PANIC - Is our boat still THERE? Nautitech 40 In French Polynesia. S6#36.

🌴 PANIC - Is our boat still THERE? Sailing French Polynesia 2026 ⛵️ There’s something slightly ridiculous about sailing… You can travel thousands of miles to French Polynesia, drop your anchor in some of the most beautiful water on earth — and then spend the afternoon wondering whether the bloody thing is still holding! In this episode of Barefoot Doctors Sailing, our good friends Scott and Vanessa join us from Australia for a couple of weeks of sailing through paradise. But when the wind picks up and we leave our Nautitech 40 catamaran at anchor while exploring ashore, that familiar sailor’s question starts playing in the back of our minds: Is the boat still there? ⚓ ANCHOR WATCH & BOAT SAFETY We take a closer look at how modern GPS anchor alarm systems work — creating a safe zone around your anchored boat and alerting you if the boat moves outside that zone. Even more importantly, we show how technology can allow you to monitor your boat from shore on your mobile phone, using onboard connectivity such as Starlink. For cruisers, this can be a huge reassurance — especially when you’re anchored in an unfamiliar location and have gone ashore. And then there’s the ultimate test… We retrieve the anchor. Let’s just say it came up looking very ugly — but very firmly attached to the bottom! 😂 🫶 ANCHORS ARE LIKE FRIENDS There’s another theme running through this episode. We started thinking about how anchors are a little bit like friends. You don’t really know how good an anchor is until the conditions get rough. And perhaps friendships are the same. The best friends are the ones who hold when things get difficult — the people who support you when the wind gets stronger and the seas get rougher. Scott and Vanessa are those kinds of friends. And sharing French Polynesia with people you love makes the experience even more special. 🌊 SAILING FRENCH POLYNESIA There’s plenty of sailing adventure too — including our first ever attempt at flying the spinnaker. It was glorious… right up until the wind decided we’d had enough fun! We also explore the incredible beaches, food, music, Tahitian dancing and culture that make French Polynesia one of the world’s great cruising destinations. Because ultimately, this trip wasn’t really about the sailing. It was about sharing it. The crystal-clear water. The beaches. The food. The laughter. The music. The adventure. And those moments when you look around and think: “How lucky are we to be here?” Because when you travel alone, you collect experiences. But when you travel with people you love… you collect memories. And perhaps that’s the strange thing about sailing. You spend so much time learning how to leave. Leave the harbour. Leave the familiar. Leave the safe anchorage. But the best part… is who you get to come back to. Paradise isn’t really a place. It’s a place with the right people. ❤️ ⸻ ⛵️ ABOUT BAREFOOT DOCTORS SAILING We’re John and Eli — the Barefoot Doctors — sailing the world, exploring remote places, testing boats, learning from the ocean and sharing the adventures, challenges and unexpected lessons that come with life afloat. With decades of sailing experience and thousands of nautical miles behind us, we’re interested in much more than simply getting from A to B. Adventure. Safety. Resilience. Friendship. Life. So kick off your shoes… and come barefoot with us. 👉 Subscribe and join us for the next adventure in French Polynesia and beyond.