New Video: What is the best gift for a sailor? We pick up an entire new suit of sails for Florence and take them out for a test sail just in time for our next big ocean crossing. Mainsail, Genoa, Staysail and Spinnaker are all put through their paces on-board our blue water cruising yacht.
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Sailing Yacht Florence 
Hi Amy and Matt,
We hope you are well. We have been following your adventures on You Tube with great interest. We find it great escapism! We have a 25′ boat upon which we sail the Solent and the south coast, and are looking to upgrade this year (corona virus permitting) to something slightly bigger as our two small boys are not getting any smaller! To be able to venture further afield when we land, we are looking to invest in folding bikes. We have seen you use yours and were wondering what make they are, and whether you have tried different ones and which you consider to be the best?
Hope you are staying safe, and are able to continue with your adventures soon.
Jenny and Chris
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Hi Jenny and Chris, Our folding bikes were given to us by family when we set off, they are pretty old and battered! We have a brompton and a Dahon, the brompton is great for folding up small but we prefer the dahon as the bigger wheels and frame make a more comfortable ride as we are often on rough tracks. Both bikes have stood up to the abuse and saltwater environment surprisingly well. Good luck with your plans, it looks like our return to the Solent is going to be delayed a year by this crisis. Cheers M&A
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Wow, those sails look absolutely amazing, you must be on top of the world.
Just a quick question, why did you guys go with an asymmetric spinnaker and not with a symmetric one? And how does the tacking go when having an inner for-stay?
Hope you guys are okay and staying safe.
Ingrid and Alan
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Hi Matt & Amy/Amy & Matt,
Firstly I wanted to say I’m currently working my way through your episodes on youtube with absolute admiration, I think your attitudes and outlooks on life is fantastic.
Since starting I’ve made the decision that in the next 4 years I’m going to save for a boat learn to sail and embark on my own adventure.
Do you have any advice?
As I’m from the UK where did you learn to sail? Where did you buy your boat and more importantly where did you buy all of your charts and books that I’ve seen you using to guide from?
I have a million and one questions and you guys seem to have done a great job!
Thanks,
Adam
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Hi Adam,
Thank you for your kind comment.
We have both sailed from childhood (learning in small wooden dinghies then moving on to faster racing dinghies). We were both members of small sailing clubs, which we would highly recommend if you have one local to you. Membership prices and how welcoming/helpful to new sailors they are varies hugely from club to club so it’s worth contacting/visiting a few to find the one that best suits you. Many are linked to the RYA and run their own certified training programmes. A sailing club is also a great place to find crewing opportunities, which is a great way to learn from more experienced sailors. If you have the money/time/things open up enough many companies like sunsail/neilson offer RYA courses as part of a holiday package. If money is tighter crewfinder and other websites can link you with people who are looking for crew (they don’t always ask for sailing experience and will often only ask you to contribute towards basic expenses if at all). The most important thing is to get out sailing as often as you can and as soon as you can.
Best of luck,
Amy and Matt
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