Annapolis boat show 2026 has managed to be just as hectic as always, there's always too much to do and see than the 4 days allow. There's loads of space for boats on the water here and they are just sailboats, the motor boats have their own show the week before. So all the major brands were here and there are masses of tents full of every type of boat accessory. We pick our 5 best things as always and try to give you a real sense of what it's like to come to this boat show, drink Guinness & eat oysters! Do get yourself a copy of Herby's manual on rigging, it covers everything: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1493086006?lv=shuf&channelId=500&plpRedirect=mhFallback We will be showing the 'Further' SUP in upcoming episodes, it's a really well made board ( our last one blew up about 10 minutes after I had been using it film several thousand stinging jellyfish in Majorca! ) We are really looking forward to trying it out in kayak mode with the chair. Here's a link to their site: www.furthercustoms.com PLEASE DO SUBSCRIBE - IT COSTS YOU NOTHING AND HELPS US OUT WITH THE YOUTUBE ALGORITHM PATREON: We couldn't make these videos without the support of you, our patrons. You are our first line of feedback, our team, our support and our friends. We are really grateful and it means we can keep the videos coming! If you would like to join us you get to see (and comment on, which really helps us) the current videos with no ads at all before they get released to the public. There are also lots of extra videos available on Patreon and you can contact us directly on board. Ask us anything! We have regular ZOOM sessions and a WhatsApp group where we talk about boats, passages and life onboard. Join us! https://www.patreon.com/sailingfairisle

Sailing coastal exploration rarely goes exactly to plan. We get knocked back by some surprising late summer storms and then by some warships performing a live fire exercise blocking the route around Southern Italy. This time last year we were battling storms on our West- East Atlantic crossing but coastal sailing can be just as challenging and it takes all our energy to push on to get around Italy and give ourselves a chance of crossing the Adriatic in time to make our flight from Montenegro to Annapolis for the boat show. (SPOILER ALERT, we did make it and this video is going out on the first day of the show, so if you are attending then do come and say hello at the YT tent. If you haven't got your tickets for the show yet please do use the link below as a small amount of money will then go to the fantastic Cruisers Creating Content team who sort out everything for the show. https://annapolisboatshows.ticketspice.com/2026-annapolis-sailboat-show?t=CCC Our Times: Thursday 12:00-13:00 Saturday. 15:00-16:00 Sunday. 14:00-15:00 PLEASE DO SUBSCRIBE - IT COSTS YOU NOTHING AND HELPS US OUT WITH THE YOUTUBE ALGORITHM PATREON: We couldn't make these videos without the support of you, our patrons. You are our first line of feedback, our team, our support and our friends. We are really grateful and it means we can keep the videos coming! If you would like to join us you get to see (and comment on, which really helps us) the current videos with no ads at all before they get released to the public. There are also lots of extra videos available on Patreon and you can contact us directly on board. Ask us anything! We have regular ZOOM sessions and a WhatsApp group where we talk about boats, passages and life onboard. Join us! https://www.patreon.com/sailingfairisle

It's not an episode this week so if you usually tune in for sailing and travel then maybe give this one a miss. But in todays world it's not just the corporations and big businesses that get targeted by hackers it's everyone. So, if you have the time, do watch this cautionary tale of what can happen if you slip up on the internet even for a second. Our YouTube channel hacked in just three minutes left our business and livelihood completely gone. We are sharing how we got it back. It is a situation we never wanted to face. One moment everything was normal, and the next, our channel had disappeared and been terminated. This video documents the shock of that experience and the long, difficult road of account recovery that followed. We wanted to be open about what actually happened when the platform pulled the plug on our business. If you use the internet for work, take this as a serious cautionary tale. We are not just talking about big corporations; everyone is a target for cyber threats. Improving your own online security is more important than ever, and we hope our experience helps you avoid this nightmare. PLEASE DO SUBSCRIBE - IT COSTS YOU NOTHING AND HELPS US OUT WITH THE YOUTUBE ALGORITHM PATREON: We couldn't make these videos without the support of you, our patrons. You are our first line of feedback, our team, our support and our friends. We are really grateful and it means we can keep the videos coming! If you would like to join us you get to see (and comment on, which really helps us) the current videos with no ads at all before they get released to the public. There are also lots of extra videos available on Patreon and you can contact us directly on board. Ask us anything! We have regular ZOOM sessions and a WhatsApp group where we talk about boats, passages and life onboard. Join us! https://www.patreon.com/sailingfairisle

