SV Delos

Ever wondered how to paint the bottom of a sailboat with antifouling?? After 5 weeks of back breaking work we’re on the home stretch. We start off by sandblasting Delos’s bottom to take her back to the gel coat. After applying 3 coats of epoxy primer it’s time to spray on our new silicon based experimental antifouling paint- SeaSpeed VX 10. It takes about 2 gallons of paint and an airless sprayer to get the job done. After adding a new anchor, end for ending our chain, installing our new convection oven, repairing our leaky rudder, and many many more projects Delos is ready to get back in the water for the new season!

Have you ever wondered what it's like to be the new crew on Delos? Find out as we welcome our NEW CREW aboard, Nate and Jordan, two scuba diving instructors that we met in Grenada before we put Delos on the hard for hurricane season. We give them the proper Delos initiation which includes airport beers, a massive provisioning, and a work day to put the final touches on Delos to get her ready for her first passage in five months!

What’s the best way to explore a new island? We had barely dropped the hook at the small Puerto Rican island of Culebra before 2 locals approached us in their boat. It turns out they had been watching our videos for years! Little did we know that Nestor and Annabell would become our family for the next few days. Showing us all the secret spots of this incredible island, cooking us local food and getting deep into some boat projects.

Blue and I took 10 days away from Delos to explore Iceland by van. We didn't really have intentions of making this an episode but of course we filmed the entire thing and Blue did a kick ass job editing it all together.

Hell Delos Tribe! WE'RE BACK!!!! 835 hours of HARD LABOR, that’s how! This is Boat Work in Exotic Places in its truest fashion! After 4 months of visiting family and exploring Iceland and the Svalbard we finally return home, back to Delos in Grenada. We get to work straight away by creating a Boat Work To Do list with all the tasks we need to get her ship-shape and back in the water where she belongs. Our major tasks involve repainting the bottom, fixing our bow thruster, and grinding the keel back to bear metal and building back all the layers. Working 10 hours days we go step by step through all the jobs to give a taste of what a major haul out is like for Delos and her crew.

That's easy... :) . Let the Honeymoon begin! And just like that Brian and I are alone on Delos ALONE for a whole month! Woop Woop!! Let the cuddles begin :p Its incredible how much bigger Delos feels going from 6 people to 2 people. Brady and Alex swap their time on the boat for some time in the mountains, and we have a chance to compare the two. What would you choose, Sailing life or Mountain life?

After 5 months in Grenada, Delos was chomping at the bit to get back out there! We pull up the anchor and beat our way down towards the rugged and amazingly beautiful island of Tobago. Then it was time for that moment when we shut the engine off and the only sound you can hear is the wind and the waves lapping on the side of the boat….it’s an indescribable feeling of peace and freedom, and it had been way too long since we experienced it on Delos. Once we get settled into our anchorage, we go for a shakedown dive to test out all our gear, and most importantly, break in our brand new underwater communication system! It takes a bit of adjustment, but eventually you couldn’t shut us up down there!

Life on a sailboat doesn't always go as planned, and that's the best part about it! Join us on the rainy but amazing island of Tobago for a soaking wet adventure as we learn about the global crisis of Man Shortage (I'm not even going to attempt to explain that here), then go on a rocking, rolling, murky scuba mission with our new underwater comms system. With dolphins, Belgian waffles, and soggy wetsuits in between, this episode has a little something for everyone!

Amidst a flooding river of outgoing logs and full on trees we decide to anchor Delos in Bloody Bay- Tobago, or rather because of the torrential weather better known as Muddy bay! After winding Delos through the debris field we find a decent anchorage and it's time to begin exploring the scene in this less traveled part of the world. We soon find out about the Blue Food Festival, which is dedicated to making everything imaginable out of the local Dasheen fruit which turns blue when you cook it. We are somewhat impressed... But not really so we decide to set sail to the East coast of Tobago to begin our diving expedition. On the way we are hailed by a dive boat, we think we’re busted and they’re gonna kick us out of the area but it turns out to be chartered by a fantastic group of Canadian divers that buy us a bunch of beers and take us out on their sweet dive boat for a spectacular night dive.

Lionfish are the scourge of the Caribbean! Let's hunt and eat as many as we can! They lay millions of eggs, feast on other juvenile fish species, and have no natural predators in the Caribbean. We’ve hunted lionfish for a long time and thought it would be cool to share what we’ve learned about this problem with y’all. We begin this episode by explaining how we choose dive sites by looking at our nautical charts, knowing that large drop-offs and changes in depth coupled with current usually make for excellent diving. Our chosen area is too far to take Maggie, so we weigh anchor on Delos and sail out to Little Tobago. The scuba diving is out of this world! The only problem is the reef is ripe with nasty ole’ lionfish. We decide to do our part by hunting as many as we can and sharing a few facts about them. Nate cuts open their bellies to show how they feast on other juvenile fish species, and how to cut the spines off to avoid being stung. By the way, they are easy to clean and absolutely DELICIOUS.

