s/v ZingaroWe’re BACK AT IT! In this episode we provision and start our 2500 nautical mile sail. We leave Ecuador bound for Easter Island (Rapa Nui)!
This will be, by far, the longest passage we’ve ever undertaken. We meet a cable ship and lose our autopilot 450nm out to sea!
Check out this cool episode, hope you love it.
Thank you all for helping keep this dream alive!
Much love,
James & Kim
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Sad to report that our Zingaro is shipwrecked: On Dec 22nd s/v Zingaro was hit by a violent storm on route from Tahiti-Hawaii. She sustained significant damage to the starboard hull, causing it to separate from the boat. Zingaro’s bluewater cruising days are definitely over.
With the help of our Patrons and friends, we’re going to find a new, stronger Zingaro 2.0, that will allow us to see rarely visited places like Japan, Alaska, Galapagos or Patagonia.
We’re excited to announce that we’ve finally finished our kickstarter campaign! It launched on Tuesday, Feb 4th! Check it out: www.kickstarter.com
Also, we are having a livestream on YouTube at 5 pm (pacific time) on Tuesday, Feb 4th. Here’s the upload …
See you then!
Much love
James & Kim
Real time update | After five days of recovery, we finally found the courage to go back to the marina in Kailua Kona (Hawai’i) and have a sober look at Zingaro. Without the adrenaline the boat looks horrible: Our floating home has broken in two pieces.
Seeing the damage now in the daylight, it amazes me that we were able to get the boat into harbor. Tying the boat together with Dyneema made all the difference and I am super proud to say that we did everything we could to save her, but our plan for the future is uncertain at this point.
Here’s the OFFICIAL story of how our sailboat split in HALF, and how we saved her …
Here’s the livestream talking about the accident that caused catastrophic damage to Zingaro: Recorded version of our live broadcast … (Action starts at 4:30)
Much love
James & Kim
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Real time update | The boat is in a disastrous shape. All the cross stringers in the starboard hull are broken, bridgedeck is ripped to centerline, most bulkheads are broken. Basically the starboard hull ripped off.
But we were able to save Zingaro. Coast Guard was following us to port, handed us 15 gal diesel last night, we motored with one engine to Honokohau Harbor.
I can’t believe we made it. It was very frightening: Huge waves, water coming in, repairs broke many times, starboard prop shaft snapped.
Most importantly we’re safe!
We haven’t thought far enough to decide what to do. At first we want to get off the boat for a few days. We’re totally exhausted, but in good spirits. This will be the start of a new adventure.
James
Republic of Kiribati is an area of the world rarely visited by cruisers, and even more rarely visited by tourists. The Line Islands consists of the scattered islands and atolls lying near the Equator and the meridian of 160°00’W. We have visited three of the islands in the group (so far):
The coral of this island was some of the healthiest we’d seen in a long time. Very green. There were HUGE turtles, and the spear fishing was excellent. Unfortunately we were driven away, after installing our own mooring for the day, due to the current and wind whipping around the island and driving Zingaro onto a lee shore… Overall, though, an excellent place. We did not make it onto the island, and didn’t see much of a reason to try, as was nothing outstanding to see.
We spent three nights on this wonderfully desolate island, though it was in very difficult conditions. The first two were on a mooring (i.e. tied to a rock) on the western extremity. The swell was small, but very present, and the current was 2kts+ for parts of the day. After two nights tied to our trusty rock the swell picked up and the breakers came dangerously close to Zingaro, so we moved to another rock in the SW lee of the island.
The really cool part about this location was there was an underwater shelf RIGHT next to the boat, where it went from 40′-80′ almost straight down, and the fish were EVERYWHERE. Super cool. The spearfishing was excellent, except for the sharks, who seemed to think we were catering dinner. Bastards were so fast.
Of note: We sailed through the Equator for the second time between these two islands! Go Z!
We’ve been here for two days. Checking in was a joke. The immigrations office doesn’t have a boat so we picked them up from the big wharf they use for offloading the supply ship. We got them onboard to fill out a few forms and have them look through our vegetable stash (consisting of 1 orange, 1 pumpkin, 3 moldy potatoes, and a couple onions – which we were told need to stay on the boat). After which we checked to see if google fi worked… no go. So we went in and purchased a local sim card, and a handful of recharge cards (highest possible denomination: $6). We were not surprised when, after 4 hours of trying, we could search google, say hello to the Saloon, but nothing more. Uploading a video? HA. Not a chance. Luckily today we met a couple managing a hotel and they let us hang out to upload, chat, eat, and write this! Things are looking up!
