Salty Podcast #51 | ⛵Circumnavigating with Sailing Songbird! LIVE from New Zealand⚓🌊

Join us as we set sail on an extraordinary journey with Luke Hartley, a celebrated sailor with a remarkable following of over 900,000 on Instagram. Luke is currently in New Zealand, preparing his trusty 1976 Vancouver 27 sailboat, Songbird, for a thrilling voyage to Fiji. From his humble beginnings in Seattle to his current adventures in the South Pacific, Luke's story is one of passion, resilience, and the pursuit of dreams on the open ocean. Discover how a chance encounter with the YouTube sailing community, particularly the channel Delos, inspired him to navigate the world and pursue the art of solo sailing.

In this episode, we explore the unique challenges and rewards of solo sailing, where technology like Starlink offers both connection and solitude. Luke shares fascinating tales of navigating the seas armed only with his wits and a few modern tools. He reflects on the isolation and mental intensity of solo sailing, drawing inspiration from past navigators like Tanya Abbey. We discuss the balance between technology and the simplicity of ocean life, as Luke recounts his adventures in losing a Starlink dish and embracing the tranquility of being offline at sea.

As we journey through the Pacific with Luke, he opens up about the motivations behind a sailor's life—finding solace, meaning, and self-sufficiency amidst the vast ocean. We touch on memorable encounters, like a serendipitous rescue of stranded fishermen off Baja, and the rewarding lifestyle of working for personal fulfillment. Looking forward, Luke shares his upcoming plans, from engine repairs to future routes through the South Pacific, inviting listeners to follow his inspiring journey via Instagram and his website, Sailing Songbird. This episode captures the heart of a sailor's life: one of passion, exploration, and a relentless spirit of adventure.

Chapters

• 0:00 Sailor's Journey to Circumnavigate Alone
• 15:33 Solo Sailing and the Ocean Experience
• 23:53 Reflections on Solo Sailing and Rescues
• 31:57 Pacific Sailing Adventures and Engine Troubles
• 38:01 Learning and Mentoring in Solo Sailing
• 47:02 Living Simply and Sailing Alone
• 58:39 Sailing Life and Future Plans
• 1:08:11 Circumnavigation Check-Ins and Support

Transcript

Capn Tinsley: 0:00

Tonight we have a compelling guest joining us Luke Hartley of Sailing Songbird. You may have heard of him. He has an impressive following on Instagram north of 900,000. Luke is currently circumnavigating aboard his 1976 Vancouver 27, a vintage sailboat that's seen it all Starting in Seattle. He's now in New Zealand putting in the repair work before setting sail again on his world tour. We'll talk about his journey, the highs and lows of long-term cruising, and how he's keeping his classic sailboat in top shape for the adventure of a lifetime. Before we get started, please, please, pretty please, hit all the buttons like share, subscribe and drop your questions in the live chat so Luke can respond in real time. I'm Captain Tinsley of Sailing Vessel, salty Abandoned, and this is the Salty Podcast, episode 51. Please help me welcome Luke Hartley. Hey, hey, luke.

Capn Luke: 1:01

Hello, how's it going?

Capn Tinsley: 1:03

Going good. Thanks for being here. Sorry it didn't work out yesterday, but glad you made it today. Yeah you were in the little big project, huh.

Capn Luke: 1:13

Yeah, I was incredibly busy fitting in my new engine bears which will hold the mounts that my new engine will then sit on.

Capn Tinsley: 1:22

Okay, might as well talk about that. So, first of all, you're in New Zealand. Yeah, sailed there from Seattle.

Capn Luke: 1:29

Mm-hmm. I'm in New Zealand primarily to escape cyclone season. In the South Pacific, cyclone season runs until May 1st and then May 1st I will set sail north for Fiji. Wow, yeah, right now I'm spending like I'm not really able to see much of new zealand, um, because I'm just in the boatyard all day, every day. Um, getting everything done that I need to get done in order to have a successful cruising season next. Um, yeah, next season next year and when is that next season?

Capn Luke: 2:07

well, so yeah, next season would be like may 1st, when cyclone season ends, and then it's like the cruise season begins in in the south pacific okay, so uh, tell us about the boat. 1976, vancouver 27 yeah, it's an old boat. Um, I'm really excited for next year I'll be able to throw songbird a 50th birthday party um wow, I don't know what I'll do yet, but it'll be good.

Capn Luke: 2:34

Um, yeah, she's a. She's a beautiful boat, um. She was built in vancouver, um, in uh 76, um, and the the first vancouver 27 that ever existed was sailed from vancouver to new zealand, where I am now, um, and then back to canada, um, and when they got back, uh like, people were like whoa, you like sailed all the way new zealand and back. We should like take some molds of this hull. We should like make some more of these boats. If you've gone so far, um, and so I think it's just about two or three hundred of them were made before. Um, the molds were destroyed in a fire in the mid 80s, um, and like, the boatyard burned down and that halted production forever wow and so, yeah, there's not too many of them, but, um, you'll typically find that they've done some pretty great sailing.

Capn Luke: 3:31

Um, there's a boat called firebird. Um, that is a vancouver 27 and it's a couple that did I mean an unbelievable amount of ocean miles. They went around cape horn on their vancouver 27. Um, my favorite thing about songbird is just the fact that every time I mean I meet someone or I'm chatting with someone and they're like, oh, what kind of boat do you have? And I say that it's a 27 foot boat, it's so small, their eyes always get super wide and they're shocked that I've made it so far on such a small boat.

Capn Tinsley: 4:02

But I like is it? Is it a blue water boat?

Capn Luke: 4:06

I don't know anything about them, yeah I mean, it was built by robert harris, the designer, specifically to sail from vancouver to new zealand and then back okay, it was always built for the purpose of ocean sailing um okay, yeah, you can. I mean you can cross oceans in in an, in an even smaller vessel, as long as that's what it's built for right, yeah, okay, um, all right, let me go to my questions over here.

Capn Tinsley: 4:34

What inspired you to do this the solo circumnavigation and was there a defining moment that pushed you to commit?

Capn Luke: 4:41

yeah, I get this question a lot. Um, I suppose it has to be asked.

Capn Tinsley: 4:44

Yeah.

Capn Luke: 4:48

Oh, it's a good place to start, um, so I was a middle school music teacher in Seattle. Um, and I was teaching, and it was not as fulfilling as I had imagined it to be, for a myriad of reasons. I had imagined it to be for a myriad of reasons, and I was aimlessly scrolling on YouTube one day and then found the YouTube sailors like the sailors that are posting their experiences online, and Delos, specifically, was the channel that I dove into and from them, I watched every single, I'm like every one of the videos. I mean, I watched years and years of their voyage, um, and found myself falling in love with it and, like, was looking forward to watching the next video. And, um, it got to a point where I was like I need to figure out how to do this myself. Um, I, I, yeah, I mean, I was just so inspired by their account of their circumnavigation that, um, it just seemed like the, the logical next step for me, um, and so had you sailed at all?

Capn Luke: 6:01

no, never had been on a boat at all. No, never had been on a boat I. When I was. I was fortunate enough to like go on a vacation to hawaii with my family when I was younger and I think we did like a catamaran excursion for a day to like see dolphins with like 60 other people on the boat, and I think that's like literally, literally the only other time that I had ever been on a boat.

