Day One of America's Great Loop

[@jamescarid3448]

You're living the dream. Keep the vids coming. Cheers.

[@gothatawaychrisandsandra]

Thank you!

[@CarrieBuccieri]

Really excited for you both! Hope your travels on the loop are a great experience!!!❤

[@gothatawaychrisandsandra]

Thank you so much!!

[@jeffwagg]

Just what I was looking for! Thanks for doing all this, and keeping it so real.

[@gothatawaychrisandsandra]

It's hard not to be real! I hope you enjoy all the other episodes after this one! In many episodes we keep it real and get a bit grumpy with each other. 🤪 Thanks for joining us!

[@Prototheria]

Sandra carefully going through the pre departure checklist reminds me of my time as an instructor pilot. One item at a time, reading it aloud, performing the check, discussing it if necessary before moving on to the next... man, that takes me back. It's great to see you using a checklist, and it's great to see her going through it as I'm a firm believer in crew redundancy, ie- both people should be equally capable and comfortable doing all jobs.

[@gothatawaychrisandsandra]

We definitely need to work on being comfortable doing all jobs. I'm still not taking the helm as often as I should and because of that, Chris isn't super familiar with the lines. More to learn!

[@Prototheria]

@@gothatawaychrisandsandra Hey, we all start somewhere. :) When I was 13, I demasted my parents 1941 K-class cat boat when I caught a stay on the piling... right in front of the tiki hut at the yacht club with everyone watching. Whoopsydoodles. Fast forward 32 years and we picked up a beater 17' Larson so my wife can get her hands on a boat we don't particularly care about before we head east and do whatall you guys are doing. She hates docking and loading it on the trailer, so guess what she gets to do every time we go out. :-D For docking practice, we bring a 2x4 out with us and toss it in the water for her to practice pulling up next to. Just keep on doing the stuff you hate and/or are bad at, and pretty soon you won't hate it. In the mean time, we'll live vicariously through you guys and others we follow. :)

[@gothatawaychrisandsandra]

@@Prototheria that is so cool! We anchored as much as we could and I am happy to say that I am now a fan! I have some work to do on other tasks, but I need time to get myself psyched up to tackle them!

[@edwardranno7119]

That’s a lot of flies all over the boat!!

[@gothatawaychrisandsandra]

Those mayflies were crazy! We woke up to them, too! We had seen other boats posting photos of them, though, so we knew we might be experiencing them at some point!

[@PresleyTV]

Leather gloves. Congratulations on Day 1. Smooth sailing!

[@gothatawaychrisandsandra]

Yes, that was stupid of me for sure. And I owned a manufacturing business where I worked around big equipment. I knew better. I think I actually broke the little finger on my right hand. I've broken a few toes, too, but not boating. I'm a bit careless with my digits.

[@denniscolleen]

A suggestion with your bridle. Release 5-6 of the slack chain from your windlass to create a bit of a loop from the bridle hook. This will keep the hook tight when slack and also quieter at night as no sound rattling up the chain. Great video!

[@gothatawaychrisandsandra]

Thanks for the tip. We only have 80 feet of chain at the moment and we've been in very calm spots so we are pretty tight on slack. If it had been any bouncier (or deeper) we would have just put out chain and line as we had been doing in deeper anchorages. We've been trying to practice chain/bridal set ups! We are putting things in motion soon to replace the chain/line with all chain. But now it is an organizational project...where to send it to pick it up, etc etc. Thanks for watching and taking the time to comment!

[@bizzle1677]

Great vid, enjoy the journey!!

[@gothatawaychrisandsandra]

Thanks!

[@swheeler6848]

Anchoring is fine. Just make sure you have enough scope. Another tip, wear closed toe boat shoes. For rocky anchorage you can always hook up a line to the head of the anchor and a small float/buoy-that will help dislodge if your anchor gets stuck in the rocks….

[@gothatawaychrisandsandra]

I have a lovely pair of Sperry boat shoes! I usually remember to put them on. There was one tiny spot near my right toe that was rubbing so I may have taken a break from them a few times. They are worn in now! Chris is guilty of going barefoot though, but I think he figures he's no where near the chain, so. Thanks for the tips!

[@helennewton3167]

I like the headsets for communication

[@gothatawaychrisandsandra]

Game saver...we still get terse but nobody else gets to hear the show!

[@buckpowers4837]

Congrats on your taking the big step and now being a Looper. Enjoy the ride, force yourself.

[@gothatawaychrisandsandra]

That's the plan!

[@bbmatthews2002]

Would you get Starlink coverage in the area where you were testing your phone/router? Great vids. Very nice.

[@gothatawaychrisandsandra]

Good question. Most people with Starlink in the areas up to Midland (up the Trent Severn) haven't reported any issues. I don't know what it would be like in some of the bays and coves we've been in. Our cell router seems fine...with either Telus or Rogers we've had decent coverage. We are heading north in the next few days to more secluded areas and will be reporting more on our experience. Perhaps someone else who has starlink can attest to coverage in this area?

[@billjeffery2419]

OFF TO A GOOD START,DON'T FORGET TO HAVE FUN AND ENJOY THE RIDE.

[@gothatawaychrisandsandra]

Thanks! I am a bit giddy, I must admit! (Sandra)

[@melissamcvey8121]

👏👏👏

[@gothatawaychrisandsandra]

Hi Melissa! I hope you had a great boating season!

[@johnthompson5319]

What about BEARS in the Woods???? No protection?

[@gothatawaychrisandsandra]

I grew up in bear country in BC. I'm not particularly concerned about them.

[@dalemorris8609]

Mermaid Monster & other vessals had problems with Star Link. The issues have been covered in various vlogs. 😮

[@gothatawaychrisandsandra]

I'll check it out! (Sandra)

[@jamesgibson3557]

Lol headsets. Smh