@@dustsnow666 it’s holding up beautifully 🤘 we’ve sailed from Scotland to Greece and they’re doing incredibly well.

@ Awesome. Thank you guys for the inspiration

I was going to ask this too!

The first couple of days I genuinely thought I had food poisoning but it is what it is… been extra careful with the mosquitoes 🥲 It was, we’ve had a few of these pass by and thankfully we were usually on the outskirts. One hit mainland just before we got here too… and that was 70kts! Thank you! It was certainly interesting sailing by myself in the madness of the Maddalenas in high season 😂 Thanks for watching 💚

Yepp, this one lasted quite a while and we watched it move on radar for almost two hours. Quite the experience!

@@SailingRagdoll those are multiple cells or a squall line, Not one thunderstorm. It’s a group of cells passing over. Apparently you had over 50 knots wind what makes those supercells . ( big thunderstorms) still the lifetime of one cell is short. The production system of one cell is around 15 minutes form start to finish. The conditions must be right . High humidity 50 Fahrenheit dew point at the surface. Winds not faster than 15 knots and the air above must be instabiele. Needless to say that at some regions winter storms can make thunder and lightning. But that’s a total different ballgame. It’s impressive how cool you both where during the event. Well done 👍🏻

@@MonkPetite yes, I’m aware of cells, I mean we watched the thunderstorms move on the radar for hours with many new forming! You gotta stay cool… otherwise what’s the alternative? 😅

@@SailingRagdoll nice you have radar 👍🏻 it’s a benefit to sailing vessels. Awesome you guys shared the views with us. I installed an old aviation storm scope. It counts lightings or better said statistic discharge. Apparently there are instruments on the market that do the same. Love to have that in overlay on the weather radar

Believe me, everyone had learned something - nonetheless, all of the things you mention have been absolutely fine in winds up to 40kts. This was different. We had taken everything down, including paddleboards and what not. We had our tender in the water and were willing to take the risk on it because we use it endlessly everyday, especially with the dogs and frankly, would have preferred to be blown to shore in the dinghy than a liferaft should it have come to that. Esperance, the yacht with the tender alongside dances at anchor as it is but it was either going to be on deck or alongside and they had little time to prep for the thunderstorm - otherwise it was barely 15-20kts rest of the day. The downburst lasted a mere 15 mins. Believe me, we were plenty prepped so don’t be a smarty pants and suggest we’re clueless… we were well aware of what’s coming and frankly in comparison to half the other boats in the anchorage that ended up in quite a mess, lost sprayhoods, tenders, outboards and what not, we were just fine. A mere month earlier when this went through Formentera, maaaany boats ended up on the beach. It’s not everyday you get 60kts blowing through and not everyday you’re right in the middle of a thunderstorm. I’ve lost count of how many passed us by EVERY WEEK for the last two months. August & September in this area this year has been pretty wild. Ragdoll rides beautifully at anchor because of our windage aft. The boat who was being discussed at the end (the one with the tender) is well aware of their windage troubles but a lot of it comes down to the boat itself and its design. It’s a problem to be solved and being solved..

Because they are stupid naive.. lessons go by experience.

Thanks for watching 😊👍

It was definitely an interesting few weeks. Thankfully I’m mostly recovering from dengue now & no big storms incoming on the horizon for now. Enjoying some peace! Thanks for watching 😊

@@marie-pascaleleonetti1555 and for each person with your point of view, there’s ten others with the opposite view. We were there in April. Before season remotely kicked off. Not quite yet summer and we were on a remote little nook with no locals or others around. Your views are your views but they do not give you the right to act like an asshole and be violent.

@@anonymous.notatall6419 these protests were fairly quieter at the time and we avoided big cities and places where they took place. We chose quieter and more remote locations. Also, yes it’s our home whilst we travel though it is not our only home. Are those in RV Vans or temporarily renting properties there gypsies too? Ridiculous notion. They’ve had every level of understanding from us but we did nothing but contribute to their economy (significantly might I add!!) and respect their home, so why couldn’t they respect our RIGHT to free movement across EU? Also what gives them the right to become violent?