Coveron - One scam can cost you everything — protect yourself now, first 100 users get 20% off with code SFI at https://coveron.com/sfi The end of summer often brings storms to the Med and after the record breaking heat we've had this year they can be sudden and fierce. Luckily for us the mountains of Sicily seem to attract the thunder storms and leave the coast less battered, but we have to be careful with our anchorages and make sure we get a good set as the wind can come from anywhere at any time without warning. We were really happy to get to spend some time exploring Cefalu which is a wonderful town. We dropped in here once before but it was at the end of the the Covid lockdowns and it was at night so we didn't get to see much and there's lots to see. Timing our trip through the Strait of Messina probably top priority this week and that's where we end this episode, anchored in the Strait. Things are getting together for the Annapolis boat show this year. It runs from 15th - 18th October. We will be there every day so do come and say hello at the YT booth (times below). There will be Patron meet ups too, we will post the times and locations on the Patron site, we aim to have several meet-ups in the pub after the show but you can always just drop us a message on the Patron WhatsApp group and we'll find time for a coffee somewhere. If you haven't got your tickets for the show yet please do use the link below as a small amount of money will then go to the fantastic Cruisers Creating Content team who sort out everything for the show. https://annapolisboatshows.ticketspice.com/2026-annapolis-sailboat-show?t=CCC Our Times: Thursday 12:00-13:00 Saturday. 15:00-16:00 Sunday. 14:00-15:00 If you want to know more about the HoverAir Aqua here's a link: https://dada.link/GBZ7ve PATREON: We couldn't make these videos without the support of you, our patrons. You are our first line of feedback, our team, our support and our friends. We are really grateful and it means we can keep the videos coming! If you would like to join us you get to see (and comment on, which really helps us) the current videos with no ads at all before they get released to the public. There are also lots of extra videos available on Patreon and you can contact us directly on board. Ask us anything! We have regular ZOOM sessions and a WhatsApp group where we talk about boats, passages and life onboard. Join us! https://www.patreon.com/sailingfairisle 🎵 Copyrighted music licensed from Lickd. https://lickd.co Welcome To The Pleasuredome by Frankie Goes To Hollywood, https://t.lickd.co/l/6B4Q59AW4ml

You have probably seen videos about the HoverAir Aqua pop up over the last few weeks. It's a new lightweight waterproof drone that can follow you why you do water sports. It really is an amazing bit of kit allowing you to film the most extreme watersports by wearing a transmitter called the 'lighthouse' on your arm. You can just throw the drone in the water, hit the button on the Lighthouse and it will takeoff from the water and follow you at the distance you set. It can also perform preset manoeuvres like a spiral around you so you get filmed from all angles. I heard some very good things about this drone so decided I needed to see if it can cope with filming from a sailboat. It's not really what it's designed to do but the features on this drone are so good we had to try and see if there was a way to make it work. If you want to know more about the HoverAir Aqua here's a link: https://dada.link/GBZ7ve There's an Autumn Sale on right now: September 17–23 if you purchase an AQUA you will receive a free battery. PATREON: We couldn't make these videos without the support of you, our patrons. You are our first line of feedback, our team, our support and our friends. We are really grateful and it means we can keep the videos coming! If you would like to join us you get to see (and comment on, which really helps us) the current videos with no ads at all before they get released to the public. There are also lots of extra videos available on Patreon and you can contact us directly on board. Ask us anything! We have regular ZOOM sessions and a WhatsApp group where we talk about boats, passages and life onboard. Join us! https://www.patreon.com/sailingfairisle ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PLEASE DO SUBSCRIBE - IT COSTS YOU NOTHING AND HELPS US OUT WITH THE YOUTUBE ALGORITHM

