24 HOURS LIVING ON A SAIL BOAT (with sailing La Vagabonde)

A portion of this video is sponsored by Pronamel.

We are currently in the beautiful Abacos, Bahamas and we have just moved on to riley and Alana's 48 foot catamaran. We're not sailors. In fact, before this trip we had never hoisted a sail.

That's it, Clara.

Or spent the night on a sailboat. But this lifestyle is something that we are genuinely curious about because full time boat life is something we could see ourselves doing in the future. Lenny, come back in here.

What are you doing? Lenny.

With two kids, we should have.

You want to intro the video?

In our minds, it's kind of like living in a van, except you sleep parked beside beautiful beaches like this every night.

I'm sure boat life isn't always this glamorous, but we are pumped to be spending a week on board La Vagabond to see what life is really like living full time on a sailboat. Our goal is to learn as much about sailing as possible.

That's the wrong rope, guys.

Oh, shoot. Because then Riley and Elaina are going to put us to the test. Riley is going to hand over the captain's hat and give us full control of their boat for 24 hours.

Nervous.

Aiding. Wrong way, wrong way, wrong way.

And we're going to do our best not to wreck it or put their family's life in danger.

If you've ever watched a sailing video on YouTube, these guys probably need no introduction. But in case you haven't, let us quickly introduce you to Riley and Elena. Better known on the Internet as sailing La Vagabond. They've been sailing around the world full time for the last seven years. So to say that they're expert sailors would be an understatement. And now they've taken on the challenge of raising their two super cute kids on a sailboat. You just pull in the rope and then push it. On a more personal note, they started their YouTube channel back in 2015, a year before we did, and we've always been inspired by them. So to be invited into their home for the last week has been really special for us.

All right, it's the night before we take over the boat and our training is officially complete. If you want to see how our first few days aboard La Vagabond went, head over to Riley and Alana's channel. Even though we didn't exactly thrive during the training phase, they're still going to allow us to take over their boat. And they've put together a checklist of things we must do in order to Prove that we're competent sailors.

Morning.

Morning, knight. No see.

Thanks, knight.

Good morning.

Are you gonna help me with the boat today?

Yeah, First Mate.

So we have determined that I'm the captain.

Yeah. Y' all here to bring me more coffee?

Oh.

Making coffee is about the only thing on that list that I'm 100% comfortable with. So we're off to a strong start, but we'll see how the rest of the day goes. Is there anything you think's missing from this list?

Yeah, I. I was going to say there's definitely a couple of things that I would like to add. Holding a baby in one arm whilst jiving. Cook lunch.

Make my bed.

Riley's dropping us off at this incredible dive site. We're all just going to jump in.

That was incredible.

Well done. Hey.

Before we mark anything else off the list, I'm gonna give you a quick tour of La Vagabond, the boat that we're in charge of for the next 24 hours, starting back here at the.

Stern. The stern is the back of the boat, in case you didn't know. This is where we get in and out of the water, because there's a little ladder right here. So when we get back in, we have this fresh water shower, give a little rinse. He feels super clean. To my right is where the dinghy usually lives. Right now, it's floating in the water. So at some point today, we're gonna have to figure out how to get it from down there to up here. Should be very interesting. What do we do wrong?

It goes, like, definitely not there if.

You follow me up the stairs. Oh, also, I have not touched my shoes since we boarded the boat. Here we have a secondary captain's chair, which I just learned about. You can actually steer the boat with this thing. This controls the rudders. Then you have a little screen with all your numbers right here and to the front of the boat. Oh, come. I feel like this is the equivalent of hitting my head in the van. Like walking into ropes and cords. Up front is the bow of the boat, and it is my favorite area. I love just being out here on these trampolines in the sunshine, especially when we're sailing. But I did learn that these are not trampolines for adults to jump on. Got in a little bit of trouble by Riley day one. So you just. You can do a little bounce that's all. Over here. This little window opens up to this giant storage. There's actually one on the other side as well. This is our.

Head cell.

Head sail which we'll be using later. In this box we have an emergency life raft which hopefully we will not have to use today. And if you're Lenny or Darwin, these windows are an alternative entrance to the saloon. And here is where we're gonna do spending a lot of time today. This is where you drive the sailboat. There are tons of ropes, tons of buttons. This is called the helm. And if you're really relaxed.

