Salty Podcast: Sailing

Salty Podcast #36 | ⛵Maverick's Journey: Trading the Desk for a Deck | Epic Sail from Guatemala to Louisiana! ⛵

• Captain Tinsley | GenXPats | S/V Maverick • Season 1 • Episode 36

Share episode

Send us a text


Join The Salty Podcast as we chat with Shane, the Sailing Advisor, and his wife, Amy, about their adventures aboard SV Maverick — from their first epic journey from Guatemala to Louisiana, their Caribbean escapades, and what it really takes to live the dream so many are just selling. 🌊✨

#SaltyAbandon #SaltyPodcast #Sailing #AdventureAwaits #CaribbeanEscapades #SailingJourney

Salty Abandon, Salty Podcast, Sailing, sailing podcast, Sailing Advisor, Guatemala to Louisiana sail, Caribbean sailing, adventure sailing, financial freedom, GenX sailing, SV Maverick, cruising couple, sailing lifestyle, Gulf Coast sailing, escape the ordinary




Support the show

SALTY ABANDON: Cap'n Tinsley, Orange Beach, AL:
Oct 2020 to Present - 1998 Island Packet 320;
Nov 2015-Oct 2020; 1988 Island Packet 27
Feb-Oct 2015 - 1982 Catalina 25

PODCAST TOOLS:
Livestream: Https://streamyard.com/pal/d/5430067749060608
Create AI Clips: https://klap.app/?via=SaltyAbandon

Capn Tinsley:

Welcome back to the Salty Podcast, where it's always a great day to talk about sailing. This is episode 36. Today we dive into a story of adventure and discovery. I'm joined by Shane, a financial advisor who at times trades his desk for a deck and embarks on sailing journeys with his wife, sailor Amy. Amy and Shane set out from Louisiana and stumbled upon an unexpected paradise in Mexico on their way to Guatemala. And now they're back in Louisiana and we'll be talking about this voyage, the surprises they encountered and what it's really like to live the dream that so many are just selling. We'll also talk about some of their previous adventures in the Caribbean. So stay tuned as we explore their amazing adventures together on and uncover what happens next. So let's bring them out. Welcome, shane and amy. Welcome. Thanks for having us. Appreciate you coming on tonight. So we were talking just a little bit. Please explain the shirt.

Shane:

Well, I guess you know Gen X, pats, you know, and we got Maverick and Goose here. But Maverick is the name of our boat and Goose is the name of our dinghy. So you know, it's as political as we get here.

Capn Tinsley:

Well, it's fitting for us, Gen X. So because we definitely, that takes us back, doesn't it?

Shane:

It really does. You know, Top Gun is where it's all at, yeah.

Capn Tinsley:

Brings back good memories. Now, so describe the boat that you have and how you came up with that name.

Shane:

Well, it's a Cal 246. It's got a hull design from a very famous boat, a Cal 40, that's won races way back in the 70s and still continues to win races. So it's a built Lapworth design. It's a very good hull design. This one here is a boat that they actually decided on to use as their own cruising boat and I think Lapworth put over like 150,000 miles on this boat cruising around the world.

Shane:

How we kind of stumbled on it really is. We had a really good friend of ours that's in the marine industry and he built boats and he fixes boats. He owned his own marina and I would keep asking him about boats. He's like you don't want that one, you don't want that one. So I was like Amy, I was like I think every boat we ask him about he's going to say no to you know. And I kind of settled on this Cal 246. The reason that I did is it's got like about 250 gallons of water tankage. It's got 250 gallons of diesel. It's a motor sailor, but it's kind of the best of both worlds. It's not a great sailor, you know. It's got a big high cabin top and you know it'll motor for about 1,500 miles. So it was something that we wanted. I told him about the boat and I was looking at one in Texas and one in.

Shane:

New York.

Amy:

And San Diego, I think.

Shane:

And San Diego, I believe as well. Yeah, because they're a West Coast. Cal is a West Coast design. There's a lot of Cals out there and anyway, he popped out his cabin hatch. He was in Guatemala at the time took a picture and said you need to come look at this boat and we went down to Guatemala and I was like how the heck are we going to get this boat?

Amy:

back to Guatemala. We were actually planning to Panama. We weren't even initially looking at boats, so we were headed to Panama, found a beautiful sky Was it In Panama? And we already had plane tickets and everything. We actually changed the tickets Over to Guatemala, so that changed everything.

Capn Tinsley:

Wow, okay, and it looks like you brought all your best friends On the podcast. Here's Sissy Welcome, shane and Amy these are all people you know. Uh, kathy, ma pete knox he says it's a beautiful boat, and then we got one more. We got one more. Look at all these. She gave you a kiss. Thanks, guys. Y'all just keep on chiming in. We appreciate it. Thanks for watching. Oh, there's one more. One more, darlene.

Amy:

Hey Dee they'll probably start popping in now.

Shane:

That's our friend that really wants to get out of the US and come with us. Yeah, she's ready to go okay.

Capn Tinsley:

And who did you say bird faces? They keep me, leaving me at home for the boat. Is that your mom?

Amy:

you said oh, that's, that's my son, that's the middle. We actually took him with us on our first trip down. He spent, uh, five or six months with us uh the first trip down exploring belize and and stay there I bet how old is he he's?

Capn Tinsley:

he's almost 20. Oh my gosh, no wonder. Uh, darlene says gave me a spot. Well, you have quite a fan base here. Have quite a fan base here. Um, okay, so all right, how? I have some questions here just to keep things rolling. How did you and amy meet and what's it like sailing together as a team? That question comes up a lot.

Amy:

It does, it does um. I would say we met several years back playing adult kickball, if you believe it or not that's very gen x.

Amy:

That's very I love that but what's funny is that now we're probably way too old and things hurt too much to ever do that again, so so we took up sailing instead. But yeah, we um I think that's one of the the questions that were asked the most. You know what's it like being a team, being a couple and living in these close quarters and working as a team, and we have a lot of thoughts on that. Um, people, people, all the time tell us gosh, how do you, how do you stand being that close to each other all the time? And I just it's gonna sound like I'm making it up, but it's true, we, just we love it.