This episode is a day late because of the problems we had after our channel was hijacked. We will be putting out a separate video all about that! This week we begin in the Maddalena islands which comprise a beautifully protected national park nestled between Corsica and Sardinia. We then progress south to Sardinia for some anchor testing and a visit with some very special friends. All this before a three day sail to Sicily. It's a packed journey, late season, with incredibly hot weather. The sun just does not let up. Fair Isle takes it all in her stride. PATREON: We couldn't make these videos without the support of you, our patrons. You are our first line of feedback, our team, our support and our friends. We are really grateful and it means we can keep the videos coming! If you would like to join us you get to see (and comment on, which really helps us) the current videos with no ads at all before they get released to the public. There are also lots of extra videos available on Patreon and you can contact us directly on board. Ask us anything! We have regular ZOOM sessions and a WhatsApp group where we talk about boats, passages and life onboard. Join us! https://www.patreon.com/sailingfairisle ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PLEASE DO SUBSCRIBE - IT COSTS YOU NOTHING AND HELPS US OUT WITH THE YOUTUBE ALGORITHM 🎵 Copyrighted music licensed from Lickd. https://lickd.co Free by Ultra Naté, https://t.lickd.co/l/OmwzeEzG8Aj

If you want to learn a language you can get 25% off an annual Rosetta Stone Sapphire membership with my link, starting at £15, with access to all 25 languages https://partners.rosettastone.com/sailingfairisle-1 It's been really hot in Corsica this week so we took a trip up into the mountains to find a spectacular waterfall to cool off. The water here is 19 degrees as opposed to 30 degrees in the sea so quite a difference. With the hotter temperatures comes some strange weather patterns so we've also had our share of dark clouds and heavy wind. That's made sailing difficult at times but we have now managed to get south to the beautiful Maddalena Islands If you are interested in checking out the HOVERair drone here's a link: https://dada.link/GBZ7ve PATREON: We couldn't make these videos without the support of you, our patrons. You are our first line of feedback, our team, our support and our friends. We are really grateful and it means we can keep the videos coming! If you would like to join us you get to see (and comment on, which really helps us) the current videos with no ads at all before they get released to the public. There are also lots of extra videos available on Patreon and you can contact us directly on board. Ask us anything! We have regular ZOOM sessions and a WhatsApp group where we talk about boats, passages and life onboard. Join us! https://www.patreon.com/sailingfairisle ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PLEASE DO SUBSCRIBE - IT COSTS YOU NOTHING AND HELPS US OUT WITH THE YOUTUBE ALGORITHM

Sailing single handed means that if something goes wrong you are on your own. So, I tend to be careful. However, there are occasions when luck is against you and you end up in a situation that's going to take a lot to get out of. This is what happened to me last week. Leaving an anchorage at dawn I was faced with a 200lb lump of metal completely tangled in my chain. The anchorage was packed, I was drifting, and I knew as soon as the sun was properly up I would be getting 20 knots of wind. The water in the anchorage was murky so it was very difficult to work. In short, a bit of a nightmare. This is the story of a day that starts off very very badly and an overnight passage that's a bit special. PATREON: We couldn't make these videos without the support of you, our patrons. You are our first line of feedback, our team, our support and our friends. We are really grateful and it means we can keep the videos coming! If you would like to join us you get to see (and comment on, which really helps us) the current videos with no ads at all before they get released to the public. There are also lots of extra videos available on Patreon and you can contact us directly on board. Ask us anything! We have regular ZOOM sessions and a WhatsApp group where we talk about boats, passages and life onboard. Join us! https://www.patreon.com/sailingfairisle ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PLEASE DO SUBSCRIBE - IT COSTS YOU NOTHING AND HELPS US OUT WITH THE YOUTUBE ALGORITHM -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 🎵 Copyrighted music licensed from Lickd. https://lickd.co Ain't Gonna Moan No More by Van Morrison, Kurt Elling, https://t.lickd.co/l/1mJe1e4KJR9