Nailed it.

You can do it from here. I believe you can just kind of take your foot and drive like this.

Never seen Riley do that.

Really? This is totally what I would do. Here we have the main sail. And this is called the cockpit. It's kind of like an outdoor hangout area. We have a net with all of our beautiful producers moving on into the saloon. Salon, if you're American. Basically like the living room, dining room, hangout area.

This is the saloon.

If you follow me to my left, we'll be in the galley, which is the kitchen. Pretty basic. Sink, oven, stove, refrigerator number one, lots of storage. And over here is the navigation station. I don't understand any of this though, so I'm not gonna touch it.

Autopilot. So I'm gonna take over and then steer the boat, which I didn't actually have to do.

You never did it?

No.

Hopefully not after today.

Did you think about it as we were going through the cut?

No, I. I had. You guys did a good job.

Yeah.

Well trained.

And here where Riley and Elena are sitting is like the office slash indoor dining. And technically bedroom number one. This is just like van life. You put the table down, you put the cushions on top, and it becomes big bed. Here we have refrigerator number two. And downstairs are the cruise quarters. In the hallway we have. What do you call a bathroom. Head number one. Never heard that before. Shower that we haven't used yet. Sink, toilet, beautiful windows where you can see the crystal blue waters. At the end of the hallway is crew bedroom number one. This is Ellie's room, who is their full time nanny. And across the hall is our bedroom.

This is one similarity to Van Life.

So our door doesn't open all the way because a backpack is behind it. This is our bedroom. There's really no reason to spend any time in here unless you're sleeping or changing. Because one, it's tiny and it's also pretty warm. We have this little fan that's just like the one in our van.

Give me just a second to get in here.

We have some storage up here. This is where we put all of our clothes. This Is my little office where my computer's been living.

Basic.

But all you need.

You've called their boat basic so many times. It sounds so negative.

And now we're making our way from the port side to the starboard side, which is over here.

We've heard a lot of that.

She's just been talking in an Australian accent since she got here.

Here is where a lot of our food is stored. These little bins that open like drawers. And this is the owner's suite. So here's Riley and Alanda's bedroom. They have pretty much the same closet we have on our side.

Still a bit tight.

They actually have a seat, second closet here. And their very own. What was it called?

Head.

Their very own head. It's quite a bit bigger. It looks very nice and sleek.

Yeah.

Their shower's about the same. Toilet, lots of storage, and this beautiful view. Can you imagine getting to walk in the bathroom every morning and seeing this? All right, I think that about wraps up our tour of LA vacant.

Our time on board has been nothing but amazing so far. But I will say that these guys are roughing it a little more than I originally thought. This all looks very luxurious, but. But in a way, it has a lot of similarities to van life in the sense that you have to be very careful about conserving power, conserving water, and whatever the temperature is outside. That's the temperature that you're experiencing on the boat. There is no ac.

We're going to be very, very conscious of the weather and change anchorages to keep constantly protected, especially with the kids on board.

If the weather's bad in the van, we can just park it. And it is what it is in the boat.

We d.

All right, second mate.

I'm gonna tell you where we were thinking of sailing, if it's okay with you.

Okay.

We were gonna go from here up and around, over, around this bank and in here. I'm gonna let you decide how you would do that.

Doing some blue water sailing today.

That's not a bad idea. That is a bad idea.

Okay.

That's nothing.

We've been told that green and blue colors are good. And if I scrub through the day, seems like it's mostly blue and green. I think that's wind speed.

The yellow one is the land.

Yes, the yellow is land.

Don't sail into the land.

Correct. This is toluque, and I think we're trying to anchor here. So the plan is we're gonna motor out into the deeper water. The white is deeper water. The blue is shallow. Water. And we'll start sailing north, avoiding the blue stuff. I think I'm a bit lost. And then eventually we'll end up here where we'll anchor for the night.

Sounds pretty simple, but I'm pretty nervous. Scale of 1 to 10, how confident are you right now?

This is the part I'm most nervous about, the sailing part, but also planning the route. Although I'm pretty confident Riley's not gonna let me wreck his boat.