Capn Luke: 6:24

So, um, yeah, I really jumped in not knowing anything and just kind of, I mean, I remember Googling how to sail and then like reading the first couple articles that came up on explaining points of sale and lift and such like that lift and such like that, and um, yeah, I was into it, I was hooked. No lessons, uh, no. So I, the way I like learned how to sail was um, I was just a substitute teacher at this point um, and I had like more money that I'd ever had in my life because I had like a big boy job. You know what I mean. Um, you know that, like first adult job that you get, sure, it's like the most an unbelievable amount of money to you because you've never had a job before. And so I took a couple months off. I took two months off of teaching and substituting and I flew down to Mexico and jumped on a sailboat. Oh, one of my colleagues is in the chat saying best teacher ever.

Capn Tinsley: 7:24

Look at that Best teacher ever.

Capn Luke: 7:27

Yeah, one of my old colleagues. Thank you, leland, tell us more. And yeah, I flew down to Mexico for two months and jumped on a boat that I'd met on Facebook and I crewed for them, for them for a couple of weeks, and then I was kind of done on that boat. So I jumped on the paddleboard and introduced myself to all the other sailors in the Anchorage and see who had an extra bunk and where everyone was going, and, uh, found everyone always had an extra bunk, um, which was great, um, and so I jumped on another boat and then sailed with them for a little while, jumped on another boat, so with them for a little while, jumped on another boat, so with them for a little while, um, and so just, I just hitchhiked around for two months, um, and then flew back to seattle.

Capn Tinsley: 8:17

Where all did you go just around mexico?

Capn Luke: 8:20

sailed as far south as Acapulco in Mexico and as far north as La Paz, baja, so I did a crossing of the Sea of Cortez, like a five-day crossing. Is that how long it takes? We didn't have an engine, so, yeah, that's how long it took us to get there. I haven't been there yet. I want to. Yeah, it's incredible. I think I got maybe like two or three hundred miles from those two months sailing. I mean kind of all I needed in order to feel competent and confident enough to get my own boat, put my own life on the line, kind of a thing that's great that you had that freedom yeah, I mean put my own life on the line, kind of a thing.

Capn Luke: 9:10

That's great that you had that freedom. Yeah, yeah, um, I mean I can complain until the cows come home around the way that Seattle public schools is run which is for a different podcast but, um, I can't really complain about the, the income. Um, it's like public knowledge and such, but was like because it's all like I was a public employee so our salaries are posted online, but I was making like 70 grand my first year of teaching as a certificated teacher, um, and had a, had really cheap rent and I don't really spend that much money, and so, um, it was about six months salary to buy the boat and then do everything I needed to refit the boat and so, yeah, after a couple of years of teaching, it kind of made sense that I mean it was, yeah, I was able to make it.

Capn Tinsley: 9:56

So that's great. So this is good information for there's a lot of people you probably get a lot of messages, as I do people dreaming of this, whether doing it part-time, like me, or full-time, like you, people want to do this. So, absolutely right, like the way you managed your money early on, um, and just decided I'm just gonna put it all aside.

Capn Luke: 10:21

And then, and then you you bought the boat and did all the the upgrades and then you still had some, some sale money yeah, I, I had about if I'm remembering right, I had about 10 grand saved in the bank that like that was like my total net worth kind of a thing. Um, and I just my, my goal was to make that stretch for as long as possible. Um, and yeah, and then, like my plan was to like find work in Australia or like New Zealand. When I eventually got there, um, I'm very glad I had a bunch of engine troubles, that I sunk a bunch of money in when I shouldn't have Um, and so I'm super glad that, uh, that I went viral and like people cared enough about my story to um kind of help keep me afloat financially, because I like 100 of my income right now is like off of donations, like maybe 95 of it.

Capn Luke: 11:20

Um. I make a little bit of money from tiktok, but that's about it um and that is on instagram, so I was asking you about that.

Capn Tinsley: 11:27

We were talking about that. Offline. I said how did you get 900,000 plus followers and go ahead and tell them?

Capn Luke: 11:34

Well, I mean, I just posted stories. I just posted the stories from my life, you know, and people I think that they wanted to see if I was gonna make it, you know um, and so they, yeah, followed along, but um, yeah, here's yeah I just, I work really hard at um weaving narrative and I try, I try my best to um, to to show the life. You know, um, my boat's name is songbird and so, um, I do, I, I write, I make some videos of me singing, just because if Jesus was Polynesian, I was from.

Capn Luke: 12:22

On Christmas Eve I sang all holy night. But, um, yeah, I like, I like making videos.

Capn Tinsley: 12:29

Um, these are real I haven't watched them all, but I've watched many and they're they're good yeah, thanks.

Capn Luke: 12:34

I. I put a lot of time and effort in into these um it's. Yeah, they're a huge creative outlet for me. I'm grateful that the process of creating a video and creating a reel it's a really creative process for me. So, while it is, like now, kind of my full time job, I love it. I really enjoy it.

Capn Tinsley: 13:00

I understand, yeah, so you were telling a story about what made you, what really got you a lot of followers.

Capn Luke: 13:08

Yeah, I mean the first video I had ever posted. Like I made a decision oh, I'm going to try to get popular on social media. Let me like make a video explaining hey, my name's Luke and I'm going to sell around the world. Explaining hey, my name's Luke and I'm going to sell around the world. Then I posted that video and I went from 300 followers, just like friends from college and such. I went from 300 followers to 100,000 in five days. I was like, oh, I guess this is what I do now. Then I was at 200,000 followers in like two weeks or three weeks or something and by the time I crossed the Pacific I had hit a million on Tik TOK and I was close to not, I was close to where I'm at now.

Capn Luke: 14:01

Wow, so tell about the video you did with the videos you did in the doldrums yeah, I posted a video of me paddleboarding in the doldrums which blew up and went mega viral, which is hilarious. It's got 70 million views across platforms, um, and that video got I don't know like a half million followers on TikTok and I think my analytics show 330,000 followers from Instagram. So kind of the best way to get followers is to just get lucky and go viral, because it's where most of us come from, you know that is amazing.

Capn Luke: 14:46

Yeah, yeah.

Capn Tinsley: 14:48

Yeah, and palming around in the doldrums?

Capn Luke: 14:51

Yeah, I mean I had been with that video, I had been adrift for 10 days, I had been adrift for 10 days and so getting hopping on my paddleboard, which was like my primary dinghy at that time um, hopping on the paddleboard and like going for, uh, getting some exercise in.

Capn Tinsley: 15:07

Was it scary? No, I had been. There's my boat over there and there's nothing.

Capn Luke: 15:12

I had been on like a placid lake for 10 days, like hopping off the boat to go for a little paddleboard ride. There wasn't anything to it, I mean it was colder than every other Anchorage I'd ever been in anything to it.

Capn Tinsley: 15:26

I mean, it was colder than every other anchorage I'd ever been in.

Capn Luke: 15:28

Wow, I can't imagine go to that's why it's called the pacific yeah, absolutely, absolutely well.