Amy:

We're always together anyway and we just really enjoy it and we never argue. We know, you know. I mean, of course there are moments when you're sailing, when you know I'm driving, we're trying to anchor, he's up front, I can't hear him, you know that kind of stuff, but it's yeah, we, we seem to just work as a team really well.

Shane:

I think it kind of goes two ways. Basically for couples is that it either pushes you farther apart or it pushes you closer together. And, and especially if you're a solo sailor, you kind of know that when you're out there and you're sailing, I mean it's a, it's a huge, huge deal. Like if I'm going down below to take a nap, I pretty much have to rely on her. You know, my life's in her hands and it really does. I, I, you know, like she said, when she's driving and I'm up front and that's kind of how we set everything up, is that she, she's doing most of the docking, like she's, she's on the helm and I'm fending off or or doing the lines and stuff. I just I, I worry about her initially, you know pushing off and you know, because it's a heavy boat. So that's kind of pretty much how we set things up and I trust her and, um it it's really kind of helped us a lot.

Amy:

I think it's been awesome. Yeah, it's brought us closer together for sure.

Capn Tinsley:

Now did you both have experience before?

Shane:

I would say you know my background is I'm from Canada and I always tell people, hey, I'm from the islands. Well, I'm from Newfoundland, which is an island northeast in Canada, and my whole family grew up fishing. Here's my sister right here hey.

Shane:

Kiki, you know we my father, all my uncles they all fish. So I grew up around boats and a lot of people I knew kind of went that way and got into fishing and I was not interested in it actually. But I did learn a love of water from my father and my uncle, I mean they just absolutely loved it and every time we would go out they would say how lucky we are, you know, to go out there. But I did not see myself as a fisherman and I was like no, I got to get out of here. So I joined the Navy to get away from the water. So when I joined the Navy I was a marine engineer and I enjoyed it I enjoyed the marine engineer side of it and, you know, working on boats and stuff.

Shane:

But sailing was a little different, I mean, because you're, you know, dealing with the military and you deal with structure and I didn't really feel that was a big turn on for me either. So my background, my background as in, as in boating, is kind of from that standpoint, uh, from sailing. You know, until four years ago really, we neither one of us had any experience sailing and, um, I kind of learned, you know sailing and you know I, I kind of know the majority of the systems on the boat, so but they're different. You know every boat's different and that's that's kind of the deal. I felt comfortable, you know. I was like, okay, if something breaks, I can probably figure it out if I've got enough time. So that's kind of. That's kind of the background.

Amy:

So and I was probably I know all my friends and family shocked and probably still are. I'm the last person you ever would have considered to be a sailor. So I majored in music in college, you know, worked in credit unions, did work in mortgages for the last you know, 20 years or so, and I would say that when I told everyone what we were doing, there was a collective gasp. You know, and I think people still can't really believe it Is that right Birdface.

Capn Tinsley:

He says we had no prior experience.

Amy:

And you know Shane's being really humble, but I think when you're, when you're sailing man, my confidence in him is is really high. You know he said he trusts me and I'm I have so much to learn but it it really helps to have someone on board who, you know, knows a little bit about everything you know and he does he. He would say, you know, knows a little bit about everything you know and he does he. He would say, you know his weakness was probably the electric system. You know he's still learning but, um, you know he has a lot of experience with engines and, and I mean there hasn't been anything yet that he hasn't been able to fix. So he pretty much blows me away with the way he's able to get into a problem and figure it out. You know there may be some gnashing of teeth and maybe a curse word here and there.

Capn Tinsley:

Gnashing of teeth. I like that Figures it out Well. So your first trip was from Guatemala to Louisiana, right?

Shane:

No, no. So we, we, we got the boat in Guatemala.

Shane:

We spent that year cruising around Belize so we left six months yeah, we left, left Guatemala, went up to Belize. We we kind of sailed around Belize, uh, and then went back to Guatemala, left the boat in Guatemala and then, um, uh, flew back, okay. So that was, that was our first experience with regards to that. The next time, the next time was the sail across, right, because that was the first year we just went down and worked on the boat and took the boat out like in the lake, got familiar with the boat. We didn't go out of Guatemala, we just sailed around the lakes and stuff down there, kind of learning the systems and stuff. That was in 2021. The second year we went to Belize and then this third year, we actually met a friend that bought a boat over in Florida, actually, Sorry, I keep laughing at the comments.

Amy:

I know I'm cracking up.

Capn Tinsley:

It's a busy comment section. I love it Keeps coming.

Shane:

He bought a boat over in Florida and didn't know really how to sail. So he had a catamaran and we had a dinghy that we had bought up here. I had a radar that I wanted to put on it. So I told him that I would help him sail down to Guatemala if I could take my stuff on board. And that's kind of how to trip to Guatemala, because we had planned just to fly back there and sail our boat up. So, um, honestly, I probably overloaded that little catamaran, you know, uh, on the way down how much stuff did you take?

Capn Tinsley:

was it like just all kinds of equipment you're going to put on the boat?

Shane:

yeah, there was a lot of equipment, a lot of tools and there was four of us and this was a smaller catamaran. It's like a 30, 35 foot catamaran that had um, it was an older style catamaran and they changed it. They put on sugar scoops and made it longer so it wouldn't hop, in course. Yeah, uh, so it. It ends up that's a 37 foot catamaran, but really it's a 35 foot kind of extension, you know and I have a small catamaran.

Amy:

He's probably watching or will watch eventually. His name is Jeff. Thank you, jeff. We owe you so much because that really allowed us to to to bring down what we needed to make the journey back, because buying stuff there is is probably tough, like it gets taxed if you have it delivered there, right? Yeah, and it's not just buying. Yeah, like, getting things to Guatemala is a challenge. It takes a long time and it is expensive. So the fact that we were able to do that was huge. So, yeah, we owe him a lot.

