Bums on a Boat

20/04/2026

The home stretch!

What an experience sailing through the Straight of Hormuz and reaching Dubai at night!

Nothing could have prepared me for the first hand experience of seeing the lights and skyline of Dubai after sailing 10,500 miles.

The owners, Karl and Michele, of Amelia were delighted to finally see their baby glide into it’s slip and they made sure we celebrated a successful delivery in style!

I’ll share a link of our arrival in the comments below.

29/03/2026

Sailing turned out to be nothing that I wanted and everything I needed.

We are approaching the Straight of Hormuz in early August of 2024. Grateful to have had the opportunity to sail through there and see it first hand.

Can’t imagine the scene today.

With our water maker down, we are not showering and rationing drinking water. Our stove, oven and bbq cease to function so no heating food. Behind the scenes I’m in the bilge battling with a clogged toilet. If you watch the episode you may see me cracking…just a bit.

Link in the comments below 📹👇

16/03/2026

Checked into Djibouti, provisioned, engine work, refueled 100% with jerry cans and we were back at it again.

From this point, we plan to sail straight to Dubai with no stops. Around 1,400 miles left and right out of the gate we have wind!

First we must safely get through the Gulf of Aden, then its open Indian Ocean before the straight of Hormuz!

This was end of July and early August of 2024. We felt like this was a risky passage but nowhere near what it would be like now in 2026!

Grateful to have had the opportunity to sail these waters. Link to this video of sailing the Gulf of Aden is in the comments below.

08/03/2026

https://youtu.be/FGU_9U7wsq4?si=qmHw5odheojydE_-

This was the moment of truth!

9,500 miles into our 10,500-mile journey… this was the stretch 90% of people told us not to sail.Bab el-Mandeb — pirate waters between the Red Sea and the In...

24/02/2026

This encounter creates a code brown 💩 on board Amelia.

We were psyched up!

Just a day earlier we got a pirate distress signal and as we entered the same area we saw three unmarked boats, not on AIS, that appeared to be approaching and surrounding us.

In hindsight sight I’m guessing they wanted to sell us fish. We gunned the engines and pulled away. With the potential risk I stand behind that decision.

Then the eriest night watch of my life.

On constant watch for anything that moves, heart rate racing.

One little bird sat on the sail cover all night and kept me company. A swarm of crows flew above resting on the spreaders and pooping all over Amelia 😂

This episode ends and we’re still not out of the woods.

You can find the link in the comments. 🎥

15/02/2026

Just as we began to enter the High Alert Zone, fish starting hitting the line like I’ve never seen in my life.

Of all my expectations for this Red Sea experience, the best fishing ever was not one of them.

Carston actually reeled in a White Marlin! It was a juvenile though so we let it go but it fought well 💪

Just released the full length video on Bums on a Boat YouTube channel 🎥 🎣 🏴‍☠️ link in the comments below.

08/02/2026

Entering the Red Sea to cross from North to South without stopping.

After two months of consistent fishing with little to no luck, suddenly we’ve got action!

My first Mahi ever caught was inches from escaping after spiting the hook, which somehow went through my ni**le in the struggle.

We are on pirate watch from the get go but have many days before we enter the Red Zone just West of Yemen.

Excited to share this next portion of the Amelia Voyage!

Link to the 1st Red Sea video is in the description 👇

04/01/2026

Caught our first Tuna as we approached the Suez Canal!

One photo shows our gps that night with all the oil wells we had to look out for 😳

The excitement and epic meal from the tuna was exactly what we needed as we approached the final boss of this voyage!

Link to this full length episode is in the comments below 👇 💃🐟⛵️🎥

15/12/2025

This was my view as Hurricane Beryl was heading straight for Grenada where Chak Matay was on a mooring ball.

We were sailing from Malta to Crete and approaching the Suez Canal.

So much work, sacrifice and risk went into owning Chak Matay.

For so long she represented all my hopes and dreams and it felt that if she was lost, they would be as well. But now 10 years into this sailboat adventure, I knew whatever happened, it would be okay.

Sailing has a way of teaching us what we as humans are in control of and what is beyond. It gives one a healthy respect for this force and makes clear how we can work with it.

Thank you sailing!

If you would like to sail along on this leg, there is a link in the comments below 👇

16/11/2025

The first thing that caught my attention sailing into Malta was the stark contrast between the East and West side as we approached our channel.

To our left were structures that looked many hundreds to thousands of years old and to our right was a modern city that reminded me of NY City.

This 5 day sail from Gibraltar through the Med should be in the dictionary, defining fair winds and following seas!

Every sunset and sunrise was gorgeous and the nights were lit up by a big beautiful moon. The only concern were all the monster boats flying by in all directions.

Join this smooth and peaceful sail. Link in the comments below 👇