@SailingRagdoll it is not a ridiculous notion to qualify if you are a gypsie (someone living on the move who doesn't have the choice to go back to their other home) or a tourist abroad (agree on the RV and airbnb tourists being just that there as well) as you are visiting on the assumed complicit welcome of the locals, but here it is pretty obvious they do not want you there. "We did nothing but contribute to their economy" is that "We gave the money, you must like us!" There is obviously more to this than money. Cruising in a second home does not give you the right to impose yourself on locals who don't want you. It is a privilege granted, not a right. I believe this is especially true the further from major metropolises you visit. A different story if it is a port of call in a storm or an emergency re provisioning, of course you should be allowed in then. Also, cutting ropes is never riight or legal but perhaps as cruisers there needs to be a better reading of the room. In "being ouraged poker" this is my only home local trumps visiting tourist with other place to live and go back to.

@@anonymous.notatall6419 I did not state that they need to like us because we contributed to the economy. If you look at where we were, you’ll see that we were FAR away from all locals, tucked in an unused, unmaintained old fishing pier. We in no way IMPOSED ourselves on locals. We never do. Also, it was certainly NOT obvious they did not want us there until they smoked endless weed and drank more than one can imagine and we had MANY locals afterwards apologising for what those few idiots did. The entire country isn’t against tourists, they are VERY welcome in so many places around the islands but you can’t count on everyone being pleasant… just like in every other country.

You’re going to find something like this everywhere you go, for various reasons. Assholes live everywhere but it’s not going to put us off from enjoying life 😜

@@SailingRagdoll oh, no doubt about that - it's just that -in my case- I was spending more time being frustrated than I was enjoying myself, so the easiest solution there was to just remove myself from the equation altogether and go elsewhere, because you're not necessarily going to be able to change the other part of said equation any :D So now I'm still enioying myself, still boating, just different waters :)

@@gfimadcat good on you! We left the Balearics shortly after and haven’t had anything like that to deal with again… 😊

@@FrankJamger it was lovely despite the craziness! The wind definitely kicked our backsides that day 😂 Thanks for watching 😊

It’s sad that it even happens. Just no need for it.

@@connannbarbarin3033 whilst we appreciate that this is their home country, where they might have grown up and the place they love the most, it is in no way, shape or form acceptable to treat ANYONE the way they did.

Give them time, effort and plenty positive reinforcement and he will be okay. It’s a trial and error of what works for each dog 😊 best of luck! 😊

It is frustrating that it happens, however, it's not everyone on the islands that does not welcome tourists - there are many locals who welcome them with open arms. Some locals are already experiencing the profit losses due to less people visiting certain areas, or restaurants being emptier as tourists don't venture out as much.

@@ririshow i wholeheartedly agree and we never put ourselves in positions to be a pain or bother others… there was however no excuse for this. In our time in the Balearics, we’ve encountered protests in the streets and tourists being sprayed with various acids and chemicals through water guns… respect works both ways... we’ve also encountered locals complaining about tourist numbers decreasing because of these, therefore their profits decreasing… they have to find a middle ground.

F*ck the locals! They dont own the island. It isnt "their" island. You dont like tourists? That is your problem, so you move!

@@pierrevanhalteren5733 it wasn’t our first time in Ibiza, but it is still beautiful and worth visiting. Cala longa at the time of our visit was quiet - low season, not full of tourists yet. Out of season it’s a different experience too which is why we were there at that time. The snorkelling and diving in the area is still beautiful. The same could be said for anywhere sadly! Some of our favourite parts of the Balearics were the ‘out of season and inaccessible to tourist or only accessible by water areas.’

@@SailingRagdoll I agree that the Med out of season is still a very desirable place. But it used to be like paradise.

@@pierrevanhalteren5733 and to many extents and in many places, it still is...

@@SailingBritaly couldn’t agree more - it’s a sad state of affairs! Thanks for watching!