Capn Tinsley:

Even though you almost sunk the boat.

Shane:

So, yeah, we owe him a lot, even though you almost sunk the boat. Well, we almost sunk a sail, that's for sure. So the catamaran sails differently and you know I thought that sailing downwind we left. So if you've ever thought or planned of a trip crossing the Gulf, going down, you're waiting for a northern and you're kind of leaving on the tail end of that northern before the winds start changing to the southeast again, you know, against us. So I knew that, you know I would have a few days to get most of the way down and I thought that the catamaran would sail better downwind.

Shane:

Well, this sea wind, you know you can't put the boom out very far, the sail rubs against the shroud. So, honestly, we struggled, we didn't get as much speed as we needed going downwind, so we didn't get far along as we thought before the wind started to change and you know, about probably three-quarters of the way across it started to change from the southeast and it's it's got so. So that you know this, I just told you that you know, maverick has 250 gallon uh, diesel tanks. This boat has 25 gallon gasoline tanks, two little outboards, two little 9.9s. So I had 15 jerry cans with us Because I knew the was 15.

Amy:

Wow, our fourth crew member, amanda. When she arrived here, you know she flew up to Louisiana. She lives in Belize. Yeah, she lives in Belize. She joined us and is going to go with us, probably to the Bahamas too. When she got here and found out that the catamaran only had 25 gallons of fuel capacity, she was not happy with me. Wow, I mean, you know, hey, we had cherry cans and we made it work, but it was making me nervous making me nervous.

Shane:

So, and the thing is by the time, so about two-thirds of the way, which is kind of what I expected to win, the wind did change and just motor and I realized we weren't gonna make it to East LaMahara's you know.

Capn Tinsley:

So I bared off the wind and we? Where did you leave from with?

Shane:

We left from New Orleans so we sailed all the way down.

Capn Tinsley:

Well, motor I was thinking you were leaving from Florida.

Amy:

No, yeah, or Mandeville. So we went across Lake Pontchartrain all the way through New Orleans, which was awesome going down the Mississippi River it was really nice. That was neat, and then we got down to Venice and set off across the gulf. It's pretty cool. It was an awesome experience.

Shane:

It was really good. It was good sand, pretty much the whole way very lucky with weather very good weather. Weather was good on the way down.

Amy:

You know good weather on the way up. There's a bit of a story there, so well, I would wouldn't you.

Capn Tinsley:

Would you say that since you brought that boat back to louisiana, that, um, I felt like the first time I took it to the my boat from orange beach, alabama, to the keys and back. I learned so much on that trip and I was by myself, mostly by myself, so it's just me and the boat and I learned. Yeah, you just learned. It's like you have no choice, you know, but you can. You can learn. Do all the book, smart stuff and all that and um, but until you're out there and just trying different things, you know. I think that's when I learned the most. Yeah, you learn how your particular boat.

Shane:

you know behaves and you know I know there's a big. You know different people like catamarans, different people like monohulls and we kind of had a real good experience on both of them.

Capn Tinsley:

Yeah.

Shane:

And this was a small catamaran. So I will tell you that, based upon that, I don't think a catamaran's in my future.

Amy:

Oh, yeah, they're very comfortable. You know an anchor they're, they're roomy, they're great. Um, the movement like I was expecting it because I heard about it, the movement is definitely different you know, first time she ever got seasick, actually the only time, the only time I've ever been sick was one night going across the Gulf on that cat when it was the current, against wind, and we were kind of kind of against it's that this kind of movement on the cat.

Amy:

Yeah, and I mean, I never get sick and I did that night. That was the only time I did that night.

Capn Tinsley:

That was the only time, yeah, and you know also if it's your boat and you're in control of it. I think that makes it different too, like if I'm on a. I went deep sea fishing with some people before and I was not in control of the boat. Oh, yeah, oh yeah, and when it starts doing movements, that you're not happy with you can't change it that it's a little bit different.

Shane:

Yeah, yeah, absolutely about it.

Amy:

Yeah, and sissy just brought up something she was like um, there's jack, that's jack, that's my son there learning to control matt know the answer to that. Jack definitely control jack asked if it's harder to control Maverick or his younger brother Matt.

Capn Tinsley:

Okay, and then we got Birdface. Ooh, talk about the horrors of Ranguana.

Amy:

Ranguana, that's another story.

Shane:

But Sissy brought up a thing. She was like alone, you know, and strong. Yeah, you know, we sailed together.

Shane:

We had two other people with us but you single hand and that's a whole different animal Like you know, I have so much admiration and respect for people that do that, yeah, you don't get a chance to kind of take that break, it's like you know. So it's really really difficult. We've got a friend of ours, a really good friend of ours, that sailed around the world. He built his own boat, left in 1981 from fort townsend, uh, and sailed, sailed the first six years without a motor yeah, yeah, okay.

Capn Tinsley:

Well, how can I get him on the podcast? Yeah, you need to.

Amy:

It's not a fact. We want to do some interviews, some sit downs with him. He is fascinating.

Shane:

He's a double edged sword. I will tell you that.

Capn Tinsley:

Oh yeah, I'll show. Is he a Gen X or a boomer? He's a boomer.

Shane:

He's a boomer.

Capn Tinsley:

He's a great storyteller.

Amy:

You really do need to talk to Casey.

Capn Tinsley:

That sounds awesome. He's pretty well known in Guatemala. Yes, let's see, kathy says cannot imagine traveling alone. Oh, yes, oh, it's, it's, there's nothing like it. It's very gratifying, it's very gratifying.

Amy:

No doubt. Yeah, We've only been just the two of us sailing on Maverick twice, a couple of times, just for a few days, All of our big sails, all of our passages.

Shane:

We said we always have friends, we always have friends that want to come with us.

Amy:

Oh, so you really haven't been on there by yourself sailing, like you know, uh, for for four, five, six days at a time.

Shane:

You know it's just out to islands, yeah, like we did, we left.