Capn Tinsley: 15:33

So I asked you, um oh, about your starlink and uh oh, somebody else here has a comment. Oh, that's hayden of island spirit. Um, congrats. I just added one more to your network. He's our fearless leader in the Island Packet world. He runs the Facebook group for Island Packet. He's our leader. I asked you about the Starlink. Did you upload that while you were out there? Did you paddle around and upload it?

Capn Luke: 16:08

I lost my Starlink dish on day 19 of my 49 day pacific crossing um because it was sitting on top of your boat, right yeah, I didn't.

Capn Luke: 16:19

I don't really have a lot of real estate on my little 27 foot boat, so there was no place that I could like mount the dish, um, and so I just keep it on its like little tripod thing on the bow, cause that's especially like at sea, that's kind of the only way I can get reception.

Capn Luke: 16:39

And even then, like I typically am not able to get a connection at sea with the Starlink, don't really know why Don't really need internet at sea. I mean, you know, I kind of like that I can't get internet at sea with the starlink, um, don't really know why don't really need internet at sea. I mean, you know, I I kind of like that I can't get internet at sea because then I can just spend the time with the sea and I'm not like on the internet, um, and so, yeah, typically when I'm creating videos of me at sea, I just upload them after I get to shore. Um, when I'm at sea and on passage, that time's kind of just between me and the ocean, um, and I I'm I'm happy to share the videos that I create and like that creative outlet once I get to shore, but, um, I like keeping it just between me and the ocean during those times.

Capn Tinsley: 17:27

Very nice. Yeah, I like that perspective. I don't know if you know who Tanya Abbey is.

Capn Luke: 17:37

I'm not sure I've heard the name. No, she's my hero?

Capn Tinsley: 17:41

Yeah, you should. She wrote. What did she write? Anyway, I'll think of it in a minute, but in the 1980s, at 18 years old, before GPS, she went around the world.

Capn Luke: 17:56

Oh, very cool that's incredibly impressive.

Capn Tinsley: 17:59

Yeah, she is very famous. She's written books and everything. I interviewed her.

Capn Luke: 18:04

Oh, very cool. Yeah, the sailors of old that were doing all this before gps. Oh my goodness they have yeah they have my respect.

Capn Luke: 18:11

I think what I'm doing is genuinely like incredibly easy, like because I have, I have like six different ways of getting my lat long. There's not really. I mean, I have a gps pin the whole time. All I have to do is like make sure I don't miss an island, which is like it's hard to miss an Island when you have six different ways of getting your position. Yeah, I don't know. I mean it's incredibly impressive what they used to do.

Capn Tinsley: 18:40

Well, the reason I brought her name up is because she talks. I read her book years ago before I bought a boat. She talked about that time on the boat by yourself in the moment when you're doing something, you're just doing that and I never forgot that, because it's hard to for us to imagine out in the world.

Capn Luke: 18:59

Yeah, with so many distractions so much of our life on shore is spent outside of the present, like outside, outside of the present moment, you know, and either we're thinking about the past or thinking about the future. We just we spend very little time present and that sea, that's really all you can do, because you're like feeling each and every wave like wash over you and sitting and staring at the ocean, I think. I mean, I think it's. It even has a name, it's called like the ocean effect or something.

Capn Luke: 19:30

Where it's just incredibly present when you're at sea.

Capn Tinsley: 19:36

Yeah, Does it get difficult? Does?

Capn Luke: 19:40

Yeah, we have some more people Do. I have a Garmin inReach Making a track we can follow. I did not have enough money To buy a Garmin inReach when I was like prepping my boat to to sail and so I got a spot X. Okay, think that. But then, like that sat phone stopped working in the middle of the Pacific, like it was too remote for even that sat phone to work. It didn't really work. No, if you want to see like the track of my boat, you can go on sailing songbirdcom and under the ship tab the ship tab I keep a like a manual log of everywhere I go and there's a map on there so you can see all of the different like places that songbird has dropped anchor. It doesn't show my exact route that I've taken at sea, but it shows all the places I've dropped anchor okay, so the the website is sailing songbirdcom super simple okay, and um, his uh instagram at sailing underscorebird, which I think it's also on other channels as well.

Capn Tinsley: 20:50

If they want to, yeah, it's all it's I'm.

Capn Luke: 20:53

I'm grateful to have sailing underscore songbird on pretty much everything Nice.

Capn Tinsley: 20:58

Okay, so Mike is a new he's, he's now owns and lives full time, and so he's he's saying I know him. So he's. Actually he says that he's he follows you and it's good to see you on the Salty Podcast. Thank you, mike. Okay, what were we saying? So we were talking about being in the present, which I'm so fascinated with. Here's a question pertaining to solo sailing. Can it be mentally intense? How do you handle the isolation? What keeps you motivated during long passages? You know, this is like a foreign concept to me in this day and age. Sailing solo no, I love to sail solo, but just this long periods of no communication with anybody because I have, you know, I got in reach explorer, I've got starlink, you know yeah, as much or as little as I want yeah, absolutely.

Capn Luke: 21:50

Um, I think part of for me, like part of sailing solo and doing so without really any communication from like with anyone and without the ability to kind of get, like get information, um, it then like forces me into a place where I can really just focus on myself and focus on my relationship with the ocean and, um, it removes, uh, temptation and distraction from my daily experience. Um, I mean, how, how long have you gone without the internet since its inception? Like, for me, my answer is like seven weeks. I went like seven weeks without. Well, I guess I had internet for the first. I connected to the. Over the course of the first three weeks I connected to the internet maybe like three or four times, and other than that it was just me and my thoughts.

Capn Luke: 22:47

Um, and so, like the the question of, like, how do you endure that time alone? Um, you endure it because you don't have any other options. Like when you're at sea, the only choice you have is to face whatever is inside of you, and so there's not really any tips or strategies to deploy to deal, to be with yourself, other than just to be present and surrender to the experience and just relax and enjoy the ride because you're not in control.

Capn Tinsley: 23:30

Yeah, just relax and enjoy the ride, because you're not in control.

Capn Luke: 23:33

yeah, it sounds like you were already pretty balanced person before you did this I was hanging out you had a bunch of demons that came out at you while you're well, I mean, I was hanging out on a boat in tonga and we were having a couple sundowners and one of the guys who I could tell was a rather deep thinker, he, he stopped and all of a sudden looked around and he went. Are we enjoying this? Like? Are we? Are we really like? Are we having a good time? Like, are you having a good time? Like, not just like this in this evening, but like are we enjoying this life Like? Do we like being sailors? And it stopped me dead in my tracks and I was like like maybe I don't know, but I don't, it's a hard question. Are we enjoying this Like? Obviously like yes in many ways, but also no in lots of ways.

Capn Luke: 24:20

Another thing that we said that evening was like there's not a single solo sailor that like went to sea because they were like happy on land. You know, no one. No one goes to sea because shore has treated them well. You know like there's not a single solo sailor out there that's just like happy and go lucky, full and fancy, fun and free on shore. Like we go to like you go to sea to chase, but also to run from whatever it is you're chasing and whatever it is you're running from. I think any solo sailor that says they're not running from anything is putting on a front, and you know, I don't think that I mean yeah, certainly could you be happy with your circumstances, but you're so happy that you're.