There's something about sailing singlehanded, I can't say I really like it, but some aspects are good, I certainly wouldn't be up for a single handed around the world race like the GGR or even a cruising circumnavigation like our friend Barry has done. It's not that anything becomes that much more difficult, and it's not really about being lonely I don't think, although if it went on for years that might be the case. There's just something comforting about having another person there, they don't necessarily need to be a sailor, just a person with you means you're completely chilled sailing offshore in a way that's somehow difficult to find on your own. It is nice to test yourself sometimes though and you do feel at one with the boat, so do give it a try if you haven't already. If you are interested in the 360 drone then we have a dedicated video going through how it works and what it can do. There's also a code in the description of that video that should get you a good deal. 🎵 Copyrighted music licensed from Lickd. https://lickd.co Peaches by The Stranglers, https://t.lickd.co/l/6w5lMPjlLjW

We've been using 360 cameras to shot special scene's in our films for years. They are fantastic for so many things and provide so many special shots that you just couldn't get any other way. So now we have a drone with an 8k 360 camera the possibilities are endless. I have to say I was really surprised by how much fun this drone is to fly as well, usually drone flying is all a bit nerve wracking and sometimes getting the shot I want is quite difficult with a conventional drone. This drone changes all that things are just easy and fun. I am very much looking forward to finding some really good subjects for some amazing aerial filming. Antigravity is now on sale for Labor Day! Get up to 25% off the A1 drone for a limited time. The first 10 orders using my code AGRBI2J or link https://bit.ly/A1_SailingFairIsle will get a FREE flight battery (worth $99.99) + 20% off Care Plan. Amazon Purchase link:https://bit.ly/amz_A1_SailingFairIsleus (US) https://bit.ly/amz_A1_SailingFairIsleuk (UK) Buy Infinity Bundle get 1x Free High-capacity Battery, Code: HCB100DS; Buy Explorer Bundle or Standard Bundle Get 1x Free Standard Battery, Code:STB100DS; Buy any drone bundle, get 1-year or 2-year Care 20% off using Code:20CAREDS #360drone #Antigravity #dronecamera

Sailing the South of France you are competing with the Superyachts for space rather than the charter fleets like you would be in the Balearics in mid summer. Saint Tropez, Cannes and all the other swanky places along the Cote d'Azur do retain a certain charm though. You get good food and, on the whole, anchoring is easier than on the Costa Brava and we are enjoying some lovely sailing along the coast. Hungry Minds: Use the link https://mdsh.io/svfairisle and put in the promo code FAIRISLE10 to get 10% off PATREON: We couldn't make these videos without the support of you, our patrons. You are our first line of feedback, our team, our support and our friends. We are really grateful and it means we can keep the videos coming! If you would like to join us you get to see (and comment on, which really helps us) the current videos with no ads at all before they get released to the public. There are also lots of extra videos available on Patreon and you can contact us directly on board. Ask us anything! We have regular ZOOM sessions and a WhatsApp group where we talk about boats, passages and life onboard. Join us! https://www.patreon.com/sailingfairisle ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PLEASE DO SUBSCRIBE - IT COSTS YOU NOTHING AND HELPS US OUT WITH THE YOUTUBE ALGORITHM -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 🎵 Copyrighted music licensed from Lickd. https://lickd.co My Sweet Lord (2014 Remaster) by George Harrison, https://t.lickd.co/l/yEQ2b5YYQMJ