Amy:

We left guatemala uh, this time together, just the two of us and went to believe together with Placentia, picked up a friend. Actually, all the way to keep conquer, we picked up a person. So we have done some together, but you know, when you're going on a long passage and a friend wants to come along, that that's a help. You know somebody that can actually help.

Shane:

It's it's hard to think yeah, jeff, he's probably on here listening to you.

Capn Tinsley:

This is another, jeff.

Shane:

He's got a boat down in Guatemala and he's probably going to be single-handed and he just wanted some experience and he's a really good friend of ours and he wanted to make the trip with us.

Amy:

So he made the trip across.

Capn Tinsley:

So you're getting all your friends into sailing, or something, I guess.

Shane:

That's the way it is. I guess you know.

Amy:

I love it and I have a lot of friends who say, oh, we need to take them out and like concentrate, you know. So we're waiting for the main sail. Because we did blow out our main sail on the crossing back to Louisiana. We hit a 50-knot squall, so that was an old main sail.

Shane:

Actually, you probably heard of that boat that washed up in Pensacola, right?

Capn Tinsley:

Not too long ago. Yeah, I remember hearing about that.

Shane:

So that was the exact same night. We were in the exact same squall that they called Mayday. We were only a few miles from them.

Amy:

Yeah, yeah, that was June. Uh, that was very early june. Um, everything was fine and this was only bad weather for the entire trip down and back up. This was the only bad weather we encountered and it was pretty gnarly. I mean, it was our first experience, a squall experience under sail, you know and it was 53 knots so, so it was pretty good.

Shane:

It was actually an old main that we had, that we knew. Once again, you talked about Guatemala. We couldn't get one down in Guatemala. We tried. Our plan was when we got back up here, it's just to get a new main sail. It was taken care of for us about halfway across the call.

Capn Tinsley:

That's what it was made for. You're supposed to reef early in a storm. We thought we did well, actually, actually we were I was completely feel that wind starting to like. Uh oh, something's coming, you know I was completely reef.

Shane:

We were reefed down right down to, yeah, the the sail was literally it was really old, but but I was completely ready to go. Yeah, the funny thing is we actually went through one squall and it got up to about 35 knots and it's funny. We're probably see that in a in one of our videos. I'm actually talking about that and I was like you know, they say reefer early, you know, and I was, so when the squall came by, it really wasn't any problem at 30 knots, we, we sailed right on, we kept sailing reach.

Shane:

It was no problem at all. And then it literally on the radar. It just blew up right around us and we were like right in the middle of it and it went from 30 actually it was 30 knots initially then it went back down to about 15 to 20 again and then, when they, when it blew up around us, it went from 15 knots to 53 knots in a matter of five minutes lightning everywhere was crazy.

Amy:

It was. Yeah, it was. We have a very high freeboard on maverick um and these guys. We were all very focused on our jobs at the time and actually I do have some footage. I did have to put the camera down at some point so you only have sound, because it was kind of crazy. But that high, high pre-board was in the water. So once we got upwind or was it downwind- Once we turned downwind.

Shane:

Once we turned downwind, we turned upwind to get the headsail, basically in, and then turned on the motor and basically motor down. She righted herself.

Shane:

Because the sail was blown out. I couldn't get it down. So we just basically we were kind of further east this time, maybe pointed towards Pensacola, because I knew the way the wind was. We were on a beam reach doing well, and we were in the current and I knew that later on I was going to actually have to turn west anyway to get down to Louisiana and I basically just ran with the storm for about two hours and it actually got us down to our rum line and then, when things kind of went away and we turned up, we were pretty much right, on course for Louisiana. We were out of the current at that point, so we kind of lost about two knots of speed.

Amy:

But it actually worked out pretty well for us it gave me a lot of confidence in in Maverick. Uh, this is a very solid, very comfortable. I feel very safe in this boat. Um, I'm not glad we had to go through it, but I'm glad that we learned what we learned from it. You know, um, because it happens to everybody. Uh, I'm sure it does. I can't even imagine going through it, going through it single-handed like that.

Capn Tinsley:

Uh, but I had some. I had some conditions coming across the gulf um in december and and I kept hearing the uh, the warnings on the vhf and I thought I better tell somebody I'm out here. So I called the Coast Guard because they should say they also I've also heard call early. You know, reef early, call early. And so I just said, hey, I've heard a couple of warnings and I just want to let you know where I am. And they followed up with me like every half hour until I was tied up to a dock.

Capn Tinsley:

I even wanted them to go away at one point because I got into a bay and it was all quiet. I was so tired. It was like 30 hours nonstop, you know, and I couldn't get in and I was having some, some.

Capn Tinsley:

I was getting white smoke out of my engine and not all the RPMs. And so there was. I couldn't get where I wanted to go, you know, because the waves were keeping me, preventing me and I didn't have all the RPMs. And so there was, I couldn't get where I wanted to go, you know, because the waves were keeping me, preventing me and I didn't have all the RPMs. And so when I finally got into Apalachicola Bay, they called and I said, oh, I'm good now. And they, but they wouldn't stop calling me until I was tied up. And I was really happy about that, yeah, yeah.

Capn Tinsley:

So I saw my mom asked earlier, I think she was wanting to know like what's your longest trip by yourself? Well, usually, if it's going to be like 48 hours, scott will come with me and make that crossing with me, Like, say, from Clearwater or from Destin to Clearwater, that's, that's about just under 48 hours, and I'll get him to do that with me. But I'll do 30 hours, um, and then I'll go, I'll go out of the way, keys, but I will break it up. You know I'll stop and overnight and hang out and you know, for a couple of days even. You know I make it fun. You know I have a little bike, a little fold up bike bike and um and so, but uh, you know, 30 hours, uh, I do 18. Like, from marco to the keys is about 18 hours, whether it's to marathon or the or key west, um and those.

