We proudly work with:
When sailing short- or single-handed, a good suite of marine electronics is so much more than a piece of equipment.
The combination of our chart plotters, radar, autopilot, and instruments is a full-on crew member, allowing us comfort and peace of mind as we cross oceans.
We have been proud Raymarine ambassadors since 2021, but have loved and recommended the brand since long before.
Welcome to our living room! If you own a boat, you may, just like us, spend as much time at West Marine as you spend actually sailing (well, at least we do.)
With almost 250 stores across North America, West Marine counts among the biggest retailer of marine supplies in the World and we are delighted to count them as a partner and a sponsor of Ryan’s Tech Corner.
Keep an eye out for some product reviews and practical advice in West Advisor, courtesy of yours truly!
When we left the dock, we quickly realized how limiting not having a watermaker onboard was, and how much money we were sinking in marina slips so we could access water. But we couldn’t afford a regular off-the-shelf watermaker.
Enter: SeaWater Pro’s DIY watermaker kits, which made having a watermaker onboard possible for us, and have been an absolute game changer in how self-sufficient we can be *all on a budget*.
We have rocked our SeaWater Pro watermaker since 2018, and we cannot say enough good things about it. If you are reading this, you should totally get one too.
As a pilot, Ryan is very particular with how he gets his weather forecasts.
We have used Predict Wind as our weather tool ever since we learned to sail, and while we tried different services over the years, this is the one we prefer.
Since 2019, we use Predict Wind in combination with Iridium Go for all our ocean passages, and the service is simply unmatched.
For the longest time, Sophie wanted a BRNKL unit to monitor Polar Seal while no one was onboard, but Ryan wasn’t convinced that it would do anything more than what our Victron system already does for us.
MISTAKE…
Fast forward to the 2022 Annapolis Boat Show when Sophie met Brandon and Sean from the BRNKL team, who challenged her to a game of Mario Kart to win a BRNKL unit, and against all odds, WON.
Since that fateful day, Polar Seal is being monitored by a BRNKL unit and through the app, and no… our Victron system definitely doesn’t come close to doing what BRNKL can do.
Ryan being a co-founder of the brand, it is no surprise that Polar Seal was the very first sailboat to have Dakota Lithium batteries installed. Since then, thousands of sailboats have been equipped with Dakota Lithium batteries while ours still power our boat and allow us to use electric appliances just as if we lived in a house.
Fun fact: Sophie designed the Dakota Lithium logo just a few days before Ryan had his first investor presentation. She now takes full credit for the success of the brand.
And if you are in the market for new batteries, use code RYANANDSOPHIE for 10% off your order, valid sitewide on all orders :)
The main reason why we acquired a Takacat as our very first dinghy back in 2016, is because the Swedish dealer of Takacats was the only person to talk to Sophie about their dinghies at the Stockholm Boat show.
We should probably thank all the dinghy dealers who did not take Sophie seriously enough because, over the years, we have loved our Takacat SO MUCH, that we are about to get our third one.
Our dinghy is light, packs small and easily, and it is the most stable and dry dinghy we’ve ever been in. Because of its catamaran design, it has a lot less drag and works great in combination with our electric Torqueedo outboard.
We LOVE it.
Choosing sails can be a complicated matter to navigate, but Precision Sails makes the process easy and seamless.
Our epic Polar Seal gennaker and favorite high-cut jibs were made by their excellent team in Victoria, Canada, and we absolutely LOVE them.
Tyler from Nostalgia Chocolate never asked to be on this page (hi Tyler!).
But in the last year, he has been sending us chocolate at the times we needed a pick-me-up the most.
“Maply Milk Chocolate” got me through immigration struggles, “Key Lime Pie” was here for us when we winterized Polar Seal while taking care of a puppy, and “Strawberry Coconut” cheered us up when we tried to figure out a through-hulls replacement.
Just like us, Tyler is a cruiser, who discovered real chocolate while sailing the Caribbean to Grenada. He now produces the most amazing chocolate in his small factory in Syracuse, bringing the World the best tasting chocolates and coffees.
We are proud “self-proclaimed” Nostalgia Chocolate ambassadors, and you know we’ll be visiting the factory when we sail by ;)
When operating a sailboat, the stakes are high.
We’ve never equipped Polar Seal with certain pieces of equipment just because they came to us in the form of a partnership.
We are very selective with who we work with, and often, we were customers of the brands before establishing working relations. We have used and loved our partner’s products and services for years and for that reason, we feel very comfortable recommending them to our friends and to our community at large.
Some of the links above are affiliate links, meaning that we earn a small commission when you purchase through them. It doesn’t cost you anything extra and helps us keep Polar Seal in tip-top shape. Thank you!
Want to become a Polar Seal partner? Email RyanandSophieSailing@lighthouseagents.com