The Voyage of Trilogy IV - Phase 1: She Floats!

The time is almost upon us for our state-of-the-art, sparkling shiny new Trilogy IV to set sail for her ocean crossing from St. Croix to Maui, and we could NOT be more excited!  And since we love to keep our fellow sailors and fan followers in the loop, we’ll be blogging away during this amazing 5100+ nautical mile journey.  We already primed you curious readers with a neat look at (pro) Denver Coon’s crossing essentials reccomendations – if you haven’t read that yet, you can find it here – so now we are ready to get down to the brass tax (and the most important question of all):  does she float? 

During this adventure, we’ll have our Captains and Crew weighing in with their personal musings during the 5-7 weeks out on the open sea, giving you a real behind-the-scenes look at what it’s like to take on this epic sail.  The good, the bad, the ugly… we want it all!  And we can’t wait to share it with you.  :)

Your Crossing Crew & Authors:

First up… Some thoughts and status updates from Captain Gabe, for the upcoming crossing Crew (below!), as he visits Gold Coast Yachts in St. Croix (the company currently building all THREE of our new luxury sailing catamarans)!

Captain Gabe LUCY:

August 13th, 2018

Captain Whipple and I have been in St. Croix since Thursday, and tomorrow we will be splashing the boat and stepping the mast. Captain Shaw has now almost become a St. Croix local, but he is very excited to sail this boat back to Maui! After a few days of Kmart and Home Depot runs and of course a little bit of rum, Captain Whipple and I have made a huge dent in his list of tools and boat supplies, and he even found the two-burner Coleman stove he'd been dreaming of! With all the gear already loaded into boxes, we plan to just take everything off T4 when we get back to Maui and ship it back for the next boat’s crossing – as a side note, it’s been great that in this ONE trip, I’ve been able to see all 3 boats in their different stages of construction!

Captain Shaw will be building us the bed frames that go over the seats, and Barry (our friend over at West Maui Sail & Canvas) is going to check the luff tape on one of our larger Trilogy sails; we’ll most likely send it with the stack pack he made. If you have anything you want to send on the pallet with that (no cheese wheels Lowell) then let me know. 

I would like to encourage everyone to start looking now at the wind charts, weather and maps of the route. I've been looking daily and just drooling over the winds. If you look at the charts now, it will almost be second nature when you get out on the open ocean. Another recommendation: begin a social media break, and start to practice your writing skills.  On the plane ride here I also began reading a book called "The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck," aside from the foul language, it has a good message, but probably a better book to read BEFORE a long trip, rather than while you’re on it. 

Also!  We are working on getting a manta trawler built!  Much like we’ve done on some of our Blue’Aina reef cleanups, our hope is to take samples of the micro-plastics along the trip, similar to the EatLessPlastic boat that is currently sailing through Tahiti. We have been chatting with them and they love the idea of us taking samples!

For a boat builder, the best feeling (ironically) is when you leave the harbor and set sail on your journey.  It’s going to be exhausting, wet, boring, challenging, but at the same time rewarding. If you can properly set your expectations, it could also be really fun! I know several people that have said they will never do a delivery again right after their first big delivery, and then a year later they are begging to do another.  Down here at the builder’s, they’re saying the boat will be done by September 13th, ready to set sail on the 20th.  So get ready!  It’s coming up quick…

  - Captain Gabe                      

So there you have it!  Stay tuned for more updates, and the next step of our Trilogy IV ocean crossing - the launch!  Oh, and if you couldn't tell from the photos... SUCCESS!  She floats like a dream.  😉

Intro by: Cyndie Ellis