
captain Tinsley of SailingVessel Salty Ab salty abandoned
and I'll unpack it.
320 and this is the saltypodcast episode 74.

(00:49):
Please help me.
Welcome, billy and Lizzie.
Good morning, how are you guys?
I'm good.
I really appreciate youreaching out to me.
I think you've got aninteresting story.
So first of all, tell us whereyou're from so kind of the

(01:13):
southeast of England.

Billy (01:14):
Originally I'm from Essex , which is kind of north of the
River Thames yeah, and then I'mlike southeast England, so south
of London away.

Lizzie (01:26):
So yeah.

Capn Tinsley (01:27):
Yeah, I was thinking Essex was like north,
but you know I'm not a expert.

Billy (01:33):
Yeah, it's like east of um London, so you head direct
east straight from London, thenorth side of the River Thames,
and come to Essex there.

Capn Tinsley (01:43):
Yeah okay, and how did you?
Let's see, let me look at myquestions.
So, um, how did the rving start?
And?
And over here you did it.
Over here, um, in is.
Where did you start?
Is it south america?

Lizzie (02:00):
so we started in um van the RVing, we started up in
mainland Canada.
Okay, I was way up, sorry aboutthat.
No that's fine and yeah, andthen we kind of did that.
We ended up during the RV tripwe went to Vancouver Island,
which is why we knew we wantedto end up there eventually.

(02:22):
Yeah.

Billy (02:24):
We were living in BC, wasn't we, for a few years, and
then you had your visa hadfinished, and then, while you
were waiting for your PRapplication to come through, we
decided, hey, let's just go dosome travelling and head out.
So yeah, we bought the truckand trailer, didn't?
We and we headed off and, yeah,we explored a little bit of BC

(02:44):
that we hadn't seen already, andthen, um, headed south down
into the states and justchecking out all the national
parks, wasn't we?
yeah kind of done a loop, um asit through um salt lake city
down into Arizona, then weheaded west out to Northern

(03:07):
California, then back up thecoast, kind of just checked out
everything in between, and thenwe got to Vancouver Island.
What was it?
Again, you needed to sort outsomething for your PR because we
had to get back to.

Lizzie (03:20):
Yeah, I had so many days after receiving a certain
letter to be back in Canada toreceive my residency, so we went
back there for that and then weset off again as soon as I had
that.
Really.

Capn Tinsley (03:34):
So you're moving to Canada.
Is that going to be home base?

Lizzie (03:39):
So we don't.
Yeah, we've been there forthree.
No for 2001.
Wow, moved there um, butessentially, like now, we're on
on the boat.
We don't know when we'll beback in canada.

Capn Tinsley (03:54):
But yeah, that's gonna be.
You're gonna.
You're setting up residencythere yes yeah, all right.
Well, this is exciting and I'veinterviewed quite a few people
that sail around in that areaand I've seen pictures and
everything.
It looks beautiful up there.

Billy (04:13):
It is.

Lizzie (04:14):
It's so beautiful.

Billy (04:15):
Yeah, it's incredible, yeah yeah.
I found, especially on the eastsides, going through all the
Gulf Islands and up into theDesolation Sand, there's a bunch
of marine national parks upthere.
When the sailing's good, it'samazing, but you can get a lot
of wind blocks from theinversions and stuff for the

(04:38):
islands, so a lot of it'smotoring, motor sailing around
there, but the views are justincredible.
There's just anchorageseverywhere and you do you kind
of just island hop around and umyeah, and just check out all
the scenery.
You can get off a lot of the uhislands, uh, there's lots of
hikes and stuff like that.

Capn Tinsley (04:56):
So yeah, I'm going to put the name of your boat in
your, your headline here um I'mgoing to put the name of your
boat in your, your headline here.

Lizzie (05:08):
Um what?
What's the name of your boat?

Capn Tinsley (05:11):
stephanie thames, so s-t-e-p-h-n-e-y and then
t-h-a-m-e-s oh, thames, okay,and what year is it Okay, and
what year?

Lizzie (05:27):
is it 1980.
And what kind of boat is it?
Pearson 365.

Capn Tinsley (05:32):
Pearson 365.
That's a pretty nice size boat.
Let's see if I spelled Pearsonright.
Is it with an A?
Yes, okay, ea, all right, how'sthat look?
Yep.

Billy (05:47):
Perfect yeah.

Capn Tinsley (05:49):
Okay, let me add one thing.
All right, now we know whatwe're dealing with, and so are
you heading south because ofweather.
You want to get to warmerweather, pretty much.

Billy (06:09):
Yeah, yeah, we did visit baja when we was, uh, actually
doing the down with the trailerand, um, yeah, we love.
What's that like?
Yeah, beautiful, yeah, it'sincredible.
Yeah, we loved it, didn't we?

Lizzie (06:23):
Yeah, beautiful, yeah, it was incredible.

Billy (06:25):
So, we kind of know what we're getting ourselves in for.
But yeah, the warm weather isobviously a big tick, and were
you there in the winter or thesummer in Baja?

Capn Tinsley (06:37):
The winter, yeah, it was our first time spending
winter In England.

Lizzie (06:41):
It's normally just kind of just winter weather yeah,
rainy, and then when we're inmainland it was snowing, so it
was our first time spending itin the sunshine, which was we
weren't sure what to expect, butit was.

Capn Tinsley (06:54):
It was nice so Bacon's Rebellion says Baja is
best so yeah, they're our Bajafriends.

Lizzie (07:05):
Oh, you know them.
Okay.

Capn Tinsley (07:07):
Yeah, we met them down there, great yes I haven't
been there yet on my boat, butit's on the list, so, yeah, um,
okay, we know, I know yourstarting point.
Um, let's go back to the RV,and what were your favorite
destinations or stretches ofroad?

Billy (07:30):
Wow.
Oregon coast yeah, awesome yeahamazing, beautiful really likes
Utah.
Utah was cool yeah, I mean,arizona was amazing as well yeah
, each state is so different,different yeah they're hard to
compare sometimes.

Lizzie (07:51):
I think the Oregon coast is kind of where we, when we
hit that, that's when werealized we missed it.
We're both from seaside towns,yeah, so as soon as we hit the
Oregon coast, that's kind ofwhen we both realized like we
missed the sea air.

Billy (08:05):
It was the first time in about two years, I think we'd
been out to the coast by theocean.
You know that ocean breeze ofsmells, that sensation of being
by the coast.
We both just went, we reallymissed this.

Capn Tinsley (08:20):
And then I understand that I grew up in
Atlanta, which is landlocked,and now I'm on the Gulf Coast,
gulf of Mexico, gulf of Americanow.
So Bacon's Rebellion says wemet Billy and Lizzie there and
had some amazing adventures,especially the whale watch.

Billy (08:40):
Oh yes.

Capn Tinsley (08:44):
As long as you're not hitting your, hitting your
boat, right, okay.
So you, you went back and youstarted smelling the sea air.
Is that what made you say, hmm,we might need a sailboat yeah,
well not, it didn't really startfrom there.

Billy (09:02):
We kind of knew we wanted to be out by the coast.
Then didn't we, and that was onour initial summer loop.
And then we headed up the coastand we hadn't visited vancouver
island yet and we knew wewanted to see that.
So when we got up to olympicpark we took the ferry over to
victoria and we explored onvancouver island, fell in love

(09:22):
with.

Capn Tinsley (09:22):
It was beautiful let me ask an ignorant question
were you able to get your rv ona on a ferry over there?

Lizzie (09:29):
yeah, yeah, so it's the um coho ferry, so it's one of
the.

Capn Tinsley (09:33):
I don't know too much about one of the old big,
big ships yeah, so you're ableto get over there and actually
explore in your rv.

Lizzie (09:42):
yes, yeah, we had the truck and trailer for that where
we explored the island.
That's when we knew we weregoing to move to Vancouver
Island, I think.
Okay, we didn't have the ideaof the sailboat yet, we just
knew, because the island had agood mix of the forest and then
we could be out by the seawithin an hour and yeah but yeah

(10:08):
, we hadn't thought of the ideaof the sailboat yet.
So how did how did that happen?

