SV Delos

New crew Frida and Max from Sweden join Delos in Langkawi, Malaysia! We immediately put them to work sanding, polishing, and griding and we haul Delos out of the water for a bottom paint job. After a week or hard labor we put Delos back where she belongs and prepare for the rest of the crew to arrive.

The crew is complete!! Brady, Josje, and Babs are on the scene in Langkawi! We do a massive provisioning run and fill Delos's bilge with duty free beer, wine, and chocolate. With Delos in tip top shape we hoist sail for Thai Waters:). We hope you enjoy Babs Video Debut!

After a massive provisioning run the crew leaves Mayalsia and sets sail for Thai waters! We make our first landfall in Thailand by swimming to shore, Max ends up in the Hospital, we survive a nasty squall in Koh Lipe, and make our way north exploring lot's and lot's of sweet spots!

The crew starts sailing through the amazing islands of southern Thailand, AKA Phad Thai Paradise! We swim through a cave to an awesome Hong, track down The Beach made so famous from Leonardo Di Cappuccino's movie, check out the crazy party spot of Koh Phi Phi, and soak up the chill vibes at Koh Lanta before setting sail to Phuket.

With the season for crossing the Indian Ocean slowly closing and after finding a broken strand in Delos’s rigging the crew head for Phuket to figure out what to do next! On the way we spot some Jelly Fisherman and try and break through the language barrier to figure out what they are up to!

The crew gets amongst it and dives head first into changing the rig on our Amel Super Maramu. We pull down the old wires in sections, then head off to the rigging shop to cut, measure, and press our own swages. The whole crew pitches in to make it happen in record time.

March, 2015- Phucket, Thailand. We work like dogs to finish up the rigging project. We make awesome progress but run into some problems with our forestay and the Ronstan pins provided. All is sorted by the awesome shop at Rolly Tasker and we move onto some other projects like fixing our AC pump and getting a new anchor chain for Delos. Finally we recycle our old rigging and get booted out of the marina with our forestay strapped to the lifelines.

The sexy lady crew loads Delos with enough grubb for 6 months! We get everything imaginable for our trip across the Indian Ocean from toilet paper to rice to peanut butter. It's a massive job!

After weeks of work and pools of sweat the last and final steps of rigging Delos are completed! We get the forestay up and go sailing to tune the rig. The crew gets an invite to a Mexican restaurant from our friend Jeff we met in the local cruiser bar. We are excited to say the least and gorge ourselves on delicious Mexican food and margaritas!

WHAT?!?! Ping Pong Shows and Monkey Bites?? Are you ready for some Thailand Craziness? We meet up with our friend Jeff who takes us land cruising around Phuket. We check out some awesome views of Delos and some beautiful Buddha statues. We experience the negative side of Thailand by coming across both monkeys and an elephant chained up. And before leaving Thailand for good, we head to Patong Beach and check out a Ping-Pong Show, one in which the girls are proud and happy to be there.

WoooHoo!! Sweet, sweet sailing!!! Our first passage of the Indian Ocean crossing takes us from Thailand to the Andaman Islands, India. The newbie crew learns the ropes on their first overnight passage and get a little crazy in the galley concocting all sorts of goodies to eat. Capt. Breeyawn has a birthday at sea, and we get some spectacular sailing conditions pushing us West across the Andaman sea.

We sail into the Indian port of Port Blair and prepare to check in. The process is the craziest we've ever seen with heaps of Indian Officials visiting Delos from Customs, Immigration, and the Indian Navy. Customs decided to lock up our Iridium Phone but eventually we get our clearance finished. We go on a beer fueled exploration day to fill our bellies with local food and the girls shop for their new sorrees then give us a fashion show. Pretty soon it's time to set sail and we leave to explore the Andamans Islands!

Sailing through the Andaman Islands! We leave Port Blair after checking in and set sail for Havelock Island to begin our island hopping adventure. The boys fish for "SEXUAL FAVORS" and we make a batch of Kombucha Hoocha and have a sweet day lounging and drinking on the beach. We then sail to Inglis and North Button Islands where we catch squid, do some fishing, diving, and have a massive beach bonfire.