Capn Tinsley: 25:14

You want to seek more good stuff and the sailing calls you I think the sailing only calls people that need it that need.

Capn Luke: 25:23

Yes, I agree with that, yeah you know, sailing only only calls to people that really, really need it. And so, yeah, yeah, sailing only calls to people that really need it. Michael's asking I can sing. Thanks, thanks, michael.

Capn Tinsley: 25:46

He's a music instructor. Music is very important is edit that equator passing track.

Capn Luke: 25:51

Yeah, um I it took me I don't know an afternoon, like a day. Uh, it was pretty fun. Yeah, that was a cool thing. I mean I have the. I haven't heard that one to do that. I have the ability to do that just from my degree in music and from my different projects that I've done as a music educator and as a musician. But I use logic to edit that track.

Capn Tinsley: 26:12

That that that track was all created, created on logic logic, okay, um, what's the wildest and most unexpected encounter you've had while sailing, whether wildlife, weather or people?

Capn Luke: 26:27

um, I've talked to in other interviews. I've told the story of almost hitting a whale on my pacific crossing um, I'll tell the story of um, when I rescued a bunch of mexicans, uh, off the coast of baja. Um, I was sailing south, maybe halfway down the halfway down Baja, and we were about like five or 10 miles out offshore, which like pretty close to land, you know, we weren't far at all and then all of a sudden, over like I squint, and I see on the horizon there's this panga which is like a fiberglass production boat, boat, um, this panga full of mexicans that are waving their orange like fishing trousers over their heads. And so we like sailed over to them and we were like hola, como estas amigos? And um, their, their engine had failed, their battery couldn't start their engine, um, and so they were asking for a new battery.

Capn Luke: 27:27

Um, I didn't have any spare batteries to give, but I said, like one of you guys can like come on board and we and you can direct us, and like we'll take you home and then, when you get home, you can hop on a buddy's boat and then go and get the rest of your guys. And so a guy named jesus jumped aboard and I have okay Spanish, like I had enough Spanish to get through this like situation and kind of deal in a deal with an emergency, um. But he was a nice guy, super cool guy and we uh, yeah, we just sailed them inland um for an hour out, were you like five or ten miles, something like that.

Capn Luke: 28:04

We weren't super far. We were just a couple hours from from shore, um, and so we, yeah, sailed back and um, as we got closer and closer to his fishing village of like 20 people, um, another big panga like zoomed up to us, um and uh, he then jumped aboard like his buddy's boat, and then they passed back a bucket of lobster, um oh wow, that was cool that was cool that was good karma.

Capn Tinsley: 28:33

You got some lobster.

Capn Luke: 28:34

Yeah, it was nice, it was nice. It was nice to like I mean me and my crew member at the time we were like dive diving lobster every afternoon, so it was nice to like kick up our feet for an afternoon and not have to dive for them.

Capn Tinsley: 28:49

But so you had crew at some point.

Capn Luke: 28:52

Yeah, I, because when I left Seattle I didn't really know how to sail at all. I knew that I wanted a crew member for the first leg, and so I put an ad out on Facebook looking for crew. And this 19 year old kid from South Africa reached out and we hopped on the phone for like maybe like three or four minutes. And then I was like all right, sounds good, brother, like go ahead and buy a plane ticket and I'll see you over here. And then he bought a plane ticket.

Capn Tinsley: 29:22

Was he in South Africa?

Capn Luke: 29:24

Yeah, he was. He was home in South Africa. And so he flew all the way to seattle from south africa and he arrived and he crewed with me for um the first two months from seattle all the way down to cabo san lucas in mexico.

Capn Tinsley: 29:36

So what did you advertise for someone with experience?

Capn Luke: 29:40

yeah, I was looking for someone with experience, um, he had done some coastal cruising or like coastal sailing along south africa, um, and that coastline is absolutely wild. That's a wicked coastline, um okay, so he could probably handle yeah, and I mean, he's a young, strong dude, um, who kind of has he spent his whole life in the water? Um, and so sweet, good fit, and he was a great fit, yeah his name is along, oh, here wait, let me actually plug his uh, his, his instagram.

Capn Luke: 30:12

Um, okay, a couple months ago he was attacked by a shark in the gombie of french polynesia and almost died, um, and I've kind of helped him um document and like and kind of express the narrative of everything that's happened and he has garnered a following of his own through his own. What's his instagram? His instagram is the wild escape with uh periods for spaces, so the period wild escape I'm gonna put it up yeah, the wild escape, um, and he is making great content and he's a great guy.

Capn Luke: 30:48

He's a great, great guy. So go check out the wild escape. He's got a crazy story to tell and what's his name?

Capn Tinsley: 30:54

angus angus like hcdc yeah okay, there he is the wild I spelled it wrong wild yeah, yeah, he's a cool guy.

Capn Luke: 31:11

Um, when I get to south africa, the plan is to have him crew for me again so he can um bring me through south africa, because that coastline is treacherous and the currents along the south african coastline are particularly treacherous and you kind of like you don't need a local. But having a local that knows exactly where the wild currents are, um is super helpful.

Capn Tinsley: 31:35

So so this uh angus may be able to help somebody else if somebody's watching and needs a a local knowledge guy in south africa, yeah, maybe I mean there's knowledge.

Capn Luke: 31:47

There's lots of sailors through South Africa, you know.

Capn Tinsley: 31:51

We're going to try to help Angus.

Capn Luke: 31:55

He's a good guy.

Capn Tinsley: 31:57

Okay, so your route. So you went from Seattle to where.

Capn Luke: 32:02

Went to Seattle and, just like coastally, went down the west coast of the US and then went down to Baja, did yous and then um went down to baja um, did you stop anywhere? Uh, in like turtle bay and like um punto or los abriojos, um stopped in that town for a little bit, um, but primarily in california at all um, yeah, we stopped in san francisco and then la, and then we picked up some fuel in san diego, and that's about it okay, the big places okay yeah, I mean my goal it was it was late, it was like winter.

Capn Luke: 32:37

Uh, it was like it was like getting into winter, um, very soon, cold, and so I was trying to get south as quick as I could. Um, and then, once I got to mexico, then I can relax and spent six months in Mexico, cruising around, bouncing back and forth in between the mainland and Baja. I did five sea of Cortez crossings um during that season Um, and then from La Paz launched across the Pacific to the Marquesas.

Capn Tinsley: 33:06

And how long did that that?

Capn Luke: 33:07

take that was a 49 day passage because I didn't have an engine, um, and so when I hit the, it took me a week to do my first 100 miles, which typically, like I, I average like 100 miles a day when I have good wind. And so it took me a week, a week to do my first 100 miles, and then I was adrift for two weeks in the doldrums.

Capn Tinsley: 33:30

Now, what were you thinking at that time? What was going through your head? Did I make a mistake? No, never.

Capn Luke: 33:36

I mean no, it's great being out at sea with the wind is the best. Yeah, because you just get to hang out, it's super calm, it's super comfortable, you can cook a big meal because you, you have an appetite, and it's easy to move around the boat. Um, I love being becalmed at sea. Oh, it's the best. I pity sailors that sail with engines, because then the end the wind dies and they flip the engine on. Oh, what a what a terrible way to spend a day, you know.