Capn Tinsley (10:12):
what was like, who said it first and the other one
?
What did the other one say?

Billy (10:18):
that's pretty much that way.
Yeah, it wasn't too often, itwasn't too hot, it wasn't until
after we'd finished our RV andwe'd come back up to when we got
back up to Vancouver Island, wegot jobs and just living that.

Lizzie (10:35):
Back in the city.

Billy (10:37):
Yeah, that normal conventional lifestyle.
And then it was just beforeChristmas, wasn't it?

Lizzie (10:42):
Yeah.

Billy (10:43):
You made a passing comment.

Lizzie (10:45):
Yeah, I said there passing comment.
Yeah, I said there wassomething on TV.
I don't know if it was asailboat or maybe a barge boat
in the canals, but it wassomeone living on a boat and I
said, oh, I could do that.
And then the next morning, wakeup and see if you've been doing
some research.

Capn Tinsley (11:03):
So that was the first statement from you.
Hey, we could do that and thenhe was researching it.

Billy (11:11):
He's like hmm because we was both talking, wasn't we?
It was like oh, because he wasback in the conventional
lifestyle, working jobs andstuff, and we was like really
miss traveling and seeing placesand we still had that burning
desire to want to get out andsee the world.
So, um, yeah, when you made thatpossible, I thought how can we
combine the two?
So, done some, did someresearch and, um, yeah, then

(11:39):
kind of figured that a sailboat.
You know, it's not reallylimited to distance because you
can, as long as you're wind, youcan get around, right.
So, yeah, just kind of linkedthe two and decided that maybe a
sailboat would be a good way toventure around and travel okay,

(12:01):
well, axel says well done, guys, you're doing a great job.

Lizzie (12:04):
What a beautiful country oh, thank you, I might be my
brother.

Capn Tinsley (12:09):
Is that your brother?
Okay, I think so.
All your fans, okay.
So what happened after that?

Lizzie (12:16):
you're doing research and yes, that was at christmas
time, wasn't it?
That's right yeah, um, and thenwe started looking at boats.
Didn't know too much what wewanted, what we were looking at
at first, um, there's lots ofboats.

Billy (12:31):
Lots of research wasn't there?
Um, just trying to figure out,because I've had experience with
boats I've had boats before,but motorboats never sailed in
my life.
So looking at sailboats, Ididn't know what the different
types were, what, what they wasfor, and then it was trying to
decide what we wanted out of asailboat and deciding what was

(12:54):
best suited for us.
So a lot of it was justresearch and we viewed loads of
boats, didn't we?
just just trying to get someexperience looking at boats,
what to look for, any issueswith them, stuff like that
really.
So yeah, it was just lookingand looking and there was a
couple of boats we quite liked.
There's one that we nearly putan offer on.

(13:14):
Yeah, sea trial didn't go toogreat, did it.

Capn Tinsley (13:20):
No.

Billy (13:23):
What happened on the sea trial.
I mean, it was a beautiful day,wasn't it?
It was sunshine, it was prettycold because it was like January
, but it was light air, so itwasn't the greatest of sailing.
But we got the sails up, gotaround and it was all going fine
.
We got out to the bay and thewind completely died down.
So I started the engine motorback into the anchorage and got

(13:44):
kind of halfway and then I justnoticed there was a bit of smoke
.
Looked at the temperaturereading and it's reading like
220 at this point and I'm like,oh, that's hot.
Then it got more and more, itgot to like 240 and then it
wouldn't go no further becausethat's as max, yeah.
And then I started noticing theblue smoke and then the cabin
started steaming up and I waslike oh wow.

Lizzie (14:05):
The owners were just as surprised as we were yeah it was
unfortunate, but you know, atleast it happened before we we'd
put an offer on it for sureyeah yeah moral of the story,
ways to take a boat out for seatrial and purchasing it's very
important.

Capn Tinsley (14:24):
Yeah, yeah.
So what kind of boat was that?

Billy (14:27):
it was a scepter 36.
That one was um kind of like ait's more of a performance
cruiser type.
A long fin kill like a racingboat more so yeah, yeah, kind of
in between a racing and acruiser, so it wasn't really

(14:47):
suited to what we was going toneed out of a sailboat, so kind
of glad that we didn't go aheadwith that.
It was a really nice boat.
We loved the layout and it wasin good condition and stuff.
But yeah, maybe it just wasn'tmeant to be, I guess.

Capn Tinsley (15:01):
So the engine.
That's a, that was.
That's problematic, I mean, ifit's smoking I forgot what I
forgot what blue smoke means.
There's white smoke, gray smoke, what is it fuel?

Billy (15:17):
the oil, I think where it over overheated, scored the uh
cylinders.
So, um yeah, it wasn't bluesmoke when we were initially.
I think just where itoverheated it we're in the
engine.

Capn Tinsley (15:31):
Okay so Bacon Rebellion, we're loving your
ocean adventures.
Bruce Williams says did youhave a survey done?

Billy (15:38):
We did.

Lizzie (15:40):
On the one we purchased.

Billy (15:42):
Yeah, on this one that we purchased, we got a survey, but
it had to be an in-water survey, didn't it?

Capn Tinsley (15:47):
Oh, you didn't get to pull it out.

Lizzie (15:50):
No.

Billy (15:50):
We tried.

Lizzie (15:51):
Yeah, it was in Euclid on the island and there's only
one company there that can haulout.
The timing just didn't work.
Logistics, they couldn't fit usin.
For a long time we would havebeen waiting quite a while.
So we were keen, keen to getgoing with it.
So we we booked it in the watersurvey um which, yeah, turned

(16:16):
out, turned out good you did asea trial.

Capn Tinsley (16:19):
Yeah, yes, yeah, yeah, no, smoke no no
overheating that's a nice sizeboat you have um yeah, so yeah,
I'm sure it's very comfortableyeah for the two of us it's good
size yeah and, yeah, anythingsmaller, but also, bill is like
six foot three, so anything soit's important to find.

(16:44):
Yeah, and you have the headroomin there.
What's?

Billy (16:47):
just what is about six four yes, I think it's yeah,
around six three, six four.
It's.
It's right there kind of thing.

Capn Tinsley (16:55):
So yeah yeah so you have to be careful about
bumping your head on the sidesright for sure, yeah, yeah, it's
a bit of a um okay, so let mesee what else I got.
Um, what drew you to the water?
You answered that, uh, the ahamoment you described watching it

(17:17):
was tv of all things.
Yeah, um, how did your friendsand family react when you told
them you were going to switch tosailing?

Lizzie (17:27):
There was a slight silence.
Yeah, I mean knowing that wehadn't sailed before.
Yeah, that was.
I think everyone was veryexcited for us.
Obviously, there is that momentof are you sure, because of the

(17:51):
lack of experience?

Capn Tinsley (17:53):
Yeah.

Lizzie (17:54):
Yeah, and just the safety part of it really.
I think was more the concern.
But now we've got going.
Everyone's seen what we've beenable to do so far and we've
learned.
Well, I think we're learningquickly yeah so, yeah, they've
all been really supportivethough are um?

Capn Tinsley (18:13):
is billy a fix-it guy can?

Billy (18:17):
you fix that because that's gonna come in yeah,
there's been a lot of that, andMore to come, for sure I know.
Yeah, a lot of it is justgetting used to the boat
figuring out all its littlequirks and just slowly but
surely fixing it up as we goalong.
But for the most part it's gotgood bones.

Lizzie (18:42):
Yeah, bruce says, be safe and have fun yeah, that's
right yeah yeah, we've alwaysbeen mechanically minded and
stuff anyway.

Capn Tinsley (18:52):
So that was it, that's great because, um, as
you'll see, as you go, I don'tknow if that boat, particular
boat, has traveled a lotrecently from the former owner
no no, it had been sat a while,hadn't it?