Scuba diving in a very remote island in the middle of the Andaman Sea. We stern hook Delos to the cliffs, break out the dive gear and do some incredible diving. The girls decide it's going to be a clothing optional cruise, the boys go fishing, and Delos gets covered in volcanic ash when the wind blows the wrong way. Good stuff!

After Delos is destroyed by volcanic ash we do our best to clean up the mess and get the hell out of dodge! We sail to the funny little town of Myanbunder, eat some butter chicken and grab some fresh veggies. While there we here a rumor of an island on the West coast with elephants running free. We drop everything and set sail for Interview Island. On our overnight passage we catch a crazy amount of fish! Seriously, the fish are jumping on our line and it's awesome! We make it to Interview Island only to get turned away because we have the wrong permit. We chill for a bit, eat some sushi, and make a plan for a mission the next day in the dinghy cutting through a river back to Myanbunder to get our permit.

We have a boys day girls day! Brady, Brian and Max take the dinghy on a river adventure back to the town of Mayabunder in order to get a permit to visit Interview Island. In typical man fashion we get our work done in 5 minutes and head to the bar for a morning beer. We meet a crazy Punjabi man at the local pub and he offers to take us on an island adventure, to proudly show off his home island to us. The day turns into a lot of beer drinking, some random adventures, and then a long dinghy ride home during a crazy rain storm. Our Indian breakfast catches up with us so we pull off the river into the jungle to let nature take it's course. We stumble into a massive trail blazed by working elephants and have a really cool intraction. The girls on the other hand decide to have a proper girls day with baking, chilled white wine, movies and massages. Unfortunately the girls use too much power and end up blowing the generator circuit breaker by using the air conditioning which puts a damper on their day. They do a hell of a good job with the massages and baking cookies though!

A heard of wild elephants is too hard to pass up for Delos, so when we heard a rumor of an island on the remote West Coast of the Andamans we immediately set sail! After a nights sail and some searching we finally anchored in front of Interview Island. In the middle of no where we found the ranger station just as described and made contact with the small group of guys protecting this awesome place. With our little forestry permit in hand we head off into the interior of Interview Island to meet up with the rangers that live on the island. They tell us if we see any elephants and they charge us to either climb a tree or run in a zig-zag pattern. But they have a big rifle and seem to know their stuff. We trek through the island, go for a swim, and search for wild elephants! With our time running short we pull up the anchor and set sail back to Port Blair. On the passage back we cut through a really narrow channel and have to send Brady up the mast to avoid shout out all theshallow spots. We dodge a few squalls and retur to Port Blair to get ready for our big sail to Cocos Keeling, Australia!

We finish our circumnavigation of the Andaman Islands and arrive back in Port Blair. During our celebration dinner out we meet a really cool local guy named Santosh. He takes us under his wing in search of the fastest internet in the land (so we can upload Delos videos) which turns out to be a dial up connection shared by 100,00 people so it is super slow. The girls convince Santosh to invite us to his friends wedding which turns out to be a traditional Indian wedding at 1AM. The cultural experience is absolutely amazing and we'll remember the experience forever. Santosh then invites us to his house where we drink local beer and chow down on some delicious eats. All too soon our Visa expires and we spend the day checking out, where we immediately get in trouble with Port Control because Santosh brought us Butter Chicken take away as a going away gift. We depart the port in the middle of the night and set sail for the Southern Indian Ocean!

Sailing time! Delos leaves the Andaman Islands behind and sets out on our 1,700 sail to Cocos Keeling, Australia! We plan for about 3 weeks at sea. The sail is one of our trickiest avoiding the changing monsoon season in the northern Indian Ocean, and setting ourselves up for the massive south east tradewinds of the south. We run down the coast of Sumatra, Indonesia dodging squalls and dealing with big seas. We make a couple of good weather calls, a few bad ones, but after getting knocked around a bit we finnally cross the equator and Delos is in the Southern hemisphere again!

