Piloting Arrowleaf: Recent Episodes
Piloting Arrowleaf
Ahoy! We are Kyle and Stephanie! We sold almost everything we owned and moved across the country onto a sailboat along with our dog, Pilot, and our two cats, Dreolin and Toby. We are sharing our experiences as we go, learning and adapting to this drastic lifestyle change! Follow us as we sail our little family from Seattle, WA to Boston, MA.
Content Warning (Talk about the death of a pet and mental health issues)
We look back at our overall journey south and discuss the highs and lows.
We depart Santa Barbara for San Diego on the last leg of a 3 month journey that was supposed to take 10 days.
We head to Santa Barbara but a stubborn storm system forces us to turn around and put in at Morro Bay.
We travel from Bodega Bay to Monterey where we are greeted by the local sea lion colony and have an interesting night docking!
As sailing weather windows close we find ourselves stuck in Bodega Bay, to lift our spirits we explore San Francisco and play a picturesque round of golf.
We have a rolly night passage from Eureka to Bodega Bay, where we find a good Mexican restaurant and some new birds for our life list!
We are momentarily stuck in Eureka, CA. We use the time to go to a nearby zoo, hike in the Valley of Giants and see a free Sara Bareilles concert from our boat!
On our way from Crescent City, CA we acquire two passengers and have our roughest bar crossing yet without a working VHF or Nav lights.
As sailing weather windows close we find ourselves stuck in Bodega Bay, to lift our spirits we explore San Fransisco and play a picturesque round of golf.
We have a rolly night passage from Eureka to Bodega Bay, where we find a good Mexican Restaurant and some new birds for our life list.
We are momentarily stuck in Eureka, California. We use the time to go to nearby zoo, hike in the Valley of Giants, and see a free Sara Bareilles concert from our boat.
In this chapter we discuss our reasons for going electric, the engine we chose and its specifications.
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We have our roughest night yet, sailing into Coos Bay, and many things on board break from the constant slamming. After a short break in Coos Bay we continue south to Crescent City.
We completed our first ever night passage, and we struggled to find a good weather window.
*Trigger Warning* (Death of a pet)
In this episode we talk about our cat, Toby, dying during the beginning of our passage south. It was a horrible experience, but to not talk about it would be inauthentic to our journey. We miss him every day and struggle with his absence constantly. Listen with caution.
Despite not feeling ready to leave Washington, we pick a weather window and finally leave the Pacific North West.
In this bonus episode we discuss our plans to leave the safety of the Puget Sound for the open ocean!
After extending our stay in Canada, we visit the Royal British Columbia Museum, and then take Pilot to Fisherman's Wharf via water taxi.
We check into Canada, get stopped by the police, and are welcomed into our dock slip by bagpipes.
After just missing the ferry, we have drinks with our mail, then we very nearly run out of fuel and have a great weekend with friends up in Sucia Island (where Kyle falls overboard).
We spend a long time waiting for the locks, making us late for the Beneteau owners meet up. We finally got the name on the boat!
We go through the Ballard Locks again and find it a bit tougher than the last time. Haul-out logistics keep Kyle busy all day!
We sail with the full-enclosure up for the first time, have an embarrassing moment with a Washington State Ferry, and talk about getting the boat hauled out ... again!
We return to Roche Harbor after we were unable to secure a slip at Friday Harbor. There, we were treated to a unique spot among super yachts. We also discuss our electric engine install plans and Mexican Food.
We finally made it back to the San Juan's, we made new friends, had an interesting docking experience and almost ran out of fuel!
We try to head back to The San Juan Islands but ultimately have to turn around due to a rough seas state, leaving us questioning if we can handle this life.
Kyle and Stephanie make their way towards Port of Kingston; Kyle by sea, Stephanie by land.
We head to Ana Cortes for our Haul-Out, talk logistics about all of our plans for the week, and take delivery of our electric engine.
We luck into a great spot for viewing 4th of July fireworks, talk haul-out, and get a massive rental car.
We spot Kyle's favorite bird, and had our first whale sighting. We decided to stay in the San Juans to wait out weather.
Our sail to northern Camano Island falls short, Kyle helps a boat in distress, Pilot goes for a wagon ride, and we discuss our next adventure.
We move the boat by ourselves for the first time, despite a kerfuffle at the fuel dock, it goes pretty well. Kyle rows our new tender in the rain!
We break down our fears about moving aboard, like the pets health and safety, making the most of the space, and injuries. (sailboats are dangerous.)
We finally say goodbye to hotels and Airbnbs and officially move onto the sailboat with our pets. We're finally home!
In this prologue chapter, Kyle breaks down the process for buying our live aboard sailboat. (Part 2 of 2)
In this prologue chapter, Kyle breaks down the process for buying our live aboard sailboat. (Part 1 of 2)
Finishing our drive across the country, our boat survey, future boat plans and moving into our Airbnb in Washington! What a crazy adventure!
Get to know Kyle and Stephanie, and how they came to their decision to sell everything and move from Florida to Seattle, Washington onto a sailboat.