Drake - Watching your travels has reignited the sailing itch in me. I grew up sailing on a 56' Alden Ketch. My parents and I actually lived on her for over two years. My dad and I sailed her through a couple hurricanes too (well I was a kid and that was his story). Your videos are engaging and informative. You have helped me with identifying my must haves for our cruising boat purchase in the (near) future. My dad passed away in May at the age of 86. He was known as Captain Bill, the singing Captain in Madeira Beach, FL where we chartered our boat in the 80's. His dream was to sail the world. I have already done that during my time in the Navy, but would love to sail at least half of it on a sailboat. Thank you Drake. Maybe one day our paths will cross. Dave (btw I am originally from Billerica)
+LifeisLikeSailing - Vancouver, BC Ahoy s/v Moonshine in Vancouver! Thanks so much Alfy, and back atcha! Thank you for sharing all of your great cruising life videos and photos. It's so nice to see places we haven't sailed to through the lens of another cruiser, and to imagine going there. Here's to sailing away and exploring the world! :) We hope to see you in the same anchorage someday.
+DrakeParagon's Real Cruising Life I feel the exact same when watching you guys out cruising around and I really appreciate you giving us the chance to see new places. Thanks for all the time and effort to make to share the videos with us and I am glad you enjoy seeing my part of the world through my lens. :) That would be amazing to spot you one day in some far away anchorage then row up and say hello to you both! I'll add it to the list. :)
Drake & Mo. I've waited about 2 years for this video !! I remember this day very well. I was determined to stop by and say hello to both, of you after watching and corresponding with you for some time. I drove to Jacobs Landing, to get a good view of the inner harbor and there was Paragon !! But it was cold, windy and drizzling. With binoculars in hand, I looked for signs of movement on board, but it looked like you were both ashore. So I drove to the State Pier, to see if I could find your dinghy. With no luck, I peered through the binoculars at Paragon and unbelievably, you were both just getting back on board! I missed you by no more than 15 minutes or less! Mo was all bundled up and you helped her aboard. I was happy that you were both safe and sound in the inner harbor, albeit in snotty conditions. That year had a cold, miserable start to the season and Gloucester didn't make it's best impression for Mo. A few weeks later, the weather turned seasonal and the harbor started to fill up with boats and signs of summer. Somehow I felt like I was invading your privacy, so I quietly left the way I came and returned to the long list of subscribers, patiently waiting for the Gloucester clips. I hope your next vid shows a bit of the reunion with your friend and some of the town. PS Next time, for calm and amenities, you can splurge and have the Blynman Bridge open, motor up the canal and transient dockside at the Cape Ann Marina !! No anchorage there, but it's calm and protected with fuel, restaurant and a short walk to downtown. But you already know that if you've been to Gloucester before. Not anchoring at the breakwater was wise. It's bumpy there in a gale.
Such a wonderful old town. I love it! It was great that there were people taking advantage of the open water to sail/row in the harbor. Nice friendly people thanking you too. I would love to go for a visit. Looks like a great place to kick back and relax.
Hey guys, love watching all your videos. Very entertaining and informative. Feel like I know you guys. Love your humor. absolutely my favorite channel to watch. I have watched most of them twice. This particular video has made me want to visit Gloucester and explore it. Thanks for all your work guys.
You do not know me, but I feel as I know you through your many videos I have enjoyed. I am a retired fellow who is in PA and a distance from the sea. I dream of sailing and have read much about it. I have taken a couple of lessons, but am on a fixed income with little chance to ever do any cruising. Watching the many video channels helps, but yours is one of my favorite ones. It was good to see a new video show up and see you guys are doing well. :)
I grew up in Florida on Gorton's Fish. When I go shopping today, I will buy some Gorton's Fish and when I am eating it, I will think of Paragon and hope you all are having a wonderful safe day. Your video conviced me to put flounder and tater tots in the oven. Mmmm Fish PS. I prefer fresh fish from a seafood restaurant but if it is in a box or bag, I like it to say Gorton's.
Awesome...being from Gloucester and all. I'm a big fan of your videos. Wish I found them sooner. Love those Grotens fish sticks huh? LOL! Keep um coming!
Nice to see you in Gloucester. When I was growing up there in the summers all you could smell down town was fish. Now with the fishing restrictions and probably better processing it's much cleaner.
growing up i had a framed picture of the gloucester fisherman above my bed- still have it. comong from 3 generations of cape ann sailors, not too surprising that i live aboard. ps, the Gortons are annisquamers, old family friends.
