Testimonials

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"I had such an amazing experience doing the outside passage of Vancouver Island with Julie and Gio. I learned more in the 10 days than I had in the last year of racing. From setting up preventers, whisker poles, wind angles, and wildlife!

Going on a trip with them is not only like sailing with two amazing professionals, but also like sailing with your own nature guides! I can’t recommend their services enough, I’d do it again in a heartbeat, and can’t wait for the marine electrical class.

My wife and I will be continuing to work with PBCS in the coming years as we hunt for our own blue water boat."

-Charlie D.

"Pelagic Blue Cruising was recommended as consultants as we embarked on a refit of our new to us boat. Julie & Gio Cappelli specifically worked with us on our electrical system overhaul, but they also had so much knowledge to share about cruising in general.

From the very first interaction, they demonstrated unparalleled expertise, professionalism, and a passion for everything related to cruising. What truly sets Pelagic Blue apart is their personalized approach. They took the time to get to know us a bit and understand our cruising goals and what we wanted from our electrical system. Julie and Gio designed a safe and robust electrical system that would meet our needs.

In addition to their expertise, the level of customer care they provide is exceptional. Communication is clear, prompt, and we felt they always had our best interests at heart. They came to our boat a couple of times and spent hours making sure they understood our goals, current electrical system and to go over our entire electrical system once we had completed the install. They promptly answered and returned countless phone calls, emails and texts, even while they were out on the water themselves.

The entire process, from planning to execution, was smooth and stress-free, making for a wonderful experience. The consultants at Pelagic Blue not only have deep knowledge of setting your boat up for cruising, but also a genuine love for the lifestyle. Julie & Gio were incredibly encouraging to us throughout this entire process and we are definitely inspired by them. We truly enjoyed working with them and cannot recommend Pelagic Blue Cruising enough."

-SV First Light

"Sailing down the west coast of Vancouver Island with Julie and Gio was outstanding in many ways! It was a wonderful introduction to how a modern blue water boat should be laid out for safety and ease of use/sailing. I wanted to see what is now considered best practices since I have been sailing for over 40 years, mostly coastal cruising although I did 3 ocean crossings many years ago. A lot has changed.

I found their style of instruction particularly helpful in developing the skills that go into making ocean passages. Their patience and teaching methods really facilitate the learning process.

Their knowledge and experience level for all things sailing/boat maintenance and boat set-up is very impressive. In addition, they are wonderful and easy going people, just a pleasure to be on a boat with. And the meals are fantastic and filling!

I consider this a world class level of instruction in blue water sailing. I highly recommend a stint on the water with Julie and Gio if you are serious about upping your skillset to being a competent blue water sailor."

-Geoff B.

"I was a student on the Pelagic Blue Cruising Expedition Leg 2 trip from Port Hardy to Victoria with Gio and Julie Cappelli. It was an outstanding trip. I’ve had about twenty years sailing experience most of which was close to shore. However I’ve also crewed on one circumnavigation of Vancouver Island and an offshore trip from Hawaii to Vancouver.

My purpose on this trip was to refresh my offshore sailing skills, see how Gio and Julie have outfitted their sailboat Sea Fox, and to learn “best practice” for offshore sailing. I got that in spades.

Gio is a very skilled marine technician and both Gio and Julie are excellent sailors and instructors. They know their stuff. I learned more on this trip than on any sailing course or trip that I have taken in the past. And I love the north and west coasts of Vancouver Island, which is fantastic for it’s sailing conditions, scenery, wildlife and remoteness.

Thank you Gio and Julie for sharing your boat and time with me on a truly outstanding trip."

-Bill H.

"Fortuitously I connected with Captain Gio when my boat was stuck in Port Townsend for the 2023 Round the County two-day race. There was something wrong with my sail drive gear box. The boat would not go into forward or reverse. Captain Gio came out late afternoon on a Friday to try and diagnose the problem. Initially, he was unable to resolve the issue; BUT Saturday morning I received an email stating he had researched what was most likely the issue and would be happy to fix the problem. What I was so impressed with, was that he never gave up on resolving my gearbox problem. Unasked he did further research on his own time. A very impressive person and for me a great mechanic."

-Matthew G.

"Julie and Gio are great instructors! I had a chance to join their electrical and sail making classes last year. The courses already paid off many times. I hope I will have an opportunity to learn from Gio and Julie again in the future!"

-Vasilii T.

"I took the DIY electrical workshop with Julie as part of the offshore seminar. I knew nothing about electricity and how to fix electrical issues on a boat. But after the course, I felt comfortable because Julie was so friendly and encouraging - she explained everything extremely well.

Since then, I used gained electrical skills a lot. I was able to choose suitable marine electrical wires, connectors and tools to fix issues on my boat. Just in one year, I installed a new bilge pump, replaced the wire that had holes, installed a solar panel, and built a 48 to 12 converter for a Starlink dish."

-Alya T.

"I would like to recommend “Pelagic Blue Cruising”. I am 70 years old and have been actively sailing my own boats for over 40 years.

One example is that I had two top experts trained in B&G equipment trouble shoot my autopilot with my self installed B&G instruments. The autopilot should steer a compass heading, but when I asked it to navigate to a waypoint - it would go crazy- veering ten degrees back and forth. Even the B&G Teck from the factory couldn’t figure it out on a face time with me onboard.

So Julie come aboard, looks things over, notices that the Zeus plotter is set to True and the autopilot is set to Magnet. She changes the autopilot to the True setting and -wham- the problem went away. I later found out that Julie and Gio were trained originally as scientists so they look at problems a lot deeper that the typical marine Technician might.

Gio is high energy and totally committed to detail and doing things

the proper way. As an example- Gio was installing a high output alternator kit with a separate smart regulator and serpentine belt kit. The boat was in La Paz Mexico. Gio gave me a parts list to bring down from San Diego with everything needed down to the last wire connector. He had it neatly installed on the Yanmar in one long day. It worked perfect and put out the higher amps we needed to make a passage.

They are honest, will tell you the truth -even if it hurts- and will get your job done well. What more could a sailor ask?"

-Harry T.

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