We are planning on leaving tomorrow, after a front passes through (20kts on the nose isn’t our idea of a good sailing window). We will stop by Fanning atoll, and, if we get permission, Palmyra and Kingman Reef. If not, we will leave from Fanning to Hawaii. Should take between 9-14 days to get to Hawaii, and we’ll be making as much easting as possible before turning North to get through yet another ITCZ and hopefully not be becalmed for too long this time.
Much love from James & Kim
Yeah… so I got installed sweet new 16:1 purchase adjustable backstays and all new rigging. What I didn’t realize was the amount of dyneema that needed to be stretched, and just how fast it would stretch out. Big mistake.
We went on a test run with Zingaro, when we had an accident. 30nm out from our home port in Ecuador the new standing rig stretched faster than it should have. Due to the strong wind and big seas we had to abort our shake down cruise and turn back.
This could have easily led to some serious damage on the boat and we’re lucky, that we could avoid a bigger accident.
Just for the record: our mast is still standing and synthetic rigging is the bomb. You just have to know how to use it…
Check out this episode to see what happened, it wasn’t a good day (even though James says it was).
Much love! Kim & James
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He had it coming. He was such a bugger… Very difficult to live with, constantly complaining, a real nightmare. So, we did the only thing two sane people living on a boat together can do: we got rid of the problem! Who needs cold beer? 😀
The rest of this video is pretty fun as well, we’re refitting our catamaran to go across the Pacific in Ecuador – a place that is very difficult to refit a boat.
Hope you like.
Kim
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This is an all-sailing episode! We go over how to sail safer, specifically on a catamaran. If you guys like to sail fast you like this episode!
Sailing a catamaran is a bit different than sailing on a monohull. We explain while crossing the equator into Ecuador. Come join us for this informative and funny example of what (not) to do when cruising around the world on a catamaran.
Also, this was one of our best and fastes crossings ever. 83 hours for 600nm. Woohoo!
Next stop: Mainland Ecuador. What a place!
-James & Kim
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🙂 This is Kim’s very best episode so far: the intro, the endscreen, incredible underwater footage, narration and the choice of music… Check it out 🙂
Tiger sharks, Galapagos sharks and hammerhead sharks swim right under our sailboat all night and day long! Isla del Coco National Park is way better than we expected it and we’re glad we took the ‘detour’.
Sailing here was not easy, but that’s part of traveling the world as a live-aboard: Nothing is ever easy!
We jump in and freedive until our lungs couldn’t take it anymore! If you’ve ever been shark diving You’ll understand the thrill!
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Sailing a catamaran is scary sometimes. Especially when you’re trying to go as fast as physically possible! Join us as we’re making record time to Isla del Coco.
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With a sordid past of pirates, mutiny, and buried treasure, accessible only by boat, the pirate island of Isla del Coco is the island that the book “Jurassic Park” is based on! We sail the 400nm to see what kind of adventure we can get into. Come join us in Isla Del Coco, Costa Rica.
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If you remember in the last episode, we were just about ready to drop the boat back in the water…. BUT (and there’s always a but) the “Biocide-free” paint we used didn’t dry. Ever.
What are we suppose to do now? Sail away? Wait in the boatyard? Start going crazy on the paint manufacturing company? We’ll see. Watch and find out.
We made sure to follow the directions perfectly, but after 27 hours it’s still wet. Damn. So we let her stay up on the trailer for another 5 days while we try to get a refund for the paint, and see if it will ever dry (it didn’t, we got a refund 6 months later).
After we finally splash Zingaro Kimmi is in heaven being out to sea again, and the boat is WAY faster than it had been, and much safer.
We now just need to check out of Costa Rica, and head for the PIRATE ISLAND of Isla Del Coco 🙂
Hope you like the episode!
Much love!
-James & Kimmi
Every cruiser’s nightmare: thieves. They stole our drone, radio, tools. Now the police are here investigating, taking fingerprints, and for what? Watch and find out…
See how the crew of Zingaro handled it in this installment of the life and times of Zingaro!
I take a Tico (that’s what they call a local Costa Rican guy – girls are Ticas) on a 200nm sail from Isla Caño to Isla Murcíalagos. What a great time. Here’s the real story on that one…
So we get up to this beautiful island chain, the “Bat” islands – named because of the shape of a bat made by the second island (you can see this very clearly at 2:39). This island chain is very rarely visited, mostly because it lays in a very dangerous zone – the Papagayo wind zone. This is an area of the Central American peninsula where the eastern trade winds from the Caribbean shoot through the mountains and make their way (very strongly) to the Pacific. Within 5 nm of land you are subject to 40kt catabolic winds, sometimes out of nowhere. Needless to say, it’s a dangerous place to bring a boat… so we went!