Billy (19:06):
it had been yeah, yeah, he, uh, he was just getting
older.
He had the idea he wanted to dosome sailing and but yeah, he
had an airbnb business going on.
It was uh taking off for himand, like I say, getting older
as well.
He just didn't have the time totake her out and she was just
kind of sitting there in themarina and yeah, I think for the

(19:27):
last couple of years she didn'treally move at all.

Capn Tinsley (19:29):
So yeah, yeah.
So what what I found in myexperience because I'm on my
third boat I'm hopefully myfinal boat the last one.
A hurricane got it, so Ithought that was fine, but
that's fine I.
I got a bigger one, but but Idid on my first trip there were
some problems that had to bewashed out.
Um, you know, you, you startgoing and uh, and I I am not a

(19:54):
mechanic, I'm hoping to getbetter, but I get the credit
card out and there's repairmenalong the way, you know.
But I found that, yeah, thereare some things that will break
along the way.
It's inevitable.
I'm just going to go out thereand say that, I'm just going to

(20:14):
put myself out on a limb there.
So it's good that you'remechanically inclined, yeah.
You'll save a lot of money onlabor.

Billy (20:23):
Yeah, for sure yeah.

Capn Tinsley (20:25):
Those guys aren't cheap.

Lizzie (20:27):
No no.
We've learned as well to havespares of as many things as you
can as well.
There's a lot of spare of smallparts when we bought the boat
there was yeah.
Like from the previous owner.

Capn Tinsley (20:39):
Oh, like what, Like what kind of spare?

Billy (20:48):
Anything from engine stuff, lots of spare things for,
like, the rigging yeah, gasketsfor the engine, uh, rigging,
spare parts, and a lot of it.
We didn't even know what we waslooking at.
We kind of just looked forthese are spares, these look
pretty cool, but we don't reallyknow what they're for.
So we kind of just put themaside.
And then over time, as we'vebeen looking at stuff, when we
started realizing, oh, Iremember seeing that then,
because it was all in boxes anduh, yeah, and things like that

(21:12):
yeah, all that sort of stuff,yeah, for sure.

Capn Tinsley (21:14):
Yeah, thank you for reminding me I'm about to go
on my own trip and I'maccumulating my spare part.
You just reminded me of cotterpins.
That is so important.
Those little things work theirway out and and from what?
like sailing with phoenix, ifyou've watched him yes yeah,
they would, they start to workthemselves out, and uh, and the

(21:37):
importance he really stressedbecause it was told to him of
that daily walk around.
Yeah, yeah, and I don't alwayswant to see it, you know.
I'm just like, oh, it'll befine, but I've got to make
myself walk around because onelittle cotter pin out can ruin
your day.
Okay, so sailing with uh, withj le L-L-O, as a backup to

(22:06):
cotter pins, have a roll ofstainless wire.
Thank you, that is great advice.
I do have some of that on theboat.

Lizzie (22:16):
So see, you always learn something here on the Salty
Podcast.
Add that to our list.
Sure, what's that Add?

Capn Tinsley (22:21):
that to our list, yes, so let's go back to the
RVing.
What did your parents and yourfriends think?
That whole thing and going toCanada and all that.
Going to know that's your bravethat's very brave.
I mean Canada, but just goingto a different country yeah,
when when we met, wasn't thatyou already?

Lizzie (22:43):
who has them?
But George citizens, so he waslooking at going to Canada.
Anyway, we met, wasn't it youalready?
Bill has you've got dualcitizens, Dual citizens yep, so
he was looking at going toCanada anyway.
We met in London, so he waswaiting for the airlines to open
back up after COVID, right?
So you made your way to over,didn't you?

Capn Tinsley (23:04):
Jumped in.

Lizzie (23:05):
Yeah, I applied for my visa.
So there was eight months wherehe was over here and I was back
in the UK still.
So what made you want to?

Capn Tinsley (23:14):
go to Canada, Billy.

Billy (23:18):
Having a dual citizenship .
It was always an option.
My mum always said to me youknow, there's the, there's the
option to go over there.
She went, make use of it always.
If you go over there and youdon't like it, you can always
come back.
You'll never wonder what ifright.

(23:38):
So it was always there for meto to use it and to at least
test it out and just to seewhat's out there really.
So when COVID hit, thingsobviously went crazy and I
decided then it was just beforeI was 28, 29 at the time I

(23:58):
thought by the time you're 30,then you've got to start
thinking about stuff.
So it was at that time I waslike if I'm ever going to do it,
it's going to be now.
So I decided just to let's justgo for it, put plans into place
and yeah, and then just go overthere and just give it a shot
and just see how it goes.
So yeah, that was really myidea of coming to Canada, I

(24:23):
guess.
Yeah, I looked at a lot ofCanada.
I spent some time in Ontariobefore I was looking at the
whole of Canada and justthinking what would suit me best
, what I wanted to get out of it, and decided British Columbia
would be most suited.
So yeah, that's, that's how anddid you say?

Capn Tinsley (24:42):
say it was?
Your mother is Canadian.

Billy (24:45):
That's right, yeah.

Capn Tinsley (24:52):
Okay.
So I'm dying to know you guysmet in London.
It's like, hey, I'm going toCanada.
Oh, I want to go with youPretty much.

Lizzie (25:04):
Really Tell me about that.
Yeah, yeah, as I said, it wascoming out of the whole lockdown
situation and we met on theThames hence the Thames part of
our boat name, yeah.
And then you kind of said to methat you know, this is my plan
actually.
Hopefully I'm looking to goover there.

(25:24):
And yeah, I was like like well,we're getting on good.
So I mean, I may as well giveit a go as well.
So, um, yeah, after my, afterthat as well, I also thought my
time's done in London.
I didn't want to be in inLondon anymore.
So it was either kind of justgo back to my hometown and he

(25:45):
goes off, and then you know, orI give it a go as well so so,
for just so you know, billy,even though I interview a lot of
couples on here, it's very rarethat a woman wants to do this
oh, no, yeah, for sure or

Capn Tinsley (26:03):
there's no expectation in it at all I mean
good for you, lizzy, because andI'm, I'm my my husband passed
away about 10 months ago, soI've been going through a really
really hard time, but I I wasthe sailor and the captain and
the owner of the boat andlearned all the stuff and he
would come, but it wasn't hispassion, but he was a great

(26:25):
first mate, though he's, if I'mcoming into a dock and it's
windy, he's the one I want upthere, jumping off the boat and
holding the boat.
You know, yeah, but most of myexperience was um solo.
But I meet a lot of guys onboats out there when I'm sailing
, to the keys and everything,and they're like I wish I could
find a woman.
You know, nobody wants to dothis, nobody wants to live on a

(26:46):
boat, and so I just think you'revery lucky to have very
fortunate very, very fortunate,yeah, very grateful for sure,
thank you.
So, um, before we jump back intothe sailing, what did your
parents think of you going tocanada?
And with this guy?

Lizzie (27:09):
going to Canada and with this guy on an RV yeah, there
was obviously.
They said are you sure?
Like you know, because theyhadn't met.
I think my parents met Billthrough the car window because
of the whole COVID thing andthat was.
I hadn't really met himproperly, I don't think social
distancing.

Billy (27:20):
Yeah, because of the whole.

Lizzie (27:21):
Yeah, so, um, still, but they were supportive,
definitely, yeah, they said aslong as you know what you're
doing and say the same thing aswhat bill was told, if it
doesn't work out in canada, thenyou can always come back.
So, right, yeah, so they're.
Yeah, they were reallysupportive of it.
Um, I'm one of like three, oneof four kids, so they were all

(27:42):
the others were supportive aswell and, yeah, yeah, it's
reassuring, sure, and it gavethem a good opportunity to come
out for holiday as well.
Okay, have they done that?
Yes, yeah, my parents came outin october.
Okay, yeah, yeah, and yourparents were what.

Capn Tinsley (27:59):
They were okay because they was like you need
to go sow your wild oats orsomething.

