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@@AltaredCourse no kidding! 🤣🙄

@@johnpeterarnold5941 have you been up mast before? We are both former rock climbers and our mast stepper seat is very secure and much more comfortable for sitting at the top of the mast with no foot holds.

@@GTFOplan Yes. I climbed masts many Times. We owned an X-Yacht 40 and sailed in the med, mainly in greece for some ten years. We now own a Xquisite X5 catamaran and sailed from the med to Grenada and this is the second year we have been going north along the US East coast. We are now in Procincetown on Cape Cod. Some years ago when I was equipping the X-40 some pour soul fell out of his seat in Chiavari (northern Italy) and lost his life. Everyone got concerned on how we were doing this this and we called professional climbers to give a course. These are people that climb on buildings and such. I then bought my equipment from Petzl from the professional range. My harness is very secure and you cannot in any way fall out from it. But it is not as comfortable as your seat. The big difference on our tecnique is how we manage the safety halyard. We raise a climbing rope to the mast top. We then attache a Petzl self locking device to this rope. The device is then attached to the harness. The self locking device will follow us up the mast gliding on the safety rope as well al follow us down the mast when we descend. Should the primary fail the locking device would block the fall within one meter or so. The elastic rope would then absorb the impact. So there are two advantages: elastic safety rope and only one halyard to take care of. The other issue is managing the descent. The best practice is to put a prusick security on the alyard after the whinch. Sould the persona managing the wich loose control of the layard the prusick knot would block the halyard. The final issue is what do you do if the halyard on the wich should overlap and block. It should not happen, obviously, especcialy if the climber avoids standing on something like the spreaders and relieves the tension. But should it happen? A simple loop can can be wrapped around the halyard in a prusik like knot and pulled tight to secure the halyard and then the mess cleared up. But thesee things should be there readily available. My two cents worth, :-)

@@mikephillips9311 thank you for your honest feedback. In hindsight, the f-bombs are probably over the top, but it captures our sentiment and frustration at the time. That’s great to hear about heading to the South Pacific as we plan on doing that in a few years. Thank you!

Meaning?

@@GTFOplan U know what problems the other became through the police? Sailors had to help each other friendly. Boats are not break like glass....

@@sb-cg3zq We’re definitely not a kids channel, but point taken. Thank you.

Good grief. Why are you watching internet you tube channels in front of children. The internet is no place for children, ever. I seriously do not understand parents who are on the computer when children are around, and then blame others. A book would be a much better option.

​@@Sailintosunset123mind your own business karen. Sailing channels are usually family friendly.

@@MrMharris68 Not sure what you mean. Getting hit while on a mooring ball in a crowded mooring field is the last thing you’d expect to happen.

@@trentspencer7991 Interesting experience you’ve had. But yeah, we’re lucky as it could have been worse.

@@GTFOplan Literally happened last week on my friends RUclips Travelsketch. anchor chain broke on a monohull and hit my friends cat.

@@balancecatamarans Thank you! It’s definitely a wild ride at times!

@@anboyd2058 Fortunately it wasn’t too bad. Mostly superficial.

@@kathytegreene1562 OMG! How scary! Hopefully nothing serious happened to your boat.

@@JeromeLoman Thank you! Other than that issue, we loved Port Washington and would definitely come back.

@@dd214veteran it must have been the banana hammock I was wearing.

@@GTFOplan or the Rick roll at the end 😂

@@peterpawlak8418 Yup. The one and only ‘Go fast Harry!’

@@TheInsultInvestor IKR!?

@@TheInsultInvestor what’s especially crazy is they have a permanent mooring ball there that is white, unlike the transient yellow ball that GoTFO⛵️ was on!

@@yuchishih thank you Carlos! It was a pleasure meeting you this past week!

@@balancecatamarans sailing on a Balance is the only way to travel!

@@bengale6693 thank you!

@@SailingFullMoon that’s a good way to keep it simple and easy!

@@byronnelson8463 totally agree!

@@elmer665544 Thank you! Excellent point, especially because we’ve been in some pretty humid areas during our travels.

@@GTFOplan just keep the doors well closed and door seals in good condition. I have even heard of people putting a camera in the fridge and closing the door to see if the seal fully sealed all the way around.

That’s a very creative idea! We’ve been trying to think of what we are trying to get from the fridge/ freezer before we open it. Good thing we have no kids on board! 🤣

@@peterpawlak8418 we noticed that as well. But when it’s not applied properly, it doesn’t offer much protection. It’ll get fixed when we’re on the hard.

@@jfbia64 not at all! Even though it’s a new (Not Everything Works) boat, there’s still bound to be issues. Balance has done a great job continuously improving their quality control.

@@GTFOplan yeah but shoddy work leads to endless post launch warranty work and issues and time away from enjoying the sailing, seems for the price balance charges for their cats one expects better!

Balance doesn't make ports, furlers or refrigerators so to bash them over those items is b.s. for sure.

@jfbia64 Balance has been diligent in getting things fixed. Not many companies will personally dinghy parts out to your boat. Nor will many companies advocate on your behalf with subcontractors.

@@laurapitre5797 They don’t, but they’re (usually) responsible for the install.