Hi Drake! We are from Gloucester and we absolutely love what you are doing! You are hardcore! Next time you are around, we would be honored to treat you to go out for dinner. Wishing you luck. SV ANNA MAY crew.
+Bermont Batchelor ooo did you see the halibut we caught in the Liraberg trailer video? We also used some of that to make some beer battered halibut and posted photos of it on our Facebook page @ facebook.com/drakeParagon/posts/420566694813189 Delicious!
I had two food nemesis when growing up. Zuccchini and fish sticks. I've not had fish in a stamped out shape since elementary school age. I'm now 36 and tried zucchini a couple years ago again. Still horrible! lol Gloucester looks like a pretty cool town though.
+bill bye Hi Bill, I made the pin rail out of two pieces of teak that I through bolted together onto the shrouds. The pins are brass and I bought them from Jamestown Distributors. They're awesome for keeping the halyards away from the mast so that they don't slap.
So cool to see you getting so giddy about returning to the waters of your past. Thank you for sharing your journeys with us. You both are true story tellers and genuinely awesome. "Groton's" = comedy! Cheers, Andy on S/V Tango (four2tango.net)
+jorgecornet Hi Jorge. We look at that bar (The Crow's Nest) in the next episode. I'll send you a link. :) We are still in Faroe waiting to see hear back from the harbormaster in Scotland to find out if they have a space available for us in the marina there. We might end up spending the winter in Faroe. Wherever we are we are always looking forward to your next visit to Paragon. :)
+Brock Landers Hi Brock, I think on a smaller, lighter boat it would certainly be easier to handle single handed. But Paragon weighs almost 40,000 lbs and everything takes much longer and requires more effort. Especially with strong wind, and single handed, I think it was much more manageable to winch in the headsail.
DrakeParagon's Real Cruising Life The only reason I ask is because my first experience with a roller furling jib was on a Cabo Rico 38 (also a fairly heavy cutter rig) where we centered the boom, came up into the wind, then furled the large jib so quickly that we still had steerage when we were done. Of course, I can understand that staying into the wind can be difficult (or impossible) when single handing. Was this your thinking? Thanks and love the videos!
So? per Kallelis...this vid is 2 years old? I really enjoy your vids and your efforts.... have you started releasing series bits out of order...? confused? I totally understand being unpredictable when it comes to when and where you are... but two years? Pretty sure this trip a couple vids back put you enroute and in early 2015... or is that fella posting a whack-a-doo? lol Smooth sailing and following winds!
+Eric H Hi Eric, Here's the deal. We have voyaged over 11,000 nautical miles, and accumulated over 1500 hours of raw video footage since this video was filmed. Our story started when we were preparing to push off from Oriental, North Carolina in March of 2013 (Season 1, Episode 1.) Since then we have taken on crew several times, spent winters in both Iceland and Ireland, and voyaged to any number of amazing places...always with camera in hand. Along the way we have also completed the filming of at least a dozen fantastic in depth interviews with cruisers we've met along the way, including tours of their cruising boats. As for the lag in time there are several reasons. When we are on the move it is next to impossible to devote the amount of time necessary to edit our videos. We are in constant filming mode to capture the story which means that for many months that is our main focus. It also takes an extraordinary amount of time to make and edit these videos, and we want to be sure to devote our full attention to their production. Our DrakeParagon series episodes are being published in the order of events as they actually happened. We have published some videos outside of the Season 1 and Season 2 series episodes, but they have only been small previews. trailers, or sneak peeks, and not full episodes. We are now busy preparing to sail from the Faroe Islands to Scotland to hunker down for another winter of editing - very excited! In the Spring we are planning a very ambitious sail to Svalbard (which is as close to the north pole as it is possible to go by boat.) After a couple of months there we plan to sail down the west coast of Norway - all as we continue to film this never ending story of sailing, world exploration, cultural immersion, and friendship. We hope that these stories will be timeless and that you will be able to watch them today, tomorrow, next week...next year! and still enjoy what they have to offer. Fair winds, Drake and Monique
+DrakeParagon's Real Cruising Life Totally in agreement with Montgomery. Your devoted way of filming is awesome, My master started cruising this year and he learn so much from your video....all the way back to Bermuda. Keep the format.... it's a passionate adventure that we can all lean from, that is what makes it a success. You and Monique are awesome....wouf...wouf....xoxo
I'm just a novice sailor, so apologies for the dumb question: What is the etiquette around mooring balls and anchoring? You spent some time searching for the right spot to anchor, and you seemed keen to stay away from the mooring balls. What are things to consider?