Billy (28:05):
You said I'll do it on an rv, yeah yeah, I mean, yeah, my
mom was always she's, she'salways been really supportive
and she's always been um progetting out there and living
life, the adventure, travelingand all that she's, she's all

(28:27):
very much for that.
So, yeah, I was, I was verymuch supported in that.
In that sense, that's greatencouraged.

Capn Tinsley (28:35):
Yeah, such a great support.
That's.
That's awesome, um, and you dohave a patreon account, don't
you?

Lizzie (28:42):
we, we do.
Yes, yeah, we just just set itup, so I'm getting to get into
what I'm doing with it, but andis it?

Capn Tinsley (28:51):
is it patreon?
Two brits, one box yes, it isyeah okay, so I'm just gonna put
this up here.
No, thank you, bring some money.
Yeah, oh, bring some money,yeah, oh.
Yeah, I have one too.
I never I've never said that,but if anybody's out there wants

(29:12):
to give a salty abandon, um, Ijust got to the point where I
can monitor my channel's,monetizing my youtube channel.
I'm still learning all that,but, um, okay, so the sailboat
you chose this one.
What was the buying processlike, compared to rv shopping?

Billy (29:36):
um the process I mean, the buying side of it was pretty
much the same.
The vessel registration andsetting up your mmsi and all
that sort of stuff was alearning curve, to say the least
.
I mean, I don't know what it'slike in in the states, but in
canada there's lots of littlethings you need to do and it's

(29:58):
not well explained on thegovernment website.

Capn Tinsley (30:01):
So government websites are always confusing.

Billy (30:05):
No, matter where you are.
So there was a lot of askingquestions, firing off emails and
researching and yeah.
So that was quite difficult.
Once we got the heads around itit all kind of figured itself
out and we knew who to talk toand what to ask for.
It went quite smooth.

(30:25):
But yeah, the buying processwas quite straightforward,
pretty much.
Just we made an offer, didn'twe?
We kind of researched whatthese boats went for, market
value, um, let's say, we lookedhere and see what equipment it
had, what it did, and eventhough we didn't fully know
exactly what it was looking at,we had half an idea.

(30:47):
So we kind of put a rough pricedown.
Then, when we had the survey,um, the surveyor come and looked
and told us what the boat wasworth and it was kind of in the
ballpark of what we offered.

Lizzie (31:00):
So we kind of just went with that and yeah, it was
pretty smooth yeah, there's alot more things to to look for
compared to the rv definitely ohyeah because because the rv was
a trailer as well, so it didn'thave the an engine we were
towing it.
So there's a lot more morethings to learn and more things

(31:21):
to look out for.

Capn Tinsley (31:21):
I I was just going to show your Instagram, so
there it is at twobritsonebox,and here's a nice video that you
put up.

Lizzie (31:36):
Oh yeah, beautiful sunsets.
Look at that boat.

Capn Tinsley (31:42):
Looks like you guys are sailing very well for
being the big beginners thankyou um Okay, what were the first
upgrades and fixes you had totackle?

Lizzie (32:05):
Every weekend, from where we were living at the time
, to come up and fix it up.

Billy (32:11):
It was a four-hour journey, wasn't it?
I mean, it was in March time,wasn't it?
So it was pretty cold.
It was raining a lot.
Yeah, the west coast is quiteit's quite rainy.
So we were just traveling up onthe fridays when we finished
work and then, um, staying upfor the weekend and spending our
weekends fixing her up, wasn'twe yeah when we had sunny days.

Lizzie (32:31):
We we started work on the.
The teak trimmings on theoutside, oh yeah there's lots of
teak on this boat.

Billy (32:37):
Yeah, a lot of upkeep.

Lizzie (32:40):
Still something to do as well.
Once we get down a bit furthersouth, we'll have the weather to
do it.

Capn Tinsley (32:47):
Yeah, that is.

Lizzie (32:49):
You did a lot of the mechanical fixes.

Billy (32:53):
Yeah, a lot of it was to do engine-based.
Yeah, for the most part becausewe'd never sailed and we wanted
to bring it around from thewest coast back around to the
east coast.
I figured that we'd be doing alot of motoring rather than
sailing initially, so I justwanted to make sure the engine
was pretty good.
So there was a lot of a lot ofwork to do with the engine and

(33:16):
stuff.
So, yeah, um, adding batteriesyeah it had.
It had quite a lot of lead acidsum six volt trojan, uh two
banks of them widening seriesfor the 12 volt.
So we decided to keep that forthe 12 volt systems on the boat

(33:36):
and then we added lithium for uh120 off of the inverter well,
this is your, your most recent.

Lizzie (33:46):
Let's see, there we go, showing from vancouver island to
crescent city, which, and thatis near san Francisco, I don't
see it on, no, that is yeah, itjust made a trip, didn't we,
from from Humboldt Bay to yeahwe're in Drake Drake's Bay now,

(34:10):
just outside San Fran yeah, andour next leg will be going under
the bridge hopefully so but wewant we want to be able to sail
underneath Golden Gate, so we'rewaiting for a day, we can sail
it.

Capn Tinsley (34:23):
That's cool.
Okay, let's see.
Did any RV skills carry overand make the transition easier?

Lizzie (34:36):
Living in a small space.
Yeah, I think that's also onethat is reluctant, makes other
people reluctant, whether it'sfor van life or to be on a boat.
Sure, yeah.

Billy (34:48):
It's a small space.
We needed to downsize a lot,didn't we, from when we moved
from the house to the RV.
Originally, we put a bunch ofstuff in storage, but we sold so
much stuff and thrift storeswere our best friend for a while
, there weren't they?
So, yeah, we really downsizedwhen we got to the trailer and

(35:09):
then we had to downsize againwhen we moved to the boat, so
basically get rid of everythingthat was in storage because we
were still paying the monthlyfees for that, wasn't we?
So, yeah, we downsized againand, yeah, the skills that we
kind of learnt living in a smallspace definitely come in handy

(35:30):
when we moved onto the boat,that's for sure.

Capn Tinsley (35:33):
Yeah.

Billy (35:34):
Was it a big?

Capn Tinsley (35:35):
adjustment for you , Lizzie.

Lizzie (35:41):
I found it okay actually .
Yeah, it's quite nice gettinggetting rid of things sometimes
like a, like a clear out reallybut, yeah, I didn't mind it at
all.
I adapted a lot quicker than Ithought I would, because I'm
very much like things need to bein their place and because I'm
very much like things need to bein their place and and it helps
to.

Capn Tinsley (35:59):
It helps to be with somebody in a small space
that you like yeah, that's trueyeah yeah, we get on, I like
that.
Yeah, I've.
I've seen um.
I've seen people post that soldeverything, that it was such a
they were.
I mean I've seen people post um, we are no longer homeowners,

(36:23):
you know where.
Usually you're like I'm ahomeowner, well, this is like
later in life and they just feelso good that they've gotten rid
of everything.
And I saw people saying how doyou get rid of your furniture?
And one person said we gave itto the hurricane victims, so
it's got to be freeing and notto have that monthly expense
anymore yes, yeah, definitelyyeah, I mean all our furniture

(36:47):
and things we got when we movedto Canada.

Lizzie (36:51):
We've got secondhand anyway, marketplace and things
that.
So none of it was sentimental,which made it a lot easier no
family heirlooms.

Capn Tinsley (37:02):
Yes yeah.

Lizzie (37:05):
So we've got like little trinkets and items that we've
bought with us that are fromfamily and things like that and
photos.
But other than that, we kind oflook at it and it's have we
used it in the last six monthswhile it's been in storage?
No, we needed it.
No, we just get rid.
Just get rid of it now.

Capn Tinsley (37:25):
Do you have storage back home?
Do you have?

Lizzie (37:28):
um for me, my mom and dad, okay, um, but that's mainly
like childhood like boxes oflike my old school books and
things like that from when I wasa kid, but most things I've
bought over I slow.
Every time I go home I try andeither bring stuff back or sort

(37:49):
through it.

