Spear It Animal

Time for a Break?

Our intrepid amateur boatbuilders have been stuck into their hurricane-damaged catamaran project for probably longer than they can remember. And while things may be advancing well, there comes a time when every sailor needs a vacation. Even if that means going off piste…

Published 31/07/2026

By Graham Shaw

Issue: 209

Published: oct. / oct. 2026

Discover this issue

Who: Raf and Sascha
Where: Grenada, West Indies
Multihull: Lagoon 450S
YouTube: @SpearItAnimal

But what kind of a vacation does a sailor go on? Boating is obviously Raf and Sascha’s thing, but when you’ve been many long months working 7 days a week in the boatyard, any kind of break is welcome. So one of Spear it Animal’s latest videos saw them take a trip to Canada and the ski resort of Whistler for some snowboarding, skiing, bobsleigh riding, but most of all, partying with a bunch friends.
All that snow and ice might seem far removed from what you’d think Caribbean sailors would genuinely want to do in their spare time. Well, the French have a term: “Sports de glisse” – literally “sliding sports”. It doesn’t really translate too well into English – there’s no all-inclusive word meaning any sports involving slipping or sliding or across water, across land, snow or ice, or even gliding through the air. It encompasses sailing, surfing, wingfoiling, kitesurfing, skateboarding, skiing, ice-skating, hang gliding, paragliding… the list is almost endless. So, perhaps there is a link between skiing and sailing after all, and “Sports de glisse” is really where their passion lies.
However, while they clearly had a ton of fun up in Canada, the vacation video didn’t rack up the same viewing figures as usual for the channel. This probably just goes to prove that viewers seek them out for the boating projects ongoing at Spice Island Marine boatyard in Grenada rather than anything even slightly cooler.
Our couple weren’t the only ones taking a break though: Raf’s sister Alina who is one of the other frequent stars of the channel has just got back to Grenada after taking a trip to help a friend bring her boat down from Sint Maarten. But that was on a monohull…
After all the partying, the crew was soon back to their Lagoon 450 for a reality check. In the heat of the West Indian summer, work continues apace and after many more hours spent reinforcing the forward bulkhead, with the panels doubled up and multiple layers of fiberglass applied, it looks like all the structural repairs to the catamaran may now be complete. And with all that out of the way, they can move onto more interesting work, getting it all back together and installing things rather than ripping them out. Things such as the engines -the original Yanmar motors and one of the saildrive units had been “salvaged” (i.e. stolen) before our YouTubers bought the boat while it was upside down in the mangroves of Carriacou after Hurricane Beryl. What have they chosen to fit in terms of mechanical propulsion?
We’ll have to wait and find out, as they left us hanging at the end of a recent video with a very large box hiding under a tarp right in front of the boat.

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