So make a good video, mate.

Before we do any sailing, we gotta lift the dinghy up.

I'm stress eating right now.

Me too.

Elena's also stress eating. We have not done this a single time, and we haven't even watched it being done. Somehow every night, it just magically goes up all on its own.

Here, I'm gonna try to kick it to you.

You just pull in the rope and then push it. You just push it. Can you push it to Nate?

Oh, it almost made it.

He can't even get a hold of the dinghy.

Lenny, these guys have just lost their tender. I gotta go and grab it for them.

Okay, when you're done, could you just go ahead and put?

Okay.

Rescue Riley.

While Riley's taking care of that, we are going to take care of stowing away everything on the boat to get it ready to sail, which means taking all of our wet things off the sides so we can look cool when we're sailing past people.

I think the bigger concern is actually something blowing off the boat and getting stuck in the motors. I think it has a lot less to do with the cool factor. What happened?

An old couple left there tender on the beach and it went floating past, so I went and got it for him. That's what we do here in the cruising community. We look after each other.

All right, back to the dinghy.

Oh, I got it.

That clips like that.

And then I think we just get back on board, put the rope on the winch, and up it goes.

What did we do wrong?

I'm really glad I checked to the hook placement that it goes, like, definitely not there.

We haven't shown you how to do this.

Yeah, but we shouldn't be paying attention.

We should have. We knew we were gonna have to do this.

This goes. Yeah, that makes more sense. Okay, I see them both.

That's the first one. The second one is back here.

Got it.

Take two.

This doesn't get the full check mark.

Oh, wait, that's anti clockwise. Put it clockwise. I was just resting it. Yeah, you were just resting it.

I've learned that I don't have to think about clockwise and counterclockwise very much during everyday life, but on a boat, it's very important and you have a.

Little bit of a hard time with it.

If I have done this correctly and I push this button with my toe thingy, should lift out of the water.

That was less smooth than expected. I've never seen Riley roll a rope like this either.

Dinghy check.

Patches need to be shot and locked. So we put all of our bathroom products into a bucket and put that down. If you were going offshore, anything that you think might fall over will.

We're just throwing all of our stuff on our bed like we do when.

We'Re in the van.

Hopefully that's a safe place on boats, too.

So, like the buttons in the galley here. Click in those buttons so the cupboards can't fly open.

Is this button broken?

Yeah, we stowed away everything.

So we're here. We're going to motor out to the white part, which is that way. Yeah. Which I'm pretty sure is this way. Honestly, it's so hard just to even understand this navigational system because it's based on north and south and not actually the direction that you're pointing. Ah.

We're about to start the boat. I don't remember which one it is. We're having trouble starting the boat. I feel like this is it. Oh, like, what are we starting when we do that? All right, the anchor's coming up. Everybody hold on tight.

Keep going, keep going.

Keep going.

Hey, stop. Turn this that way a bit. All right, start coming up on it. Give a little tap forward. Keep coming up on the anchor while you're doing it.

Your commands are confusing.

Slow down, slow down. Close, close, close.

Please.

Don't let it go bang.

I'm sorry.

All right, I think that looks pretty good to me now.

I have to say, these guys are taking boat life a little bit too seriously, which I guess I'm grateful for, but it's time. These two need a shower. It's been three days now, and they've taken the rationing with water a little bit too seriously, so we're gonna add.

Take shower to this stinky van wife.

All right, now Nate is using the motors to turn us around. We are currently surrounded by other boats and surrounded by a very shallow reef, so this is going to be a little tricky.

We made it a grand total of 60 seconds.

I'm being super cautious. I just don't want our rudder to get anywhere close to that.

Yeah.

And I want to take us around here as well.

I can't imagine why you're not relaxed right now.

These are all the boats we have to navigate around.

Nervous?

Aiding.

Okay, now I'm going to attempt to turn the boat into the wind. We'll put the cells up, and then we'll be on our way. Sounds simple enough.

Steering wheel helps, too. Nate, if you want to turn in a hurry. Yeah, see?

Look at that.

Turning nicely.