Move over Bond, Breeeyawn is here! We heard some mixed rumors that Ian Fleming wrote a bunch of the James Bond novels while holed up in what is now an abandoned house on the rocky shores of Goat Island in Tobago. Determined to find the truth about this mysterious house, we go on a multi day exploratory filming mission where our strength and wits are tested by bats, laser spear guns, rogue eyeliner chunks, and room temperature vodka. Will we uncover the truth??? Watch to find out! Grab your shaken martini, get comfortable, and get ready to find out how we make our own entertainment on a tiny Caribbean island!!

It’s time for us to say goodbye to our beloved Tobago! But not without one more magical dive through the infamous London Bridge. After a peaceful night sail back to Grenada, we find a DRUNKEN SAILOR stuck on on the reef- full sails out and motoring even further in! After repeatedly turning down our offers of help, the cruiser community comes together and takes matters in their own hands!

EVER WONDERED HOW TO SINK A BOAT?! And then go scuba diving on it?! It's not very often you get to witness a boat sinking beneath the waves. While in Grenada we were lucky enough to, not only see it, but be part of it! We were onboard up to the last few minutes before the Tyrrel Bay went down. She was cleaned and scuttled specifically to become a dive site and artificial reef.

If you like tweaking sails, sailing drone shots, and MacGyver like mechanical repairs while bashing upwind this video is made for you!!! With our shakedown cruise complete it’s time for Delos and her crew to leave Grenada behind and begin our exploration of the Grenadines. The guys from Precision Sails in Canada join us for a day sail and we set off towards Carriacou. Delos gets her new mizzen hoisted and we spend a few hours tweaking the leach, halyard, and foot tensions until we get it just right and she is flying along, bashing to windward at good speed. Nearly to our destination the conditions become unfavorable for sailing and we crank up the “iron genny” to make our anchorage before sunset. After a few minutes of motoring steam starts spewing form the engine room and we’re forced to shut down the engine. A quick inspection reveals the engine has overheated due to a faulty raw water impeller. Brian springs into action using spare parts aboard to overhaul the pump as Delos bashes her way upwind, tacking towards Carriaou. We arrive just in the knick of time and find a very sweet anchorage in Carriacou.

Sometimes even the most straight forward of tasks leads to an adventure. We plan to check out of Carriacou only to find that the customs office closed for good just the day before. Me meet up with Greg-OR-ry and he takes us on chill ride to the main town where the officials are hangin out. They take a short break from watching YouTube videos to stamp our papers and we’re off! We arrive at Union island, get cleared with customs and immigration, and proceed to the infamous Happy Island which it turns out is built entirely of conch shells. The owner Ravi spent the last 15 years building this island on a sand bar out of the discarded shells from the local fisherman. It’s survived countless hurricanes and now he serves a pretty mean rum punch! Slightly hungover we find ourselves sailing towards a very special group of protected islands known as the Tobago Cays Marine park. On my first snorkel to shore I see a ray, a few turtles, and even squid. Needless to say the protection is paying off big time in this area and we’re so happy to be able to share it with you.

One of the things we love about cruising is having TIME! Time to relax, explore, and spend on ridiculous ideas. Anchored inside the amazing Tobago Cays marine park we decide to lift the hook and head outside the reef, to the island of Petit Tobac, where it just so happens that one of the best Pirates of the Caribbean movies was filmed. A simple idea becomes a full on mission and we find ourselves digging a hole to bury a pirates booty of Delos moonshine and some other treasures we pull out of the bilge. A few social media clue posts later and he have ourselves a full on treasure hunt on our hands! After burying our moonshine treasure we return back to Delos so that Brian can begin Phase II of our eco-friendly antifouling paint, which is the installation of our Ultrasonic Antifouling system from Sonihull. We do a quick explanation of how the system works and go over the very basic installation steps. At the same time Brady and Blue are off on a mission to drink beer underwater. Yep, they strap weights to their ankles and attempt to walk on the bottom while drinking beer. It’s a little behind the scenes glimpse into how we film a buy-us-a-beer segment.

Kiteboarding is something we’ve always wanted to learn. In fact we had a kite on Delos when crossing the South Pacific and nearly killed ourselves trying to learn on our own. But now with an excellent teacher and some new kit we’re ready to give it another shot! Pokemon leads us through the entire setup of a kite and harness- covering the quick release safety gear and the basics of flying. Before we know it we’re body dragging all over the place and ready for our first board lesson. Face plants ensue, and some salt water is pushed down our throats but we succeed and have a few somewhat controlled rides by the end of our lessons. Then Pokemon and his mates show us what it’s all about by giving us a demonstration of what 11 years of every day practice will do to your skills. We ended up learning so much about kiting, got our basic skills down, and left with a passion to learn more about this sport.