Capn Tinsley: 34:08

What happened to my engine?

Capn Luke: 34:10

Yeah, so I had a Yanmar YSE-12 that was built in 1970. So old and the it had a lot of problems. I did a full rebuild where I changed the piston and did a full like rebuilt the head and did a full like rebuilt the head and everything. I did that in Mazatlan and I hoped that that would last. And then the shifting shaft assembly sheared. So there's the shaft that shifts the gears that runs for the center of the engine and that sheared. And so then I was like, ok, that's like a huge fix, so I'll just cruise the rest of the season without an engine.

Capn Luke: 34:49

And then, right before I was going to leave Mexico, I got the part from the factory to replace that part Um, and spent two full days with a buddy replacing that shaft in the engine, had to pull the engine out of the boat, um, or out of the like, swing the engine into the boat from the engine bay to get the back of the engine off Um, and then after, and then like made that fix after two full days of work and then um put the engine back in its spot and then uh started to back up and changed anchorages and then from that point, uh, the same piece broke again and I was like screw this, I'm done with this engine. I need to sail across the pacific next week because hurricane season is starting, um. And so then I just launched across the pacific without the engine and made it all the way to new zealand engine list, so it worked well, by the way, that tanya abby I was telling you about, she did the same thing Went across, her engine, quit working too right before.

Capn Tinsley: 35:50

So that's awesome, like, oh, I don't need that, let's just go. And then, when you got to the other side, you decided to get the beta.

Capn Luke: 36:00

Yes, I was going. My plan was to stay with the Yanmar and to try to get a Yanmar 1 GM. But they were asking I mean, when they told me the price, I laughed. I accidentally laughed on the phone.

Capn Tinsley: 36:16

What was it Accidentally?

Capn Luke: 36:19

Yeah, I accidentally laughed because it was so expensive. They were, I think, charging 12 grand for the engine 12 grand Kiwi. Charging 12 grand for the engine, 12 grand kiwi, and then, uh, 12 grand for a new gearbox as well, which is ridiculous, like super ridiculous, um, and so I laughed at them like I was kind of rude for I felt bad about it.

Capn Luke: 36:41

But I mean, that's an unbelievable amount of money for a 10 horse and so I got on the phone with one of my sailing mentors and was like, what kind of mention should I get? And he said, look at beta engines and there is a beta dealership in Auckland. And so bada, bing, bada, boom, the price was right. Bada, bada, beta.

Capn Tinsley: 37:05

So it wasn't 12,000.

Capn Luke: 37:09

This one, I think, was $12,000 Kiwi, but for both the engine and the gearbox, and like a bunch of other things, and this is used new brand new.

Capn Luke: 37:25

I knew that I wanted to get a new engine, because I mean buying a used engine. You, I mean I have an engine with a whole host of problems and any engine that isn't used and for sale. The only reason that it's for sale is because it has a bunch of problems, and so I would be switching out one engine for another engine with just a totally new, new set of problems, and I'd lose a bunch of money in the in the meantime. So, new engine.

Capn Tinsley: 37:55

There's a video at least one of you talking about starting the process of changing out the engine. Now, how did how did you learn how to do this?

Capn Luke: 38:05

Oh, Google. I mean, I just YouTubed it.

Capn Tinsley: 38:08

Yeah, everything this, oh google. I mean, I just youtubed it um yeah, everything is so awesome.

Capn Luke: 38:10

The information that you need to do literally anything is on the internet, um, and so you just google it and then read, and then you figure it out that is great enough, like you can learn anything you know.

Capn Luke: 38:27

Um, it's, I mean, it's like Googling, and then also like being in the right place at the right time, like being in the yard, like being in a in a boat yard, where there are people that are smarter than you, and learning how to accept mentorship wherever you can get it is a huge deal. Um, I am always on the lookout for new mentors, because I just started sailing you know, I'm only 26,. Even though I have a big following and all these ocean miles, like, I still know very little, and so being able to accept help from mentors is, uh, is is incredibly necessary for the. The project, like this project of learning how to sail around the world. You know, um, I'm always available and willing and eager to accept mentorship from genuinely wise sailors that have been doing this for longer than longer than mine.

Capn Tinsley: 39:26

I do the same, and sometimes it's great advice, sometimes it's not, so you just have to sift through.

Capn Luke: 39:34

Yeah, learning how to discern who is a good mentor and who is a bad mentor is an important thing.

Capn Tinsley: 39:42

I have my people too, and they're the ones that I call. And what do I do? You know? Yeah and uh, you gotta have those absolutely I mean even the pope has an advisor certainly and I saw one of your videos where you said I don't think I'm asking for advice, but here's the situation. Yeah, I mean I?

Capn Luke: 40:07

I knew that I mean especially with electric systems. Like people love to tell people what to do with electric systems um and most of that advice is people are like that needs to have a fuse on it. I'm like it runs to a whole circuit board, like like a whole board of circuit breakers, like that's not like thanks for trying to help, but like well and it seemed like in that video of your 12 volt system that you seem like you knew some electrical.

Capn Tinsley: 40:37

You had some knowledge, yeah, I mean I, it's elect like 12 volt.

Capn Luke: 40:42

Electrical systems are pretty simple, like battery runs to block, runs to load, turn battery on, light turns on. I mean electricity. Is there's some simplicity in a 12 volt system? Um, that's not too hard to decode, you know when you were looking at the panels there.

Capn Tinsley: 41:05

Um, you were saying, you know, because with a used boat you don't know how many people have worked on it and when you uncover things you're like oh my goodness is somebody you know, put something together that might be a fire hazard. So when you looked at it, what did you see? Because, well, there's a negative bus.

Capn Luke: 41:23

I couldn't really tell, so yeah, there's a negative bus bar, which is like what you'd expect for a big electric hub like that. And then, instead of there being a positive bus bar, there's a positive terminal block, and terminal blocks are used for a different application than kind of what should be there and where all of that electric is on the boat. And so I was like is there? I just asked Instagram, asked instagram, like is there a reason why I'm not seeing a bus bar right now? I'm seeing a terminal block, um, and I got a couple dms that were kind of helpful and moved that project along um, and so yeah, did you make any changes?

Capn Luke: 42:03

yeah, I just daisy chained more of the terminals together to fix some broken connections that I'd had.

Capn Tinsley: 42:10

Okay. And you felt pretty good, it's not a fire hazard now.

Capn Luke: 42:15

Maybe it is, but well, keep going. Oh good, like four fire extinguishers on board in case something needs to happen, but I also it's only a 12 volt system, it's not a very complicated piece of electricity, um, and I don't really have any big loads to like, put, like to use the electric system for, by design, like I try to sail as simply and as yeah, as simply as possible so that, um, I spend more time out cruising and less time in a yard putting an engine in right.

Capn Tinsley: 42:54

So do you have a dc fridge?

Capn Luke: 42:57

I do have a dc fridge. Yeah, I pretty much only turn on the fridge when I catch a fish. Uh, okay, that's really all I use it for is just for for fish preservation, because I figure if I'm going to take a life, I better eat it. You know, I better do right by the life that I'm taking nice, yeah.

Capn Tinsley: 43:18

And so then you have a radio, which you probably don't. I don't know if you even turn that on while you're out there, but when you're out in the middle of the Pacific, you do turn on.

