Gecko Facts
Get to know us a little better! We've accumulated questions and answers over the years and placed them right here for you. Have additional questions? Send them in to lazygeckosailing@gmail.com
Have account questions? Scroll down to Section 3 below.
Section 1
PERSONAL:
Where did you two meet?
Jeremiah and I met in Key West, Florida at a bar called the Lazy Gecko. It's closed down now but it'll always be a part of our history as a couple.
Where are you guys from?
Jeremiah's from San Diego, California and I'm from Orilla, Canada.
How many kids do you two have?
All together, we have 5 children in our family. Jeremiah was a single father of his four children when he and I met, a few years later Rhys came along! We love being a large family!
How long have you been doing this sailing thing?
We started this journey in the beginning part of 2015.
What did you do before this?
Jeremiah was an active duty U.S. Marine for 22 years and I was a small business owner.
Do you prefer the catamaran over the monohull you owned previously?
That's a big question! Jeremiah is more partial to a monohull for a few reasons but loves having a cat. I am definitely more of a catamaran person...But I do still love a beautiful monohull!
Who inspired you to do this?
Delos. They were absolutely our inspiration. There were only a couple of YouTube sailing channels around when we started. They were the best! Still are in our opinion. They're real, not staged and awesome. We've strived to be as real in our content as they are.
BOAT STUFF:
What's the true draft of the boat?
The boats draft is 4 feet. Before we purchased the boat the depth sounder was adjusted to read two feet less than true depth for some reason...So if it read 2, the actual depth was 4. So 4' is the draft!
How long does it take to make the crossing to the Bahamas?
It took us about 18 hours to sail the 119 miles from Fort Lauderdale to Great Sale
Cay which is above Grand Bahama Island. We departed at 2200. We took a friend with
us but Jeremiah stayed at the helm for the first 12 hours of the trip, then I sailed us for
the next 4, then Jeremiah for the final two.
Is that crossing in any shipping channels?
Yes, we crossed a shipping channel and saw lots of cargo ships during the night. We
use AIS on the boat so we could avoid them more easily.
Do you try to be at sail for the whole crossing?
We attempted to sail but the winds were very light so we had to motorsail until the
second day after our first anchorage. The winds picked up and we got to put the
sails up!
When at sail, does a generator run full time for power and does the generator share
the same fuel supply for the engines?
We can have it off or on, if it's hot inside the boat Jeremiah will turn it on so Rhys and
I can have AC. Usually we try to conserve fuel so we don't if we really don't need to. It
shares the diesel from the starboard engine but it really doesn't eat too much. Maybe 10
gallons of the 80 gallon tank if we run it a lot. We've recently upgraded our solar to help with this issue.
What are the power plants, diesel or gas? How much fuel can you carry on board?
Two Diesel Volvo Pentas which are 40 hp each. We have two 80 gal diesel tanks,
one for each engine.
I know you can make your own fresh water but do you start with a tank filled when
you're slipped and if so how big?
No, we try to not add any water to our (2) 40 gal tanks from any other source then
our Watermaker since we do drink it. Dock water can be hit and miss, water we make is
more pure than bottled water at a store...While at the dock we can hook a hose to the
boat from the dock and it bypasses the tanks so we use that for showering, cooking,
etc.
How much solar is onboard?
We've recently upgraded our solar. Now we have two 300 watt panels on the stern and two 85 watt panels on the hard Bimini roof which comes to 770 watts of solar onboard.
Section 2
FINANCES:
What type(s) of income do you currently have?
We mainly live off of Jeremiah's retirement from his 22 years as an active duty U.S. Marine. We also saved and invested for many years which helps as well. We get amazing help from the videos we produce through our Patrons as well.
How much did you have to invest into the whole adventure (boat, equipment, insurances, etc.) ?
We initially invested about $40,000 in the first boat and $12,000 in video equipment. This boat was much more of an investment and we've skyrocketed in the video equipment but its our home and business so we went all in.
How much does it cost to maintain a boat?
It depends on the boat, what you're doing with it, how solid the boat is, systems onboard and so much more.
PREP:
How much sailing skills and experience did you have prior to setting sails?
None.
What actions (training/ courses/ etc.) did you take in order to prepare? Required licenses, certificates etc.
I took a sailing course at NAS Jax once we sailed there from a few miles down the St Johns River. Jeremiah didn't take any official sailing courses but he had a lot of experience being on ships in his time in the service. That helps in emergency situations for sure.
Recommendations for the best sailing courses?
I'd say take any you can! Get out there and have fun. Jeremiah is more of a figure it out himself kind of guy.
What skill preparations/ training do you recommend if one wants to embark such a sailing adventure?
Just research it! Not all of this is islands and sundowners. Research how it really is to live in such small quarters with your home breaking all around you (there are always issues). That's the main challenge. It's not as vacation like as it might look.
SAILING:
Do you sail through the nights? Do you alternate watches?
Yes, we sail through the night. Jeremiah and I pull 3 hour shifts on most nights.
How do you navigate?
We use chart plotters, compasses, land, markers and charts mostly.
How do you get reliable weather/ wind forecast on seas?
We use PredictWind which we can download through a sat phone. We also get forecast reports from Chris Parker. Those are the main ones, we also check in with a few other apps.
I hear when sailing with a heavier ship it becomes slower. Is weight something you really care about (like with caravaning where you have a max allowed weight) or does weight not affect speed so much?
Calypso is slow. She's heavy (since we liveaboard and have so much on the boat), she has both a stern and a bow thruster which slow us down because they're pods that hang off the bottom of the boat. Slow is ok though, we aren't racing. We like having a heavy, solid boat.
EQUIPMENT:
How does a sailing autopilot work?
We simply give it a heading and it takes us! We can also select a course on the chart plotter and just click on "go to" and off we go! We love our autopilot!
What technical/ electronic equipment do you use?
All sorts! Our chart plotters are Furunos.
What technical/ electronic equipment do you not use but either recommend or find useful? What benefits do those devices provide?
Calypso has pretty much everything we know of for sailing...I'd say the item we use the least is the SSB or the Proctor modem but we have used them. We'd still recommend them to any offshore sailing vessel. SSB's are kind of outdated with the sat phones and other devices now but it's still good to have!
Are there autopilot systems that also adjust the sails?
We don't know of anything like that. I bet S/Y A has a system like that though! Google that sucker!
SAFETY:
How do you know where there are sharks or other dangerous animals/ vegetation or dangerous areas to swim in?
We really don't. We just choose to swim in areas that we feel don't promote sharks, etc. Like areas with clear water. We've actually dove with sharks and they were amazing.
How do you know the depth of the seas so you don't run aground?
We use the depth sounder and charts for planning.
How do you know where to sail or not sail? Weather conditions like hurricanes or dangers like pirates…
We plan accordingly based on weather reports, time of the year and so on. Pirate waters are mapped out for the most part and we monitor reports of incidents but we stay at the ready for anything that might happen all the time.
What measure of securing the crew are there and what do you recommend?
We run drills and plan for the worst all the time.
Section 3
BILLING AND ACCOUNT QUESTIONS
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