Buying a catamaran when you have had plenty of experience on the ocean but are new to sailing is an interesting way to go about things, but that’s exactly what Jessie Cripps and Michael Takach did back in 2019. They learned very quickly, on the job. Jessie and Michael have been documenting their voyages and experiences on and offshore, on their YouTube vlog Sailing Popao.


Jessie picks up the story. “We’d crewed on a mate’s boat a couple of times but definitely wouldn’t call ourselves sailors. Buying a boat was probably the best thing we ever did as it forced us to learn quickly. We did have a lot of on-water experience, coming from a spearfishing background. Most of our weekends were spent on the water, which is why we decided to make the move to the ocean. It just made sense. When I was young, my family were big boaters too – we spent almost every holiday on our motorboat fishing and swimming. Michael is also a commercial diver, so he brought a wealth of experience from that.”

Sailing adventures

“We definitely fell in love with sailing when we were living in Tonga,” says Jessie. “Our housemate bought a 1986 27ft Jeanneau in Tahiti and sailed it to Tonga. We were lucky enough to spend a couple of weekends exploring some of the remote islands there, and we were hooked. The boat was pretty bare-bones, and we thought if this is so amazing now, imagine what it would be like with a fridge and a shower!” The boating bug had bitten, hard.

“We purchased Popao [a 2006 EASY 37 catamaran] in Brisbane in 2019 with plans to head overseas the following season, but we all know what happened then,” says Jessie. “We spent most of lockdown in Queensland, with anchorages all to ourselves. After far too long away from our families, we sailed down to Sydney and ended up in lockdown 2.0.

The next season we made up for lost time: we sailed south to Jervis Bay, then north to Lizard Island via the Coral Sea, exploring some of the most remote Coral Sea islands.

They were truly some of the most pristine, stunning places we’d ever been. We also visited some of the Great Barrier Reef’s blue holes, one of which gave us the most amazing dive of our lives – surrounded by the most diverse fish life we’d ever experienced and 30 sharks circling us. It was truly a dream come true.”

It hasn’t all been fun and games, as Jessie continued. “We spent the first six months refitting Popao, which was the biggest learning curve. Our boat had zero electronics, so it was a lot to get our heads around. Our wiring was a complete ‘spaghetti fest,’ and we basically rewired half the boat. Coming from a powerboat background, we also had to learn all about the wind and how it affected passage planning.” Fortunately, Jessie and Michael made the right choice to use B&G gear. Jessie says it has been great as “everything talks to each other, and it was very straightforward to install it all ourselves.”

Chartplotting with B&G

Any trip planning requires a great chartplotter, and Jessie and Michael were impressed with the B&G Zeus SR. “We’ve just upgraded to the Zeus SR chartplotter and the speed is absolutely mind-blowing,” says Jessie. “There is basically zero lag, and with the entire new look, it’s very easy on the eyes, especially in night mode.”

Jessie noted some of the technical aspects that they loved:

  • “The auto routing function is almost instant,” says Jessie. “The autoroute is also broken up into easy-to-read colours that show when you’re sailing over dangerous shallow areas. It’s simple to see at a glance and easy to adjust the route to suit our preferences.”
  • “The C-MAP Reveal X charts are amazing and essential for us with all our diving and fishing,” says Jessie. “The level of detail is unbeatable, showing isolated rocks and features that were previously only found by spending hours sounding around. It almost feels like cheating now. The marine protected area overlay is also a must, showing where we can fish and highlighting the pink zones we can’t even sail through.”
  • “The new anchoring mode is extremely helpful,” says Jessie. “It works out the depth under the boat at low tide and displays it in an easy-to-read format, saving us a lot of time and brainpower after a long passage.”
  • “They’ve even thought of the details, like calculating how much chain to use depending on your scope, tide strength, and direction,” says Jessie. “Colour coding and perimeter alarms give us peace of mind – and a good night’s sleep – knowing someone is always on watch for you.”

Looking ahead

“We have clocked up nearly 10,000 nautical miles sailing the Australian coastline and feel like we haven’t even scratched the surface,” says Jessie. “We would love to do a big circuit: New Caledonia, Vanuatu, the Solomon Islands, and Indonesia – in particular Raja Ampat. We’re thinking a bigger boat may be on the cards…”

Words: Helen Hayes

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