Vivo

Was asked to post some more info and pixs of the boat. Vivo is a 60 foot cat. Built in France. Fountaine Pajot. Model called Eleuthera. Which is an island in the Bahamas I think. Sleeps 8 quite comfortably. Makes 8 knots pretty easily. Surfs 14.5 pretty scarily. My home for the next 17,000 miles or so. Awesome boat. So much living space. Great passage making platform. If you are silly/dumb enough to want to sail around the world this is a great way to do it.

Here are some shots of Vivo under way. The first ones are flying the Parasailor. We came across another ARC boat 500 miles west of Bora Bora on our way to Niue. They took the shots. Photo credits to Bradley on Alpharatz. Thanks Bradley.

There is a shot of our newest sail. An 80% heavy construction asymmetrical spinnaker. Can be flown in up to 35 knots. And we did. And holy smoke did we fly! Many thanks to Nexus for not only turning me on to this idea but actually loaning me his spare to try out. Which is crazy. I’m not giving it back! His replacement for this loaner is on order and coming from South Africa to Fiji.

In some conditions the Parasailor is faster. Its 188 sq meters. Huge. But you have to get it down at about 25 knots or risk blowing it up. In big following seas and big winds the heavy Asym is gold. We have a pretty well rounded out sail inventory now. NOW, the task is to not blow anything up. And as a fleet, the ARC is pretty good at blowing sails up. Sail repair shops love it when we come in.

One quick funny story about the Parasailor. It can be a chore to get it down. You luff it, (dump the wind out of it), and pull down on its snuffing sock. But if it catches its wind again while you are coming down it will take you right off the deck. Happened to Lorenzo one time. Maybe because he only has 110 pounds of Lorenzo to pull with. He has taken to calling the Parasailor “flying the Italian.” As in “Are we going to fly the Italian today?” That kid is a riot. He must be funny as heck in Italian because he is really funny in English. His third language.

Video of Vivo doing about 10 knots. Pacific crossing. Very very nice day of sailing

And in a rare moment when I wasn’t trying to fix something, break something, not hit something, hit something, catch something, kill something, or eat something, Lorenzo took this picture of me. Tizz I, your humble captain.    Michael.

peace

M