Carolyn & Rick, Happy owners of Garcia Exploration 45 "Snow Gum"

[@sergiosanchezgarcia9284]

Rick and Carolyn will be an amazing Garcia's ambasador

[@janejackson6697]

Hi! We are sitting on a bench in Conwy Marina looking at your beautiful yacht and have just found you on You Tube! Paul & Jane xx

[@kentwood2914]

Great to see Carolyn & Rick and their positive feedback for Garcia Yachts!

[@barrywinter8770]

Excellent positive video. Looking forward to following your adventures. I agree with you, the Garcia 45 just ticks all the boxes. If I ever get to be in a position to buy a new yacht, the Garcia 45 is top of a very short list. Good luck.

[@SailingSnowGum]

Hi Barry. Yes, the Garcia Exploration 45 made it onto our shortlist within seconds of reading the first magazine review article. As it turns out the boat is better than those journalists reported. They said it was slow. It’s not! Regards, Rick.

[@GarciaYachts_official]

Thanks 👍

[@jimmybrokos4610]

You guys are living my dream I wish all the best for you guys and hope that one day I will have a GARCIA 45 and meet you guys . 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼USA.

[@jeromebouyssou5199]

The same thing for me 🤩 🇫🇷

[@joem3556]

Haha yeah like me too

[@SailingSnowGum]

@@joem3556 Thanks Joe. But what country? We might be just around the corner from you.🙂

[@joem3556]

@@SailingSnowGum toronto, 🇨🇦

[@SailingSnowGum]

@@joem3556 Joe, we will see you in a couple of years! :-)

[@paulil]

great team, watching their videos are short and informative

[@kennethkonoi9699]

My dream boat! Scandinavia sounds good...I'd love to see you cruising the Finnish archipelago and the Åland Islands...maybe we'll meet some day. Welcome👍

[@SVELFARO]

looks like a beauty.

[@joem3556]

Love this

[@HopeOfJoe]

If you ever get to Maine,eat North America, let me know as I have sailed there extensively. Some may places to see and some not on the tourist menus.😊

[@ennounpuu8574]

Hi Carolyn and Rick. If planning Scandinavia, maybe also through the Baltic Sea and one of the most beautiful Hanseatic cities - Tallinn? I'm also considering Garcia. Would be great to hear about your experience.

[@07headshot]

Hope your boat doesn't sink.....lol......love Kenny, Cath & Gary Hutchinson. 👍👍👍👍👍

[@tayyaratis]

did you locate the front window in front of the mast to have more visibility? Perfect, did not see at any other yacht

[@SailingSnowGum]

Hi Tayyar. The mast is ‘deck-stepped’, mounted on top of the aluminium superstructure at the front of the coachroof. There is a mast support pole inside the cabin, just behind the central, front window. We’ve not noticed it being a problem in terms of visibility forward from inside the cabin. There’s some videos on our channel that show these details. Two mornings ago we sailed the boat into a harbour in rotten wind and rain conditions; just awful conditions. Heavy rain and up to 35 knot winds all the way through the series of entrance bouys. Big, messy waves. Our main sail and staysail were fully reefed and set well, so we piloted the boat from the inside nav station. 🙂

[@armandoreal949]

What was the time frame from ordering the boat to delivery handover. Thanks

[@SailingSnowGum]

Hi Armando. Sorry for this slow reply. For us the build time was originally 10 months, but we agreed with Garcia to allow three extra months due to Covid-19 working arrangements, which meant only two workers could be inside the boat. But your question was ‘time frame from ordering to delivery’. Well, we happened to place our order just at a time when Garcia were almost ready to start the welding on a new one. That was late October 2019. There are more orders in the pipeline now, so there’s a longer wait. The sales staff at Garcia can give you the best information. 🙂

[@luckylevio]

Wish u all the best. ⛵⛵⛵

[@brettharrison2237]

Did you order through an Australian agent or did you just deal directly with Garcia in France?

[@SailingSnowGum]

Hi Brett. I think you already have the answer to this, but in case others are curious, we ordered directly with Garcia in France and dealt directly with them throughout the build. Our experience was that Garcia were as flexible and accommodating with our requests as they possibly could be. They stuck firm with a couple of build elements that I was suggesting could be done differently, but that was simply a matter of me not understanding the background to their design choices. I was content with these design aspects once I could see what they were dealing with. From an overall perspective and at the detail level, Garcia were good to work with. We got the specific lithium battery and solar systems and instrument layouts that we wanted and they’re working very well. But keep in mind, it’s a hand built boat with many subcontractor supplied components. They won’t all work perfectly as you bring the boat to life. Allow time in Cherbourg for the boat’s worker bees to straighten a few things out. They do it well. 🙂

[@noelligh]

I looked at one but you cant see forward through the dodger which really disappointed me . otherwise a really good boat .

[@SailingSnowGum]

Hi Noel. Yes, it would be very nice if Garcia would make the dodger out of invisibilium. But it's a very expensive exotic material and would drive up the cost. I'd be sure to bang my head on it too, even more than I do with the one I can see. What I've found before and am experiencing again with Snow Gum is that looking through any kind of dodger aperture, be it glass, plastic or perspex, is a poor substitute for standing up, getting a better angle and having a really good look forward. Those fishing buoys are sneaky! Carolyn and I enjoy standing on the windward cockpit bench seat and resting our arms on the solid feeling hard dodger. The hand hold there is perfect for balance. It feels like you're the king of the waves. As much of an asset as it is, the substantial dodger is no help at all when docking. We've developed strategies for working around this. But then, once tied up, the dodger is in the good books again; it's perfect for climbing on to fuss with the mainsail. And it makes a great support base for the cockpit tent. Like all things boating, there's compromises. Regards, Rick.

[@ecoworrier]

Great boat. That's the boat I would choose too... maybe the bigger one if I could stretch to it 🙄

[@thesailingkiwi]

give me back my boat, thieves 💕

[@SailingSnowGum]

It wouldn’t be the first time Australians have stolen something from New Zealanders, would it? 🙂

[@brettharrison2237]

@@SailingSnowGum 😂😂😂did you under arm steal it?😎

[@SailingSnowGum]

@@brettharrison2237 It’s a good strategy for things worth stealing from worthy opponents. I’m pretty sure Greg Chappell wishes he could have that moment again. Same for the NZ batsman. He could have flipped the ball up with his toe and smacked it a mile. But then the Chappells would have appealed for LBW! What a bloody mess! Friends shouldn’t do things like that to each other.

[@brettharrison2237]

@@SailingSnowGum Ritchie Benaud was right, it was a captain who got his sums wrong.

[@SailingSnowGum]

@@brettharrison2237 Good ol’ Richie. Re your question on petrol storage, I can’t see it against the cockpit locker vid. Did you delete the Q?

[@garyhawkesford2253]

As a sailing couple you have to work together. You wont i think as i assume lol you like everything your own way You wont last together Look at yourself omg???