First of all a public warning... this video features some truly appalling singing by myself (Steve} I can only apologies. We cannot accept any liability for any mental trauma caused or bleeding from the ears! It does feature some truly excellent gear though, some things we have briefly shown before and people have asked for more information and some are things we've only just got. Here is a list of the product with links to websites where you can find out more: Robship Hook & Moor: we got ours from SVB, here's a link to the page: https://www.svb-marine.fr/fr/robship-gaffe-telescopique-hook-moor-1-25-m-a-3-2-m.html?srsltid=AfmBOopo04EeIUa62-6Sm7z_PO8GnAn8XN52lJf14L2VAmmQvEBsXuDL Bungy. We think these are the best solution for dealing with surge at the dockside. Really easy to fit and you can put them on and take them off without having a free end, really versatile solution https://ultraglozz.com/en/bungy/ LiberLive: There's nothing quite like relaxing on deck after a day on the water. I've really enjoyed trying the LiberLive C1—it's a fun music tech instrument that's easy to pickup, even if you don't have much musical experience. If you're curious, check it out here: https://bit.ly/4wqjH72 Use code sail28 for $20 OFF. FishHelm: If I were kitting a boat out for fishing while cruising I would definitely not bother with rods and just go for one of these. It's always there for instant use and doesn't need to have a place to be stored. It's really easy to use, make reeling in a fish a breeze and you don't have to be worried about having it stolen from the back of the boat like a rod, it's bolted on. I'm also really impressed with the handline ( you can buy them together as a bundle with a good discount) https://www.fishhelm.com/fairisle Predict wind pro Hub: Its more than just a data hub, this one really does require a full tech video on it's own to go through all the features, what you get with the free version and what is extra with the pro version of the App etc. All the things I show you here are on the free version of the app. take a look here: https://www.predictwind.com/datahub The USB socket is something else we got from the SVB catalogue, do make sure you get one of these type of sockets for all the reasons I go through in the video. https://www.svb24.com/en/scanstrut-flip-pro-max-dual-usb-c-socket-sc-usb-f3-2x-usb-c-port.html PATREON: We couldn't make these videos without the support of you, our patrons. You are our first line of feedback, our team, our support and our friends. We are really grateful and it means we can keep the videos coming! If you would like to join us you get to see (and comment on, which really helps us) the current videos with no ads at all before they get released to the public. There are also lots of extra videos available on Patreon and you can contact us directly on board. Ask us anything! We have regular ZOOM sessions and a WhatsApp group where we talk about boats, passages and life onboard. Join us! https://www.patreon.com/sailingfairisle ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PLEASE DO SUBSCRIBE - IT COSTS YOU NOTHING AND HELPS US OUT WITH THE YOUTUBE ALGORITHM --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Costa Brava in Spain and the Cote d'azur in France are wonderfully scenic places to sail but not a lot of cruisers go there. It doesn't mean there are no boats, the locals love their boats and as you get further East the boats get bigger and posher. For cruising though there are challenges. The Mistral and the Tramontana for a start. They blow hard from the mountains in the North and kept us pinned down for the best part of a week. The rugged coastline is a challenge for anchoring to. With the aforementioned small boats cruisers are forced to anchor in deep and sometimes exposed places. But the rewards are there for cruisers who venture here. We're certainly glad we did. PATREON: We couldn't make these videos without the support of you, our patrons. You are our first line of feedback, our team, our support and our friends. We are really grateful and it means we can keep the videos coming! If you would like to join us you get to see (and comment on, which really helps us) the current videos with no ads at all before they get released to the public. There are also lots of extra videos available on Patreon and you can contact us directly on board. Ask us anything! We have regular ZOOM sessions and a WhatsApp group where we talk about boats, passages and life onboard. Join us! https://www.patreon.com/sailingfairisle ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PLEASE DO SUBSCRIBE - IT COSTS YOU NOTHING AND HELPS US OUT WITH THE YOUTUBE ALGORITHM -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 🎵 Copyrighted music licensed from Lickd. https://lickd.co Porcelain by Moby, https://t.lickd.co/l/eQBbrvKVBpE 🎵 Copyrighted music licensed from Lickd. https://lickd.co France by Simon Anderson, https://t.lickd.co/l/b12X3RywpZY