After our introduction to kiteboarding in Union Island we set sail North towards Bequia. Along the sail we encounter some strong head winds but make the best of it by enjoying the ride up at the bow. Not knowing what to expect in Bequia we find ourselves diving an incredible cave and getting to explore the famous MoonHole Compound! We’ve been lookin for a Delos Home Base… Could this be it??!

Some days on Delos are very hard work, and some days are simply PERFECT! This is one of those perfect days that all of us will remember for a long time! We leave Bequia & while sailing past St. Vincent, dive through a bat cave with THOUSANDS of bats inside! It’s exploring & diving random and off the beaten place places like this that's one of our absolute favorite parts about cruising

Let's make it happen St. Lucia!!! Did you know that Brady actually looks like Paul Walker? Or that you can cook a 10lb turkey in a boat oven powered by lithium batteries? Well, neither did we, but according to local bean sorter Lil' Fiz he's a dead ringer, and according to Capt. Brian you can indeed cook a turkey on a boat :) . After getting checked into St. Lucia the girls decide to go for a horseback ride, and the boys decide to laze around and do, well to be honest, absolutely nothing. Our plans of nothingness are interrupted when we get a visit from the crew of Poly, a crazy Polish family living on their trimaran Poly and sailing the high seas. https://www.youtube.com/sailoceans They entice us with cherry flavored vodka and an apparently unlimited supply of rum. At some point Brian wakes up in the middle of the night to find our water system has sprung a leak, and the water pump is busy pumping our drinking water straight into the bilge. Huge bummer, and not a great way to start the morning. After a quick fix we decide to cook a turkey feast on Delos complete with all the fixings proving once and for all, YES- you can cook a full turkey on a boat.

Big news on Delos! After a short overnight sail to Dominica we begin our 3 week exploration of the Nature Island of the Caribbean. Did you know that Dominica has the highest number of centenarians per capita of anywhere in the world? Well you do now! We begin our exploration with a canyoneering mission to a to the interior wilderness of Dominica. After a quick crash course in repelling we lower ourselves 400 feet into a canyon system unlike any we’ve seen before. The Canyon ends at the magnificent Trafalgar falls, where we bath ourselves in the natural hot pools at the foot of a gigantic waterfall. And then….. Karin spills the beans and lets you in on our big news!!!!

Our mission to film sperm whales in Dominica began one afternoon when we received a random email from Nate and Jordan. “Hey guys! We have an idea…. How about we approach the government and see if we can get a permit to swim with the whales there? Who knows…” Well, one thing lead to another and after months of planning we were able to secure the permits, the mandatory local guides, and even get some specialized gear to record their underwater communication. The next hurdle- how to we actually track them down? And if we are lucky enough to find them, then what? In this episode we answer these questions.

Ever heard of black water diving? Neither had we until we arrived in Dominica and hung off a dive boat in the middle of the night in 5,000 feet of water to see WHAT was rising up from the depths! It was pretty terrifying, trippy, eye opening and despite our nerves we would DEFINITELY do it again! We are under the surface for the majority of this episode, enjoying the crazy drop offs, colorful coral, abundant fish life, stunning octopus and even Blue’s first SEA HORSE!

After 2 weeks of exploring the southern end of Dominica we set sail towards the northern tip to explore. The wind was directly behind us which made for perfect conditions to fly Brians Favorite sail! The Mizzen Ballooner! After some drone flying and filming we end up in Portsmouth where we learn about some incredible history, say a sad goodbye to Nate and Jordan and then set sail, once again! Its almost wedding time!

Hi all you lovely people! A lot going on in this episode! Alex slices part of her finger off! :O and Brady steps in as the boat doctor. “The Sailing Mum” AKA Karin’s mum comes out for a visit, she brings a whole heap of goodies and we tell her the amazing baby news! Yes, it involved some crying :)

My first question to Brian “But how will you get it out though the braking waves?” It's 7PM and blowing 30 knots- the rain is dumping and all of a sudden we hear - “DELOS…DELOS…we lost our dingy!” Our lovely neighbors that we'd met earlier that day had LOST their DINGY. After a search mission in Maggie we managed to find it on the opposite side of the bay. The only problem, it’s washed up on a gnarly stone beach with big braking waves. So the rescue mission starts!