Sailing to the equator we are hit by a big storm and practice heaving to to try and make Delos comfortable in the big winds. After being at sea for close to 2 weeks, Delos sails her way towards the Equator! The crew go all out preparing nasty surprises for the equator crossing ceremony. And just as we get within a few miles of the equator, Neptune shows us who’s boss by stirring up a gnarly squal. Not wanting to cross the equator in bad weather we take this opportunity to practice our heaving-to skills.

Sailing through a massive squall, the weather finally calms enough for us to put the pollywogs though an equator crossing ceremony and go for a swim!

Sailing action in the Southern Indian Ocean! After 1,500 miles and 13 days at sea we cross the equator and battle with the wind and current to line ourselves up for our final turn to Cocos Keeling. We hit terrible squalls with rain and bad winds and the crew gets bounced around a lot. Everyone is having a hard time sleeping but make the best of the situation. Delos is like a little cork in a massive ocean until we find the South East tradewinds and constant wind. We sail along the Sumatra Coast, slowly making progress south and east further and further until we find our course and can turn.

Sailing through some of the worst weather we've ever seen on Delos with massive squalls of solid 40 knots, gusting into the 50's. The crew gets bashed around by the wind and currents as we crawl our way south and east. We're all sleep deprived, hungry, and knocked silly when we finally reach our turning point and point the bow at Cocos Keeling. After 16 days and 1,800 miles at sea we make land fall in a tropical paradise in the middle of the Indian Ocean!

We're blown away by the beauty of Cocos Keeling Islands, which is actually part of Australia. We're talking crystal clear water, white sands beaches, and an amazing anchorage protected by a beautiful reef. We really earned this landfall after our 16 day, 1,700 mile sail from the Andaman Islands, India. After clearing in with the police we finally set our feet on terra firma and begin exploring this amazing place in the middle of the Indian Ocean.

Scuba Diving an amazing tropical atoll in the Indian Ocean! After sailing in some pretty gnarly conditions Delos and her crew find ourselves in the magical island of Cocos Keeling in the Southern Indian Ocean! We take advantage of the beautiful conditions and do some epic diving with sharks, turtles and manta rays! In between the dives we take advantage of an offer to use a new mates house while him and his family are on vacation. Thats right, showers, a front yard, a big kitchen and 7 dirty sailors.

Spear Fishing, Snorkeling, Drone Flying and Moonshine on a tropical atoll! We go on a snorkeling adventure in THE RIP at Cocos Keeling and work up a massive appetite as sailors do. The food and provisions are soooo expensive at Cocos that we take matters, and our spear guns into our own hands to feed the troops. Made with heaps of love from Brian! Hope you enjoy!

Sometimes you just need to PARTY! We celebrate Josje-Ramas birthday with one hell of Delos style party on the beach in Cocos Keeling! We start out by doing beer bongs out of a snorkel, then get a chance to swim with Dolphins in the anchorage! Finally we have our beach bash and the gang ends up back on Delos to finish off the night.

Living life to it's fullest on Cocos Keeling! The girls head over to West Island for a girls day, while the boys go on a man's fishing and spear diving mission. The girls then get to do a guest host appearance on Cocos Keeling radio while the boys have a mans night listening in and calling in requests from the island phone. Great times and parties for all!

Only one sailor was slightly harmed in the making of this episode..... The crew is ready to leave Cocos Keeling and set sail for Chagos! We say our goodbye's and stock Delos with provisions and fuel for the next 2 months. After a last incredible dive in Cocos Keeling Brady washes his hands off the back of Delos and WHAM! He gets an unpleasant surprise.....

Sailing offshore from Cocos Keeling to Chagos in the middle of the Indian Ocean! We leave our beloved Cocos Keeling and set sail on a 1,500 mile two week voyage to Chagos. The crew is feeling a little rough at first because the seas and winds are large and confused. After a few days everyone is back to normal and Brady's hand is healing just fine from the Barracuda attack. About a week into the trip it's time to remove Brady's stiches which was a crazy experience since the waves were moving Delos around so much. It's also the furthest from land Karin has ever been!