Get an exclusive 15% discount on Saily data plans! Use code sailingfairisle at checkout. Download Saily app or go to https://saily.com/sailingfairisle If you've been watching our channel from the start you might remember we used to have a couple of fold out bikes. We got them in the Netherlands when we first had Fair Isle, we loved having bikes but they took up virtually the whole sail locker and they rusted and fell apart surprisingly quickly. Worst of all though they weren't that great to ride. We always thought that was a necessary evil with fold out bikes & they just always felt a bit flimsy, not 'stiff'. Basically the joints never lock solid and the play in all the joints meant you could really feel you were on a fold out bike. So it was a bit of an eye opener testing out a range of Brompton bikes when we were in Gibraltar. After riding a Brompton you know nothing else will do, so we are very happy that we've got the chance to try out some more of the range over a longer term. Luckily for us being in Spain Brompton has a few of their T-Line models in Barcelona from a partnership they had with Britannia, the British Americas cup team which raced here two years ago when it was last held. The T-line bikes are top of the range tungsten and carbon fibre bikes. They don't come cheap, but the will not rust, fold up to an really small size and are impossibly light, I mean really unbelievably light! So we've been having great fun riding them all over Barcelona. In fact it's been a bit like Christmas because we took advantage of the marinas delivery address to get a new True Kit dinghy as well, to go with the new Spirit 2 outboard we showed you last week, it really flies now, very happy with our new dingy set up! 🎵 Copyrighted music licensed from Lickd. https://lickd.co Fer The Lads by Christopher Ashmore, https://t.lickd.co/l/qpr6GK8ZYXK 🎵 Copyrighted music licensed from Lickd. https://lickd.co Hold On, I'm Comin' by Sam & Dave, https://t.lickd.co/l/YPL51ZdJLrv

Go to https://surfshark.com/sailingfairisle or use code SAILINGFAIRISLE at checkout to get 4 extra months of Surfshark VPN! I think Menorca has firmed itself up as our favourite of the Balearic islands. It just has a nice laid back charm to it. There are good anchorages especially in the North and excellent tapas. We stayed for over a month had things we needed delivered and had all our girls out, although their work commitments ment they couldn't quite all get here at the same time. This years Menorca sailing has meant we have now fully circumnavigated the island, a good thing because it was the Western tip we had left out on previous occasions and that means Ciutadella, which is possibly the prettiest town of all. PATREON: We couldn't make these videos without the support of you, our patrons. You are our first line of feedback, our team, our support and our friends. We are really grateful and it means we can keep the videos coming! If you would like to join us you get to see (and comment on, which really helps us) the current videos with no ads at all before they get released to the public. There are also lots of extra videos available on Patreon and you can contact us directly on board. Ask us anything! We have regular ZOOM sessions and a WhatsApp group where we talk about boats, passages and life onboard. Join us! https://www.patreon.com/sailingfairisle ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PLEASE DO SUBSCRIBE - IT COSTS YOU NOTHING AND HELPS US OUT WITH THE YOUTUBE ALGORITHM -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 🎵 Copyrighted music licensed from Lickd. https://lickd.co Sail Away by David Gray, https://t.lickd.co/l/JMzXjBaON4R 🎵 Copyrighted music licensed from Lickd. https://lickd.co Where the Wild Roses Grow by Kylie Minogue, https://t.lickd.co/l/NzJmR4dELO5

Regular viewers will know we've been looking for the best bikes to have on the boat for some time. You may also have seen us try out some Bromptons a few months ago in Gibraltar. Well, after riding a Brompton I can tell you nothing else cuts it, not even close. It's difficult to pin point exactly what it is, obviously they fold up into a seemingly impossibly small size, but they don't ride like a fold up bike, everything is solid. Luckily for us Brompton sponsor the Brittania Americas cup sailing team and they had some very special bikes they could lend us. These are 'T-Line' bikes, so called because the frame is made of Titanium, also the seat post and handle bars are made of carbon fibre, so the bike weighs in at a ridiculously light 7.45kg. This not only makes it easy to carry on and off the boat but effortless to ride, we are seriously impressed. These bikes don't come cheap, but if you have the money there can be nothing better for a boat, nothing to rust. Light, small and great to ride. We are very much looking forward to putting them through their paces this summer.