@@Isimud I’d completely understand if this was actually used by anyone but it was so worn down that it was unusable by many and frankly, we were AWAY from the busy beaches, keeping to the outskirts by ourselves and ONE other boat, what’s the problem? We didn’t visit busy busy places in the Balearics because that’s no fun for us either. We have got nothing to do with the hotels and corrupt elites nor screaming tourists. About the only thing we do is quietly explore and admire the beauty of these places whilst contributing to the local economies and shopping local… supporting locals so that approach, is frankly BS but that’s our two cents!

To say nothing of all the local charter boats who are more than happy to use the Cala for their paying guests… maybe the fishermen should be cutting their lines?

@@mishnishfourseventy1 the charter boats cause far more chaos than half the liveaboards do…

@@SailingRagdoll Thank you for your answer. I just had a look on google maps. You are right - it looks abandoned and nearby there are no houses. Probably you were really just at the wrong place at the wrong time. But I would still avoid the Balearics. The coastline has been destroyed almost entirely by hotels and tourism. I was once in Ibiza and it was impossible to find an empty beach. If you travel further east towards Italy and Greece you will find many peaceful beautiful spots where the locals will still welcome you. Fair winds!

@@Isimud it is still a beautiful area and to visit and despite these events we have enjoyed it. We did leave as season peaked towards Italy however, it seems these protests are happening across the Mediterranean though are lesser in Italy and Greece. It’s one of those you live and you learn moments… it’s a shame because we’ve met some incredible people in the Balearics and made some life long friends too.

@@KEITHDROBINSON-d2w I appreciate your passionate take on sailing and travel! As a European, I’m just thrilled to have the freedom of movement to explore the Mediterranean 😂😂 we are not invading anything 😂😂😂 You know, we were actually at sea for a LONG TIME, minding our own business with lines tied on. If someone wanted to come aboard and politely ask for a tour and have a chat, they’d be more than welcome! But I guess they must have missed the “Welcome Aboard” sign we had floating around amongst flying knives that were cutting our lines… 👍 And that rundown rock you mentioned that we invaded? Definitely not a cozy Airbnb or someone’s camping ground… ! You could barely walk there safely, let alone live. We plan our trips like responsible adults-no unexpected stops for us this far and I intend to keep that record though I appreciate it might happen… but again, freedom of movement! 😂 We spend quite a bit of money when we visit, you know, contributing to local economies? The local shops, restaurants, chandleries, everything else? Do you think we fly back to Morrisons weekly? We don’t dump our rubbish or pollute, have you heard of recycling? we’re practically eco-warriors out here-self-sufficient and making our own water (there’s these magical things called water makers and solar panels!) And as for putting our kids at risk? 😂 by that logic taking your kids anywhere, even on holiday is dangerous so why not just let them suffer and never leave home or their home country… or better yet, lets not have any at all? What a stretch! We follow all the proper procedures when entering and leaving countries, so no disease-spreading or chaos here but I take up a new career as a pirate, I’ll let you know 👍 It sounds like you might be someone who’s never left their house, which is quite the adventure in itself… By the way, is your house open to everyone? Just drop your address, and we can swing by for a friendly visit. After all, if we’re invading with our little sailing trip, I’d love to see how that logic applies to your backyard because that land once belonged to someone else too I’m sure! 😂 Best Regards & yours truly, Entitled Invader-Sailors 💚

I’m staggered by the lunacy of this post! Not a coherent thought in there at all… really it’s a triumph! 😂😂😂

Ok. Screw the laws and international conventions that your country signed. You want me to get off a piece of the sea that isn't your direct property? No problem! But who will reimburse me for the money I paid to your country's immigration service when I entered territorial waters? Will you return that money?

@@Serhiy34yeah the anti sailor rant was pretty crazy. I mean they are in the EU also. Imagine someone mad because these people in cars just drive into your town, park, and get out and walk around like they own the place ha!

Jesus H Christ my man, paragraphs and punctuation, please! Also, please, put some thought into what you post because in this entire block of text I didn't see a single coherent thought expressed...