Sailing in the middle of the Indian Ocean from Cocos Keeling to Chagos! The crew is about 10 days into the sail when the cravings start. We dream of all the things we missed the most which turns out is all food. Just as the thought of another mush rap turns our stomachs Neptune provides us with a beautiful Wahoo to spice up our diets. The wind then turns in our favor and we make it to the amazing paradise that is Chagos!

Sailing 1,500 miles from Cocos Keeling we make landfall in the remote, exotic paradise that is CHAGOS!!! We quickly discover that the entire atoll is completely deserted and we have the whole place to ourselves. About a dozen islands at our disposal! We cross through the shallow pass into the protected lagoon and begin exploring. We discover a wrecked catamaran on the beach and have some wicked-cool walks in the jungle where we discover all sorts of cool native wildlife including massive coconut crabs.

The crew goes on a fishing expedition to the south end of Saloman Atoll in the remote Chagos archipelago and discovers an abandoned village vacated by the Chagosians over 50 years ago. Even though the village has an eerie vibe to it the chance to explore such an amazing place is just too much to pass up. We move Delos from our anchorage at Fuequet Island to Baddam Island to begin our exploration. In one of the abandoned ruined houses we find an old DVD disc, laying in the dirt, that details the history of the Chagosian people and how they were forcibly removed from their home and exiled from their islands. It's a crazy, crazy story..... There are lot's of abandoned buildings, camps, rubbish, and of course massive Coconut Crabs running around. During our time at Baddam the BIOT patrol boat shows up and invites us over for a BBQ on their massive ship. We have a hell of a party and end up spending the night. Good times were had by all!

Sometimes it's not all sunshine and rainbows out here! We continue to explore the very cool islands of Chagos, checking out the abandoned village, exploring the countless beaches, and tracking down as many coconut crabs as we can find. Then Max and Frida receive some bad news about family back in Sweden and are forced to change their plans. They will need to leave a few months earlier than planned from Madagascar. At the same time Josje is going through some very difficult decisions and decides to choose another path and head back to New Zealand to spend time with friends and family.

Sailing to Madagascar, woooo hooo!!!! We leave the amazing Chagos Archipelago and set sail for Madagascar about 1,500 miles away. Our battery charger decides to call it quits so we face a power shortage onboard. Capt. Breeyawn busts out his fix it skills and get our wind generator running, then hooks up our old tow generator to try and keep the batteries charged. It works but is still not enough and the crew is gonna have to hand steer for the entire trip because there's not enough power for the autopilot. The crew is adjusting well but feeling a little seasick the first few days. The sailing is EPIC and Delos is making good time. Since it's the last sail for half the crew there is time for lot's of reflection and we play a little game called "Thought Of The Day" where you just say whatever it is on your mind at that moment.

Sailing to Madagascar, woooo hooo!!!! We leave the amazing Chagos Archipelago and set sail for Madagascar about 1,500 miles away. Just over a week into the passage we pass through an area of shallows known of the Mascarene Plateau. It's an interesting place because in the middle of the Indian Ocean the depth rises from 2,000 meters to 20 meters. In some places it's even boat smashing coral reefs so we need to be extra careful with our navigation. In fact the Team Vestas Volvo Ocean Race boat wrecked very close to here. As we pick our way through the shallow spots the fish alarm starts hitting BIG! We're talking multiple hits with Mahi, Tuna, and Wahoo. We're pulling them in faster than we can filet them. It's by far the best fishing day we've had in our lives! We finish the day off with an incredible Sushi dinner courtesy of Babs mad cooking skills.

Sailing to Madagascar we get hit by the biggest gale we've ever seen. We're about 240 miles East of the northern cape of Madagascar when the GRIB files start to show a compressed pressure gradient and forecasts of 30-40 knots. We shorten sail and prepare for the rough weather. The forecast is way too low and we end up seeing 50 knots of wind and 7-10M (20-30 ft) waves during the worst part of it, which of course happens at night. The crew gets tossed around like crazy and everyone is forced to stay in their bunks while Capt. Breeyawn and The Braidster take 30 minute shifts hand steering down the waves all night long. It's a really intense experience but Delos is a strong boat and takes very good care of us.

