Us
We have been sailing in and around Sydney for the past 20 years.
A few years ago we made a decision to combine our love of sailing and travelling and we gave extended cruising a go. We bought Iolanthe a Martzcraft 35 in 2011 amongst the chaos of having a baby and cruised up the East Coast. It was a great experience.
Now we have moved onboard our new boat Blue Dancer a Moody 425 in the Meditterenean.
Slow Travelling 
Are you land-locked or cruising atm? Great ‘meeting’! xx
I love ‘meeting’ other sea vagabonds, as it is reassuring to know that indeed we are not completely crazy! Really excited to have found your blog and look forward to hearing more about your adventure.
We are currently back in Sydney, topping up the cruising kitty and doing a little bit of work on the boat, but we will be cruising in about April next year, up the Australian east coast and then either through Asia or into the Pacific to start.
Hi guys i to have a Martzcraft 35 have only just bought it after living on very small yachts for many years.
You may think you made a mistake buying a older yacht but these boats are one of the strongest built production boat you could buy here in Australia.
They where expensive to build solid glsss and lead ballast, have a good look at the beams running the full length of the boat no bolted on cast crappy keels .
Next time you are in a good blow on anchor have a good look how those modern boats sail around their anchor, and in a real blow w
Hi William, it is awesome to ‘e meet’ another Martzcraft 35 owner! I agree with you completely, they are well built solid boats, which is why we bought her as well. I have had her in 45 knots before and she performed wonderfully.
What we have some regrets about is that we were perhaps optimistic about the amount of work she needed to be a cruise ready boat. I wouldn’t change a thing now, it has been a great experience and we learn’t alot, BUT it would of been easier to have bought a boat in better condition, and more ready to ‘go now’.
Would be great to compare notes with you on the Martzcrafts, Hope to see you out there in an anchorage soon!!!
Craig
Will lean so far over it looks like they have been knocked down.
Your boat will take you anywhere even those more modern yachts needs lots money spent on them after the purchase price.
Hope to see you out there William SV Misty Blue
Hey guys we just came across your blog and I noticed we seem to have similar site names… Great minds perhaps? Reading your blog you guys are planning to head north next year, where are you hoping to get to? We will be heading off in Jan heading south first to about 1770 then will head north once the winds change. We might see you out there somewhere? It would be good to meet up if so, since you guys sailed our current path a few years ago with your daughter. Ill be checking out your past post for ideas! Talk soon Bec 🙂
Hi Bec, we are looking at a more flexible schedule this time around, so not going to stress out about an exact goal/ destination, but would love to get further north than we did last time, maybe Townsville/ Cairns, if the weather allows.
We would love to catch up, given that I am also of the allied health frame of mind. Let us know if you have any specific questions and we can let you know what worked for us.
Jo
Cool, I’m sure we’ll definitely cross paths somewhere, we’re in no rush either. Now you’ve got me guessing your profession…lol. I do have a question actually … How did your nappies fair washing in salt? Did it affect their absorbency? And what did you use for a night nappy?
Bec 🙂
We really struggled to find a good ‘system’ for nappy washing to be honest, but since being back in Sydney we came across this great write up….
http://sailboatpelagic.blogspot.com.au/2011/03/cloth-diapers-afloat.html
Keen to trial this with bub number 2.
We had the Baby Beehinds and with some thick polar fleece nappy liners she did ok at night.
Jo
Congratulations on baby #2! When are you due? How exciting! Cool thanks for the link. I have some night nappies to trial i think a couple are baby beehinds. Yes we’ve been trying to work out water usage but this article gives us a good idea and a bit of a method. I can just see both of our boats now… Nappies stung up flapping in the breeze haha. 🙂
We are due January!
We are both apprehensive and excited to see how we go with cruising with both a bub and a preschooler onboard 🙂
We had a good experience with the baby behinds, but we also had friends who found other styles/brands worked better for them.
I’m sure it will be pretty easy to figure out that there is a baby on either of our boats!
Haha thats very true! Wow not long to go now! Cid was a january baby. When are you thinking of heading north?
Hopefully leave Sydney in about April. We like to try and get up the NSW coast fairly quickly and then will slow down a bit once we hit Southport!
Hi guys, how are you? Long time no check in… as you might know we’ll soon be ‘five aboard’, thus our sailing plans (what’s that word!??!?) have been tossed around as well… For now we are back in Sydney and this Sunday Heather & crew from ‘ayachtmoretolife’ are coming over for BBQ in Bondi. Would you like to join us? xo Dini & the rest of the Happy Dancer crew (congrats and the quick boat sale! our’s is as good as gone also…sob, sob, sob!)
How did I miss this?!! Sorry for the delay…..we have been a bit quiet on here of late. We are also happy-sad to hear you have sold Happy Dancer 😦 Can completely understand the mixed emotions involved. Particularly when it has been more than a ‘boat’ but indeed so much a part of the memories you made as family.