Shane:

So you know, I'm just napping in the cockpit yeah, yeah, wow yeah, I think that's what a lot of people don't don't get is that? I think they think you're doing something the whole time and you always hear it, but it's kind of like 90% boredom. So, as a matter of fact, I would say, most of the time I'm looking for things to do, I'm trimming the sails, I'm just kind of going around checking things and there's really not a lot to do, but I do find it difficult to sleep.

Amy:

Yeah, she didn't let any pirates, board this boat. This is the wrong boat, don't do it.

Capn Tinsley:

No pirates, they don't want any. They don't want any part of me. I'm ready for them. Yeah, yeah, they don't want any part of me. You know what?

Shane:

I'm talking about. You know what I'm talking about. You know what I'm talking about. They don't want to be trying to get on any gen xers boat.

Capn Tinsley:

No no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no no no no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no no no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

Capn Tinsley:

I did set out from Clearwater one time to go to Destin by myself, and about 1.30 in the morning and I was about 12 hours in about 1.30 in the morning I got vertical lightning in front of me and I have a serious weather exam on my chart platter and it was moving off the coast and I and so I stopped. I just stopped in the water and thought let it go by. No, it started moving towards me and uh, and I was like, oh, should I just go through the vertical lightning? I decided against it. It was like striking the water in front of me, that's one of my first years.

Amy:

It's like it's all mad I was.

Capn Tinsley:

I was so mad. And the water went from calm yeah, the gulf, calm gulf to bathtub. And so I was. And so I turned around and my husband was tracking me and he, he was here in gulf shores and he, he woke up and texted me on the in-reach Explorer and he goes you're going the wrong way. And I thought, if I just go back this way a little bit, but it just kept following me and I was so mad.

Capn Tinsley:

I made a lot of progress and he and I and I said, and then he pulled up his computer there's a storm following you. I'll go. Yeah, I think that another friend got up and checked too and she said the same thing are you awake, your?

Amy:

boat turned around. Yeah, her track through that squall was wild and crazy. Yeah, yeah, I think that's that.

Shane:

That's something that is difficult for non-sailors to understand like for you to give up it. It takes a lot to fight your way and for you to give up fighting your way and give up ground. No sailor likes to do that like it has to be. And I tell you that lightning that we saw, that was probably the most and and, like it would hit and Amy would go oh and and, and that's the thing is like I, you know, getting hit by lightning. There's so many things that can happen, you know, I mean it blows out your electronics and that that's, that's a, that's a huge deal. But the lightning has to go somewhere and if it blows a hole in your boat, you know, I mean my mom is not gonna need to hear that.

Capn Tinsley:

Don't say that let's see if she's saying anything here. Uh, yeah there's a lot of comments in here, but yeah, they're not. They're not commenting right now. Well, look at this one. They got quiet all of a sudden. Oh wait here, here here's one. Didn't stop, made it lessTA, didn't stop for gas.

Amy:

Yeah, that's right.

Capn Tinsley:

Yeah, I was more mad than anything that I had to go back 12 hours and I didn't go back to Clearwater, I went back to Tarpon Springs, so, and then the next day I left from there, just made a shorter crossing. Yeah, but it's all in the experience. I have a good friend that whenever you you know, when you uh, do you always like hurt yourself on the boat, you look down, you're just blood coming out of your leg, like how did that happen? It's all part of the experience. Yeah, that happened today. Yes, like my friend, whenever something bad happens on the boat, just says it's all part of the experience. And so that's. I started saying that You're going to take the good with the bad. So true, all right. So so you said so. What's this about the Caribbean? You said that you had some adventures in the Caribbean too.

Amy:

Yeah, well, that's what we haven't been to the Eastern Caribbean. That's on the list of things to do. Just the Western Caribbean, belize, Mexico and out of Guatemala. So that's been our stomping ground so far.

Shane:

And we've really enjoyed Belize. They have just got so many remote and what we kind of like is we look remote off by ourself, type things. It may not sound like that because we always seem to have friends with us. That's true, but that's kind of cool. We've met like so many good friends and we just always, you know we'll take off and I think that's the thing is like. We like to get out and around you know, just another couple or two or three couples and it's been awesome Some of the islands in Belize. It's amazing to be able to sit on the back of your boat and jump in the water. And then in Mexico, it's kind of funny. In Mexico, on the way down we were sailing. We wanted to stop in Tulum. It was nighttime, it wasn't really right, so I decided to kind of keep on going through the night because we were going to try and day hop down.

Amy:

I don't like pulling into places at night. That's still anxiety-inducing.

Shane:

A new place, a new place and down there generally it's going through a reef, through a cut, so you pretty much need to have good light. So we kind of head on down. And then I wanted to get into this small fishing community down in Mexico because I've really read about it and that's the thing. Like I really research a lot of the places that I go, we didn't really Like where, Like you said, this small fishing village.

Shane:

That was Punta Allen. So Punta Allen is in Beta Spiritus, I think it's right in the lower. It's probably about halfway between Isla Mujeres and San Pedro, so it was a good stopping point. But it's awesome. It's just a little fishing community.

Amy:

We missed that one, but you'll see in the next video coming out where we ended up when we crossed the Gulf, going down in the catamaran. You know we were aiming for Isla Mujeres. We should talk about Rio. Yeah, that's what you'll see in the next one Aiming for Isla Mujeres, but blew out.

Capn Tinsley:

See, I've been to those places, but not my boat, right, it was amazing. Been to rio lagartos? No, not there, but I've been to isla muhenes and you know. Cozumel, yeah, belize, ambergus, key, yeah, yeah that's where we pulled in.

Shane:

But yeah, yeah so, honduras bay island. So we so when we were coming up, like I said, we were kind of getting the wind was going against us, so we went down, yeah, so we bared off and we were trying to make um pole box and it still kind of pushed us further west. So we ended up in this place. I was kind of looking on the chart. It's like I don't know anything between here and progresso, like I was, like I don't know where we're gonna go where we're gonna end up, you know.