A VERY DELOS WEDDING!!! YES- this is a video of our wedding, but it’s also much more than that. It’s the story of how Karin and I met, and includes some footage that I dug up from the very beginning of the trip when I first left Seattle and Delos crossed the Pacific. I edited it as a story told to our unborn daughter, who could actually be born at at any time now. It's the story of "How I Met Your Mother." I hope she can watch this in the coming years and laugh at what dorks her parents are :) So here goes: Our story begins 10 years ago in a land far, far away. Your daddy worked in an office and spent most of his days hunched over a computer. Then one day he answered his last email, sold everything he owned and bought a sailboat. Your uncle joined your daddy in Mexico, and together they sailed across the biggest ocean in the world. The met all kinds of people, and had some pretty crazy adventures. Then one day your daddy met your mommy, and boy did they fall in love. They sailed all over the world together, and one day they decided to start a family. And that’s where our story picks up.

Have you ever wondered what we’d do incase of a pirate attack? Where the name Delos comes from or what the story is behind the big face carving in the saloon? All of these questions gets answered in this video! Alex’s friends come out to visit and bring with them HEAPS of questions! Their first time on a sailboat also means dolphins, beaches, 30KN squalls and seasickness!

Want to see how a modern city looks after being buried in a pyroclastic flow? After randomly drawing our Patreon crew contest winners Martin and Crystal, Delos sets sail leaving Antigua in our wake. After a few hours of fantastic downwind sailing we anchor ourselves in the protection of the island and begin our exploration. It turns out the entire south portion of the island is an off-limits exclusion zone to protect the population from the very active volcano. We get a permit from the government to enter the exclusion zone, and along with our local guide Joe enter the abandoned villages and towns that used to be homes to thousands of people. What we find is absolutely amazing and creeps at the same time. It's literally a modern ghost town buried in volcanic ash, rocks, and mud. We fly the drone and get as close as possible to capture the experience from both the air and ground.

The best the things you find sailing are often unplanned. Forced to leave Montserrat in a hurry to get out of the way of a cargo ship that wanted to anchor in our spot, we set sail unprepared for our next destination. As we sail out of the anchorage we decide to make an unintended stop the island of St. Barts. We sail overnight and Brady gives us a demonstration of how our tethering system for keeping people onboard Delos at night, and we also talk about some of our rules for sailing safely at night. We’re immediately blown away by the stunning beauty of St. Barts and decide to have a day exploring the waters and beaches in Delos style.

In this masterpiece of editing we explore Saba Island, both above and below the sea, and invite 2 total strangers into our home. For a couple of days we show them not only how we cook, clean and sail around but also take them with with us to work :) Sharing our home and this lifestyle with complete strangers is one of the most amazing experiences. It brings a completely new dimension to this adventure. And is something we love to do! We set sail for the infamous Baths at Virgin Gorda in the BVI's, and Israel tests us with his Great Falafel Challenge!

Are you ready to take on Brian’s Seahab challenge? :D I think you are! I absolutely love what Kiril and Brian did with this episode! A pure and honest reflection of why we love sailing on the open ocean, and how we find our happy place out here amongst the waves.

The midnight skies were lit up like day as Delos sails into the heart of a massive lightning storm. With lightning crashing all around us the thunder cell surrounded Delos and we were forced to take precautions to save our backup navigation and communication gear. The strikes were close enough to make our hair stand on end! What would you do to safeguard your equipment and yourself against a lightning strike at sea?

We find our own deserted island in the Bahamas! The Ragged Islands are a magical spot :) Crystal clear water, white sand beaches, no internet and no other people. Spending endless days, kiting, snorkeling, foil-boarding and just soaking up the sun.

My dad often speaks of life in chapters. When one chapter ends, the next begins, and this video really sums up our emotions as we approach the close of 2 chapters in our adventures. Our passage sailing from the Ragged Islands in the Bahamas is the close of a 10 year chapter of Delos returning to the mainland USA. The crew is a little emotional because we also know that this will be our last time sailing together with just the 4 of us. When we return to Delos in a few months Karin and I will be with our lovely little daughter Sierra! We start out motoring across the shallow waters of the Bahama Bank, and are able to do some pretty cool filming with the GoPro on a boat hook showing our keel slipping through the shallow waters. I break out our sextant and have some fun seeing how close to the GPS position we can get our our noon sites. We are down to our last onion and a quarter tomato by the time we make landfall in the Florida Keys!

fter 10 years of sailing Delos around the world we are back in mainland US waters! A very special time as we have the family out for a prefect daysail up the coast of Florida! Arriving into the channels at Pompano beach we a visit from the Sheriff and hit bottom 2 feet from the dock.

I felt so emotional putting this episode together. It’s the end of a big chapter in our lives and things will be different from here. But before leaving we do our best to finish what felt like hundreds of boat projects and have a big Patron party where we inflate a 16 man life raft! It was awesome!! And then we say a sad see you later :( Now Brian and I fly to Sweden to have a baby and Alex and Brady set sail across the Atlantic!