We now think we have the perfect set-up for our on board power. We have uprated our solar ( which has been very successful with the bifacial panels) and we have greatly increased our battery capacity by getting a Bluetti Elite 300 which is the world's smallest 3 kWh portable power station. It also has other great features for the boat as you will see. The history of setting Fair Isle up for power on board is this: Our big generator in the engine room was unreliable from the start, it cost a fortune but in the 4 years we had it I had to rebuild it twice. So we ditched it. Our first attempt at solar was having two 215w panels on an arch I built at the stern and a small 100w flexible panel on the dog house roof. This wasn't really enough. I also fitted a Balmar 115Amp alternator to give us good power when motoring but we quickly found we needed more. So in Venice I fitted a 400w Bifacial panel in the bit of space we had left in front of the two monofacil ones. We also fitted a bimini an I managed to get a 200w flexible panel on that. We cruised like this for 5 years, it was okay, we mostly had enough power, but we were always conscious of what we were using. We did get a small petrol generator that lived in the sail locker for emergencies. We used it 3 times in 4 years. We don't like to ever run the ships engine to charge, it is not good for a diesel engine to run with no load so we've avoided doing that. This year we decided to swap our 2 original monofacial panels for two new bifacial ones. these panels were rated at 500w. So we now have 1400w of solar on the back arch and 200w on the bimini that charge our 630AH lithium house bank. We did this in April and straight away, even though the weather was not good, we were full before lunch time! Now in summer we have more power than we can possibly use. We cook on an induction stove, charge our epropulsion electric outboard every day and run our DC watermaker every other day, but everything is always full. Obviously as Autumn comes around there will be a lot less sun, but we are now very confident we will never be short of power. This is because we have extra capacity of the Bluetti. We could probably make the house bank itself a bit bigger now as well but you have to be careful not to make it so big that you struggle to get a regular top balance. Lithium batteries need a regular charge to 100% as it's only when this happens that they can switch into their 'balance' mode where they equalise out the charge across all the cells. It's important that the batteries get to do this once a week or so. If you've been following the channel you will know we have been testing lots of fold out solar panels as well. These are great when you are at anchor and very useful if you have a solar power station as they come with XT60 plugs that slot straight into the Bluetti and charge it up. It's really nice to sit in an anchorage knowing that we have all the power we need without making any noise whatsoever! We can thoroughly recommend getting bifacial panels, ours were from Leroy Merlin in Cartagena and were an absolute bargain at €69 each, we couldn't quite believe it! The Bluetti Elite 300 is also a very good buy it gives you an extra 3000W of storage (250Ah), a 2400w inverter and an inbuilt MPPT capable of connecting a 1000w solar panel to, so much cheaper than buying all that lot separately. I can imagine people with a small boat just buying a Bluetti to take care of all their electrical needs. Have a look at the specs on their website, it's impressive: https://bit.ly/4eNzPsV

Join us for our sail from Mallorca to Menorca, one of the most scenic and memorable we've ever had. Use the voucher code FAIRISLE to get a free gift. svb24.com online store: https://www.svb24.com/?stm=Influencer-SAILINGFAIRISLE-Equipment MyBoat by SVB – bring your boat online & join the Owner's Club: https://www.svb24.com/my-boat?stm=Influencer-SAILINGFAIRISLE-Equipment There will be a full review of the Bluetti Elite300 coming up (currently available on Patreon) here's a link to Bluetti: https://bit.ly/4eNzPsV PATREON: We couldn't make these videos without the support of you, our patrons. You are our first line of feedback, our team, our support and our friends. We are really grateful and it means we can keep the videos coming! If you would like to join us you get to see (and comment on, which really helps us) the current videos with no ads at all before they get released to the public. There are also lots of extra videos available on Patreon and you can contact us directly on board. Ask us anything! We have regular ZOOM sessions and a WhatsApp group where we talk about boats, passages and life onboard. Join us! https://www.patreon.com/sailingfairisle ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PLEASE DO SUBSCRIBE - IT COSTS YOU NOTHING AND HELPS US OUT WITH THE YOUTUBE ALGORITHM -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 🎵 Copyrighted music licensed from Lickd. https://lickd.co Sail Away by David Gray, https://t.lickd.co/l/JMzXjBaON4R