Wait, what is clockwise? Yeah. Okay, we're getting close to being turned into the wind, so I'm gonna get this rope ready. Okay, let's do it.

Yeah.

Yeah. Start pulling.

That's the wrong rope, guys.

Oh, shoot.

Oh, wrong rope.

It's the dark blue one.

They're all the same color to me. Wrong blue. Wrong blue rope. If you think we're just doing this to be dramatic for the video, they're really not.

They're not. That's anti clockwise again.

This is not going as smoothly as we'd hoped. Square us back up to the land. Help.

Can I get him on auto autopilot?

Yeah, and just. Just into gear because it's going to take a while.

I'm going to leave it.

I felt it take over the steering wheel. The autopilot's holding us facing the wind. Are you ready?

Yeah.

One, two, three. Go.

Doing it. Keep going. Oh, it's getting carrot pulled. What? Sweated down just a hair now. Now you have to go push it.

Okay, I see that hard piece. It's on this side of the rope. It needs to be on the far side of the rope. Maybe go on the other side and pull it. Just pull it hard through the rope. Pull it towards you really hard. Pull, pull. Yeah. Okay. All right. And start pulling. One, two, three.

That's it, cara.

Nice. Now we're using the electric winch to get it the rest of the way up.

Holding it. Holding it.

Holds it. Okay, main sales up.

All right, now we're letting out the head sail. So I'm gonna be down here. Nate's gonna go up there and pull on the green rope, which is slowly gonna unravel that sail.

That's it. Give him some.

That's it.

Stop on both.

Okay, stop.

And then off and off.

Yeah. Beautiful. We're done. Oh, my God.

We did it.

We're doing it. Oh, we're doing it.

The engines are off, and we are officially sailing.

Ah, we're sailing. We're going in a good direction right now. Everything is working the way it should, and I feel like I finally have a minute to just sit here and take A deep breath and enjoy sailing. I was really stressed until just now, but I'm feeling good. Oh, but now there's a boat.

You see this little boat?

All right, little boat. What's he doing?

Alright, so these guys have done pretty well so far. There's islands around, there's reef, there's other boats. Nate was actually so worried about a boat that was like 0.5 of a nautical mile away. And we're like, don't worry, you'll be fine. You'll be fine.

To be good at this, you literally have to be thinking about 10 things at once. You have to be thinking about which way the boat's pointing, which way the wind's blowing. You have to be thinking about the motors, which ropes to pull on to get the right cells to go up. You have to know which cells to put up. Anytime we try something for the first time, I always have so much more appreciation for the people who are really good at it. And the owners of this boat are very good at it. And they do it all while raising two kids on board. Pretty incredible.

Ellie's massaging some kale for lunch. We're gonna have wraps. Something easy because it's been such a big day. Riley's massaging Dylan's belly. And these guys have done really well so far. They've navigated through the tiny channel. They've jived the boat, which means the wind going from one side of the boat to the other from behind. So the sails all flipped to the other side.

Beautiful.

Yeah.

Yep.

Very nice.

They did a good job there. And now I guess we're coming up to our anchorage where they're going to drop the sails and anchor. We haven't finished yet.

We are now attempting to sail upwind.

I'm keeping us at a good speed.

While Nate is tightening the sail.

Now, mate, you can pull on that, which will bring that in. I want you to bring it to about here. Just wrap it around in a knot and tie lots of knots.

If you don't know how to tie a knot. Tire line.

One, two, three. That's good. Now do half hitches on this rope here. I want to see the cremis.

Tata.

More of them.

All right, tack time.

Tacking. Come on, everyone.

Woo.

Tack.

Success.

So we just tacked there, which basically means the wind was blowing the sails in this direction and we had to change which direction the wind was blowing in here, the cells. So we're pretty much doing zigzags to get to the point where we're going to anchor now.

Okay. So we're about to drop the cells and then we'll motor the rest of the way into the anchorage.

Keep stop nine. Keep stop nine.

Okay, here we go. Sails dropping.

Pull. Car.

Pull. Pull.

Pull, pull, Pull. Keep going, keep going, Keep going.

I'm fing.

Here we go. Keep going down.

All right, taking down the head sail.

Turn around and face us downwind.

I can't remember how to do this.