Hey guys, warm welcome & thank you for your kind comment! Yes, we have been aware of the protests across the Spanish islands, Canaries, Spain etc and have been cautious not to raise our profile but unfortunately what happened, happened. It's a great lifestyle to have nonetheless and shouldn't put anyone off - you can find crazies everywhere! Best of luck in your boat search & with your sailing courses! Happy sailing ⛵️

@@javieribanez3524 that’s understandable but the rocks we were tied on to were really sharp and there was no swim lines or anything there. It was almost inaccessible by land. No excuse to behave like a twat and tell someone to go home because they don’t belong!

Javier no me venga con esas tonterias. Those protesters were criminals, that had NO right to cut ropes. If those ropes disturb, there something called Police to come and regulate. Trying to justify the actions from those ....ers is justifying their means. shame on you man.

@javieribanez3524 nothing to do with lines doesn’t matter if they came on a boat or a bus they are anti tourist ,it’s not hard to understand 🙄

@@anthonyg4671 I am not an anti-tourist but it is time to rewrite the basic rules of coexistence when there are many people at the same time in the same place. People are angry with some of the behavior of visitors who do things they don't have the guts to do at home. It is not normal for three drunk German police officers on vacation to beat up a taxi driver because they believe he has stolen a cell phone that later turns out to appear in the pocket of one of them and on top of that they try to bribe the civil guard to get out of the mess. It is not normal for a German yacht, after spending an afternoon bothering other people anchored in a cove, to pass over a small fishing boat and kill a 23-year-old boy and not even stop. Can you understand it? These are things that the education of visitors and locals would avoid. And yes, there are a lot of idiots among the anti-tourists

@@SailingFridaafWisby it is sad what’s going on. The country is torn between those who want tourists there and those who don’t. You just never know what you’re gonna get.

Si bien es cierto que el turismo nautico no daña tanto como cualquier otro, hay zonas y calas infestadas de yates que colisionan con los intereses de la gente de a pié, la solución creo sería poner un tope de barcos, como en los parques naturales.

@@chusbarreiro2888 and in other areas of the Mediterranean, national parks etc are paid and limited as well which is fully understandable and we were happy to pay to visit and enter these places if it meant that the funds go towards the maintenance and upkeep of the habitats. On this occasion, we were in a bay… away from the main beach… yet even through binoculars the next day, we could see all other tourists being badly hassled and attacked whilst on the main beach… with ambulance call outs required. Absolutely no need for violence.

@@SailingRagdoll la violencia nunca está justificada, sin embargo para comprender su actitud, (los reproches), me tiene pasado de abarloar varios barcos muy cerca de la costa y esto es como invadir su espacio de baño. En Menorca tengo ido a pié a calas que son pequeñas y el barco ocuparía mucho espacio y encontrarme que la cala está tomada por varios barcos abarloados y fodeados junto a la costa, sin dejar espacio para los bañistas. Es muy complicado el tema y los del lugar nos dicen que tenemos todo el mar para nosotros, y les dejemos al menos la costa. Es complicado vivir en los dos mundos.

@@chusbarreiro2888 by all means I agree that you shouldn’t enclose the space and take it all up for yourself - but anchor sensibly without being a pain in the ass to the locals - it’s common courtesy and we never put ourselves in that position. This also was not the case here - it was an abandoned, rocky area, generally unused and quite some distance away from the main swim lines.

@@stephenskinner3851 they’re not… they seem to have an issue with everyone but Brits especially.

@@SailingRagdollthere’s a class of Brit that makes for ugly tourists. Kind of like many American cruise ship customers.

This is not true… First thing you need to know is that in Spain we are not allow to anchor and tide a rope in the coast. You judge an entire lovely people for the action of one guy.