Capn Luke: 43:26

You got your.

Capn Tinsley: 43:27

Starlink. Sorry, you got your Starlink.

Capn Luke: 43:36

Yeah, so my Starlink. I mean you need an inverter to run Starlink, which I don't have, and so I have a Jackery like a big external camping battery that charges on 12 volt 24-7, all day, all night, and then that can put out AC power, and so I have about like 45 minutes of internet a day, um, which is more than enough for me, you know you're not watching videos. I'm too busy fixing my boat, or like chatting with people Um.

Capn Tinsley: 44:12

chatting with people um I mean, yeah, like watching videos is not a great way to spend. I mean I've I've, I'm gonna watch your videos that's okay.

Capn Luke: 44:17

Yeah, I mean, I've discovered like, just like watching. When I'm left with unlimited internet, I waste away. I just spend all my time watching TV and watching nothing. And then I'm like, oh, where did my week go? Oh, I just watched like 40 hours of YouTube. I shouldn't have done that Nothing. I don't feel good right now and so, yeah, having such simplicity. Part of it is to remove temptation from my own life so that I can live a more fulfilling and full life away from things that are wastes of my time.

Capn Tinsley: 45:03

Yeah or don't, make you feel good about yourself.

Capn Luke: 45:05

Yeah, exactly.

Capn Tinsley: 45:06

I like that. If you could go back and give yourself one piece of advice before starting the journey, what would it be?

Capn Luke: 45:15

oh, um, I don't know. I mean, there's so many things that I've like wasted money on, like equipment I thought I need and didn't need.

Capn Tinsley: 45:30

There's not really anything. What is that that's interesting?

Capn Luke: 45:34

Like equipment that I thought I needed, that I didn't need. I didn't really understand that like propane is like a relatively unlimited resource, like I'm still on the same propane can that I left Mexico and that was like many. It like one of the big ones, one of the I I it's just a 20 pound can um. I don't know it's like. It's like a two, I think a two cubic gallons um one of the big ones uh, I mean, I don't know how big we're talking yeah um, I don't know if that's if you're doing that, if that's like long ways with their length.

Capn Tinsley: 46:10

It's not one of the little ones, yeah no, it's not one of those.

Capn Luke: 46:14

They're the big ones. Okay, yeah, these are our technical terms here. It's like what you would find underneath a gas grill.

Capn Tinsley: 46:21

Okay, yeah, one of those Okay.

Capn Luke: 46:28

But I'm still on the same can and so like I had like an electric water heater and an electric rice cooker that could run off of 12 volt and I like found specialty 12 volt devices, thinking like, oh, I have solar power, I can just like charge things electrically and save on propane super unnecessary. I mean, yeah, my propane has lasted so incredibly long.

Capn Tinsley: 46:49

Did you get rid of that stuff? Sorry, did you get rid of that stuff?

Capn Luke: 46:58

Oh, it's salted, shut and wasted away. Yeah, it wasted away like a long time ago. Such a contrast as social media slash followers, slash viewers is my income, yet I don't use it. Very interesting, yeah, I mean, like the, I I love to to share the narrative of my journey and I love to like share the story. And I love to share the story so that maybe it's inspiring for folks. Yeah, it is. And the money that I do make, I understand that like I want to sail for the rest of my life, like I don't want to have to ever go back to work again, and so the the less money I spend, um, it just means that like the longer I can live. Sure, well, like every dollar I send, I spend is a dollar closer to me. Having to like go back to a job. That would suck my soul, you know, and so I'm killer.

Capn Luke: 47:57

Yeah, I mean, I'm super stingy Like I. I only spend money on what I need and I eat super simply like bread and eggs and rice I need and I eat super simply like bread and eggs and rice, and that's fabulous. I don't. I have like a rule that I don't buy alcohol for myself, Like if someone wants to buy me a drink, I'll happily start sipping but like keep you from being an alcoholic.

Capn Luke: 48:18

Yeah, I mean I don't know but like it's just, it's just a way to save. It's just a way to save money. You a way to save money. You know there's just a lot, I don't know. Like it's a challenge to see on, like how, how few dollars a day can you survive? Like when I was in mexico, I was um and I was like down to my last couple hundred bucks before, um, social media kicked off and I got donations. I was just like spearfishing. I would wake up and get my wetsuit on and start spearfishing. And I would wake up and get my wetsuit on and start spearfishing and I would stop when I caught enough fish to eat for the day.

Capn Tinsley: 48:52

So you were anchored.

Capn Luke: 48:53

Yeah, I was anchored and just spearfishing for my daily meals and doing my best not to spend any money and like living this simply, like when you live this simply. I'm super social, so I love if another boat comes and anchors next to me. Um, I want to come like, hop over and say hi and figure out where people are coming from, where they're going, just kind of what's their story?

Capn Luke: 49:16

they want to know your story yeah, share stories and um, typically, when people see how simply I'm living and like how with how level, like with how little I'm living with, I how with how little, like with how little I'm living with, I'm all, they always send me home with a bag of rice or with juice or something from deep in their bilge that's been there for the past 10,000 miles that they're never going to touch, and so they give it to me. And so there's. I mean I'm literally sitting right next to a big box of groceries that was given to me by a German couple German couple that they're leaving the boat for 10 months, and so they're like we have all this food that we don't want to sit on our boat for 10 months here, it's yours.

Capn Luke: 49:55

And so I got like nice fruits and veggies and some cans of coconut milk that I'll do something with I don't know.

Capn Tinsley: 50:05

Well, so if you had said that your boat was a mess right now and you showed me a little bit before, do you mind showing us the mess?

Capn Luke: 50:13

I live. It's a big mess. It's a big mess. My, my water can is here Cause I'm running a string from my um like through my stern tube to get the shaft alignment, and so I mean I'm just living in a workshop, you know, just living in a workshop in a tool, shed essentially, but I'm hoping to have things in the boat.

Capn Luke: 50:36

I mean, I am happy. You know like it's a good life. It's a really difficult life. There's a lot of challenges, but it is a fulfilling life because I wake up in the day, like I wake up in the morning, and I work all day, but all of the work that I'm doing is for me. It's not like for a corporation or for a government, um, where other people benefit off of my labor. It's I'm the only person benefiting off of my labor, and that's a fulfilling way to live. You know? Um, yeah, and so I don't know, I, I'm, I'm, I'm planning. The goal is to get the engine in the boat on Monday. That is, that is the goal, that's.

Capn Tinsley: 51:22

And then what so?

Capn Luke: 51:25

you have to.

Capn Tinsley: 51:25

You got a lot of projects to do before may uh, yeah, yeah, uh.

Capn Luke: 51:31

After the engines in the boat, I then need to hook up a bunch of hoses and electric to the engine, um, and then I need to get my new prop, which should be coming, I don't know, in like a week or so, um, and then I need to throw paint, like new anti-fouling on the bottom, and I think that's it um yeah, that's.

Capn Luke: 51:52

That's plenty of work for the next three yards, for the yard and then I'll get to the marina and then in the marina I have a whole other list of projects. Oh okay, and I will just. Yeah, so wait here. I let me share this for, I mean, for anyone that's actually listening, um, or anyone that's listening right now, um, Key West John.