Capn Tinsley (37:49):
So they're slowly, they're, they're, they're part
of my things, sometimes toss it.

Lizzie (37:55):
Yeah, so it's getting smaller and smaller each time I
visit.

Capn Tinsley (38:00):
Well, I think it's good for people to hear how how
to make this happen, and youguys sound like you're really
good at just lowering yourexpenses, living below your
means to make this happen, andthat's okay.
So we got Dan Foley.

Billy (38:16):
You're so proud of.

Capn Tinsley (38:17):
Elizabeth.
Oh, hey, mom, we are so proudof Elizabeth and Billy.
They're amazing.
We miss them, but get to seethem.
See the see the world throughtheir eyes.
So awesome that your mom cameon here.
Okay, so here, okay, so youbegan at Vancouver Island.

(38:44):
What was it like sailing around?
I think you already said that,but so, sailing south, let's go
there.
What was it like going from?

Billy (38:55):
I mean, we kind of we used the island, didn't we, to
learn the boat, learn a littlebit how to sail, kind of prepare
us for that trip.
I found well, we found thatcoming around from the north
point of the island down thewest coast of Vancouver Island
was pretty much the same as thewest coast of.

(39:15):
America wasn't it.

Lizzie (39:17):
Yeah, so it kind kind of .
It was our first night passage,though, and it was what?
Three nights or four nights,four nights four nights.
In the end, what did you think?
We've done shifts and yeah, itwas.

Billy (39:31):
We didn't know what we was getting ourselves in for.
Really it was we had.
We had a couple of stormynights, one night in particular
where we had 35 knot gusts.
So it was.
It was pretty, pretty stormyout there with the uh what not?
35 knots 35 35, 35, yeah, okayyeah, we had that accidental

(39:56):
jibe twice, didn't we?
Yeah?
And the second one broke thepreventer line.
So that was in the middle ofthe night.
Things got a little bit spicythere.

Lizzie (40:05):
It's a learning curve.

Billy (40:06):
It was a learning curve, for sure, yeah.

Capn Tinsley (40:09):
Yeah, did you think, what have we done?

Lizzie (40:15):
I think I get scared a lot easier.
So I know personally for me Iwas a bit like, oh, can I do
this?

Billy (40:25):
but after that night had gone and we did the other night,
I was like, oh, it's not 100%bad all the time it's just small
moments yeah when we had thenext day and the weather cleared
up and the sun's out and you'rekind of sitting back and
relaxing and the boat's cruisingalong and you're like, well,

(40:47):
this is actually pretty good.
Yeah, this isn't too bad, it'snot all chaos and hectic, it's
just small moments when thingslike that happen.
So, yeah, I mean, other thanthat moment there, the trip down
was it was pretty good.
Actually, a lot of it wasgetting used to the sleep,

(41:09):
having the four hours on, fourhours off.
You don't sleep for that fourhours off that you have.
Especially, it was quite roughwhen we was coming down.
So you know, yeah, we dedicatedthe V-Bath for the sleeping area
.
We'd go up there and yeah,you're kind of just laying there
and you're just getting thrownfrom side to side and you try to

(41:31):
get to sleep and you're tired.
So a lot of it was the firstcouple of days.
I found it was hard totransition and then after that I
feel like you're, you're sofatigued from that first couple
of days that you managed tosleep through it, but then you,
your body kind of finds thatthat natural rhythm with it.
So, yeah, I found after thefull fifth day it was both

(41:51):
fatigued, but we started findingour finding our rhythm with
well I found in rough water.

Capn Tinsley (41:59):
It's better for me in my boat to sleep in the rear
berth, because it seems likeyou get less of that tossing
around yeah, yeah, we don't.

Billy (42:09):
We don't have one here, do we?
So we have, is it?

Capn Tinsley (42:13):
full of storage, or is it stuff?

Lizzie (42:17):
Is it full of storage?

Billy (42:18):
Yeah, it's just those ruts there's no rear quarter.

Lizzie (42:23):
Okay, that's a big boat.

Capn Tinsley (42:25):
Does it have more than one cabin or one bedding
area?

Lizzie (42:30):
So we've got the V-berth , and then the two sofas pull
out into a small double and asingle, and then there is a
pilot berth as well, just abovesat sat above the.
That's our storage.
Yeah, that's our storage okay,yeah yeah, that we found.
Yeah, it's okay, but we found aswell.

(42:50):
Actually, using the, we takeout all the cupboards.
There were cupboards all behindus here, just so we could set
that seating further back to theedge of the boat with it, so
it's wide enough to sleep andwithout having to fill it out
nice so that that helped a lot,made it a lot more comfortable,

(43:11):
and yeah, yeah, I know what youmean you laying there and
sometimes you wish it's wider,but I don't want to lose that
storage.

Capn Tinsley (43:18):
Did you lose your storage?

Lizzie (43:21):
Yeah, we haven't quite figured where we want to put
things anyway, so there is otherplaces for them.
We just need to figure outwhere what goes where still and
what we're going to use mostoften, because we've got lots of
cubbies that are empty still,like, for instance, underneath
the the bed in the v-berth butwe don't know what we want to

(43:43):
put in there yet.
We only want to put things inthere that maybe are waterproof
and that we don't use often.
So sure, the things that are inthese cupboards for, like, my
christmas decorations and ourlike card games and stuff like
that, wasn't it?
So it wasn't.

(44:03):
It wasn't too too bad to justmove all that really we found
with the storage as well.

Billy (44:08):
It was kind of bulky and the actual, the molds didn't go
all the way back so they wasonly kind of taken half.
So there was a lot of void areathere that wasn't utilized.

Capn Tinsley (44:19):
It was just kind of yeah wasted space did you
have to use some carpenterskills to do that?

Billy (44:26):
we use the saw yeah, the saws all come in handy.

Lizzie (44:31):
Yeah, we had to chop up into bits and yeah, we decided
to pull it out on a rainy daywhen we're out at anchor and
then we realized we don'tactually know how to get this to
the the dump, so we just had it.
We just cut it up small andthen, luckily, some friends of
ours helped out and let's stickit in their truck.

Capn Tinsley (44:49):
I love it I love it I bet your, your mom is she's
, she's so proud of you guys.
You just so, yeah, you justfigure it out, right, you just
yeah.
So what's it like in CrescentCity?
You're at Anchorage, right,we're at.

Lizzie (45:11):
Golden Gate Bridge, but we're at Crescent City for three
, four days.

Billy (45:15):
I think so yeah.

Lizzie (45:16):
It's nice there.
Yeah, the um, we were atanchorage but we actually missed
our dinghy, so we had to go into the actual harbor we tried to
get down to eureka, didn't we?
Yeah, what happened?

Capn Tinsley (45:32):
with your dinghy.
Oh, you need a new dinghy.

Billy (45:33):
I did see that yes and no now we got it back, yeah we did
get it back we tried to headdown to eureka, which was about
50 miles or something, somethinglike that.
Yeah, we checked the weatherforecast and it was showing four
, not norwesley's.
So we thought, oh well, youknow, we'll do a little bit of

(45:54):
motor sailing and just slowlyget down there spend the day.
Just kind of tell me where youare right now.

Lizzie (46:02):
I want to pull it up on the map oh uh, drake, no yeah,
drake's bay um just outside sanfrancisco, drake's bay all right
, I'm gonna put in drake's bay,so you're you.

Capn Tinsley (46:16):
Uh, next is you're going to go under the bridge
and and go inside that bay, isthat right?

Lizzie (46:21):
yeah, yeah, so we're going to go under the bridge and
hopefully go into aquatic codeyeah, okay, I see where you are
fisherman's wharf is and that'swhere they have a lot of the
boats go over to visit, like theAlcatraz, and things like that
there.

Capn Tinsley (46:38):
Oh, I love Alcatraz.

Billy (46:41):
Yeah.

Capn Tinsley (46:41):
It's a crazy.