Sailing 7,000 miles over 7 months we finally make landfall in Madagascar! The last few days of the sail have been very hectic though and we wake up to high 30 knots of breeze and 4-5 meter seas left over from the gale the night before. The crew is in high spirits because we made good progress overnight and are only 32 miles away the northern cape of Madagascar! We cruise around the cape making 14 knots of boat speed in 40 knots of wind. It's wicked sailing but soon we are behind the lee and protection of Madagascar and reach Nosy Be where we drop the hook. We're welcomed to the yacht club with all the food we've been craving. Cheap, cold beers and delicious salads and pizza. There's live music, dancing, and a super cool atmosphere. We begin to fall in love with Madagascar.

The time has finally come for Max, Frida, Babs and Josje to head home and continue on their own journeys in life. We make it to Madagascar and spend the last two weeks together loving, laughing, crying and smiling! The whole crew has one last epic sail as a Delos Family! A lot of tears and smiles went into the making of this episode, hope you enjoy! Love, Brady

After half our family leaves Delos we find it a bit strange getting used to just the 3 of us on board! Slowly we start feeling better and Madagascar shows us how special of a place it really is! We meet awesome friends, go sailing and even do some epic rock climbing!

Sailing doesn't have to be expensive! Madagascar is a gem that we really fell in love with and it's incredibly cheap living. Amazingly beautiful people, cheap cold beer, great food, and plenty of places to explore. It's a real gem where you can fill the boat up with rum, beer, and food for less than $30 bucks. Not to mention crazy cool nature reserves that set you back about $1. Hopefully this video gives you into a glimpse into what made Madagascar so special for us. Oh Yeah, and we took *1st Place* in the Nosy Be Regatta!

Madagascar is just one of those places that continues to blow us away! Our friend Rudy drew up a map of one of his favorite spots, which is just a short sail across the bay. We decide to go on an adventure in search of a holy tree, a water fall, and a village supposed to have lemurs and a massive tortoise. Our mission takes us to a small island called Nosoy Momoko where not only do we find everything promised but the locals are having a boat launching ceremony where it takes the entire village to pull it into the water.

Sailing in Madagascar isn't just a sport, it's a way of life for the local people! With our time winding down we prepare Delos to sail to South Africa to escape the coming cyclone season. On our way we take our Friend Florent to a remote village to check out a pirogue he's building. The village is very traditional and specialize in building the sailing pirogues we are so fascinated with. After making friends with a few of the locals they take us sailing on thei pirogue and we reciprocate by giving them a ride on Delos. They have never seen a yacht before and it blows their minds :)

Sailing to South Africa we stop at remote Bassas Da India for a shark diving expedition!!! It was really sad to leave our beloved Madagascar but at the same time I felt incredibly excited to explore a new continent. We made plans to stop for some Scuba Diving at Bassas Da India, an extremely remote sunken atoll out in the middle of the Mozambique channel. No people, no land, and hundreds of sharks! This was extreme diving for sure and I definitely felt nervous, we had sharks circling us the whole time and a huge grouper almost swallowed our Gopro + Brian’s hand! One of my favorite passages! Hope you enjoy! Much love Karin

We made it to South Africa! After 2 weeks at sea and over 7 months with out being at a dock, we tie Delos up at the Zulu Land Yacht Club in Richards Bay, South Africa! While waiting for a good weather window to continue south we meet awesome people, see some amazing wild life and get hit with a pretty bad storm!

After chilling out in Richards Bay waiting for a good weather window to sail south we finally get what we’ve been waiting for! 30 + knots of wind, 5+ knots of current and some big seas rocket us south along the Wild Coast of South Africa! Brian has to visit the local Dr. because of a strange bite on his hand, and we set sail once again to continue our passage!

We sail our way into St. Francis Bay, South Africa! We arrive at night and are guided in by some awesome local dudes who we end up partying with quite a bit! After some work on Delos and a few days, the weather turns in our favor and we round the most southern tip of Africa and the Cape of Good Hope!!