Shane:

So I saw this little place look like it was decent, it was a river. I said, okay, we can anchor there. Uh, fix one of our one if we have. We had one of our engines we had a little bit of issues with. I wanted to try and um get that fixed up and then um, so we got in there real lagarto.

Amy:

But when we went in there. So we got in there Rio.

Shane:

Lagartos. But when we went in there we find out this is like a nature reserve and they have pink lakes, salt lakes and have flamingos there. The flamingos that go to Florida stay there year-round and mate there Crocodiles. Maybe I shouldn't say that with your mom around as well.

Capn Tinsley:

Crocodiles yeah.

Amy:

Crocodiles, my favorite pelicans everywhere. It's incredible. This video is going to be beautiful. I can't wait to see it. Oh man, we showed up not knowing what to expect and it was mind-blowing. Amanda who came with us. She said it's one of the most amazing places she's ever been and she has sailed a lot.

Capn Tinsley:

It's pretty incredible great friends you gotta just. I mean you could go around the world with all these friends we're so blessed.

Amy:

Pretty much everywhere, yeah, everywhere we go, the most amazing people and and you know, to be able to bring them with us on these, these adventures, is awesome.

Capn Tinsley:

Oh, I have to do introduce tonight's sponsor. Go ahead, yeah, which is me. In case you didn't know, my name is Tinsley Myrick. I'm with Remax of Orange Beach. I sell Gulffront condos here in Orange Beach and Gulf Shores. I've been doing this for 21 years so I know what I'm doing. So come on down if you want to buy a Gulf front condo or a Gulf front house or a non waterfront house or or condo. And there's the phone number and there's the email. Tinsleymyrickcom Appreciate you letting me do that. I had to get that in there. Got to pay the bills, yeah, yeah. And and speaking of so, did you like my little introduction trade in the deck for the? Uh, for the desk for the deck we might steal that.

Capn Tinsley:

I might steal that one from you um, so are you helping other people do this? Uh, oh, you froze up. Am I frozen?

Shane:

no, no, no, I don't can you hear me?

Capn Tinsley:

yeah, yeah, you're frozen, but you got nice smiles on your face, okay. Um so are you helping people uh achieve my like? Could you uh advise people on how to uh manage their money in such a way where they could go sailing?

Shane:

manage their money in such a way where they could go sailing. So if I don't know if you did go to our website, but we've got you know kind of on our website it says what's your sailboat and that's kind of the deal with an investment advisor. And I would say that I'm probably not your typical investment advisor because I think that, you know, traditional retirement is maybe not what a lot of people think of it is and and I would say my experience has kind of been this is that you know, especially men, women seem to have an easier time with retiring, but men, I think their identity is tied to what they do and they they don't like to give up. Uh, you know what they do, um, and and you know, retirement to them maybe it may be sailing, it may be traveling, uh, it could be, it could be anything, you know. But so that's what I do when I, when I do talk to people, that's, you know, mostly we have questions about um, you know what, what their goals are for retirement.

Amy:

Hey, heather, I see you. Yep, you're going with us next. I'm sorry we're frozen guys.

Capn Tinsley:

I'm trying to fix that, yeah try turning your camera off for a second, see if that helps. And yeah, luckily, my husband and I we both sell real estate in this market, so we are able to travel because we deal mostly with second home market and investment properties and most of the people live elsewhere, like a lot of our clients are from Louisiana.

Shane:

Yeah, well, I will tell you, it's kind of one of the things that really, uh, this made me to kind of decide to do this, because generally, when I talk to my clients, you know they're talking about what. What they want to do and what it has been, you know, in the past, is that they tell you what their dreams and goals are and I help.

Capn Tinsley:

Oh, we lost them, but they're going to come back. We'll just give them a second. I can't wait to hear the rest of that story. So you guys still with me. In the comment section here, heather says that she's going with them next time. Heather, where are you? Are you in Louisiana? Looks like they're back. Okay, I hear you. Don't say anything bad, just don't see you.

Amy:

Let's try to restart.

Capn Tinsley:

Oh, I don't know what it's doing Well, sometimes if you leave the studio and come back in, is that what you did?

Shane:

Sometimes that'll help.

Capn Tinsley:

Uh, let's see I'll leave studio and come back, okay, oh yeah, so Heather says we are going with them next Heather's in Louisiana. I see that. Okay, that's awesome. We might have to do it without the camera, I'm sorry.

Shane:

I guess, so Darn it Is the camera, actually the camera.

Amy:

Yeah, you know what? Let me try this.

Capn Tinsley:

Lakeisha says Needs to get better wifi on that boat Sometimes, Sometimes the Starlink can Interrupt. You know what I mean.

Shane:

The camera? I'm not really sure, but anyway I'll keep.

Amy:

I'll keep working on it and he can keep talking if you want, okay yeah, so keep tell me what you were saying so.

Shane:

So what I found is that when I've talked to people, you know, the goals and dreams of a 50 year old is different than the goals and dreams of a 70 year old or 65 year old, and typically that's what they do. They're're like, okay, I want to buy a sailboat and I want to sail. And by the time, well, you know, generally, when I'm, when I'm, when I start working with somebody, typically I'm working with somebody that is, um, uh, you know, approaching retirement or they just entered retirement. So lots of times you know, I'll start working with somebody 55, 60, 65, you know. So what they'll do is they'll, they'll start talking about their dreams and goals, but they do change. You know, if they've got a 10 year, 15 year plan, uh, just because your, your, your, your, you know goal changes. And that's kind of where we were. We were like, okay, well, we can sit and we can wait, you know, until we're 65.

Capn Tinsley:

But we may not want to. Oh, it looks like you turned off your mic. I'm going to turn it back on.

Amy:

Well, it wouldn't let me. Okay, can you hear me yeah?

Shane:

I guess we're not no video, I'm so sorry, I don't know why Something's going on with the camera itself.

Amy:

It's an external camera here, but it's messing up.

Capn Tinsley:

Did you go to settings in StreamYard? Because you can connect the external camera to your computer. Then you have to go into the settings of StreamYard. This is going to fix it. I think Yay, yes.