Lizzie (46:42):
It's an eerie place.
It's awesome yeah.

Capn Tinsley (46:46):
It's so interesting though.
All right, let me pull this oneoff and put up where you are.
Okay, so here it is, here's SanFrancisco, and you're right

(47:08):
here.
Yeah, that's right.
Yeah, is it calm?

Lizzie (47:14):
Yes, it's pretty calm, yeah, yeah, I had a good night's
sleep and there was no rockingum.
You can hear the winds quite alot, but the swell is minimal,
isn't it?

Billy (47:25):
yeah, there's no swell in there, just yeah small waves
yeah, definitely, definitely agood place to come into.
Yeah, heading heading southfind a lot of people tuck in
here after dinner.
They kind of do the passage allthe way down, don't they?
From Washington State?
And this is kind of the firstport call coming in and rest
after a weeks-long passage.

Capn Tinsley (47:47):
And then you're going to go here.

Billy (47:49):
Yep.

Capn Tinsley (47:50):
Yep.

Lizzie (47:51):
And then you said you just start going just south of
where your cursor is.

Billy (47:59):
Yeah, near Fisherman's Wharf there.

Lizzie (48:02):
That little circle.
That's the one, yeah.
Oh, you can anchor in there,yes, yeah, I think it's just 10
at night, then you can go to.

Billy (48:13):
You get access to the ships there and stuff like that
and the parks.

Capn Tinsley (48:18):
So can you tie up during the day?
Is there any place to tie up?

Billy (48:22):
Yeah, I think one of the I believe it's one of the
beaches down there.
From reading the comments, youcan yeah, you can dingy over to
one of the beaches and then tieup to a pole.
I think they said.
Okay, yeah, wow and this is upto a pole.

Capn Tinsley (48:37):
I think they said okay, yeah, wow, and this is
free, right here.

Lizzie (48:40):
I think it's 10 bucks and I have.

Capn Tinsley (48:43):
Do they have mooring balls or?

Billy (48:47):
I think it's just anchoring there yeah, I think
it's quite secure, like so whereyou're tight with dinghy and I
think there's, I think it'sgated I think it's a park, a
government park thing, so Ithink you have access to the
ships and the parks there, sothey kind of include it into
into one yeah, what does thatsay there?

(49:08):
Yes, that, yeah, I think it'sthe one zero 1886 square rigger.

Capn Tinsley (49:14):
Wow about that kaluta.
It's closed.
It says temporary close.
This is good information.
I appreciate that.

Lizzie (49:22):
Thanks for sharing that with me.
It's really close walkingdistance to a lot of the things
that you'd want to see in SanFran.

Capn Tinsley (49:30):
So how long do you plan to stay there?

Lizzie (49:33):
Probably a week.

Billy (49:35):
Maybe a week.
I'd like to go and see AngelIsland as well, just north of
the.
That's meant to be a prettycool spot.
Other people we spoke to havesaid that there's some good
anchorages there and hiking onthe island so Angel is just
north of Alcatraz.
I believe that one there,that's one now.

Capn Tinsley (49:58):
I know that these waters are well.
You know, if you've heard allthe stories about the escape
people trying to escape, sharkinfested and cold.
That's what I hear.
Yeah, there's that.
Don't try to swim in there yeah.

Billy (50:17):
Don't try to swim in there.

Capn Tinsley (50:19):
So I've been here.
This is awesome, and I havetoured around San Francisco and
if you go to Chinatown, oh mygosh, the food there is fabulous
.

Lizzie (50:32):
Oh, that's good.

Billy (50:33):
I've never been there the best.

Capn Tinsley (50:36):
I mean, of course they have the best Asian food
there, so very tasty yeah ohyeah, add that to the list.
Okay, so let's see if you'regonna go to.
Where are you going after that?

Lizzie (50:57):
start heading south still, I think, and just make
our way down to baja and aroundinto sea of cortez, and as long
as we're we're comfortable witheverything, then the plan is to
go over to across the pacific,to uh, polynesia yeah, all being

(51:18):
well, which I think, so far, sogood I've.

Capn Tinsley (51:22):
I've interviewed some people that have made that
from that area, so I don't knowif you want to watch those
episodes, but okay, yeah there's.
I've interviewed some peoplethat have gone from, interviewed
some people that have gone fromMexico somewhere in Mexico kind

(51:43):
of near the Panama Canal, ohyeah yeah, and they jump off
from there and I forgot what thefirst is it.
Fiji is the first one to cometo.
It's one of them.

Billy (51:52):
I know Marquesas Islands, one of the first ones.
Um depends which part you go to.
I think I've been fiji.

Lizzie (52:01):
It's north of there, I think, maybe yeah, okay wow so,
so you're, you've got um, if youlike it, if everything goes
well yes, yeah, as long as we'recomfortable with the night
shifts and everything like that,I mean, yeah, I think we get
more used to the night shiftsand that's just the main part,

(52:23):
really.
So, and we'll be taking thetrade winds over, so hopefully
it'll be in our favor and guideus there.

Capn Tinsley (52:32):
Yeah yes, and that's what sailing with ph
Phoenix did.
He sailed far enough south thatit would take him to catch the
trade winds.
And you've got AIS and you'vegot autopilot, or yeah, we have
a wind vane.

Billy (52:47):
We do have AIS, but it was 40 from the factory so we've
had some problems there.
But when we get to SanFrancisco we're actually sending
that one back and getting ayeah we had a replacement yeah,
our current one.

Lizzie (53:00):
We had a uh message from the coast guard callers on the
radio yesterday confirming thelength of our boat, because it
showed that we were 300 or 300and something feet long yeah
okay, yeah I think that if yousend it?

Capn Tinsley (53:17):
if you send it to a garmin, a proper, oh, if it's
a garmin, I don't know.
Is it a garmin?

Billy (53:22):
it's it's nice, it's an m track.
Yeah, m track is the brand umthey're gonna.
They're replacing it for you,so the gps part of it is not
actually working properly.
So they they got, like there'ssome diagnostics over the uh
emails there.
They got me testing a bunch ofstuff voltages and whatnot and
yeah, they confirmed that thegps part of it isn't working

(53:46):
correctly.

Capn Tinsley (53:47):
So yeah, we're going to send that one back and
then we've opted in to getanother kind of an upgrade to
the one we've currently got andthey're going to send your
information in it yeah, yeah,yeah, or pre-programmed yeah
it's great because I'll if I'mgoing down the intercoastal
waterway and a big uh barge iscoming, they know what I am, how

(54:11):
big I am, all that stuff andthey can call out and and just
confirm it's port to port orwhatever the passage is.
So yeah, that's a good piece ofequipment, but what I, what I do
when I'm making a crossing bymyself, is I just kind of lay
down in the cockpit and justkind of nap and get up and look,
make sure everything's good.

(54:32):
I just seem to naturally wakeup.

Billy (54:36):
yeah, of course you're tired when, when you get there,
yeah, yeah, we found that whenyou kind of nap in and lie down
after a while because you'reused to the motion of the boat,
you you sense when something'snot right right something's
happened and, yes, when that suncomes up, isn't it great oh
yeah, that's amazing yeah, thesunsets and the sunrises have

(55:01):
been beautiful coming down.

Lizzie (55:03):
Yeah, we've had a lot of whales as well, like humpbacks,
like with their tail, oh yeah,coming up in the sunset and yeah
, it's been magical lots ofdolphins recently as well yeah
what do your friends think?

Capn Tinsley (55:19):
Your friends, not your family, but your friends.

Lizzie (55:22):
They're supportive as well.
At first it's like I can'tbelieve you're doing this.
Are they back?

Capn Tinsley (55:28):
home grinding away in their jobs.
They're nine to five.

Lizzie (55:33):
Yeah, everyone's been pretty good.
We went back briefly in May mayto back to england to see
everyone, um, and I kind ofcaught up with a lot of people
then, yeah, and everyone justwanted to to know how we're
getting on and yeah do they wantto do it?