Capn Tinsley: 52:10

He's one of my mentors, by the way. Luke is super inspirational.

Capn Luke: 52:14

Keep your spirit, spirit elevated, Key West John, so like the way that I organize my to-do lists when I'm in the yard or in Marina or at anchor, um, you have all of like the all of your boat projects that you need to do, and then you classify them in as like what are the projects that must get done in the yard, what are projects that must get done in the Marina, what projects that must get done at anchor, what are projects that must get done at sea? And like work in this tiered system, and as soon as and like, you work top down. So I'm focused on projects that can only be done in the yard. Like I just changed a through hull, I need to do a new, I'm putting my in my engine, um, I need to paint the bottom of the boat, the.

Capn Luke: 53:01

And as soon as that list is done, you have to move into the marina and then you get things that have to be done in a marina, and as soon as that list is done, you you have to move into the marina and then you get things that have to be done in a marina, and as soon as that list is done, you have to go out.

Capn Tinsley: 53:10

You're trying to get out of there, right?

Capn Luke: 53:12

You have to go at anchor. Yeah, you have to go at anchor. Like you have to go to anchor, there's so many people that will finish all of the jobs in the marina and then they find more jobs that they think that they need to be, that they need to do in the Marina, or they'll do jobs that they could do on anchor and they do it in the Marina and then they find themselves years later and they haven't got a money. You know.

Capn Tinsley: 53:36

I haven't gone anywhere, it's just. It gets they get real comfortable. So Hayden says if I was near I would help you.

Capn Luke: 53:41

fun he does, and then Susan says do I appreciate it?

Capn Tinsley: 53:44

And then Susan says do you have family?

Capn Luke: 53:48

Yeah, I've got family. I've got my parents and my little sister in the US, do they?

Capn Luke: 53:57

worry All the time. They used to worry a lot more than they do, like, when I first went to see, they were super worried, but then they realized that I made it, you know, and I know what I'm doing. Um, and so now they worry less often. Um, like, the same way that I got used to being at sea, they got used to me being at sea and so they don't really worry about it or about me anymore because they're used to me being at sea okay, and what companionship you don't?

Capn Tinsley: 54:28

have a chick moving aboard or anything.

Capn Luke: 54:34

I would love to have a companion. Would love to have a companion. Eventually, I love being a solo sailor, but I don't need to be a solo sailor. My goal is never to like sail around the world alone. My goal has been to just live a fulfilling life.

Capn Tinsley: 54:53

I make sense.

Capn Luke: 54:56

Yeah, I would love to have a companion on the boat. It's a small boat and it's very difficult to find, like someone that would be cool with living on a boat. It's also very difficult. I I'm not, I'm not very dateable right now because, like I don't know, I might go on a date and then I'm like, so do you want to move in? Like that's like not a good first date question. You would ask it or they would ask it no, I would, because I'm like I'm on a boat and I'm like leaving soon.

Capn Tinsley: 55:31

So it's like are you moving in?

Capn Luke: 55:33

and that's not a very good first date question, um, do you want to move in?

Capn Tinsley: 55:39

and so for that reason I'm not very dateable, you know, okay, um well, it's been my experience in in my all my sailing that it's hard to find a woman that wants to move on to a boat yeah, especially I meet a lot of guys out there that are like I wish I could find somebody you know, yeah, yeah it's, it's, it's, it's difficult.

Capn Luke: 56:01

There's not a lot of like beautiful young women that are walking around boat yards.

Capn Tinsley: 56:07

Oh really.

Capn Luke: 56:08

Yeah, it's not like I mean that's not really where they flock to. You don't really find that, you know. Yeah, I mean, it's typically like grizzled old men that are walking around boat yards. Well, you're at the wrong boat yards, but I'm, yeah, I, I'm, I'm, I'm looking for companionship for sure.

Capn Tinsley: 56:38

Okay, there we're putting it out there.

Capn Luke: 56:40

It's hard to be.

Capn Tinsley: 56:42

Okay, it's gotta be the right. You gotta pass a few tests, you know, and just meet a few criteria.

Capn Luke: 56:49

I'm not super worried about it. I'm not super worried about it?

Capn Tinsley: 56:53

Well, of course not. You're 26, you know.

Capn Luke: 56:56

Yeah, I'm 26 and I've been married before. I was married in Seattle, and so I have done that and I'm not in a rush to do it again, you know. So, yeah, I'm enjoying life at sea, you know.

Capn Tinsley: 57:15

Well, island Spirit is saying it will happen. My wife and I have been sailing together since 1976 while we were old. They are a great boat couple. They both enjoy it, they both can do things. You know, they're both very knowledgeable, so that and um, so vanessa is a friend, also a mentor of mine. She knows everything about boats. Um, well, I know, I know new zealand has a few, uh, women okay, she's talking about women who to sail yeah so, um, you started off your trip with a great attitude and has, do you, has it changed your perspective?

Capn Tinsley: 57:54

um, going from seattle to new zealand, anything changed, anything gotten deeper or yeah, I mean it's just it's confirmed.

Capn Luke: 58:04

Like the suspicion that I felt that like the nine to five, like the suspicion that I had that the nine to five like wasn't for me, has just been confirmed. Like I can't imagine going back to a job where I have to like clock in and clock out, like it doesn't. I don't know if that, I don't know if I'm built for that anymore. You know, like um doing this and building videos and sharing narrative. Um and showing people what a small boat can do with a determined skipper at the helm.

Capn Tinsley: 58:39

That is um speaking of, let me do a quick um sponsor check, which is me, because I'm a realtor and my name is Tinsley Myrick. I'm with Remax of Orange Beach and I was just going to put up a picture here. Yeah, here we go. I sell Gulffront condos in Gulf Shores in Orange Beach, alabama. Also, I'm licensed in Florida, so for anybody that wants to partake in getting a beachfront condo or home, please, there's my email, there's my phone and I have a lot of experience. I've been doing this since 2001, 2003. There we go, we got that in.

Capn Luke: 59:26

Very good.

Capn Tinsley: 59:27

I don't have a regular 9 to 5, so I know what you mean.

Capn Luke: 59:31

Yeah, absolutely.

Capn Tinsley: 59:33

My time is mine. It confirmed the fact that you did not want to be 9 to 5. Anything else?

Capn Luke: 59:45

I've picked up a lot of little sayings and adages, which is kind of funny. Um, one of my favorite ones is that cruising and sailing will take everything you have, no matter how much you have. Um, it's really hard to have split priorities. Um, if you're trying to really give your life to to sailing, you can't really't. Really, it's, it's wicked hard, it's wicked difficult to try to do this and also something else it will sailing and cruising and doing it full time and like ocean voyaging, will take everything you have, no matter what you have. So if you're thinking about doing this and if this is the life for you, you got to ask yourself if you're willing to give it everything, because if you're not willing to give it everything, it will then take everything and then you'll harbor resentments toward the lifestyle and you will burn out, and so that's an important thing to keep in mind, I think burnout, um, and so that's an important thing to keep in mind, I think.