Amy:

I see you.

Capn Tinsley:

Thank you, that was the right fix, okay. Well, what? What I've been able to do? Um, what I've been able to do is I've been, uh, able to sail while I'm working, although this year hasn't been the greatest, but but most of the years have been pretty good, um so, so I didn't have I haven't although I'd like to do it full time, you know when I'm not there yet but, uh, I have been able to figure out a way to to sail and work, so, so that's what.

Shane:

That's what I do. We've got you know um Starlink and I help my clients whether I'm here or I leave you know through.

Capn Tinsley:

Zoom calls.

Shane:

You know it hasn't been an issue. So, uh, you know and and and and. You know most clients. You know retirement's a very abstract word. It's different for everybody. So you know there's a lot of us. As a matter of fact, you see our friends in there that are like. You know, I don't think maybe one of them actually would like to be on a sailboat and sail, but for the most part.

Shane:

No, that's not something that they want to do, which is cool, yeah, you know, because you know and I've got friends that when they retire, you know they just want to golf all the time and honestly, I mean that's expensive too honestly.

Amy:

I mean, that's expensive too. I was concentrating on getting the camera going, so I don't know how deep you got. But we have, um, another channel. You know the sailing advisor is oh okay and, um, a lot of people at first are like you haven't been doing this long enough to be a sailing advisor. Well, he's not advising people how to sail, right, he's an advisor who sails so yeah, you ask, just you know, does he help people? Yeah, that's, the goal is to help people. Uh, for the sailing advisor.

Capn Tinsley:

Yeah, yeah, yeah, what's the channel? And I'll put it up.

Amy:

I'm sorry um it's on youtube. It's the sailing advisor and and I have it linked on our youtube, our facebook page.

Amy:

You can get to the sailing advisor on all of our social media. I have it linked. So, uh, we're just building that page and that channel, so it's pretty new. I'd love to get everybody over there to join, uh, the sailing advisor, because we are going to start putting out a lot more financially focused stuff, um, to help people. One of the things that we ask is what's your sailboat? You know you may not want to sail, but what is your dream? What's your set, though? You know? Is it being able to golf every day? Is it, you know? Is it travel? Whatever it may be, you know, the dream is to be able to help others achieve that, whatever it is for whatever their dream is.

Capn Tinsley:

Yeah, that makes sense. Uh, what I have found about the sailing thing is that most of the men want to do it, but the women don't. Women- don't.

Shane:

We are very rare, it's so funny, tensley, because I have a lot of people like how did you convince Amy to do this? I'm like man, I'm telling you I think she likes it more than me. We both really enjoy it, but she really does. And as far as like being remote and away from people, she could definitely stay there longer than I could I'm kind of like in between. I'm kind of like you know, I want to go out and I want to be remote. Then I want to get in and around people.

Amy:

I think amy could just stay there I, I I love it I just love being out there and and I don't, I can't tell you what, what it's like to be around so much nature. It's just so. It's life-changing. I've never experienced anything like that before and then you've got your.

Capn Tinsley:

You've got your phone for social media, just to be in touch. Just enough, right?

Amy:

old school sailors, like captain john, who we bought this boat from, and casey, they kind of, they kind of laugh at us.

Capn Tinsley:

They're like okay we got our line going yeah, they spoiled as sailors these days.

Shane:

That is the thing. Like casey built his boat. There's nothing on that boat. I'm telling you, when he's like, he's like shane I don't know why you got that wi-fi. It's just gonna break man. Just get rid of it now it probably will but then when it breaks I'll go back to not having it, just like he hasn't, you know yeah yeah, we are the price.

Amy:

The price has come down, so you know it's nice, but he will tell you he doesn't even want internet when he's out there. You know, and people like us, we kind of start itching for it after a while.

Capn Tinsley:

You know well it's, it's, it goes back to travel now or travel later, and I don't have to wait until I retire. I can do it now if I have that absolutely and it allows me to go more places, like I was anchoring in the everglades. There's no cell service in the everglades. I was anchoring in the everglades. There's no cell service in the everglades. I was anchoring in the everglades. I was anchoring at an island in between dry tortugas and key west. There's no self coverage there that allows me to go more places.

Amy:

That's the way you answer that question yeah, we would be years away from doing it. Yeah, it's a game changer, right exactly?

Capn Tinsley:

yeah, yeah. So, captain tinsley, are you a diver? Yes, I've been encouraging him to get certified. The experience brings the water to a whole different level. I miss it.

Amy:

Yeah, yes, we years ago. She she's highly recommending it and shane's.

Capn Tinsley:

We, oh, you are um yeah we got in 2009, and we made up for lost time. I mean, we've been to Cozumel probably 15 times. That's probably the best place. There's so much, the price is right, it's easy to get to and it's beautiful and there's so many choices there. But we've also been to Roatan, Belize. Oh, Island Spirit, oh, Island Spirit. Oh my gosh, Do you all have Starlink? Yes, we all have Starlink. Hayden, Thank you for coming on. That's cool. I'm so glad you came on. He is the king of. This man right here is the king of Island Packets. He runs the Facebook page for Island Packets.

Shane:

He's also a broker and he can answer any question about island packets and probably any other boat too I've got a really good friend of mine down in guatemala that has an island packet that sailed for steve that sailed from the us east coast. Hey down through uh down through bahamas, all around, um, you know, the eastern, eastern or Western Caribbean, and then all the way down to Guatemala. And he actually got stuck in Guatemala. Yeah, stuck as he had to stay there, yeah. He's been there for years now.

Capn Tinsley:

Hayden probably knows who that is. Hayden probably knows the man who went to Guatemala and stayed there.

Shane:

I bet he does Steve at Catamarans. Actually he's pretty well known. Yeah, steve Elliott, right, steve Elliott.

Capn Tinsley:

Steve Elliott. Do you know Steve Elliott Hayden? Okay, 35 years of my IP. 35 years IP is Island Packet for those that are IP challenged.