+Montgomery Beaumont Cracklebottom Hi Montgomery Beaumont Cracklebottom :) In many places mooring ball fields have been placed so that you can hook up to them without having to anchor. In some places, mooring balls are set up for free to attract boaters to visit, but more often they charge a fee for the use of the mooring. Unfortunately the mooring balls often take up all of the available space leaving none left for anchoring.
+DrakeParagon's Real Cruising Life Thanks for your reply! In a couple of weeks I'm going to get my first offshore-ish experience, crossing the Cook Strait between New Zealand's North and South Islands on my friend's H28, and anchoring in a little bay overnight. It’s so good being on the water.
You hardly dragged Drake... You expertly anchored and the anchor didn't take, that is not dragging ;-) or maybe it is but under controlled circumstances. Unfortunately I see too many "skippers" just happy with chucking the anchor in and that's it. Needless to say as long as those type of captains are down wind of me I'm happy, but Drake, you can anchor up wind of me anytime..... Warren s/y Legend
Drake - Watching your travels has reignited the sailing itch in me. I grew up sailing on a 56' Alden Ketch. My parents and I actually lived on her for over two years. My dad and I sailed her through a couple hurricanes too (well I was a kid and that was his story). Your videos are engaging and informative. You have helped me with identifying my must haves for our cruising boat purchase in the (near) future. My dad passed away in May at the age of 86. He was known as Captain Bill, the singing Captain in Madeira Beach, FL where we chartered our boat in the 80's. His dream was to sail the world. I have already done that during my time in the Navy, but would love to sail at least half of it on a sailboat. Thank you Drake. Maybe one day our paths will cross. Dave (btw I am originally from Billerica)
great stuff. your joy at returning to your hometown really showed through in this video.
Wonderful stuff, Drake!! Love the added documentary info on buildings and boats along the way...great style!
Gloucester looks like a nice little place! Thanks for taking us there!!
+LifeisLikeSailing - Vancouver, BC Ahoy s/v Moonshine in Vancouver! Thanks so much Alfy, and back atcha! Thank you for sharing all of your great cruising life videos and photos. It's so nice to see places we haven't sailed to through the lens of another cruiser, and to imagine going there. Here's to sailing away and exploring the world! :) We hope to see you in the same anchorage someday.
+DrakeParagon's Real Cruising Life I feel the exact same when watching you guys out cruising around and I really appreciate you giving us the chance to see new places. Thanks for all the time and effort to make to share the videos with us and I am glad you enjoy seeing my part of the world through my lens. :) That would be amazing to spot you one day in some far away anchorage then row up and say hello to you both! I'll add it to the list. :)
Drake & Mo. I've waited about 2 years for this video !! I remember this day very well. I was determined to stop by and say hello to both, of you after watching and corresponding with you for some time. I drove to Jacobs Landing, to get a good view of the inner harbor and there was Paragon !! But it was cold, windy and drizzling. With binoculars in hand, I looked for signs of movement on board, but it looked like you were both ashore. So I drove to the State Pier, to see if I could find your dinghy. With no luck, I peered through the binoculars at Paragon and unbelievably, you were both just getting back on board! I missed you by no more than 15 minutes or less! Mo was all bundled up and you helped her aboard. I was happy that you were both safe and sound in the inner harbor, albeit in snotty conditions. That year had a cold, miserable start to the season and Gloucester didn't make it's best impression for Mo. A few weeks later, the weather turned seasonal and the harbor started to fill up with boats and signs of summer. Somehow I felt like I was invading your privacy, so I quietly left the way I came and returned to the long list of subscribers, patiently waiting for the Gloucester clips. I hope your next vid shows a bit of the reunion with your friend and some of the town. PS Next time, for calm and amenities, you can splurge and have the Blynman Bridge open, motor up the canal and transient dockside at the Cape Ann Marina !! No anchorage there, but it's calm and protected with fuel, restaurant and a short walk to downtown. But you already know that if you've been to Gloucester before. Not anchoring at the breakwater was wise. It's bumpy there in a gale.
+Michael Kallelis Hi Michael! We were probably just getting back from dinner at Geoff's house. :) Sorry we missed you! We'll be back! :)
Such a wonderful old town. I love it! It was great that there were people taking advantage of the open water to sail/row in the harbor. Nice friendly people thanking you too. I would love to go for a visit. Looks like a great place to kick back and relax.
OK well this vid answered where you were from... looking forward to seeing the next installment...Cheers! Welcome back to Mass.
Your videos are great, and your editing is fantastic! Thanks for sharing.
Your videos are hugely appreciated. Thanks for taking the time to produce them. I know editing is time consuming.
+RealityIsTheNow Many thanks! :)
Nothing like COMING HOME!!!!!! Great video. Thanks you two.