Capn Luke: 1:00:51

Okay, good words, um, I would like to hear about your route afterwards my route after new zealand yes yeah, so my next season, at may 1st, I'll sail to fiji and the next season will be fiji, van Vanuatu and the Solomons.

Capn Luke: 1:01:08

Those next six months, like the six months of the South Pacific cruising season, will be across those three nations and then from there I have to decide if I want to sail into Papua New Guinea and Indonesia or if I want to sail north and go back to the Northern hemisphere and hit Micronesia, and then from Micronesia I could go up to like Japan and then down into the Philippines and then across to Vietnam and Thailand.

Capn Luke: 1:01:36

That's kind of what I'm leaning towards, I think, going to to Micronesia and then Japan, philippines and then Vietnam, thailand, and then I'll come down around Singapore and then I'll launch from Phuket across the Indian Ocean to Madagascar. But I'll stop for three months in the Maldives and a month at Chagolago in the middle of the Indian Ocean. I'll hit Reunion and Mauritius, those islands, on the way to Madagascar, and then I'll go down around Cape of Good Hope, around South Africa. I really want to see Namibia, so I'll sail north to Namibia and then cross the South Atlantic to Brazil, sail up the coast of Brazil to the Caribbean and then hit Panama and do the Panama Canal, and then I have a decision. I then either run it back and do it again and I sail around the world.

Capn Tinsley: 1:02:32

What about the med?

Capn Luke: 1:02:35

I don't feel called to the med. I like being and living in kind of less developed nations. I find that people are happier, you know, in less developed nations. I find that people are happier, you know, in less developed nations. Um and so, uh, the med is incredibly overpriced and incredibly crowded, it seems, and don't really need to, uh, don't really need to see that. I feel like uh, sorry hey, mark, I'm just on a podcast. I'll be out soon, okay, man?

Capn Tinsley: 1:03:10

Could you come and give me a lift at 10 minutes.

Capn Luke: 1:03:12

Oh yeah, as soon as I'm done with this podcast, with this interview.

Capn Tinsley: 1:03:18

Tell him to come on down.

Capn Luke: 1:03:24

And yeah, so I'm not super interested in the med um okay, I I think that after I do my, yeah, my circumnavigation, um, I could then do it again, or I could circumnavigate the americas and like do cape, like do cape horn, and then go over, like take the northwest passage over canada would you do that?

Capn Tinsley: 1:03:46

oh my goodness yeah, why not?

Capn Luke: 1:03:48

my whole water well, my whole, my hull, was built in canada and so it's insulated, and so it was built for cold, cold weather sailing um. It's incredibly thick fiberglass, um. Okay, so I could easily do arctic sailing on this boat and you?

Capn Tinsley: 1:04:05

you would enjoy that Maybe.

Capn Luke: 1:04:08

We'll see. I have to decide if I want to do that in Panama.

Capn Tinsley: 1:04:13

You got a long ways, one day at a time that's years from now, right.

Capn Luke: 1:04:18

Yeah, exactly, exactly.

Capn Tinsley: 1:04:20

Okay, so you do the crib and you'll go through the Panama Canal, and then you'll decide what you're going to do and how long do you think that'll take.

Capn Luke: 1:04:28

I'm planning five to seven year circumnavigations.

Capn Tinsley: 1:04:33

Okay, and then you're planning on keeping going.

Capn Luke: 1:04:36

Yeah, I don't really see any reason to go back to shore. I mean, this life at sea has been good to me. It's been incredibly rewarding. I love it, um, and so, yeah, I don't really have any reason to like go and get a job. Um, I just want to keep making videos and hopefully keep making meaningful content that people find inspirational. Um, and so my views stay up so that I can run ads and do that. Maybe do some brand deals on my Instagram and TikTok so that I can keep going, but, like I said, I spend such like such little money If I do a single brand deal that can keep me going for a year.

Capn Tinsley: 1:05:19

Okay, so the, the, the website is a sailing songbird, and is that where I saw all of your links, your GoFundMe and all that stuff? Is it there? Yeah?

Capn Luke: 1:05:29

I'm running a GoFundMe right now to afford my new engine and to afford all the work that I'm doing here in the yard, if you go to the link in my bio on any of my platforms.

Capn Tinsley: 1:05:42

Yeah, that's where all the links are.

Capn Luke: 1:05:45

Yeah in my bio on any of my social media platforms. Um we'll have a link to that. Go fund me and go fund me. It has all of the details about all the different ways that I'm spending my money, because I want to be as nice as possible during this and then on the website on sailing songbird, you've got different um.

Capn Tinsley: 1:06:03

on Sailing Songbird you've got different memberships $10, $15, $20.

Capn Luke: 1:06:08

That's for my Patreon. That's for my Patreon.

Capn Tinsley: 1:06:11

Oh yeah, okay, and you've got merch.

Capn Luke: 1:06:14

Yeah, I do have merch. I think the merch is pretty cool, honestly, yeah.

Capn Tinsley: 1:06:20

I think your whole brand is really cool.

Capn Luke: 1:06:22

Thanks, thanks. I work really hard to. I mean it takes a lot of infrastructure. It takes a crazy amount of infrastructure to x uh to to utilize all of the different paths of, like online income um I have, like my own llc and business that I run um all my income through to try to do the right thing you Did.

Capn Tinsley: 1:06:46

You set that up after, after you left and you and the social media started to kick off.

Capn Luke: 1:06:50

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. My goal. My goal was never to do social media, I just wanted to go sailing.

Capn Tinsley: 1:06:56

What a nice surprise. A nice income. Well, congratulations on that. I'm I'm, I'm happy for you. Now you it's on that. I'm happy for you. It's been cemented that this is what you're supposed to do.

Capn Luke: 1:07:09

Absolutely. Like I said earlier, I have the largest sailing Instagram and TikTok.

Capn Tinsley: 1:07:17

Amazing Even more than. Delos.

Capn Luke: 1:07:21

On Instagram. Yeah, on Instagram and TikTok. I'm larger than Delos, which is wild. My YouTube's itty-bitty and, like all of the real money is on YouTube oh yeah, I'm so like.

Capn Tinsley: 1:07:34

What are you going to do about that? Are you posting on there?

Capn Luke: 1:07:38

YouTube. Yeah, it's hard. The YouTube sailing space right now is incredibly oversaturated. There are like everyone and the mothers trying to go to sea and make videos on youtube um and so the audience is not really as interested as they once were. You know, during the pandemic and such sure, and I've found a lot of success on instagram and tiktok and so I'm gonna keep enjoying that success on Instagram and TikTok, you know.

Capn Tinsley: 1:08:09

Well, that's, that's fabulous. So we'll. What I like to do is with people that are circumnavigating. I like to check in with them in a few months or, you know, after you've left, maybe to the next destination, and check in with you. Have you on again? You can tell us what happened, since that sounds great you can tell us?

Capn Tinsley: 1:08:26

what happened since that sounds great. All right, if everybody wants to support him, you can find him on Instagram at at sailing, underscore songbird. We can go to the website sailing songbird and find all the links there. Right, am I right? Yeah, okay, well, thank you so much. Appreciate you coming on, thanks. The way I like to end it is say Salty, abandon out.

Capn Luke: 1:08:49

I love it. Salty Abandon out. Yeah, Thank you.