All right, we're facing downwind.

Keep us pointed in that direction and then you're gonna loosen off on this and Cara's gonna pull in.

Pull that black rope, Kiara. Yeah. Hurry. This way. Yeah. Pull it, Kara. Pull, pull, pull, pull, pull.

Keep going, keep going, keep going.

Beautiful.

Sails are away for the most part.

That was hard.

Good work.

Just in time here too.

Sailing is stressful enough and then add filming to the mix and it's more than any one person can handle.

There are so many things to be considered when you're sailing. Just when we thought our work was over, now it's like, okay, where do we anchor? Are there gonna be mosquitoes? Where is the wind? Where are the sandy patches? How deep is it? So much. And they make it look so easy. It's insane how much they have going on in their heads and they don't even show it.

I don't say everything that's going on in my head.

We have a new captain. He's getting a little impatient with us. Came over to speed things up.

When are we gonna anchor?

When is lunchtime?

All right, we're dropping in.

We're anchored. Now we get to reward ourselves with food.

Are you excited about lunch? Darwin noodles.

Many of this food we've eaten so well here on La Vagabond. Probably the healthiest we've eaten in weeks. All thanks to Ellie, full time nanny chef. For lunch today we're having veggie wraps which include massaged kale with some tofu and some beans, sun dried tomatoes. It's fabulous.

According to the list, the next things we need to do are pack away the cells, turn off the electronics, and dive on the anchor to check that it's dug.

I'll do it.

You're a dival anchor?

Yeah.

Do you know what it means for it to be dug?

No, I just want to get in this water.

Stingray. Stingray Sharks are beautiful to swim with.

Are you serious?

Yeah.

There's one over here.

Oh, my gosh.

What kind is it?

Just a little baby one.

Doesn't look like a baby. Right before I jump in to check the anchor, there's A shark.

It looks huge.

Looks pretty dug to me.

We were blinded by the beautiful blue water.

I'm glad to know I'm not the only one that's exhausted after our day of sailing. There is just so much to think about. My brain feels completely fried because even though it might not have looked like it, we were trying our best to be in full control of the boat. I was thinking about a million different things. Plus filming and a nap does sound really good right now.

We should have a boat wide nap time. I would do that.

And r.

Good morning. We didn't quite get through the list yesterday. We still have to catch a fish, cook dinner, learn to tie a bowline, drive to dinghy, and still haven't taken that shower that they added to the list. Let me quickly sum up the rest of our day. First, Riley gave me a free diving lesson and I learned to hold my breath for three minutes, which was pretty incredible. Then we checked out a wrecked barge with tons of fish, but it was inside a national park so we weren't allowed to shoot any of them. So we drove out into the open ocean in about 20ft of water. And for the next couple of hours, Riley was very patient with me while I tried my best to catch us dinner.

I did not shoot this fish. And since I could not provide food for the crew, we decided to take everybody out for a nice dinner.

Thanks for dinner, mate.

This is probably better anyways. Definitely a bigger portion size. Captain Cara driving us home. You want me to back us out of here?

Riley, I want you to not fall in first. So what I want you to do is you're pulling with your right hand.

Ready?

Yep.

Oh, that's hard.

Yes.

Oh, my God.

Right.

Sorry, everyone. Is that my fault?

Yeah, sorry.

And what you're trying to do is not get the prop that broke, right.

All right.

Okay, now forwards.

See the green and the red flashes go in between them.

Should we get into some speed or no?

No.

Okay.

Can we talk about the stars right now?

No.

We may not make it back to the boat.

I think we're good now.

Nicely done, Captain.

Okay. Earlier today l taught us how to tie a bowline.

The short end is the bunny rabbit.

Okay.

The long end is going to be.

The bunny rabbit hole.

Bunny rabbit goes down the hole, around the tree, which is the long part, and back up the hole.

Simple enough.

If I remember how to do this correctly, the dinghy won't float away tonight. Okay, there's the rabbit hole. Rabbit goes through the hole, around the tree, back up through the hol.

Our list is finally complete.

On our last night on board La Vagabond, we took our first shower. We must have been pretty stinky for Riley and Elena to write this. Are we real sailors now?