Hey guys, love watching all your videos. Very entertaining and informative. Feel like I know you guys. Love your humor. absolutely my favorite channel to watch. I have watched most of them twice. This particular video has made me want to visit Gloucester and explore it. Thanks for all your work guys.
You do not know me, but I feel as I know you through your many videos I have enjoyed. I am a retired fellow who is in PA and a distance from the sea. I dream of sailing and have read much about it. I have taken a couple of lessons, but am on a fixed income with little chance to ever do any cruising. Watching the many video channels helps, but yours is one of my favorite ones. It was good to see a new video show up and see you guys are doing well. :)
I am really enjoying your side notes! Thanks!
+Keith Hollenback Thanks Keith, We are too! We are learning so much more about the places we voyage to by doing the research for our episodes.
You made me want to go buy a bag of fish sticks today. LOL Thumbs up on the video as always! Love you guys.
I grew up in Florida on Gorton's Fish. When I go shopping today, I will buy some Gorton's Fish and when I am eating it, I will think of Paragon and hope you all are having a wonderful safe day. Your video conviced me to put flounder and tater tots in the oven.
Mmmm Fish
PS. I prefer fresh fish from a seafood restaurant but if it is in a box or bag, I like it to say Gorton's.
The end almost had me crying. Friends
Awesome...being from Gloucester and all. I'm a big fan of your videos. Wish I found them sooner. Love those Grotens fish sticks huh? LOL! Keep um coming!
Nice to see you in Gloucester. When I was growing up there in the summers all you could smell down town was fish. Now with the fishing restrictions and probably better processing it's much cleaner.
Drake this video and the one before are stand outs, really great ones. There's nothing like going home.
+Nelson Machine HOME!!!! Home is where your good friends are. Now I feel like we can even call Greenland, Iceland, Faroe, Ireland and Scotland home...
growing up i had a framed picture of the gloucester fisherman above my bed- still have it. comong from 3 generations of cape ann sailors, not too surprising that i live aboard. ps, the Gortons are annisquamers, old family friends.
Really good video, love the Coast Guard boat with two 50 cal. on it.
+theislandpackrat and fast!
Drake, I was watching Wicked Tuna and thought of You, wonder if you come across any of them.
Hi Drake! We are from Gloucester and we absolutely love what you are doing! You are hardcore! Next time you are around, we would be honored to treat you to go out for dinner. Wishing you luck. SV ANNA MAY crew.
making beer battered halibut right now because of this video .. I want to sail so bad
+Bermont Batchelor ooo did you see the halibut we caught in the Liraberg trailer video? We also used some of that to make some beer battered halibut and posted photos of it on our Facebook page @ facebook.com/drakeParagon/posts/420566694813189 Delicious!
I had two food nemesis when growing up. Zuccchini and fish sticks. I've not had fish in a stamped out shape since elementary school age. I'm now 36 and tried zucchini a couple years ago again. Still horrible! lol Gloucester looks like a pretty cool town though.
Whenever you're in Massachusetts, I hope you never run into Mr. Groton...I mean Gorton - he's probably very upset.
Nice video, as usual.
+jicahans yikes! :) I can't believe I mixed up the name..
love it but the more I watch the more I want to go sailing
i sure like your taff rail and belaying pins;are the brass? very neat.
+bill bye Hi Bill, I made the pin rail out of two pieces of teak that I through bolted together onto the shrouds. The pins are brass and I bought them from Jamestown Distributors. They're awesome for keeping the halyards away from the mast so that they don't slap.
thank you for the information,does momo like shining the pins? lol its all brightwork!
So cool to see you getting so giddy about returning to the waters of your past. Thank you for sharing your journeys with us. You both are true story tellers and genuinely awesome. "Groton's" = comedy!
Cheers,
Andy on S/V Tango (four2tango.net)
where is the bar from the perfect storm????
+jorgecornet Hi Jorge. We look at that bar (The Crow's Nest) in the next episode. I'll send you a link. :) We are still in Faroe waiting to see hear back from the harbormaster in Scotland to find out if they have a space available for us in the marina there. We might end up spending the winter in Faroe. Wherever we are we are always looking forward to your next visit to Paragon. :)
they that go down to the sea in ships....... annisquam is my port of registry.
+dawntreader70 DrakeParagon S2E39: They that go Down to the Sea in Ships... th-cam.com/video/6pkP75x4h7s/w-d-xo.html
Wouldn't it be less stress on the gear, rig, and yourself to luff up to furl the jib?
