Multihull sailors Billy Swezey and Sierra Growth, creators of the popular video blog “Tula’s Endless Summer”, recently took a break from sailing to hit the road on their “Dare to Explore Tour”. The couple (accompanied by their dog, Jetty) drove a self-renovated truck camper with their custom Highfield Patrol 540 RIB in tow along the U.S. East Coast from Georgia to Maine, videotaping their adventures and posting them on the “Tula’s Endless Summer” YouTube channel along the way.
“One of the main reasons we got a truck camper was to be able to tow a boat behind it, and the new Highfield Patrol 540 has been a breeze to tow because of its light weight,” Billy said.
To help maximize their enjoyment on the road trip, Highfield Boats outfitted the Patrol 540 with a T-Top, SUS 700 Console and Bolster, Honda BF100 outboard motor, and custom trailer. The RIB also is rigged to support a wide variety of watersports adventures.
“We have been wakeboarding and surfing off the back of the Patrol 540 and the stern tower on the boat makes it perfect for that,” Billy said. “We have been clamming and fishing off the RIB and have also been doing a ton of exploring along the bays, oceans, and lakes of the East Coast.”
In North Carolina’s Outer Banks, where they were joined by family, Billy took his Dad offshore in the Highfield, then jumped in the water to teach him to kiteboard for the first time. In Ocean City, Maryland, Billy and Sierra launched the RIB and motored over to Assateague, where they videotaped the island’s legendary wild horses. In Montauk, on the tip of Long Island, they piled their surfboards into the Highfield and ran 20 miles offshore through rough Atlantic seas to Block Island in search of a remote surfing spot.
“The performance of the Patrol 540 has been amazing so far,” Billy said. “A few of the other things that have really impressed me are how well the boat handles choppy conditions; the impressively low fuel consumption of the 100hp Honda outboard paired with the Patrol 540; the speed we can cruise at in comfort (20-25 knots); how quickly the boat gets up out of the hole and on plane – and all of this with the ability of the boat to carry up to 12 people.”
Finally, Billy and Sierra made it to Maine, a longtime destination goal. And while Maine was the final stop on their Dare to Explore tour, it was only the beginning of another adventure – a lifelong one. On a the craggy coastline, with Jetty by their side, Billy got down on one knee and proposed to Sierra.
Afterward, he jubilantly exclaimed, “She said ‘Yes!’”