@@alexpellon9654 I am by no means judging the entire country by the few, frankly the opposite. You’ll see in comments below that I stated that for every protesting individual there was 5 lovely welcoming people who wanted us there. The shore ties were also fine as we did ask about them when speaking to the police 👍

@@MarchTwentyfour-t8z fair enough however, what were we to do? Not visit the Balearics at all because of protests? Avoid an entire country because a few of the locals don’t want you there? That seems somewhat illogical. More people apologised for us having to deal with it than those who attacked us. We did move to the middle of the anchorage, we didn’t just stay there. This escalated within 5-10 mins from first comment to lines being cut whilst our children were in the water. To say that we shouldn’t have gone to that bay is ludicrous. Prior research would have done nothing in this situation. The tourism protests are a huge issue all over the Balearics but for every protester, there’s 5 other locals who welcome you and your family.

@@SailingRagdoll To answer your question, should you avoid a place because there is a higher risk of trouble or danger. Yes of course! All the words you said here are nice, but they would all change if one of your children were harmed or god forbid killed. Absolutely try to avoid trouble. There are endless beautiful peaceful places to be, no one needs to put themselves, their family and or crew at a higher risk. No argument or feeling that you were right is worth the pain of a loved one injured or worse.

@@MarchTwentyfour-t8z you do realise that these protests are occurring all over Spain…. Right?! Nevermind the fact that based on that reasoning, you could find a reason to not visit any country - including our home ones! These protests have significantly grown over summer, but back here in early season, they were far and few between. Do not make it sound like we intentionally put our children at risk. It’s not about being right or wrong, but about the fact that in every place you visit, you can find trouble, or it’ll find you. It comes as part of live aboard life and visiting places. We avoided MANY places for reasons of violence, theft and what not. You can’t avoid it all. And again, for every angry individual, you have 10 others who welcome tourists and visitors with open arms because tourism is whay sustains them… By your logic we should all sit at home… and frankly even there we can’t be 100% safe. Life and travel and everything worth doing or having, comes with risks and that’s just that.

@@SailingRagdoll My intention was and is not to argue with you. If a country is in strife or high risk, why go there? The beauty of cruising is that you have choices, you are not limited to one port or even one country. I've had similar discussions with people cruising around parts of the Philippines and Malaysia, it's high risk, in some places extremely high risk and yet they still go and then blame others for their own choices when the inevitable happens. Of course it's your choice. If it was me I'd avoid it like the plague and come back when things have settled down and I knew we all could relax and enjoy in safety. But that's just me.

@@MarchTwentyfour-t8z I’m not arguing with you either, however at this rate, we should avoid the entire Mediterranean because these protests are everywhere at the moment…. It’s just part of the reality right now and you have to be aware of what happens around you. The entire country isn’t a risk because of protests, no one has been killed, these incidents can happen anywhere.

And sadly you get them everywhere you go! We had such a wonderful time in other places on the Balearics so far and never anticipated something like this happening… and papers all say the protesters and protests have been harmless - not quite our experience after three months in the Balearics!

Thanks for watching. Yes, we were disappointed in the reaction especially because we did film part of it and it was identifiable. The people hang out there for a while and watched us struggle to get safely detached from each other and reanchored so could easily have picked them up if they wanted to… it definitely made us feel quite unwelcome there.

@@faragatanfarra my importance has absolutely nothing to do with anything. It was a very simple observation of a criminal act and what is occurring in Spain at the moment. But please enlighten me, if the tourists leave what happens to all the cafes, restaurants, marinas etc.

@@faragatanfarra I know nothing of foreign investor etc. But these people are attacking people who's only crime is visiting the area. The offenders are taking it out on the wrong people.

What other industry does Ibiza have besides tourism? If they destroy tourism, they will become goat breeders as they were before, there are political interests behind it and those drunken idiots are just simple tools foisted on the bitter division.

The police reaction here did leave us disappointed because we weren’t being a hassle, causing chaos or anything of that sort. This began kicking off whilst our kids were still on the water playing and we quickly had to rush them out. We reported this to the police not only because of criminal damage, but because these individuals were terrifying our children and waving a knife around, whilst screaming all sorts of nonsense. We appreciate that overcrowding and rental prices, and frankly living costs for locals are problematic due to the tourism industry however, with us living on boats, only particularly spending money on the island whilst enjoying their beauty feels more like to the economy than take away. Frankly in the 5 months this season, we haven’t even been to a marina (and we’ve heard complaints about tourists taking up marina spaces too!). We’ve met some people who deeply apologise for the actions of those who are protesting and are incredible people but whilst we were in the Balearics, we just didn’t know what we were going to get - and this was not the last time we came across protesters.