I laid out two anchors, about 60degrees from each other, and faced the boat dead east in a little cove (also visible in the drone shot). Super cool spot, but ass puckering dangerous. We were so close to the rocks that I barely slept, always coming out to shine a light and check to make sure the anchors were holding. It’s one thing to be anchored in 40kt winds, it’s another to be anchored 20ft from rocks, in 6ft of water, in 40kt winds.
But OMG the diving! It was amazing. We talked to the rangers, and got permission to spearfish. I actually took a shot at a mahi-mahi while we were out. We ended up getting lots of fish, and bringing the rangers a bunch, to which they were very thankful, as they had no boat to fish so were eating canned foods for weeks. Ugh. Great view though.
Bottom line: If you are ever in Costa Rica, try to get out to the Murcíalagos Islands. They are very special. Bucket list item for sure. Climb to the top of one of the islands and watch the sunset. You may get lucky like us and see whales breaching right afterward. What a night… Why is this not in the vid, you ask? We had the footage on our failed hard drive, not backed up. 100 videos are gone. That sucks, but you get the real story here.
The rest of the film is pretty self explanatory, Kim comes back (Happy Captain!), and we haul the boat…
– James
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After sailing all the way to Costa Rica just to find a cheap yard to haul out, they kick us out!?!?! The dude does not abide. What are we going to do now? We need to repair the bottom of the boat and nobody will let us in!!! Well, there’s only one thing to do… We hoist the sails and go SAILING!
Much love
James and Kim
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Can you see what’s wrong with this picture? Find out in this week’s adventure sailing around Costa Rica on a plywood catamaran. The where, why, and when of one of life’s most intriguing questions: When will Zingaro’s dinghy die??
In this episode you’ll see “the incident” that finally killed our outboard. We ended up giving it away to a dock worker when we arrived in Ecuador. Funny enough, I needed some parts off of it later on and we were able to track it down and get the little pieces I needed for the new one.
Hope you like! This is a LONG episode, and took us quite a while to make. We think it’s got just about everything you’d need to get your sailing/maintenance/adventure fix today!
-James & Kimmi
PS: Big thanks to Sue and Pirate Pawl of Pitcairn island for the hospitality, food, drink, and love. We have some lifelong friends on one of the most remote islands in the world.
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Ever wonder how long line fishing works? We met Arturo while we were hanging out in Costa Rica, and asked him what he did all night. He invited us to come along, and we couldn’t say no (though when he told us what time we were leaving we had second thoughts).
We hauled in a lot of fish that night, slept on a lancha (Spanish for dinghy, uncomfortable as hell), almost got stuck by numerous hooks, and got a very fast ride in/out of the bay.
We are exhausted by the end of the day, but pull in over 40 mahi mahi, and even get to take home the biggest one! It was definitely an experience.
Big thanks to Arturo for inviting us into his life and taking us on this adventure! Muchas gracias Arturo!
Much love, Pura Vida!
Kim and James
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We’re loosing our crew! You guys have no idea how bad it’ll get without Lucie. She was the only cook aboard. She came, she cooked, she conquered. Bye, bye Lucie!
We’re just getting to Costa Rica at the end of this episode, and good times await us here! We’re going to sail the entire coast, all the way to Nicaragua. Islas Caño, Merciàlago, and even the elusive Cocos… Stay tuned!
We had some amazing adventures in CR. It was beautiful, expensive, crazy, locals came to the boat, Kimmi went back to Berlin, and James and a local went on a spearfishing/sailing adventure with a friend. We can’t wait to share all of this with you.
But, first, hope you like this one.
Pura Vida!
James & Kim
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This is the very last Panama video, it is our longest (and best) episode to date, and it has a bit of everything you guys love in a sailing video: storm sailing and spearfishing on this uninhabited island (Isla Montuosa), when we run into the navy! Watch what happens, you won’t believe it!
We also go to Isla Coiba and show you some amazing dive footage from there. What a beautiful place.
In the next episode we’re finally leaving for Costa Rica.
Much love!
James & Kimmi
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This video is edited by James 🙂
Lucie comes back from Chile, and we head out to the islands again (I see a recurring theme).
We spearfish and sail through the south coast of Panama as we prepare for our journey to Costa Rica! We visit Islas Secas, Montuosa, and Jicaron, and have another cruiser over for a catch & cook fish taco dinner.
This is the second-to-last video in Pacific Panama. We decided to see as many of the islands we could before leaving. Great idea.
Stay tuned for next episode, where we visit Isla Coiba and leave for Costa Rica!
Hope you like! Much love from Kimmi and me!!!!
James
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