The first month of our #CRUISINGWITHULLMAN Competition has flown by and we have been blown away by all the fabulous entries. We couldn’t be more in love with our four weekly winning images as well as our very first monthly winner! There are still two months of the competition left so be sure to get your own entries in before its too late.

Check out the winners thus far below:

Week 1 – Unforgettable Sailing

We are Georgia and Diego, five years ago we decided to live as full-time cruisers. This is by no means an end, but a way instead. It is as cruisers that we have pursuing our life dreams and goals.

These years living aboard have been all about learning. Learning how to deal with a boat, how to trim a sail, learn about ourselves and about each other. Cruising around the planet keeps you constantly away from your comfort zone, and with that comes growth.

For us, to be on the water means freedom, and so much more. Sailing is not only our sport or hobby, it’s a lifestyle that carries with it the seamanship, the camaraderie among sailors, respect for others and for the environment.

During these 5 years, we have been through ups and downs, we have sailed 20,000 nautical miles and visited more than 20 countries. We have been bankrupt a handful of times, but could always count on a great sunset at the end of the day.

Today we run a YouTube channel that generates most of our income. On our weekly episodes we show life aboard, give sailing tips and advice, and of course, have a bit of silliness.

We are currently in French Polynesia, completely amazed by the beauty of these islands. When possible, we plan to move to New Zealand and cross another item off our bucket list.

There is no schedule or fixed destination for our journey, as long we are happy, healthy and curious, we will keep exploring.

Visit Unforgettable Sailing’s website here.

Week 2 and MONTHLY WINNER – Zukini Crew

I left Belgium to go travelling in 2015. I hitchhiked Canada during the winter of 2016 and ended up boat-hitchhiking/crewing the Pacific. My first real sailing experience was a 35 day crossing from San Diego to the Marquesas. I fell in love with the place, the cultures and the cruising life.

I ended up swapping boats in Tahiti and island-hopping to Rarotonga, Tonga, Fiji and finally New Zealand. It was a long journey but one event really struck me when my skipper threw all the trash from the journey overboard in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

In 2017, I decided to continue sailing but this time on my own vessel, so I made a 3-year plan to get it all together. 1 year of working holiday in New Zealand and 2 years in Australia. In between, I completed my Yachtmaster courses. It was in Brisbane (Australia) two years ago where I found a 1979 Formosa ketch 41. I bought the boat from an old guy who was living a marina existence instead of
sailing it. There were a lot of jobs to make the vessel seaworthy again.

Now Zukini Crew is a sailing community living on our vessel, exploring ways of sustainability whilst sailing the world. It is a whole different experience being the skipper on my own cruising vessel, and it has been incredible to be able to share the experience with crew and friends and being able to pick up hitchhikers this time.

For the moment, we are in a transitional phase after the quarantine, at the very beginning of our modified cruising plans. We are in Northern Queensland now on our way towards the Indian Ocean. We have been very fortunate to be able to be on Zukini in the Whitsundays during the lockdown. We have crew joining us in Cairns and Darwin for the journey, with plans changing every day.

Visit Zukini Crew’s website to find out more.

Week 3 – Bear Sailing

Bear Sailing is a sailing school serving in İzmir Levent Marina with a team of 12 experts. The school, which provides education to approximately 500 students each year from the sailing clubs in six universities, also aims to popularize sports in the city with its adult education and membership system for people who do not have a boat but have a passion for sailing.

The school, which has two Farr 30 model co-boats, has brought a new breath to sailing with match race events in the bay. Carrying the nickname of Bear with great honor, the team invites everyone who loves sailing to join them.

Visit Bear Sailing’s website to find out more.

Week 4 – Sail Redemption

We are Ronnie and Michelle Ricca and we are the crew of Redemption. Ronnie is a Louisiana native who grew up around boats of all shapes and sizes at his family’s marina and boatyard on the edge of New Orleans. After graduating from Texas A&M Texas Maritime Academy he jumped into the offshore industry in the Gulf of Mexico, where he now holds a 1600ton master’s and 2nd Mate oceans unlimited license. Post university, he joined a friend on his racing sailboat for some buoy races in Lake Pontchartrain and that ignited the spark of desire to go cruising from that day forward.

Michelle grew up in the mountains of western Massachusetts in Holyoke. She graduated from Massachusetts Maritime Academy and also got a job in the oil field in the Gulf of Mexico where she met Ronnie. Michelle carries a Chief Engineers Unlimited license and is going for her captain’s license next. She fell in love with sailing through racing with Ronnie and friends and knew that cruising was a life she wanted to pursue.

We love cruising as it gives us the thrill of sailing, the freedom of travel, and the serenity of being closer to God’s creation.

Redemption is a 1984 Kaufman 47 cutter with a racer/cruiser style sailboat that Ronnie found in ill repair in the San Francisco Bay Area. Though she needed a lot of love, Redemption is a solid offshore cruiser and was shipped on a truck from Brisbane to New Orleans where she would undergo an almost six-year refit at Ronnie’s family boatyard. Almost everything minus the hull and the mast has been either replaced, rebuilt, or cleaned and refurbished. Being from a racing background they made sure that although Redemption would be a cruising yacht, they made sure her performance would not suffer. The standing rigging was replaced with Colligo synthetics that reduced weight aloft to reduce heel and a feathering Variprop to reduce drag in lighter airs.

When the end of the refit was in sight, Michelle and Ronnie decided some new sails were needed to start cruising. After racing alongside Dave Bolyard of Ullman Sails Gulf Coast in the past, he knew that Dave was going to be the sailmaker of choice. Redemption has a full battened, tri-radial cut mainsail and a 100&, tri-radial cut yankee made from Contender CDX9 cruising laminate.

These sails, in addition with the staysail, have proven to be excellent performance cruising sails. Ronnie raced Redemption for a “Two Against the Lake” race with his friend Kyle Bowser and took a bullet with a first to finish and first overall. While Redemption enjoys sailing hard, she now carries Ronnie and Michelle to the horizon comfortably and safely.

Enter your own pictures in our #CRUISINGWITHULLMAN competition now. Click here for the competition details.