Billy (55:52):
yeah, I've had a few people mention so they'd love to
do that myself.

Capn Tinsley (55:55):
I said well you can, you'll be their teacher,
yeah.

Billy (56:00):
Yeah, that's right yeah.

Lizzie (56:02):
Yeah, we've said to people as well.
If they want to come join usfor a little part, you know
we've got an extra bed so theycan always come to see what it's
about.
Do you think they will?
A few might, I think Some boatsjust aren't for them, which is
completely fair enough, but theystill love the idea that we're

(56:23):
doing it.
Yeah, but they wouldn't do itthemselves maybe, but quite a
few, I think, will come and joinus.

Billy (56:30):
I think yeah yeah I highly encourage you, whatever
friends are listening now or inthe replay.

Capn Tinsley (56:35):
I highly encourage you.
Whatever friends are listeningnow or in the replay, I highly
encourage you to take advantageof this.
It might be your onlyopportunity, Right, Billy?
Yeah?

Billy (56:48):
It's not every day you get an offer to go out on a
sailboat and sail around andexperience life.

Capn Tinsley (56:56):
And you're 30, 31 33 33, yeah both of you
excellent, excellent age.
Okay, um some rapid firequestions.
I know the answer.
The first one coffee or tea Iknow the answer.

Lizzie (57:22):
The first one coffee or tea on board.
Uh, tea, it used to be coffeeyeah okay.
So that's interesting.
You, it used to be coffee.
You drank coffee back home.

Billy (57:40):
Yeah, I think back home it's a mix of both, like in
general.
Yeah, but yeah, we got in thehabit of coffee, didn't we?
Yeah, I mean, I never drunk teaat all, but since, I don't know
since, been sailing kind ofgone off coffee I don't know
what it is or what's caused thatjust the thought of I tried to
make a coffee and I felt kind ofsick trying to drink it.
I don't know if it was a littlebit of seasickness or
completely gone off of coffeeInteresting.

(58:01):
And teas, yeah, teas just kindof work.
So, yeah, it's actually, yeah,normal tea, green tea, that's
kind of a hot drink of choicenow so that that makes your uh
make.

Capn Tinsley (58:18):
I was going to show you a picture.
I'll pull it up while I'masking you the next question.
I've already put my coffeestash on my boat.
Oh, I saw.
Oh, yeah, for three months, andI use a keurig, which really
sucks the power, but I'm like Idon't do anything else.
I don't drink smoke or anything.
I don't take drugs.

(58:38):
Um, I'm dr, I drink coffee witha keurig, it's just, that's
power management is has tohandle it, and so and it handles
it well um sunrise sail orsunset sail, what's your
favorite?

Billy (58:55):
we're on the west coast, so it's probably a sunset sunset
yeah really that makes sense.

Capn Tinsley (59:03):
Okay, harder to park rv or a sailboat?
Since you have a trailer thatcan be tough yeah, that's a good
one.

Billy (59:15):
Actually, it depends, I guess.

Lizzie (59:17):
I mean yeah you get hard anchorages and hard places to
park a trailer, I'd probably say, probably say the boat just
because yeah, you see thingsfrom a completely different
perspective, like anyone can getin the car, right, and see
things that way.

(59:38):
I think, yeah, with the boatyou can see things from a
complete like we'll go to placeswe've been before, but we've
never seen it from this sideright, maybe I think yeah,
coming in on it with a sailboatis very different than a car and
you can't just, you know, putthe brakes on.

Capn Tinsley (01:00:00):
So there's a lot that I learned on my first trip
from Orange Beach, alabama, tothe Keys.
By the time I got back, that'sa long ways.
By the time I got back, I hadlearned so much from just being
on the boat, with the sails, allthe different marinas I pulled
into, with all the differentconditions and the tide and the

(01:00:21):
wind.

Billy (01:00:22):
it's like you have to be ready for anything you know, yes
, yeah I learned so much justfrom doing it, so yes, with the
island as well, because you cango from arenas to different
types of grounds that you've gotto hold in.
We had stern ties as well,which was kind of a learning
curve for us.
I've never stern tied before ina boat.

(01:00:43):
I haven't either.
Yeah, why did you do?

Capn Tinsley (01:00:46):
it.

Billy (01:00:52):
It all depends, because there's so much tired around
vancouver island and you getstrange winds as well.
One time we got caught out,didn't we?
We found you have to go ahead,drop anchor back up, set the
anchor and then get that dinghyand then row from the stern of
the boat to shore with a ropetied to the stern of the boat
and then go to shore and thentie it to a you didn't want to

(01:01:14):
swing, you just didn't yeah.
So you can't, some of theseanchorages you can't really
swing in, and one we'd actuallygot into, um it was, it was like
a cove that spun around whenthe tide changed.
The tide swirled around thisway really fast and then the
wind actually come through a gapin in the hills there on an

(01:01:36):
island.
So we had the wind and the tidepushing us that way and then
the tide as it was coming inlifted us and actually pulled
our anchor out.
We'd swung around and startedcoming to shore yeah, I didn't
even.

Lizzie (01:01:48):
I was out there in the cockpit.
I can't what I was doing, doing, but I didn't even realize.
And Bill came out and we lookedup and the trees were above us.

Billy (01:01:59):
And I was like oh, no, yeah we were about to hit all
the cliff side.

Capn Tinsley (01:02:05):
Yeah, are there rocks in the water up there.

Billy (01:02:08):
There are lots of rocks.

Capn Tinsley (01:02:09):
It's very rocky oh okay, yeah, yeah, that's kind
of scary.
Yeah.
Okay, yeah, that's kind ofscary, yeah.
Bucket list destination I hatethat term, but it does say what
it meant to ask.

Lizzie (01:02:31):
That's hard because there's so many places I've
never I've never been to, likeall countries I've never been to
.
So if we, if we were to, youknow, go to french polynesia and
onwards, that's a very hardquestion, yeah um I mean you've
kind of taken it as you comeyeah, I think so

Billy (01:02:51):
yeah, we've, yeah, kind of a next leg and then we've
kind of just looked at what'sahead of us and where we really
want to go visit from there andyeah kind of what my job has
gone along.
I'd probably agree with you inthe sense that if we do feel
comfortable, we want to make thetrip across.
I'd love to see all the littleislands, the french polynesian

(01:03:11):
islands and all the way toaustralia.
Yeah, I think that would bewell the gal, the girl that I
interviewed.

Capn Tinsley (01:03:19):
I think she was from south africa, but anyway,
she talks about the process ofgetting into french polynesia.
Um, that you apply, you dosomething, and I'd have to go
back to watch it, but somethingthere at the embassy first, okay
, you do some sort ofapplication, and then you, and
then you, you can check in.

(01:03:41):
They've got an online thing Imean.
So I don't know.
I'll send you a link to it.
And I know you're not thinkingabout that right now, but you
got to get into Mexico first,but I would love to catch up
with you when you get down there.
Yeah, that sounds good, yeah doanother, do another interview
yeah, that sounds good.

Lizzie (01:04:02):
We'll have more stories and yes, um.

Capn Tinsley (01:04:06):
So who's the better captain?

Lizzie (01:04:09):
definitely be a first mate yeah, you're a better first
mate me yeah, I can't thinkquick enough on my feet yet
because so when it's like, oh,we need to do this, I have to
take a bit of time still to doit, whereas you think you're a

(01:04:31):
lot quicker.

Billy (01:04:32):
I've had the experience before on both sides as well so
yeah, the navigation and yeahyeah, yeah.

Capn Tinsley (01:04:39):
Well, it sounds like you're a great team.
I bet you manage all the socialmedia, don't you?
Lizzy yeah yeah, the girl getsstuck with that.
I gotta post.
Let me video this.
You know all that wait a minute.
Don't do anything, yet let meget the camera out.
It's a bit of a job, isn't it?

Billy (01:05:00):
it is.