Didn't think you could get on the plane with an electric outboard? Well think again. We've just done a full test of the ePropulsion Spirit 2 and we can report that this is not an upgrade from the Spirit 1, it's an entirely different beast. We've used electric outboards as the main motor for our tender for 5 years now. There are pro's and cons between electric and petrol outboards of course, but for us the electric option has been hands down the best and now it's got much, much better. Really the only thing a petrol outboard has over an electric one is speed and range. Well not any more. The job of a yacht tender is to get you from the boat to shore, the electric outboards do that reliably, they are silently have no fumes and now they also do it as quickly. Yes if you want to go on an expedition for 20nm on the plane then you will need a petrol outboard, but to do that well it has to be at least 15hp even for two people in a small dinghy. So if you've got something like a large catamaran that can take big dinghy with outboard on a strong pair of davits then it might make sense. But if what you're doing at the moment is operating a 3, 5, or even 10hp petrol outboard then you have the worst of all worlds. You have the unreliability, the service schedule the weight, the smell and the noise and you have no more real power than the new Spirit 2. Just to clarify at the end we used 82% of the battery in the longevity test, so down to 18%, watching it back it may have not been clear the way I said it. Obviously I can't fit every detail into one short video but do ask questions in the comments if anything is unclear. There are some other good features I didn't cover because they are not that relevant for a tender, but if you want a Spirit 2 for something like a trailer sailer then it has features like a lock to keep it straight and regen as standard to charge while you sail.. To find out all the info you need have a look here: https://www.epropulsion.com/products/electric-outboards/spirit-2 PATREON: We couldn't make these videos without the support of you, our patrons. You are our first line of feedback, our team, our support and our friends. We are really grateful and it means we can keep the videos coming! If you would like to join us you get to see (and comment on, which really helps us) the current videos with no ads at all before they get released to the public. There are also lots of extra videos available on Patreon and you can contact us directly on board. Ask us anything! We have regular ZOOM sessions and a WhatsApp group where we talk about boats, passages and life onboard. Join us! https://www.patreon.com/sailingfairisle ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PLEASE DO SUBSCRIBE - IT COSTS YOU NOTHING AND HELPS US OUT WITH THE YOUTUBE ALGORITHM --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It's bikini weather in the Balearics, there are spring flowers in the hills and the anchorages have plenty of space. Things were pretty perfect before someone rammed us in the anchorage in the early hours of the morning. Some people should not be allowed to be the captain of a boat! We don't let that spoil our time here though we have our daughters coming out for short stays, their work commitments meant they couldn't arrange it all together so we have a constant stream over the next few weeks so it's nice for us. And have you ever tried foil boarding? Looks easy doesn't it? Well take it from me it's not! PATREON: We couldn't make these videos without the support of you, our patrons. You are our first line of feedback, our team, our support and our friends. We are really grateful and it means we can keep the videos coming! If you would like to join us you get to see (and comment on, which really helps us) the current videos with no ads at all before they get released to the public. There are also lots of extra videos available on Patreon and you can contact us directly on board. Ask us anything! We have regular ZOOM sessions and a WhatsApp group where we talk about boats, passages and life onboard. Join us! https://www.patreon.com/sailingfairisle ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PLEASE DO SUBSCRIBE - IT COSTS YOU NOTHING AND HELPS US OUT WITH THE YOUTUBE ALGORITHM -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 🎵 Copyrighted music licensed from Lickd. https://lickd.co Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol, https://t.lickd.co/l/nVEgZ9kxGxo