Amy:

Yes, I see my friend Michael said he would love to live a life without internet. It's not too bad Once you get off of it for a bit, it's kind of nice.

Capn Tinsley:

Yeah, until the bills come due, right. But Hayden Island Spirit, here, he's got it. He's got it and he's retired and he has it. Let's see, oh, he has it. Yeah, let's see. Oh, steve Elliott Okay, steve Elliott, island Packet. Yeah, named Snowflake. He runs a marina now called Catamaran Marina. See, he knows everybody with an island packet.

Amy:

It's pretty small, you know. In that we all start to know each other.

Shane:

Yeah, we've helped him. He does a lot of volunteering down down there. We actually helped steve down there. He helps a uh, an orphanage down there. Yeah, what's your name?

Amy:

something mama mama, mama conas, mama conas, I think it's a home for orphan children. He does so much, wow, amazing.

Shane:

He's a good guy yeah, we, we, we absolutely love guatemala. Like, uh, we, we. I couldn't say I mean, it's kind of funny. We didn't know a lot about guatemala when we went down there. But man, we absolutely love guatemala.

Amy:

I've been having withdrawals.

Capn Tinsley:

I love it so much there, yeah yeah, um, well, you should come on next week because, uh, hayden Island Spirit 35 is going to be on here and they go I think 26 years, hayden, 26 years to the Caribbean and they go like November to May, yeah, and he's going to come on and talk about the route that they take from Florida to the Caribbean and we're going to talk about some of the anchorages. So you might want to tune in next week, absolutely, yeah. Yeah, that'll be great, that'll be a good one, so, and we'll have visuals and everything. So what's next for you guys?

Shane:

Well, this year we're probably going to leave, uh, around january, kind of right after the holidays. You know, I've got a kid that plays soccer in mississippi college and it's hurricane season, so and then, and then you got the holidays coming up, so we decided not to leave till, you know, after the holidays. Uh, we're gonna, we're gonna hop across the florida panhandle, uh, down to key west, spend a little bit of time there and then bounce across the bemony, you know my dad's watching uh I've been wanting to go to key west for years because my dad always went.

Amy:

So I know you're watching, dad.

Shane:

I can't wait to uh to show everybody key west from the boat yeah, so so there, we're going to go over to um, the exumas and aluthra and the exumas and probably spend three months there and come back yeah okay, well, you'll have to tune in next week and uh, and here, um, here's, here's, he says, yeah, november to may, miami to antigua.

Capn Tinsley:

So um, tune in and you can hear what his, what his route is. He certainly has done it many, many, many times, um, but, and I can help you with key west and the panhandle and orange beach and gulf shores and and the west coast of florida, even though awesome, yeah, yeah, so we got you covered always meet awesome people that help us oh yeah, and I love it that you're gen xers, so is there anything else you guys want to cover?

Capn Tinsley:

is there anything you want to talk about your business or anything like that, and where? What?

Amy:

gen x pats tell, tell us about that name we're gen x and we're x, so most get it. Uh, you know, we sometimes have to explain it, you know, but everybody goes.

Capn Tinsley:

Oh, okay, okay yeah, but you're not expats though. Well, here.

Amy:

What's next and what's coming and what is coming I actually am an expat.

Capn Tinsley:

I'm from canada, yeah, that's true okay, all right I did get it. By the way, I did get expats Gen X, so awesome. I guess I'm a senior citizen Gen X. I was born in 65.

Amy:

Yeah, still one, that's all right.

Shane:

You get all the movies, all the play on words.

Amy:

yeah, but we do plan as the next few years pass. We want to be splitting our time right now between the Caribbean and here because our boys are all in college. One of them just finished welding school, you know, but will probably set off and not come back to too much.

Capn Tinsley:

Oh yeah, well, that sounds awesome. That sounds awesome. So Hayden said spend time in Biscayne Bay. He loves spending time in Biscayne Bay. I've been there also and that's where I crossed to the Bahamas. I did go to the Bahamas once on my boat, on my ip27 um. So yeah, so tune in next week. And and hayden is a great, he's a valuable um source of information for for all of that.

Amy:

So uh looking forward to that yeah, we all are.

Capn Tinsley:

We'll all help each other, right?

Amy:

that's right yeah but if anybody out there is is has got questions for us, you can. You can reach us through our facebook page. My facebook page is pretty, is the is the more active one, but you can go to youtube and uh and send us a message and they find that at gen x pats.

Capn Tinsley:

I found, found it on TikTok, I found it on Instagram. We try to be everywhere.

Amy:

We have a website. You can message us or you can email us genxpats at genxpatscom. You know, like I said, shane is a financial advisor and he's here to help. You know everybody out there who's who's trying to get to that dream. You know, whatever that dream, is.

Capn Tinsley:

That's awesome. All right, and I can attest y'all are very friendly. I reached out to you and you got right back to me and said Gen X, yeah, let's do it. That sounds like fun.

Shane:

You reached out to the right person.

Amy:

Amy's the one that you know of kind of does everything, oh man I was like, let's do it, and we haven't done a podcast yet well, thank you very much. You were episode number 36, so all right, all right we're, we're privileged and we're so happy to be here and and we thank you for having us on well I'm going to follow up with you guys, so this won't be the last time you're on here oh great, we'd love to do it again. Yeah, hey, maybe we can do it.

Shane:

Maybe we can put together down in pirates go, yeah, if we cross.

Capn Tinsley:

That sounds awesome. That sounds awesome. Yeah, all right. Well, I like to end, uh, my shows like this salty abandon out. It didn't go, salty, abandoned out.

People on this episode

Head Shot

Captain Tinsley

Host

Podcasts we love

Check out these other fine podcasts recommended by us, not an algorithm.

Gettin' Beachy Podcast: Real Estate & Lifestyle Artwork

Gettin' Beachy Podcast: Real Estate & Lifestyle

Tinsley & Dana | Gulf Shores & Orange Beach Real Estate Agents