+Brock Landers Hi Brock, I think on a smaller, lighter boat it would certainly be easier to handle single handed. But Paragon weighs almost 40,000 lbs and everything takes much longer and requires more effort. Especially with strong wind, and single handed, I think it was much more manageable to winch in the headsail.
DrakeParagon's Real Cruising Life The only reason I ask is because my first experience with a roller furling jib was on a Cabo Rico 38 (also a fairly heavy cutter rig) where we centered the boom, came up into the wind, then furled the large jib so quickly that we still had steerage when we were done. Of course, I can understand that staying into the wind can be difficult (or impossible) when single handing. Was this your thinking? Thanks and love the videos!
Great vids, there's no such thing as an adult, only larger children and the expense of their toys.
So? per Kallelis...this vid is 2 years old? I really enjoy your vids and your efforts.... have you started releasing series bits out of order...? confused? I totally understand being unpredictable when it comes to when and where you are... but two years? Pretty sure this trip a couple vids back put you enroute and in early 2015... or is that fella posting a whack-a-doo? lol Smooth sailing and following winds!
+Eric H Hi Eric, Here's the deal. We have voyaged over 11,000 nautical miles, and accumulated over 1500 hours of raw video footage since this video was filmed. Our story started when we were preparing to push off from Oriental, North Carolina in March of 2013 (Season 1, Episode 1.)
Since then we have taken on crew several times, spent winters in both Iceland and Ireland, and voyaged to any number of amazing places...always with camera in hand. Along the way we have also completed the filming of at least a dozen fantastic in depth interviews with cruisers we've met along the way, including tours of their cruising boats.
As for the lag in time there are several reasons. When we are on the move it is next to impossible to devote the amount of time necessary to edit our videos. We are in constant filming mode to capture the story which means that for many months that is our main focus. It also takes an extraordinary amount of time to make and edit these videos, and we want to be sure to devote our full attention to their production.
Our DrakeParagon series episodes are being published in the order of events as they actually happened. We have published some videos outside of the Season 1 and Season 2 series episodes, but they have only been small previews. trailers, or sneak peeks, and not full episodes.
We are now busy preparing to sail from the Faroe Islands to Scotland to hunker down for another winter of editing - very excited! In the Spring we are planning a very ambitious sail to Svalbard (which is as close to the north pole as it is possible to go by boat.) After a couple of months there we plan to sail down the west coast of Norway - all as we continue to film this never ending story of sailing, world exploration, cultural immersion, and friendship.
We hope that these stories will be timeless and that you will be able to watch them today, tomorrow, next week...next year! and still enjoy what they have to offer.
Fair winds,
Drake and Monique
+DrakeParagon's Real Cruising Life They certainly are wonderful to watch. I still go back to many of them myself.
You're my favourite cruisers on youtube!
+Montgomery Beaumont Cracklebottom Thanks for sailing with us Montgomery, I'm adding your comment to our list of favorite comments! :)
+DrakeParagon's Real Cruising Life Totally in agreement with Montgomery.
Your devoted way of filming is awesome, My master started cruising this year and he learn so much from your video....all the way back to Bermuda. Keep the format.... it's a passionate adventure that we can all lean from, that is what makes it a success.
You and Monique are awesome....wouf...wouf....xoxo
I'm just a novice sailor, so apologies for the dumb question: What is the etiquette around mooring balls and anchoring? You spent some time searching for the right spot to anchor, and you seemed keen to stay away from the mooring balls. What are things to consider?
+Montgomery Beaumont Cracklebottom Hi Montgomery Beaumont Cracklebottom :) In many places mooring ball fields have been placed so that you can hook up to them without having to anchor. In some places, mooring balls are set up for free to attract boaters to visit, but more often they charge a fee for the use of the mooring. Unfortunately the mooring balls often take up all of the available space leaving none left for anchoring.
+DrakeParagon's Real Cruising Life Thanks for your reply! In a couple of weeks I'm going to get my first offshore-ish experience, crossing the Cook Strait between New Zealand's North and South Islands on my friend's H28, and anchoring in a little bay overnight. It’s so good being on the water.
You hardly dragged Drake... You expertly anchored and the anchor didn't take, that is not dragging ;-) or maybe it is but under controlled circumstances. Unfortunately I see too many "skippers" just happy with chucking the anchor in and that's it. Needless to say as long as those type of captains are down wind of me I'm happy, but Drake, you can anchor up wind of me anytime.....
Warren
s/y Legend
commentary not audible at times; swamped by the musak
+Rhubarb Crumble Were there particular songs that you didn't like, or did you not like any of the music? Would you prefer no music at all?
musak too loud--preference for no musak at all--but I'm an old fogey!