Did you wave? 😂👋🏻 Just kidding - our vids are about two months behind. If you want, check out our PredictWind link for our current location. Miss you 😘

@@GTFOplan I miss you too 💓

@@glennmeder1276 it can be a bit overwhelming at times. Balance is definitely helping.

@@GTFOplan looks like overall you having a great time ;)

For sure! Come join us!

@@bobf4765 it wasn’t until the mechanic helped me with his impact driver that I made any progress. And as soon as I was done, I got myself one from Amazon. Hope to see you in Annapolis as well!

Courtesy to iPhone for flipping the image…or…maybe Ann was holding the flag from her perspective…

We have the Makita shop vac, but something's not been working right. I've started to take it apart as lately it sucks at sucking.

@@GTFOplan I'm not sure what exactly the problem we're having but I noticed that the unit itself can't be too much higher than the water I'm trying to suck out. So if you're putting the hose down into the bilge and it's up above the engine you're likely not to get it to suck that far vertically up and you'll need to bring the back down lower. Hope that helps. FYI you asked what I was up to I haven't owned a 1974 196 aquasport since 1976. It's been put away for about 15 years and I have decided to bring it back to life so I've got a project on my hands for the next few months. I'm hoping to use the boat in the Exumas very much like Alex was using that 17 ft BW Montauk in the spring of 2025 down in Georgetown. We'll see. Say hello to Ann for me

Whoa! That's crazy! It was definitely saltwater, and we've since figured it out, but that's for a future episode... 😂 Our high water alarm is also just stuck on with adhesive and has come unglued twice already. For sure we will let you know when we pass through Florida again!

Thanks for posting. Yeah, prevention is everything! Sometimes we learn mistakes best the hard way. LOL

Thanks for the advice Ballie! So you're saying slack the halyard once the asym is deployed in order to float the torsion line and take some off some of the tension?

It gets hot on a boat... 😂

We'd love help on how to import the GPX file into our Garmin...

Thanks Peter! No, because I assumed all of our bilges were working properly. Our big mistake was having crap on the nav table and accidentally turning off our bilge pump. So in the heat of the moment, thinking our bilge pump had failed, I resorted to the portable pump. Plus, being woken up and still foggy didn’t help. Rookie mistake for sure, and our nav table is much more pristine now.

We do love bacon! 🥓 🤣

@@MrSchribler that’s part of what it’s all about! Challenging yourself and learning new things! Thank you for watching!

@@Skippernick1957 Yes, but nothing out of the ordinary. ‘NEW = Not Everything Works’ applies to all boats. But as we said in the video, it’s still the right boat for us and we would buy her again.

@@benmalisow8533 Thank you 🙏 She’s worth it. Can you believe we are her third owner?! Who would give up such a cutie?!

@@GTFOplan That makes NO SENSE. She's adorable (I have to say, the best looking of the three crew). Glad to see she's found her permanent home, though. I don't think she could have done better in that regard.

@@DCweav we love our boat! We would easily pick the same boat again, because it meets all of our needs.

@@bobf4765 you’re welcome! Thank you for commenting - securing Schatzi’s “front yard” has been a constant struggle as you saw in this and other vids. We are quite behind in our vids, but Ann wove line around all 4 edges and that has held WAY better than the clamps. We haven’t had to adjust her front yard since. Phew - what a relief! We are constantly learning and we love the help!!!

@@dd214veteran I did. And it’s such a freeing experience. I’ll have to fight the dog for real estate space.

@@leandremarais6288 yay - we love helping others. Thank so much for asking! There was a form that had to be manually submitted to a Johannesburg location. They didn’t allow electronic form so we had to pay $$$ for a courier to do massive leg work. We are spoiled in the US with electronic forms and apps!

@@GTFOplanthank you for the reply . Was it the AIA permit ? How long did you wait for your pet USDA- Aphis endorsement certificate? This process is so stressful and I really just want to be sure that I have done everything and that all my paperwork is correct

I know, it’s crazy how difficult it all is especially given the huge number of stray animals wandering around. The timing of the forms is on the usda aphis site. I don’t remember the specifics anymore as my vet walked me through the process. I highly recommend Dr Edwards at Fairfax Banfield. He’s so helpful!

This is the form that I forgot: A veterinary import permit is required for all dogs and cats traveling to South Africa. Veterinary import permit applications and further information can be found on the Republic of South Africa’s website at www.gov.za/services/import/import-animals-and-animal-products. The completed veterinary permit applications can be sent to the Permit Office at VetPermits@daff.gov.za. Email them and ask how long processing takes.

@@GTFOplan Thank you we’ve already received our veterans permit from South Africa. Only waiting on the test results from Belgium and the endorsement

@@happyisashley I think between $500-800 for all costs. The timing of all the documents is key! We have a Banfield Pet Hospital Health plan (mid tier that includes an annual dental cleaning that pays for the annual cost). We used Dr. Edwards at the Fairfax VA Banfield office. He was super knowledgeable!

@@GTFOplan thank you so much for your information one last question, this airway bill?? I’m having a difficult time understanding how to obtain an airway bill, and if it is absolutely necessary. I will be flying my dog in cabin with me as a service dog so I will not be using Cargo or a pet shipper- but on the South Africa website, it states that I would still need to attain in airway bill. How did you guys combat this?