Lizzie (01:05:01):
Yeah, it's a full-time job in itself yeah, it's
frustrating sometimes becauseobviously a lot of some things
do need both of us so I can'tfilm it and I'm like no, like we
can't, like we don't have thatmuch of a camera setup at the
moment.
So some things were like oh,that would look great on camera,
but at the time it's moreimportant that we're staying

(01:05:23):
safe and doing the right thingsyeah sure even though people
that's what people would love tosee, is you know?
right when things are hectic oranything like that.
But I'm like I can't get.

Capn Tinsley (01:05:33):
It's hard to get the camera out then you're not
thinking about that right so youknow, when I was on my boat in
hurricane sally, I was on theboat.
Okay, we didn't expect it tocome here.
We thought it was going tolouisiana, but all of a sudden,
there it was and um, I videoedup till you know, showing the

(01:05:53):
winds and everything.
But after that it was such adisaster.
It was so chaotic I couldn'tfilm it, but I had never heard
something so loud.
I lived down here, so I've beenthrough hurricanes.
It's a totally different storyon a boat.

Billy (01:06:10):
Oh, I bet, yeah, I couldn't believe it.

Capn Tinsley (01:06:19):
Were you in dock?
Dock, yeah, but it was.
It was in it's kind of in a bitunder, you know, in a bay or
not a bay, but you know I wasn'tin the gulf but it felt like I
was you know we that the passage, the bridge to go under to be
out in the gulf of mexico was inour site and where I was it was
like huge waves and we brokethe lines broke on this on the

(01:06:41):
port side and we spent two hoursI got sick.
A couple times he was like shinethe light and I'm like I'm
getting sick right now and we ittook us two hours to get new
lines, but you know there's no,pulling against that force, it's
just so.
The the insurance company um Iwas crying um totaled it.

(01:07:04):
So yeah, so you can't alwaysfilm, it's just no, yeah um, if
you're but what's that?
Safety is definitely moreimportant, sure so last question
if the boat could talk, whatwould she say about you?

Lizzie (01:07:31):
why are you putting me through all these elements after
so much time in the marina?
I was so I was like retired inthat, wherever I was so nice and
peaceful yeah yeah, either that, or she's like yay, I'm free,
like right, the freedom of themaybe happy back outside, yeah,

(01:07:54):
maybe was, uh, the owner of theboat, the seller.

Capn Tinsley (01:07:58):
Was he happy you were gonna use it?

Lizzie (01:08:01):
like you are.
Yeah, when we came back, fromthe island.
Yeah, yeah yeah, when we gotback from doing the Vancouver
island loop, he, he, we pulledup and within an hour it was
like Lizzie and he came down andI think someone had let him
know that we'd pulled in becausewe ended the same point of
where we bought the boat Right.

(01:08:22):
So, yeah, he came down and saidhello and he seemed pleased
that it was getting used.

Billy (01:08:29):
He made a comment when he sold it to us as well.
He figured that it would becomea houseboat for someone to kind
of live on, and he was happythat we was buying it because we
was going to get back up andrunning and out of the water and
sailing again.

Capn Tinsley (01:08:44):
That's awesome and you have him.
You can ask.
I always have questions.
There's always questions aboutthe boat, so he's available for
that, right, yeah?

Lizzie (01:08:55):
Yeah, he was really good , especially initially.
There were so many things wedidn't know or where something
was Right.
But yeah, we'd message him andhe was straight back with us.
Yeah, really nice guy we boughtoff of.

Billy (01:09:09):
Yeah.

Capn Tinsley (01:09:11):
Yeah, you know where all the flares are and
everything.

Lizzie (01:09:17):
Yeah, plenty of them in here on here lots of them, lots
of life jackets and yeah that'sa good reminder.

Capn Tinsley (01:09:22):
I need to get some more that are not.
I have so many that are expiredum which I just keep saving
them, but um, that's anotherthing I need to get.
Thank you for for that reminder.
I had a question.
Did you guys have anything?
You want to say, anything?

Lizzie (01:09:42):
Not particularly just that.

Billy (01:09:44):
I don't know.
I'd probably just say out thereto anyone that's maybe
considering it to go for it,kind of like what we did.
We was apprehensive, we wasscared, we didn't feel overly
confident, I guess, as in wedidn't know if we would be able
to sail and achieve what we'veachieved in this time.

(01:10:06):
But it really is doable if youset your mind to it.
But don't jump in too much toosoon.
We, we set little targets,little goals and built it up
over time.
Um, like I say, spending thesummer circumnavigating
vancouver island gave us thetools that we needed to be able

(01:10:27):
to get onto our next leg of thetrip, which was coming down the
West Coast of America.
So, yeah, so I would just say,if you're thinking about doing
it, definitely go do it.
But set small, manageable goalsand build it up from there, and
you'd be surprised within a fewmonths, what you can achieve.

Capn Tinsley (01:10:51):
I think the hardest part is doing it.

Lizzie (01:10:54):
Yeah definitely.
Yeah, a lot of people have thatfear, I think, because it's the
unknown.
It's something different.
But I think, yeah, once you gotpast that initial part, because
even though we'd already donethe van stuff, when you actually
woke up and said actually wecould do the boat, I was scared,
I was panicking.

Capn Tinsley (01:11:25):
It was your idea, was I was panicking.
So, yeah, there's, there'sdefinitely risk involved and
people always ask me aren't youscared?
And I'm just like, well, I haverespect for it, you know, and I
take all the measures I can,all the ways to ask for help,
you know, out there when you'reoffshore, yeah, um, and just try
to make the boat safe as youcan, you know as long as there's
no water coming in.

Lizzie (01:11:45):
You're good yeah also, like always, don't be reluctant
to ask other sailors.
Everyone's been so helpful,haven't they?
Everyone we've met.

Billy (01:11:58):
That's what we've found, the community is really good.

Capn Tinsley (01:12:01):
Super helpful, I agree.
The sailing community is justwonderful, very generous with
their knowledge and their time.

Billy (01:12:10):
Yep so.

Capn Tinsley (01:12:12):
I think that's great, well, great, well.
Okay, I guess that's it, sountil next time, right perfect.
Yeah, definitely we'll see seewhen we're down south yeah yeah,
do you think you'll ever makeit around to the caribbean?
Maybe we just keep going, yeah.

Lizzie (01:12:30):
Maybe, if we just keep going yeah, in a few years God
bless you.

Billy (01:12:35):
That would pretty much.
If we ever did circumnavigatethe whole world, that would be
our last place that we got toreally yeah.
We'd complete it.
So I think, even if we didn'tmake it all the way I'd like to
go to the.
Caribbean and do sailing aroundthere and check it out, because
we've got friends that havedone that and it looks awesome,

(01:12:56):
I think even just like a summertrip.

Capn Tinsley (01:12:59):
I think it's a good place just to hang out.
I don't know if you're planningon being forever liveaboards I
guess it depends on how it goesbut if you were and your social
media took off and your Patreonaccount just hang out in the
Caribbean, I think you'll see ahuge jump as you go down the

(01:13:22):
West Coast, but also when youcross over.
Yeah, that's what.
That's what I'm seeing withother people.
Once they make that likesongbird and sailing with
Phoenix, andenix and all thesepeople uh, people are just
fascinated with just regularpeople doing this yeah, yeah,
exactly yeah, I think just, yeah, jumping in and doing it and

(01:13:42):
enjoying it as well.
Yeah, just, keep the water outof the boat and, uh, you'll be
all right well, it's a pleasure.
Thank you so much.

Billy (01:13:52):
Well, it was a pleasure.

Capn Tinsley (01:13:53):
Thank you so much Pretty good time Until next time
, right?
Oh wait, we have two comments.
Let's see what these are Saltya van and great podcast.
Be safe everyone.
And your mom says excellentpodcast, thank you, yep, it's
featuring her daughter, so yeah.
Thanks for coming on mom, I'mgoing to call you mom.

(01:14:16):
All right, everybody.
Um, I'm going to end now.
This is how I do it.
I say salty abandon, thank you.