@@SailingRagdoll A similar situation happened in Frankfurt where I live in 2019, when massive protests against cars were organized during the last car fair, it is interesting that the protests were absolutely peaceful and people came as if to a show, everyone was enjoying the show and now they are starting to lose jobs because the car industry is going downhill, my hobby is photography and I took a lot of photos during the events since then, for example in Rebstock Park I saw a lot of cars parked on the grass and when I took some photos a guard policeman came quickly, he told me that I am not allowed to take pictures, I asked what those cars parked on the grass when everyone is protesting against cars and he laughingly told me that they are the cars of the protesters who came from all over Germany at the protests, interestingly, on that day the protesters organized a big march of bicycles against cars, but they all came to Frankfurt by car. This is the big green agenda, a big show where some participate with small benefits but then they destroy their way of life, they destroy their jobs and the best part is that they are not even aware of it

Thank you! Empress Sailing looked beautiful in that shot! Yes, we thought that if anything, we positively contributed to the economy but it wasn’t seen that way by locals. This was only the beginning of the tourism issues that arose during our stay… it became a feature of our time in the Balearics though we didn’t put ourselves in a position to be affected like this again.

Small Spanish island police will often favour locals in any and all issues large and small. Don't forget most people know eachother or know of eachothers families....... This is why you never buy a property in Spain.

Yes Andy, we figured this might be the case but it was a disappointing nonetheless!

No causan daño pero masifican aún mas la costa, la presión turistica es insoportable para sus habitantes, las autoridades deberían poner topes

Yo disfruto mucho del barco y excursiones a pié, y ambos mundos parecen irreconciliables,

They’re still here and no more planned for now but they’re certainly enjoying the med!

I’m so pleased to hear that 💚 good luck with your pooch!

We definitely did! It was quite the adventure 😂🤦‍♀️

I was the same, KARMA! 😂 Thanks for watching 💚

It’s certainly got its ups and downs… thank you for watching 🙂

Thanks for watching! We're quite good with managing sea sickness and don't tend to go out in conditions where we think it might happen. We'd prefer to stay at anchor for a few more days and wait for the sea state to settle down rather than go out in high waves at a low period where the movement is so jerky, you're far more likely to get sea sick. The doggies hands down make the trip worth it 😉

Thank you for watching!! How exciting about your upcoming adventure - doing it with the doggies is going to be so great!! Feel free to reach out with any questions :)

Thank you for watching ☺️

Thanks for watching as always! Doggies had a blast on the beach and were so happy to be on a beach and in the sea again! Starlink has been great. We’ve had it now for over a year and it does not disappoint. The initial set up was under £500 as we have the RV version and other than that, it’s around £80-£90 a month otherwise. We have to enable mobile use if going offshore which charges extra but it’s not extortionate and for the most part, if you’re within a few miles of the coast you always have great signal and phenomenal speeds.

On the ground, land, sand? 😂 they don’t toilet on the boat unless we’re doing a crossing, then it’s an artificial grass patch.

Haha, thanks - I’ll take that as a compliment! We always trained them to not react to other animals, cats included. They’d sit and watch them go by. In time, we visited friends with cats to ensure they’re used to it and well… they did!

I LOVE newfies, they’re such a beautiful, gentle giant breed. I was very stuck between a Berner and a Newfie! Mimi isn’t a water breed but she has adjusted… somewhat 😂

Thanks for watching! We wouldn’t do this without them, they’re part of the family so although sometimes we may get stressed or annoyed and rarely can also be limited by where we go, they MAKE this trip for us 💙

Thank you!! I saw you guys launched too, I hope you have a wonderful season and enjoy Arran (I think that’s where I last stalked you were…?) 🙃

It is a strange little place and although we loved it in some ways, it is really good to be out again. Thank you for watching 💙